PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – A pair of tennis-playing friends from Portland are making their favorite sport more accessible for kids.
Jiya Metha is a state tennis doubles champion and team captain for the Catlin Gabel class of ’26. Rohan Shah is a new graduate of Sunset High, the Apollos’ team captain and 2025 salutatorian.
“Tennis has been the sport I have been playing most of my life, so the lessons I’ve learned through tennis, I’ve been carrying everywhere else I go, so it’s just been really important to me,” Metha said.
Both high-achieving, 4.0 students are bonded by a belief in the benefits of smashing the barriers of entry to their ace of an activity.
“I used to be one of those kids,” Shah said. “Growing up, I didn’t really have the most stable home life, so Mom put me in tennis lessons all the time so always going to tennis, it was sort of like a safe haven for me.”
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The two volunteered at Portland Tennis and Education in St. Johns before forming their own nonprofit organization called Smashing Barriers.
Smashing Barriers nears year three in offering equitable access to the sport for kids through free equipment, clinics and tournaments.
“We’ve also expanded across four states with two chapters in California, chapter in Arizona, chapter in Texas and obviously our main chapter in Oregon,” Metha said.
Metha just received the Congressional Award Gold Medal, the highest of honors.
“The most important thing is being able to make these kids smile and believe in themselves,” Metha said. “If I have the ability to make an impact, why not use that ability?”
The Smashing Barriers buddies have also launched a youth podcast titled “The Career Compass.”
“Through the podcast, we often ask the interviewees where they’ve come from, the hardships that they faced in life, and just to show the kids that there are so many people from different backgrounds where they were in the past didn’t stop them from becoming who they are now,” Metha said. “And who you are now doesn’t affect who you are going to be in the future.”
Metha is going to go be a senior at Catlin Gable and look to repeat as a state champion next spring. Shah is headed down to USC in the business school.
Learn how to help, volunteer or donate at smashingbarriers.org.
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