Kentucky Tennis Family,
June is here and tennis is in full swing around the commonwealth, but first and foremost, we need to talk about the Kentucky Tennis Tour that took place around the state from June 2-9! WOW!!! What a great week of tennis touching 20 locations around the state!
Your amazing USTA Kentucky Staff loaded the van, locked in the GPS, and hit the road from Paducah to Pikeville and lots of points in between. And WOW! Kentucky…you showed up!! By all accounts nearly every stop met or exceeded expectations, with nearly 900 people participating in clinics, family events, tournaments, cook-outs and more across the state!
We hope you were able to attend, volunteer at, or invite friends and family to participate at the event in your area! I was thrilled to have my sister, sister-in-law and 3 nieces and nephews participated at the event in Lexington and had a blast! My nieces and nephews are already involved in some tennis programs locally, but Bree & Kallye aren’t currently players, and although they hilariously dubbed themselves the “tennis toddlers” they had a great time and expressed interest in playing some tennis moving forward…you know I’ll stay on them about that for sure!
I also want to give a shout-out to our former President, Terry Bunnell of Glasgow! Terry has championed and led the charge for the Kentucky Tennis Tour for more than a year and really put his heart and soul into this event – including taking a week off work so that he could be at every stop on the tour! You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone more passionate about community tennis around the state and his commitment to the Kentucky Tennis Tour is a prime example of that passion! Thank you Terry!
So, on behalf of the staff and the USTA Kentucky Board of Directors, thank you to each and very CTA, Club, Parks & Recreation Department, and community volunteer that help make the Kentucky Tennis Tour a success!
Next up are the 18 & Over Adult Championships in Lexington, June 22-24 and the 40 & Over Adult Championships in Louisville, June 29-July 1. Good luck to all the teams competing! And, as always, these events are not possible without the help of amazing community volunteers, so to everyone who has committed to work a few hours at the USTA Kentucky tent or be a site leader, THANK YOU! For those of you who are playing these events, please take a second to say thank you and to express your appreciation…a little kindness and gratefulness goes a long way!
Keep on Servin’!
Rainey Johns