On a sunny morning at the Case Western Reserve University tennis courts, Advantage Cleveland campers take the court. The temperature has already reached a steamy 84 degrees by 10 a.m. Warm-ups begin, as the children run a lap around the perimeter of the tennis courts. They then do a few light stretching exercises before practicing their hand-eye coordination and racquet control skills.
But Advantage Cleveland Tennis and Education, AdvantageCLE for short, is more than just a tennis camp. The organization operates year round and has four focus areas – tennis, STEM, literacy and wellness – and a host of youth programs throughout the year. But its most popular program is summer camp, which started its 17th year this week.
Each day starts with breakfast at 8:15 a.m., followed by morning announcements and a review of the camp rules. Campers are divided into groups by age and spend an hour in each of the four main focus areas.
Carter White, 11, came to AdvantageCLE as a six-year-old. The tennis component of camp is what he looks forward to the most each day. His favorite shot is his backhand and volley, and one of his favorite players to watch is Coco Gauff.
“It’s a really fun game,” Carter said. “Unlike other sports, there’s no timer, so it’s not over till it’s over, which I really like.”
Elevating the experience
Liz Deegan came to AdvantageCLE as a counselor in 2018, when it was only operating as a summer camp. As a former educator, Deegan brought her passion for learning to the summer camp. She later became the organization’s executive director.
“We said from the beginning that we were battling the summer learning slide that happens when kids aren’t engaged in academic activities in the summer,” Deegan said. “Kids in the inner city go back to school behind their suburban counterparts because many of them are not engaging in academics during the summer.”
This mission is personal for Deegan. AdvantageCLE has opened many doors for its campers from employment to college tennis scholarships. She gets emotional when speaking about the children.
“For me, it’s about creating a space here where no matter the ZIP code is or what may be going on at home, these kids have the same opportunities that they would in the suburbs,” Deegan said as she dried a few tears.
“That’s what gets me out of bed every day,” she added. “Asking how we can level the playing field.”
Exposure matters
Me’lani Labot Joseph served as a board member for AdvantageCLE. After a colleague introduced her to the organization, she knew it was a cause that she wanted to support.
“He knew about my interest in tennis and that I was doing STEM outreach to a broader community,” Joseph said. “It meshed many of my interests, which were tennis, Black youth and urban communities. I fell in love with the organization right away.”
Joseph volunteered for AdvantageCLE for a few years before joining the board. She facilitated the introduction of STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – to the curriculum.
Through a program at Case Western, university students help AdvantageCLE campers conduct hands-on STEM activities. The AdvantageCLE students have thoroughly enjoyed the STEM component, particularly robotics, Joseph added.
Sister act
Kelli Price was a 13-year-old camper at AdvantageCLE tennis camp in Hough back in 2013. She wasn’t the most athletic person and, as she remembers it, an awful tennis player. But she found much more than tennis at tennis camp.
“I found a safe space in the poetry classroom”, Price said. “I used to get in trouble sometimes because I would leave tennis to go sit in poetry class.”
Up until that point, she had never been exposed to slam poetry, a type of poetry that is performed in a live competition format.
“Slam poetry relies heavily on emotional intensity, body language and political stance,” Price said. “That gave me an opportunity to be comfortable expressing myself, which really drew me to stay.”
Price started to thrive at camp. During that time, creative expression was a focus area. In 2015, AdvantageCLE offered her a job as an assistant poetry instructor.
“I worked so hard for that job,” she joked. “I took it very seriously, maybe too serious by others’ standards, but I didn’t care.”
A few years later, she was promoted to lead instructor and held other leadership positions within the organization.
Kelli’s younger sister, Kalia Price-Franklin, followed in her footsteps. Kalia was a camper and upon aging out of the camp, became a counselor. In a stark contrast from her sister, Kalia fell in love with tennis. She currently plays on the Shaker Heights High School girls tennis team.
“I fell in love with both tennis and poetry,” Price-Franklin said. “Both of those activities helped me to express myself in ways that words couldn’t.”
Price-Franklin admits that tennis is something that took her a while to get the hang of. The sport has taught her the importance of discipline and determination.
“I’m not a very patient person, but tennis has helped me learn to control my patience,” she said. “Now when I do other things, I don’t get as frustrated just because something may be difficult.”
Price-Franklin is hoping to go to college to pursue a career in law, but she would love to play college tennis.
“I’m constantly improving, so I’m hoping to get a scholarship for tennis,” she said. “I don’t like being alone, so being able to focus on one thing like tennis and be on a team would be great.”
‘When he got to the doors of Advantage Cleveland, the words came out’
Price recalled the story of one of her former students, who had been displaying some erratic behaviors. On this particular day, he skipped classes and misbehaved at school. Once he arrived at Advantage Cleveland for the after-school program, the source of his actions was revealed.
“We wrote that day, and his poem was about a driveby shooting that had occurred at his home the night before,” Price said.
“That means he passed by the bus driver, teachers, lunch aides and school administration and he never felt comfortable enough to tell them what happened,” she remembered. “When he got to the doors of Advantage Cleveland, the words came out because he was in a space where he felt nurtured and supported. That moment sits with me till this day.”
Price ended her tenure at AdvantageCLE in 2023. In 2025, she was named Miss Black Ohio USA and launched her own nonprofit called Shine Academy.
The academy, which uses performing arts as a mechanism to help young girls process and heal from trauma, served more than 60 girls in its first year.
Price credits AdvantageCLE with giving her the spark she needed to follow her dreams and start her own nonprofit.
“I knew that at 15 what they were doing at the camp was something I wanted to not only replicate but transform into a place that people like me, little boys and girls from the ‘hood, could have an opportunity to be heard and feel comfortable expressing themselves,” Price said.
“Advantage Cleveland was that space for me.”
The future of AdvantageCLE
Currently, AdvantageCLE offers a number of programs, including summer camp, the middle school tennis club, after-school programming and weekend tennis clinics. Deegan said expanding their partnerships and having their own space are goals in the near future.
“I feel like the next step for us is to create our own space to provide even more opportunities for our kids to develop as athletes on the courts,” Deegan said. “Having a multi-purpose building on the East Side would allow us to get kids on the courts more and get them the education support they need. I’m really excited about moving towards that.”
Joseph believes intentional investments, like the ones made at AdvantageCLE, are more important now than ever.
“We’re in an urgent time when you consider the constant pressure on communities of color in the world right now. Every moment spent with a young person is critical,” Joseph said.
“When you see people or organizations doing the work and having an impact on the ground, I feel like those efforts should be invested in.”
Even during COVID-19, when AdvantageCLE risked closing its doors forever, the board and team stuck together to find solutions to keep the program running, Joseph added.
“That’s the type of tenacity and passion I have seen in this organization. I believe that AdvantageCLE is part of the solution for making our city, and the world, a better place.”
Carter White appreciates the friends he has made at camp and the supportive environment. He hopes to be a counselor at the camp one day.
“New experiences can make you nervous, but once you get in, it is very welcoming and fun.” Carter said. “The other kids are very nice, and the counselors make me feel safe.”
