Combining passions: playing tennis and helping others
17-year-old founder of Yellowship, Vihaan Iyer shares his journey in getting shortlisted for the President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Award with MUK QI EN.
Vihaan Iyer, 17, started Yellowship, a community initiative aimed to give new life to tennis balls after being inspired by his mother, Dipa Swaminathan, the founder of ItsRainingRaincoats, a social enterprise for migrant workers in Singapore.
Growing up watching his mother gain success, he was inspired to give back to the community and stumbled upon the idea of repurposing tennis balls. The balls have been used for massage at old age homes, toys for shelter dogs, and even as tripod support for film crews, according to information found on his Facebook page.
Vihaan says, “[My mother] made me realise how simple it is to put a smile on people's faces to make a difference, and how amazing it is and how inspiring it is to start a movement with so many people behind you that share the same passion that you do.”
Vihaan is a passionate tennis player who achieved a rank of 22 in the Asian Tennis Federation rankings for under 14 in 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is a student at United World College of South East Asia, where he works with 14 student volunteers.
The love his parents have for helping people pushed him to start Yellowship. However, the work does not come without hardship.
In the early stages of Yellowship, Vihaan could not find donors because Yellowship was an unknown entity.
“To receive tennis balls from the public, we needed to make a name for ourselves,” he says.
A slowly diminishing passion and moments of self-doubt overcame Vihaan as he would often question himself whether the effort he put in has made a difference and if he should have taken his passion elsewhere. These moments of self-doubt were weighed down with a sense of impatience from having to attend university and National Service in a few years’ time.
Vihaan overcame this huge obstacle by heeding advice from his mother to utilise social media. Gaining reach by constantly posting and attaching his contact number at the end of every post helped get donations.
“The thing that really put us on the map was that article from The Straits Times, which happened by me sending a lot of emails to people in the migrant worker dormitories because I've been building up a massive amount of tennis balls for a huge donation,” Vihaan says.
Ms Swaminathan, had to hold back from guiding Vihaan through his journey with Yellowship as she “wanted to give him the freedom and also the responsibility to charter his own course”.
Ms Swaminathan says, “It's more about growing something authentic, something you truly believe in, and then enjoying the journey.”
Vihaan and his mother, Dipa Swaminathan, together with a migrant worker at a construction site after giving out tennis balls.
(PHOTO CREDITS: DIPA SWAMINATHAN)
Mr Manickam Manickaselvam, a migrant worker who received tennis balls from Yellowship, used them to relieve his backaches and to play games like cricket.
Mr Manickaselvam explains that they use the balls to relieve their pain by rolling it under their bodies.
Shortly after the news feature, Vihaan was shortlisted for the President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Award and reached the final round of nominations. He won the Young Changemakers Grant of $3,000 to help in the development of Yellowship and has been nominated for the 15th EcoFriend Awards. Vihaan has been invited to a conference in the Bahamas, a build-up to COP27 which he is most excited about. The COP27 is a build-up to the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the UN Climate Change Conference 2022.
Decathlon has even approached Yellowship for a collaboration, which is expected to take place after resolving some legal issues, Vihaan says.
When asked about his future plans for Yellowship, Vihaan shares his idea of placing bins around tennis courts and in condominiums around Singapore to make donating tennis balls more convenient for everybody.
“When they’re playing tennis, or they find that they have used tennis balls, they can conveniently drop them off in a bin near them,” Vihaan says. “And then we can have volunteers swing by and bring them to my house.”
Vihaan shares two pieces of advice from his parents that he applied to Yellowship. “The comeback will be bigger than the setback,” Vihaan says. “Success is always rewarded to those who deserve it.”
Vihaan (in yellow) demonstrates how to use tennis balls to relieve stiff muscles in the neck and back using basic physiotherapy methods to a group of migrant workers at a construction site.
(PHOTO CREDITS: DIPA SWAMINATHAN)