EDWARDSVILLE — The Mitch and Friends Foundation benefit, held on Sunday night at the Edwardsville High School Tennis Center, was a resounding success on all counts. Professional players and members of the EHS tennis teams hit balls and helped introduce the game to an estimated 75 special needs athletes, and of course, a good time was had by all.
The young gentleman for whom the foundation is named for, Mitch McGinnis, was asked what his favorite part of the evening was.
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“Just playing tennis,” Mitch said, naming the players from the University of Illinois' team with who he played with. “The Illini guys,” as Mitch said with a big smile.
Mitch's dad, Kevin McGinnis, was very happy with the turnout and the weather, which was overcast but very pleasant for early August.
“It is,” McGinnis said. “We were a little worried about the weather, but we're fortunate to have a great night. It's cool, which doesn't always happen in August, but so far, we have a great turnout, and we're really having a good time.”
The foundation was founded in part due to Mitch's work with both the EHS tennis teams.
“Mitchell was the manager of Dave's (Lipe, the Tigers' head coach) girls tennis team,” McGinnis said. “He did it for six years; he was a student at EHS for six years. He started in (2009) when his sister Morgan was a freshman. So he was the manager for 12 different seasons.
“It started when Dave and Mitch were hitting balls, and Dave and I started talking about growing and bringing more people that may have trouble, special needs and trouble participating in tennis. And it grew into this large group.”
When McGinnis' father died in 2014, the family asked in lieu of flowers, contributions to the foundation be made in memory of him.
“And that's when the organization received a bounty of money, and that's when we officially became a not-for-profit, and increased what we did,” McGinnis said.
The mission of Mitch and Friends is very simple.
“The mission of Mitch and Friends is to provide free tennis lessons for people that struggle in any way, whether it's mentally of physically,” McGinnis said.
The foundation has been a very good thing for the entire McGinnis family.
“It's real exciting for Mitchell when he get this publicity in the newspaper,” McGinnis said, “and see his stories, he talks about how he's famous, which makes us laugh. But it's good for his confidence, and he loves coming out here and we love seeing all these people having a great time playing tennis, playing a game we love.”
And Mitch did see many of his friends at the event.
“I see Larry Lipe, Dr. (Dennis) Cramsey (the EHS principal),” Mitch said, also mentioning a teacher at EHS. He was also looking forward to eating pizza with his friends. When asked what kind he liked, Mitch didn't hesitate.
“Cheese!,” Mitch said with a tremendous smile and laugh.
Kevin McGinnis sees much growth for the foundation in its future.
“It's continued to grow, continue to work around this big event,” McGinnis said. “We continue to have the practices with the boys and the girls EHS tennis team. And you know, I'd like to see it grow, maybe some day into St. Louis or other places other than Edwardsville. But right now, we are happy with growing it within Edwardsville and that geography.”
As for plans for the night, Mitch and the players who are staying with the family during the tournament had big ones indeed.
“The boys and I, we're going home and watch Poke'Mon and Digimon,” Mitch said with another huge smile.
