The TEN Academy
After my husband Tim passed away, our family wanted to redirect our grief --- in ways that would improve our own lives, but more importantly, the lives of other people. My sons Chuck and Tommy wanted to do find purpose by doing something unique, with their father’s name on it --- something that would reflect his legacy.
And now, we are preparing to launch the TEN Academy, named after Tim, whose full name was Timothy Earle Nettles. What will the TEN Academy do? In our new building just a few miles from Pittsburgh, we’re creating a golf practice facility, study rooms, and event spaces. We will be able to offer young people who don’t have access to golf a place to learn the game from professionals, meet with mentors, and attend programs designed to prepare them for leadership and higher education.
Let me tell you a story that explains our motives:
When Chuck was a senior in high school, his high school golf team played against a team from across town. Tim and I attended the match to watch Chuck play, as we almost always did. Our boys looked very sharp in their red, black and white golf attire, from head to toe. The other team tumbled off their bus, dressed in a hodge-podge of unmatching shirts and shorts. My son’s team won the match. But Tim’s greatest concern was the fact that the opposing team had no uniforms. When the match was over, he disappeared to his car, and I saw him scribbling in his checkbook. Before they got back on that bus, he sought out the opposing team’s coach and gave him a check for team uniforms. He said it would make them feel better about themselves and play better, too. That coach was speechless. I was not one bit surprised. Tim just thought it was the right thing to do.
And that is what the TEN Academy is all about.
We will give the game of golf to young people who don’t have much access to it. What’s even better, we’ll give them opportunities to learn what golf can teach them. Things like:
How to follow rules you might not agree with
How to keep score on yourself --- without an eraser
How to play, live, and lead --- through all kinds of adversity
How to look at your opponent in the eye, shake their hand, and wish them well
And most importantly, we can help young people learn the value of holding their heads up high when things aren’t going well --- knowing that, at the end of the day, what matters is not the leaderboard. What matters is their integrity, their resilience, and the way they treat people --- especially those who oppose them. These days, I can’t think of anything more important than that.
