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February 2026

Black Girls Tennis Club (BGTC) began with a simple barrier that many beginners recognize: tennis requires another person. For founder Kimberly Selden, that other person, and the entry point into the sport, wasn’t easy to find. During the pandemic, after moving from New York back to her hometown in Virginia, Selden decided to build what she couldn’t find – a welcoming place for Black women and girls to start playing the sport for a lifetime.

September 2025

Kimberly Selden didn’t grow up playing tennis. While living in Brooklyn as a 20-something working in production, she would walk past her local courts wanting to play, but having no idea where to start. After moving back to her hometown of Virginia Beach, she decided to do something about it: Enter Black Girls Tennis Club, her nonprofit encouraging Black women and girls to get into the sport.The group now operates in Virginia, New York, and Washington, D.C., providing programming, partnering with city governments to fix courts, archiving Black tennis history, and creating a pipeline for young Black women to become tennis coaches.

November 2024

At its core, BGTC aims to dismantle systemic barriers while fostering a sense of community and empowerment. “Tennis is a tool, but the real work is creating spaces where Black women and girls can thrive.”

November 21, 2024

What started out as a shared dream of owning and designing a hotel quickly turned into a game-changing non-profit for tennis when Virginia Thornton and Kimberly Selden discovered their mutual passion for the sport.

November 14, 2024

One Hampton Roads non-profit is serving a greater purpose and redefining the sport of tennis. The non-profit, Black Girls Tennis Club teaches young black girls how to play tennis, getting them involved in something positive.

October 18, 2024

The duo created the intentional organization to pour into future generations of players. They're also dismantling notions often associated with the sport.

September 6, 2024

Kimberly Selden and Virginia Thornton are the cofounders of Black Girls Tennis Club, a non-profit whose mission is to promote equity and wellness through the sport. “We fulfill our mission, which is to liberate Black women and girls through play with care,” says Selden. NBC's Ally Love reports for TODAY.

May 23, 2024

“We're changing the game by creating a space and inserting ourselves into that space, to make it better for everybody,” said Kimberly Selden, co-founder of Black Girls Tennis Club.

May 26. 2023

“There's a lot of country club-level sports that we don't necessarily have access to. So it's more than tennis. This is their entry point to livelihood or maybe a future career or a scholarship or how they provide for their families.”

June 16, 2022

"As a child, I was always on the tennis court," co-founder Thornton said. “I really started to notice I was the only black girl on the team. It’s intimidating, even if no one purposefully intimidates you. Just not seeing anyone like you is an issue.”

The organization's purpose is as straightforward as the club’s title: a tennis club that aims to provide young Black women with free tennis clinics.