Tar Heel national champion restores hometown tennis courts
This year, women’s tennis player Reese Brantmeier ’26 completed a project she pledged to do as a fourth grader.
All-America. Player of the Year. National champion. North Carolina senior Reese Brantmeier has too many tennis accomplishments to list in entirety here.
But none has been as rewarding to her as the completion of The Reese Brantmeier Project, the restoration of two community tennis courts in her hometown of Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Growing up with a passion for tennis came with its challenges, like courts at her elementary school that were unplayable. She was fortunate. Her family was able to drive her 45 minutes to an hour to courts where she could practice every day. Not everyone had that luxury.
In the fourth grade, Brantmeier told her principal that she was going to fix those courts, recalled her mother, Becky Brantmeier. The magnitude of the project was a bit much for a fourth-grader, but once she arrived at Carolina in 2022, Brantmeier was ready to get to work.
Brantmeier and her mother teamed up with the Patrick W. Ryan Memorial Tennis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to promoting tennis in southeastern Wisconsin. After nearly three years, the courts were completed this summer.
“She does not drop anything. It is a conviction,” Becky Brantmeier said of her daughter. “If she says it, it’s happening.”
Brantmeier is very grateful for her mother’s support. “She was the first person to help me get it off the ground, so it was special to be able to share this with her.”
People in attendance for the grand opening in July included Brantmeier, her family, her elementary school principal, her UNC coaches and many of the Whitewater community members. Several local elementary school students came out to play on the new courts.
“Knowing how much this would have meant to me when I was 8 years old is so cool,” Brantmeier said. “Knowing that my 8-year-old self would be so excited to go play on these courts and being able to see that opportunity be given to any 8-year-old who’s in that elementary school now.”
Brian Kalbas, UNC women’s tennis head coach, flew up for the ceremony to show his support.
“Going to the dedication and everybody coming out to the dedication, it was a moment that was truly special,” he said. “It’s just amazing how much she has meant to so many people in that hometown.”
But this isn’t surprising to anyone who has gotten to know Brantmeier. She’s unselfish. She cares about others.
“It’s so rare in this day and age for someone who is that talented and that gifted want to give back to so many other people,” Kalbas said. “It’s usually that they want to reap all the benefits. They want to be showered with the praise, and she’s not that way. She’s unique.”
The tennis player’s mother is now learning lessons from her daughter.
“I’m home now with my dogs and my husband, and this experience has made me think, ‘You know what? I’m going to step out of my comfort zone and do something,’” Becky Brantmeier said. “She has motivated me and a lot of other people.”
For the tennis player, it was always about how she could impact others. She wasn’t concerned about how difficult it might be to make this dream a reality.
“If you have the right intentions, and you find the right people, you can really achieve anything,” she said.
And she did.
