Jaslyn Barrow
Building Community Through Tennis
Master of Science in Sport and Human Performance
Fall 2014
Greenville, Mississippi
Jaslyn Barrow is a proud native of Greenville, MS, passionate educator, and devoted mother to her bright and spirited daughter, Brooklyn. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in History from Tougaloo College in 2018 and later completed her Master of Business Administration at Jackson State University in 2022. Jaslyn currently serves as a Social Studies and Learning Strategies teacher at Coleman Middle School in her hometown. In addition to her role in the classroom, she coaches both golf and tennis, intentionally linking academics and athletics to instill in her student-athletes the mindset that success is holistic—both on the court and in the classroom.
Project Feature: Building Community Through Tennis
For her Social Entrepreneurship Project, Jaslyn is tackling two intersecting needs in the Mississippi Delta: low community health outcomes and limited parental and community engagement in youth sports, particularly tennis. Her initiative is centered on promoting tennis as a vehicle for connection, wellness, and growth, with the goal of increasing both youth participation and adult involvement in the sport.
Tennis, Jaslyn believes, has untapped potential in the Delta. It’s a sport that not only promotes discipline and teamwork, but also offers proven health benefits—adding up to ten years to a person’s life expectancy. In a region where Mississippi’s obesity rates remain among the highest in the country, Jaslyn sees an opportunity to introduce a sport that’s inclusive, accessible, and deeply impactful.
Her project aims to strengthen community ties by getting families involved in tennis programming and creating educational experiences around the sport. By fostering collaboration between parents, schools, and community leaders, she hopes to build a culture where athleticism and academics go hand-in-hand, and where tennis becomes a tool for long-term community wellness.
She lives by the quote “Choose your hard!” In life, everything will be difficult, but some difficulties have a more relaxing and enjoyable outcome. It is important that we do our best in all things because life will never be easy, so we have the option to “choose our hard”, but we must choose wisely.