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!!