2012 CTA Highlights and Activities here provided by local Utah District CTA’s for our Annual Report.
KANAB COMMUNITY TENNIS ASSOCIATION - This year began in early spring for one of our youth as he prepared to become the first Kanab participant in the Utah State Summer Games tennis competition. His result was a silver medal, losing only to a USTA ranked junior, quite an accomplishment for his first competitive experience. Our summer program was enhanced by an equipment grant from USTA Utah and another grant that enabled us to include our "healthy habits" training during our lessons. 33 youth participated in a four week, 8 lesson session and all received the correct-sized racquet, hat or visor, and water bottle. In addition to basic tennis skills, healthy habits such as skin care, proper footwear, warm up and cool down, stretching and hydration were incorporated. Small clinics were offered each week throughout the summer and fall with attendance ranging from 2 to 6 youth.
2013 will bring the challenge of keeping the courts in playing condition while preparing more players for competitive play. Our constant goals are to attract more youth and adults to learn the game, provide the correct equipment for them and be progressive in our instruction techniques for those who have mastered the basic skills.
Submitted by Andi Porter
OGDEN VALLEY COMMUNITY TENNIS ASSOCIATION - The construction of 4 tennis courts at Snowcrest Junior High in Eden was complete in August, 2012 and we had a wonderful grand opening and Play Day, with the help of Utah Tennis Association. We developed after school programs, free clinics and volunteered at the junior high school. We taught over 200 kids to play this fall!
We are currently developing a program for the elementary school and are applying for a grant for painted lines and 10 and Under equipment. Our goal next year is to teach over 400 kids! We are also trying to partner with a Utah Tennis Club to jointly hold a junior tournament in August, 2013. We are also partnering with the local high school to conduct kids clinics over the summer. It is quite an exciting time for tennis in Ogden Valley!
Submitted by Jennifer Belmont
THE UTAH TONGAN TENNIS CLUB - taught free tennis lessons in-school and afterschool starting in June at Glendale Park to students from the Glendale area with 45 students. Also, January through May, afterschool tennis was taught to students of Glendale Middle School and Mountain View Elementary. The club also hosted a Block Party in May followed by a summer program where over 85 kids received free tennis with a season ending tournament. The on court programming was organized and conducted by Lave Toli and his family, as well as members of the club who generously donate their time and services to the program. Activities of the club are lead by Ifa Motuliki who serves as the club president.
HEBER VALLEY TENNIS ASSOCIATION - Tennis is booming in Heber Valley. Of course, we have our own recreation center that allows us year round tennis. In addition, we have a pro working out of this center in Bill Damron. He is marvelous and has a big following in the junior and adult ladies programs. We did not do so well with the Quick Start with the grade schools this year for a variety of reasons. Mainly, a lot of these children do the Quick Start programs with Bill and his staff. However, we intend to do this again in the spring with help from Bill’s staff and the high school girls.
In the high school area we were good but not great. We did qualify for all teams in high school to qualify for state. As far as the girls are concerned, we finished third in state and were thrilled with this because many of these young ladies have been with us for four years. We were one set away from finishing second in state against a team we beat the week before.
Adult tennis is amazing. Board members organize men’s tennis every Saturday at the high school. We average 18 to 20 men weekly. Each year we find new men who want to play and this is just booming. The women do workouts with Bill Damron on Thursdays and we also have a very active group on Fridays.
Each year we have a mixed doubles social at the Wagstaff’s home. After tennis we have 30 people who come over for hamburgers and banana splits. We also had several mixed doubles nights. Last year we had 10 people who went to Indian Wells and we expect more this year.
Submitted by Terry & Abby Wagstaff
SOUTH JORDAN TENNIS ASSOCIATION - Since March of 2011, the South Jordan Tennis Association has continued to promote our "Pave the Way" brick program to help raise funds for our new indoor tennis facility. We had four tennis socials that were free to the public, funded and organized entirely by the SJTA. They were held in May, June, July and October. Our average attendance was 75 people. The event included free food and drink, free lessons for children, youth and adults and a mini doubles tournament with prizes. We sponsored and ran three tournaments in June, July and August, with a total of 230 participants. We cleaned the courts, which took 16 man hours. We have 5 league teams playing out of South Jordan. Three went to post-season and one played for the national title in Tucson, AZ in October.
Workouts are held 5 days a week for players of all levels for men, women and co-ed. The four teaching pros we have working in the city have been busy teaching private lessons along with running leagues and workout sessions. The program has increased since last year in participation and interest in the South Jordan area. Bingham High School has also been very involved in tournaments and socials and is backing our quest for new indoor courts.
During all the summer events, the SJTA board members worked hard and helped promote the building of the indoor tennis facility. Everyone involved is counting on us, USTA and the City to come through with our commitment to make this project a reality for the future of tennis here in South Jordan. The time is past talking about building - the time is now to make it a reality! The community is counting on us to push this through now!
A CPA, a banker, an attorney and a professional fundraiser are joining the SJTA Board this month and we expect to see another surge in the growth of the SJTA and an increase in donations and support to get the indoor tennis facility construction started by 2012.
Submitted by Steve Robbins
UINTAH BASIN TENNIS ASSOCIATION - The UBTA (Uintah Basin Tennis Association) held it’s first ever sanctioned tournament in the basin. It is called "Acin in the Basin" and we had approximately 50 participants and volunteers. Barbara Gillespie of Union High School in Roosevelt was the first player in Union High history to qualify to play in the state tournament. This is only the second year Union High School has had a girls program. The Union High School tennis team had over 45 total players participate in 2012. The Uintah High School tennis team had 65 players participate. Jared Scow, coach of Uintah High School was instrumental in getting eight brand new outdoor, post tension tennis courts built at Uintah High School. Indoor courts are on their way!
The UBTA took a group of approximately 20 high school boys and girls to watch their first ATP tournament in Indian Wells, CA. They came back as motivated to play as ever. Also, the UBTA held it’s 3rd annual Uintah Basin in Celebration with approximately 50 participants and volunteers helping to make the tournament very successful. The Uintah Recreation District held the first 10 and Under Workshop with a national USTA trainer. It was our first one ever held.
Dann Battistone and a committee of interested citizens has worked tirelessly to bring a recreation facility to Roosevelt. Roosevelt City and Duchesne County have committed to contribute $4 million dollars to this project. We are well on our way to having year round tennis in Roosevelt! Also, the Uintah Recreation District has begun discussion of a second phase of their recreation center in Vernal. We are hoping we can create enough support to push for two indoor tennis courts in this new phase.
Submitted by Dann Battistone
CACHE VALLEY TENNIS ASSOCIATION - The Cache Valley Tennis Association for 2012 did our usual Valley Tennis Events poster that we displayed at all indoor facilities around the valley. When spring came we attached them to the fences of all the public courts. Our website had some serious complications with the company 1and1. We spent several months just trying to change it over to Cache Valley Tennis association from our retiring treasurer’s name. We are excited for next year when the company DUO will sponsor our website and make it much more user friendly. They are donating all their marketing know how by designing a new logo and webpage. We found a permanent sponsor for our Summer Challenge Tennis tournament that ran in July. It will now be called the DUO Summer Challenge. With the money we earned from this tournament, we bought two new nets for the middle school and several of us installed new nets and pulled weeds.
Submitted by Carolee Hammel - President
MARRIOTT-SLATERVILLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION - The USTA 10 and Under program was held at the Harrisville City tennis courts. This program ran for 7 weeks during the months of June and July. A National USTA trainer came out in May and trained about 30 participants. This training and the training aids were very valuable in the success of this program. Of the 10 staff members, seven received the training and the other three were given the USTA training aids to assist them. A total of 84 kids were involved in this program. In addition to the 10 and Under program, we held a program for 11+, which included six moms who had never played tennis before but who had children in the 11+ or 10 and Under programs. This 11+ program ran simultaneously with 10 and Under and had 46 participants. Next year’s 10 and Under program should be even better. Training was the key and MSTA will again ask for a National trainer to assist in training new instructors. We ran a league consisting of 5 teams coming from Clearfield, Layton, Morgan, Roy and Ogden. There were approximately 40 participants. All matches were held at the Ben Lomand HS courts. A total of 6 matches were played with the top two teams being sent to SLC for the District playoffs. The league was a success. Those who participated enjoyed the league and the competition was good, especially for many who would never have had the opportunity to compete during the summer months.
Submitted by James Ito