By RICHIE HALL
Ashley Jonathan has done many little things to help make the world a better place.
All those little things have added up to a big award.
Jonathan, a Guerin Catholic and now Bellarmine University graduate, won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award for Division II women’s tennis. The award has been presented since 1982. According to a story on the Bellarmine University website, the award is given to student-athletes “who have exhibited outstanding sportsmanship and leadership, as well as scholastic, extracurricular and tennis achievements in ways that embody the legacy of tennis icon and humanitarian Arthur Ashe Jr.”
“I never expected to win this award,” said Jonathan. She has been doing various little acts of charity here and there, usually in creative ways.
“I never thought those would go noticed. I can’t even believe it,” said Jonathan.
One of Jonathan’s charity acts involves something many people take for granted: Soap. Jonathan noticed that whenever the team would travel and stay in hotels, those little bars of soap and shampoo were being wasted. So, she and her teammates began collecting them.
“We took soaps on trips, soaps we didn’t use and we asked the front desk for extra soaps,” said Jonathan. “Every single year, we would collect them through our fall and spring season, decorate them in boxes or baskets and deliver them to different homeless shelters each year.”
Jonathan and her teammates would do the same thing with their tennis equipment as well, donating used tennis shoes (up to 83 pounds’ worth), and donate them locally to those in need in Louisville (the home of Bellarmine University), Indianapolis and to third-world countries. Jonathan is working to make this a tradition for all teams at Bellarmine, “to start providing soaps, extra shoes, or anything else that is right at our hands that could make a huge difference to people who are homeless or in need of help,” she said.
The team also donated tennis balls as well, and played tennis with children in need. “Our whole team would play and practice with kids that don’t have much wealth and we would practice with them and give them lessons or tips,” said Jonathan.
Another good example was during one season, the Knights team made Christmas boxes. The team used old tennis shoes boxes “and decorated them with beautiful wrapping paper,” said Jonathan. Then each team member donated $10, went to Dollar Tree, purchased items such as gloves, water, hand warmers and blankets, put them in the boxes and gave them to homeless shelters.
The Bellarmine team has done other things to help its community, such as trash cleanups around the Ohio River. Jonathan has also helped out with the Make-a-Wish Foundation and breast cancer organizations. They may be little things, but Jonathan said that the accumulation of all these acts “makes a huge difference.”
Jonathan was a star for Guerin Catholic’s tennis team, but didn’t know if she would be playing at the college level. “I wasn’t the fittest and it was kind of terrifying to me at that moment,” she said.
But her family members convinced her to play, telling her, “You can’t waste God’s talent that He gave you. You have to use it and you have to show everyone what you can do with that talent.”
So, Jonathan began playing. She soon began to see the benefits of participating in college tennis, which weren’t limited to athletics.
“It got me fitter, it gave me an escape from when I was stressed,” said Jonathan. “It gave me an immediate group of friends and pushed me to new levels mentally and physically that I never thought I could be pushed to. I would not be where I would be today without having tennis in my life. I’ve been playing since I was 6 years old. It taught me to be an independent person, it taught me to be a self-driven person.”
“I really learned how to micromanage all those parts in my life,” said Jonathan. “I realized I can do so much more, too. College is about finding yourself. All of those great ideas I had when I was a kid, college made me find all those resources and start doing it.”
Jonathan constructed a motto her freshman year, which she addressed in her letter for the Arthur Ashe Award: “Being a great leader is using your God-given talents, humbly, and with a ready heart to give to those in need, regardless if you receive any credit.”
Jonathan is certainly receiving credit for her actions, on and off the court. She holds a record of 140-61 playing for the Bellarmine Knights. During her senior season, Jonathan played No. 1 singles and was 12-5, with her only losses to Division I players and Division II All-Americans. She also played doubles; Jonathan and her partner Ava Ratcliff compiled a 17-1 record.
“We have a very strong team,” said Jonathan. The Knights were 9-0 for the season before it got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Everyone knew they had to do their business on the court and everyone was there to support them,” said Jonathan. “We always have our families come to our matches.”
Bellarmine is a Division II school competing in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, but will soon be transitioning to Division I play, joining the Atlantic Sun Conference. But the Knights have played a tough schedule, so Jonathan is expecting a smooth transition.
“We’ll fit in,” she said. “There are going to be some schools that are surprised.”
Jonathan majored in exercise science with a minor in psychology, and just started her first year of physical therapy school. She also got a chance to play a fifth year of tennis, as many NCAA athletes who lost out on their spring seasons were granted an extra year.
“I feel blessed that I was given an extra year,” said Jonathan.