By KELLY McCARTHY
Enthusiastic players from every skill level participated Saturday in the inaugural Make The World Better Pickleball Tournament in Sea Isle City hosted by former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin.
“Every kid, every neighborhood deserves a safe park to go play and grow up and meet people,” said Barwin, the founder and president of MTWB, a nonprofit charity engaged in public space revitalization projects throughout the city of Philadelphia.
Some back story: When Barwin came to Philadelphia to play with the Eagles and founded MTWB, he would meet Jeff Tubbs, who had an organization called Urban Roots. It began when Barwin was riding his bike by a park project that Tubbs was working on.
“We decided to partner on a couple of projects together, Urban Roots and Make The World Better, and then ultimately they decided to merge the organizations into one,” recalled Jesse Rendell, the executive director of MTWB and former board member of the organization.
In addition to his role with MTWB, Barwin, who spent a 10-year career in the NFL, currently is director of player development for the Eagles.
“I stopped playing in 2019, and I’ve been working for the Eagles ever since,” he said.
Barwin, raised in Detroit, is passionate about giving back. He witnessed firsthand the importance of how one person and one playground can have on a community. He credits his giving back sensibilities to his family upbringing.
“It all goes back to my parents,” Barwin said. “MTWB is an acronym for Make The World Better, but it’s also an acronym for my parents: Margaret and Thomas William Barwin. So, they inspired me to do this.”
To date, MTWB has completed three projects, and is currently at work on a $20 million recreation center in the Grays Ferry section of Southwest Philadelphia.
Vince D’Ambrosio, co-owner of the project management firm Castle & Associates, along with his wife Chantel Castle, said the recreation center is expected to include a new turf field. Castle & Associates is supervising all of the contractors and overseeing the details of the project.
Meanwhile, the MTWB fundraising tournament in Sea Isle took place from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at the pickleball courts at 42nd Place.
“It’s awesome to see all of these people giving back,” Sea Isle businessman Chris Glancey said as he looked out at the crowd of participants who gave their time and money to raise funds to help inner city youth at the event.
“Connor and Jeff are building playgrounds in the inner city for youth to be able to have a place to go and learn athletics, to learn team building, sportsmanship, to be better people,” Glancey added.
Glancey and his wife, Amy, are the owners of Ludlam Bar & Grill, one of the event’s sponsors. The day culminated at Ludlam for an after-party and much-deserved respite for those who participated on the courts – on a day that began with clouds, but quickly turned sunny.
A large turnout for the event were members of Sea Isle’s Iannone family, who were excited to support the cause and MTWB treasurer, Branden Grove, husband of Carly Iannone, whose late father, Matthew, has been credited with bringing the game of pickleball, along with his good friend, Ed Hunter, to Sea Isle.
And so, for the Iannone’s the day had special significance.
“It’s such an amazing foundation,” said Lisa Iannone, decked out in playing attire and holding a pickleball paddle, ready to learn the sport.
Lisa Iannone and husband, Arthur, owners of Sands Department Store, were looking forward to playing on a team with their daughter, Krista, and her good friend, Hannah.
“They handed us the rules, and we’re going to wing it,” Lisa said.
In attendance to lend support to MTWB were several members of the Eagles organization, including Dave Spadaro.
“It’s great to see when players retire, and they come back to the area, and they stay in the area, and they give back to that area and make a difference. It’s really wonderful to see that. And Connor is a role model in every way,” said Spadaro, who has been with the Eagles organization for 26 years and whose title is “Eagles Insider.”
“So, Connor played four years with the Eagles and now works for the team. He’s a super-solid guy. He’s the kind of guy that anything Connor Barwin does, you want to support. He truly wants to make the world a better place,” Spadaro continued.
In addition to Barwin, you couldn’t help but recognize the star power of Eagles All-Pro and Pro-Bowl center Jason Kelce and his wife, Kylie, playing out on the courts to lend their support to MTWB.
Major sponsors of the event were Castle & Associates and Stateside Vodka.
