Arizona Juniors Ace Community and Environmental Impact at Halloween Mixed Doubles Event

Second Serve AZ Young Athletes Showcase Upcycled Creations and Innovative Repressurizing Technology

On October 25, the Phoenix Tennis Center buzzed with energy that went beyond the matches themselves. In conjunction with the L6 Halloween mixed doubles tournament, a student-led nonprofit Second Serve AZ hosted a tennis ball recycling campaign, demonstrating a powerful commitment to community and environment. Founded by young athletes, Second Serve AZ is a nonprofit that collects used tennis balls and transforms them into creative furniture and art pieces. What began as a class project has grown into a movement to give tennis balls a second life rather than sending them to landfills.

Rallying the Community for Reuse

Throughout the day, Second Serve’s booth offered interactive displays of its unique designs from chairs to art installations made with recycled tennis balls and handed out fun, informative materials to raise awareness about the environmental impact of tennis-ball waste. Attendees could drop off their used tennis balls in collection bins on site, helping fuel the nonprofit’s next phase of creative upcycling.

Beyond the Bin: A Second Serve for Tennis Balls

The innovations continued with a special presentation by Jayden Liu, the Head of Innovation for Second Serve AZ. Liu demonstrated a tennis ball pressurizer he engineered by adapting a Vevor power coating machine. The custom-built device can hold up to 40 balls at once, reinflating them to make them playable again."Most people don't realize that a tennis ball loses its pressure long before the felt wears out," Liu explained to a captivated audience. "Our pressurizer is a solution to bring 'dead' balls back to life for practice sessions, extending their useful life before they are ultimately recycled into art or new products. It's about maximizing every ball's potential."

Compared to commercially available tennis ball pressurizers, this device offers a significantly larger capacity, making it ideal for coaches who manage large quantities of balls. Second Serve AZ also plans to use the system to repressurize balls in bulk and donate them to Title I schools, helping students from low-income families pursue their passion for tennis.The combination of high-tech engineering and hands-on crafts provided a powerful, multi-faceted look at the circular economy for tennis equipment.

Looking Forward The success of the Halloween event has energized the group more than ever. Second Serve AZ aims to build on this momentum with future recycling drives and educational programs at tournaments, clubs, and schools across the state.By teaming up on and off the court, Arizona's tennis community is proving that it's possible to compete at a high level while also serving a higher purpose.About Second Serve AZ: Second Serve AZ is a student-led nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting sustainability and access within tennis. Through equipment recycling and redistribution programs, the group works to reduce the sport's environmental footprint and ensure all children have the opportunity to play.