Ryan Burke-Stevenson

CONNECTING THE COMMUNITY. Local tennis coach Tyron Mason interacts with the Kenwood community as he coaches. He builds relationships with his students along with the neighborhood, becoming a well-known figure in the area.

As long as it’s not snowing, raining or freezing, anyone walking past the Kenwood Community Park tennis courts will see the same coach with his signature lawn chair, camped out on the courts for the day, teaching and making friendly conversation with members of the neighborhood. 

His job as a local tennis coach has helped Tyrone Mason become involved in the Kenwood community, allowing him to connect with his students and the neighborhood.

Mr. Mason started playing tennis when he was 19 years old, after graduating from high school on the south side of Chicago. He first played against a friend of his, and was defeated — but the experience only made Mr. Mason want to improve.  

“I decided, OK, well, I’m just gonna play until I learn how to get good enough to beat him, and then I’ll stop,” Mr. Mason said. “But from there, it just kept growing and growing.”

As Mr. Mason fell in love with the sport, he quit his previous job as a window washer and worked hard to get better at tennis. 

“It was a challenge that I could not conquer. So I wanted to see if I could conquer it,” Mr. Mason said. “And I still haven’t conquered it.”

Throughout his tennis career, Mr. Mason played many tournaments, traveled, and met and taught famous people. Here in Kenwood, he taught Malia and Sasha Obama. 

When he first started playing, Mr. Mason did not expect tennis to be his future career.

“I was young, and it was a journey that I didn’t really set out to embark on,” Mr. Mason said. “But once I embarked on it, I saw that it was really fulfilling — especially working with the kids — because there’s always something new that they bring to the table.”

Four years after being introduced to the sport, he started working as a coach at the Hyde Park Tennis Club, and 10 years after that, he decided to leave and become a private tennis coach.   

“Coaching gives me the opportunity to meet the people that live in the neighborhood — gives me an opportunity to meet the parents, watch the kids grow up,” Mr. Mason said. 

Mr. Mason teaches the kids of Lab parent Mistry Cherenfant. Ms. Cherenfant always saw Mr. Mason teaching at the neighborhood courts, and knew friends who had him as their coach. So, when her kids needed an outdoor hobby during the pandemic, Ms. Cherenfant contacted Mr. Mason. 

“He doesn’t just see them as a tennis player. He sees them as a whole child,” Ms. Cherenfant said, “and I appreciate that about him.”

Second grader Gage Cherenfant, one of her children, likes Mr. Mason’s teaching style. 

“Sometimes he’s strict and sometimes he’s funny. So like, if you don’t want a strict teacher that’s always like, ‘do this, do that,’” Gage said, “but like, other times he’s funny.”

Mr. Mason does not view coaching solely as his job, but also as an opportunity to connect with the Kenwood community around him.

“I like the Kenwood community because it’s a different, diverse kind of people that I’ve come in contact with — just all races, creeds, and just different personalities and nationalities that I come in contact with,” Mr. Mason said. “It’s different from where I grew up.”

Lab parent Cheryl Rudbeck knows Mr. Mason because he teaches one of her daughters. She has noticed his connection with the neighborhood and how he protects her kids — even those who do not take lessons with him.

“He is very involved in the Kenwood community. He has coached lots of adults and gone on to coach their children,” Ms. Rudbeck said, “and he’s always looking out for the kids.”

Mr. Mason looks after kids in the neighborhood as if they were his own. While teaching on the courts, he makes sure they are getting back and forth from school without any trouble. 

“The community knows that it’s sort of a safe environment around the courts when I’m there,” Mr. Mason said, “because I look after the block to see what’s going on.”

Ms. Cherenfant also notices how Mr. Mason watches over the community when he teaches. 

“He is always just sitting on the courts. Everybody who walks by, he knows them or he acknowledges them,” Ms. Cherenfant said. “In addition to being a tennis coach, he is for the community. He is the eyes and ears of 49th and Dorchester.”