My name is Erik Faneker, and I’m the founder of the Thirty Love Foundation. In this blog post, I’d like to share why I started the foundation in the first place.
In November 2022, I quit my full-time job. I’d been working as an advisor in healthcare, but something was missing. Deep inside, I knew my heart belonged to tennis.
Being a tennis coach in Amsterdam for over a decade has taught me something special about this game. It’s not just about hitting a fuzzy ball – it’s about the connection, fun, and health benefits it brings. Helping others enjoy their game is what drives me every day. And that’s why I knew inside I wanted to create something where I could share my passion.
Fast forward a couple of months, to my thirtieth birthday, where I had a special announcement for my friends and family. I had been creating online education for tennis coaches in the Netherlands for a little under three years up to this point. As the present courses had been well-received and accredited by the Dutch tennis association, I figured that offering this course material in English could support a way higher number of coaches worldwide.
That’s why I founded the Thirty Love Academy: I offer science-backed tennis education for not only tennis coaches, but also for players and their parents. However, the Academy was only half of the announcement. For I had something more to say.
Thirty Love – obviously a little reference to my thirtieth birthday and my love of the game – also means something else to me. Thirty Love can, in tennis terminology, literally be translated to having a 2-0 lead in the game. Yet where some people start life with a 2-0 head start, for the majority of people, reality is the other way around.
With the Thirty Love Foundation, we aim to make tennis accessible to those for whom this is not a given. We believe every person, no matter where you’re from, should be able to enjoy playing sports and all its benefits.
I say “we”, because luckily I’m not on this queeste alone. I am thrilled that Sophie and Vincent decided to merge forces and join me on the board. They will introduce themselves and why exactly they decided to join the foundation in the near future (you can already check out their bio’s by clicking their names).
If you would like to support our cause, you can make a donation or register for one of our upcoming fundraising tournament events. If you choose to do so, please know that we are more grateful than we can possibly express in a single blog post like this one.
Best,
Erik (the thirty-year-old)