Solinco Tennis is Here!

Big time thanks to Solinco Sports for recently sponsoring the USTA Adult League District Championships here in Idaho. They sent up a bunch of their awesome strings that went out to each team captain at the tournament. If you were lucky enough to get a set or have used their products in the past, make sure to give them a thank you on their Facebook page! If you enjoy their products and want more, let me know. I just might know someone who can help out...........

Somebody find me the Queen CD........

As the Adult League District Championships wrapped up on Sunday, I found myself thinking I should be listening to Queen's "We are the Champions." That's right, my men's 4.0 team, Team PuraVida! pulled out a district championship by finishing 2 individual wins ahead of the second place team this weekend. We are now Sectionals bound at the end of August. Congratulations to all the other teams that competed. There were so many great players and matches this weekend. One division even had to come down to individual sets lost to determine a winner! Also, a big thanks goes out to my IdTA co-workers and all of our volunteers for putting on such a great event and keeping everything running smoothly. Great job everybody!  I'll post some of my wife's awesome pictures when she has any time to get me some!

Save the C of I Team!!!

Here is an open letter written by our Executive Director, Steve Bickham, calling for support of the College of Idaho's mens tennis team which is in danger of being cut this year.

Hi All,

If you have not heard yet, the College of Idaho has recently decided to drop Men’s Tennis from its list of sports. As you I am sure know, they just announced a few months ago that they would be adding Football to their athletic department for the 2013-14 school year and promised that this would not affect any of their current sports! Now, less than 3 months later they are dropping Men’s Tennis!

As the representative for the USTA in Idaho, I am extremely concerned when a school decides to make a decision such as this. It may not seem like a big deal to the normal league or tournament player, but if we lose this tennis program we lose one of our only opportunities for junior tennis players in Idaho to continue playing at a collegiate level. Boise State is such a dominant program that it is very difficult for one of our local players to even make the team, and the College of Idaho has really been the only local option. Their roster consists almost entirely of local players and Cisco Limbago, their tennis coach, has done a great job of recruiting out of this area.

When a program like this is lost, it almost never comes back. I was a former coach at Arizona State University which had been a perennial top 25 team, and even boasted a Singles National Champion at one point, and that team was dropped about 6-7 years ago…and it has never been reinstated and probably never will be! We don’t want that to happen at the College of Idaho and we need any tennis player, parent, or tennis enthusiast to start making noise! If you have a minute, please drop an email or letter to President Henberg and/or Athletic Director Marty Holly to express your concerns. I believe we can make them change their mind, but it will only happen if enough people locally show them that they care!

Contact Info: President Henberg mhenberg@collegeofidaho.edu

Athletic Director, Marty Holly mholly@collegeofidaho.edu

Tennis Coach, Cisco Limbago climbago@collegeofidaho.edu

I have enlisted the help of the National USTA and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association with this effort. If you have an interest in helping with their national effort with this or with other schools, please drop me an email to let me know and I will add you to the advocacy network. You can also look at what they do and sign up for their network at this link:

Direct Link: http://www.itatennis.com/AboutITA/Advocacy.htm

LONG STORY SHORT—WE CAN’T LET THE COLLEGE OF IDAHO DROP MEN’S TENNIS! The tennis playing kids in Idaho need this opportunity and as tennis enthusiasts we need to fight for it! Please spread the word, forward this to anyone and everyone, and help us stop this from happening!

Thanks in advance.

Steve

Please pass this message on and help support the C of I team!!

"There's a storm coming Mr. Locke......"

Hopefully somebody caught my "The Dark Knight Rises" reference in the title there (great movie by the way, even at 3:30am). The storm I am referencing would be none other than USTA Adult League Districts, which is set to kick off this Friday. Right now, our office looks like a house you might see on "Hoarders." Katie has stuff stacked floor to ceiling everywhere trying to get everything in place for each of the sites that are hosting play. I hope that all of the league players are aware of and appreciate how much work she and Spencer have been doing in preparation for Districts. The rest of us in office are just along for the ride!

Steve, the IdTA Executive Director, and I had a very productive meeting with some supporters in Caldwell yesterday. I think we are in very good shape to expand Tennis is Elementary into some Caldwell schools this fall! That will be a huge step for our vision of expanding the tennis opportunities in the western end of the valley. If you live in Caldwell and want us to bring tennis to your child's elementary school this year, let me know!!

Additionally, let's help keep the men's tennis program at College of Idaho! The program is due to be cut this coming school year, costing talented kids an opportunity to continue their tennis careers. Call or email the College of Idaho athletic department today and let them know the men's tennis team matters!!!!

 "Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome."
Arthur Ashe 

Welcome Back!!

For those lucky few who read my blog, yes I am still alive!  Better yet, I am providing a sneak peek at something some lucky junior players are going to get their hands on this weekend.

Big thanks to Solinco Sports, our new partner for Adult League Districts, for providing me with some demos! Solinco manufactures high quality strings, tennis racquets and other gear. They have a tremendous following at all levels of tennis from recreational to college and pro! Let me know if you are interested in any of their products and I can point you in the right direction! You can also learn more at www.solincosports.com. More to come on them soon!