One Love Tennis: From Crushed Seashells to New Possibilities

For years, I followed Salvador Gomez’s Instagram posts from Guimbal, a coastal town in the province of Iloilo, Philippines: children training barefoot on a homemade tennis court, roosters crowing in the background, and goats occasionally wandering across the playing area.

Salvador had built the court in his backyard from crushed seashells and earth. He offered free tennis coaching before and after school, giving children a place to learn, grow, and pursue opportunities through the sport. I watched his videos and kept thinking: I have to visit.

When I finally arrived, we had 100 children on that one court.

Their enthusiasm and Salvador’s commitment inspired One Love Tennis’s first court-building project.

Above: Salvador’s original handmade court, built from crushed seashells and earth. Photo courtesy of Michael-Ray Pallares.

I founded One Love Tennis in 2011 to bring tennis to at-risk youth and orphans around the world. As a former professional player and coach, I have experienced how tennis can open doors. Through our foundation, I want more children to have that chance.

Salvador had already trained hundreds of children, with dozens receiving college scholarships through tennis. A proper hard court would give him a better surface to continue the work he had devoted his life to.

In 2024, we inaugurated that court.

One memory captures what it meant to the children. It was pouring rain when I walked over to visit Salvador. Surely, I thought, nobody would be playing.

Above: Children playing in the rain on the new court in Guimbal, Iloilo, Philippines. Photo courtesy of Michael-Ray Pallares.

Instead, the children were out on the new court, laughing and playing tennis in the rain. They were like children with a new toy they could not put down. Their joy said more than any speech could.

Our support continues beyond construction. Each year, I send Salvador thousands of used tennis balls in balikbayan boxes—large shipping boxes sent to the Philippines—to help keep his program supplied.

A documentary about the build later aired on Tennis Channel. After seeing it, the uncle of a young Ecuadorian player named Sisa Guamán contacted me.

Since age eight, Sisa had traveled two hours each way from Cañar, high in the Andes, to train in Cuenca. Her dedication inspired our next project. In 2025, we built a clay court in Cañar for her and the wider community, giving people who might only have seen tennis on television a place to try it themselves.

Above: Sisa Guamán’s group at the new clay court in Cañar, Ecuador. Photo courtesy of Michael-Ray Pallares.

This year, we are working with KEPA, an elderly care home in Cyprus that invites neighborhood children to play tennis and other sports. Residents enjoy watching the children laughing and playing.

We are helping resurface the sports area and improve protective barriers so children and older adults who wish to participate can do so safely.

Our next project, planned for 2027, will restore a deteriorating court in Bogotá’s Barrios Unidos neighborhood. There, Jose Gomez provides free tennis to local children, teaching life lessons and giving them a constructive place to spend their time.

These projects grow from the dedication of people already serving their communities. Our role is to help them reach more children through better places to play.

From Salvador’s backyard to the Ecuadorian Andes, Cyprus, and Colombia, each court creates opportunities for connection, learning, and growth. To support our work or suggest a community for a future project, visit www.onelovetennis.org. Together, we can open doors through tennis—with possibilities that reach far beyond the court’s lines.

Written by Michael-Ray Pallares, a former professional tennis player, and the founder of One Love Tennis — a nonprofit that uses tennis, education and fitness to create opportunities for underserved children around the world. He is also the owner and director of Crown Elite Tennis Academy and has extensive experience in coach education, player development and international tennis programming.

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