Georgian Court University hosted Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, for a short visit Sept. 13 to the university’s Lakewood campus.

Prince Edward, third son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, visited the university and played Court Tennis as part of a two-week visit to the United States to raise awareness of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award USA. The award, open to those ages 14-24, enables young people to learn, develop and thrive through non-formal education. GCU’s Court Tennis court is the second-oldest of 11 courts in the United States.

“As the award comes to America, we now can offer the world’s leading youth achievement award to our own young people,” said Elizabeth Higgins-Beard, chief executive officer of the award foundation. “Ask anyone from abroad about the award, and likely they will tell you it celebrates what young people are capable of. For involved young adults, the award challenges them to reflect, dig a bit deeper and perhaps try something new.”

Prince Edward serves as chairman of the award foundation. The award is composed of three levels – bronze, silver and gold – and four sections: voluntary service, skills, physical recreation and adventurous journey. Participants complete all four sections at each level in order to achieve their award. At the gold level, participants also complete a residential project.

Game On

The royal’s visit to GCU included three intense Court Tennis matches (also known as Real Tennis in the United Kingdom) that were viewed by about 100 attendees. During two of those matches, the prince went up against GCU men’s soccer coach Dino Raso and women’s lacrosse coach Amy Rizzo, as well as four GCU student-athletes: Oliver Madrid, Egg Harbor City; Randy “RJ” Myles, Manahawkin; Samantha Fernandez, Toms River, and Matthew Slazyk, Peotone, Ill.

“I’m super grateful and fortunate to have been able to take advantage of this great opportunity I was given,” said Madrid, who has only been playing the sport for about nine months, since he first came to GCU. “His royal highness is a very genuine gentleman, so it made it very comforting to play with and against him.”

Making History

Georgian Court University’s court tennis court was built in 1899. It is the only U.S. court located on a university campus. The U.S. Court Tennis Preservation Foundation funded renovations at the GCU court 20 years ago and continues to underwrite a court tennis pro who is on campus two times a week.

GCU President Joseph R. Marbach granted Prince Edward an honorary doctor of public service degree for his charitable work through the award and other works, acknowledging him as GCU’s newest alumnus. Prince Edward presented GCU with a signed Court Tennis racket.

About the Award

Founded in 1956 by the Duke of Edinburgh, the award is available to young people regardless of their background, culture, physical ability, skills and interests. It is delivered around the world by schools, colleges, universities, employers, social clubs, uniformed and non-uniformed youth organizations, young offenders’ institutions, religious organizations, sports clubs and a range of other civic organizations.

More than 1.3 million young people have participated in the past year, across 130-plus countries and territories.

For more information about the award, visit https://usaward.org/