Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award
The Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award celebrates the legendary sports icon's commitment to leadership and service, and honors high school and college-aged students who, like Billie Jean King, use sports to improve their communities. Honorees will either receive a one-time college scholarship or direct a grant to an eligible nonprofit aligned with their work.
2023 Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award Honorees
Jordan Adeyemi
Jordan Adeyemi is a student-athlete and a Special Olympics Youth Ambassador for Georgia, a role which has allowed him to represent and raise awareness around inclusion, and support for those with disabilities. He is helping to break down the stigmas surrounding disabilities and encouraging others to view individuals based on their strengths and talents, rather than their limitations. Adeyemi also has co-founded Shoeless Ones, a nonprofit program that helps to level the playing field by providing athletic shoes to kids in under-served communities, helping athletes overcome limitations and pursue their passions for sport. Recently, Jordan was selected as one of 100 students in the country to attend the Disney Dreamers Academy, a program that recognizes individuals that are making an impact in their communities.
Ashley Badis
A student-athlete at the University of Hawaii, Ashley Badis is one of four plaintiffs in a landmark Title IX lawsuit. During her time competing in swimming and water polo in high school, Badis found that female athletes were treated like second-class citizens compared to male athletes. Badis wanted to stand up not only for the female athletes on her team, but for all girls in the school so they would not experience the same problems she had. Badis has filed a class action Title IX lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, seeking system-wide change and Title IX compliance to end gender discrimination in high school sports.
Rishan Patel
Richan Patel is the founder and CEO of the sports equity nonprofit, AlleyOop Kids, and its legacy project Lending Lockers. The 16-year-old from California started the Lending Lockers, which installs lockers filled with sports equipment at under-resourced schools. In just 10 months, Lending Lockers have been installed at more than 65 schools, serving over 50,000 youth in his community. Patel has also empowered Locker Captains, who are fellow students that are equally passionate about sports equity and they manage inventory and gear drives for their locker. The project has expanded to assisted living facilities for neurodiverse young adults and he recently partnered with EmpowerHER in India to provide lockers to dozens of all-girls schools.
In addition to the three Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award honorees, the following young people have been given honorable mentions:
Rumaiz Ahmed, Jamaica, New York
Onyekachukwu Arah, Silver Spring, Maryland
Ronny Delgado Zavala, Bronx, New York
Molly Dreher, Sacramento, California
Denecia Fernandes, Inglewood, California
Ana Klenke, Ballwin, Missouri
Viva Kreis, Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania
Sandhya Mahesh, Pearland, Texas
William Munro III, Gainesville, Florida
Ayanna Shah, San Diego, California
2022 Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award Honorees
Alicia Serratos
Kendall Dudley
Lucy Westlake
Noor Abukaram
Sydney Moore
2021 Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award Honorees
Adom Appiah
Tory Bailey
Gabriel Banuelos
Jacob Eusebio
Amani Shah
Holly Wilson
2020 Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award Honorees
Joel Apudo
Batouly Camara
Ally Friedman
Javonn Islar
Chelsea Quito
Elijah Murphy and Niah Woods
2019 Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award Honorees
Harrison Barnes
Matthew Diaz and Lisa Parks
Yasmine Sanchez