Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

Tennis business whirlwind Maria Sharapova has launched an initiative with her Supergoop! cosmetics sponsor to help make children aware of skin cancer danger, with the goal of keeping youngster safe under the sun by allowing them to use sunscreen amid the weight of legal sanctions from concerned “helicopter” parents who jealously guard all stages of their child’s upbringing.

The world No. 3 who returns to the courts in Wuhan, China after last playing at Wimbledon due to a leg injury, is working alongside Supergoop founder CEO Holly Thaggard on Project Black Dot, an education and activism platform with the singular mission to end the epidemic of skin cancer and improve skin health in America.

Sharapova, 28, has had years of sun exposure as part of her tennis career, but has also put massive emphasis on protecting her sleek epidermis. The project began this week with its first goal to obtain 100,000 signed “permission” slips from apparently over-protective American parents to actually let their offspring venture out in the rays during school recess hours.

In the land of the lawsuit, the permission slip allows children to be given sunscreen at school when they go outdoors. “Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer combined…and yet, skin cancer is one of the most preventable of cancers,” said Thaggard.

“Our goal at Supergoop! is for sun protection to be as recognized as a healthy habit as the need for women to get mammograms or even more simply to teach your child to wear a seat belt or brush her teeth.”

The project echoes the longtime sun-protection campaign in Australia of Slip, Slap, Slop. With legal ramifications hanging over every move in America, 47 or the 50 states  currently restrict public school children from openly carrying and applying sunscreen at school without a signed permission slip.

Though Russian, the totally Americanized Sharapova sees nothing particularly strange in the odd legal requirement, testimony to how long she has lived in the US.

“Since the age of 7, I have spent countless hours under the sun on a daily basis. Growing up at the tennis academy, sunscreen application was a necessity before I stepped onto the court. I assumed this healthy habit was one that most children in the US are exposed to, but through my involvement with Supergoop! this past year, I’ve quickly learned that this is just not the case.”

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.