Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 6, 1990 TAG: 9005060043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"At one time, tennis really held its own in the Roanoke Valley," said Tim Strawn, vice president of the Roanoke Valley Tennis Association, a new group trying to give tennis a higher profile in the area. "We tried to sit down and say, `What's wrong?' "
The group stumped itself. However, with its perception that tennis participation and programs were sagging in the Roanoke area and with only a couple of broad goals - to get more people involved in area tennis and to develop the area's junior players - the RVTA has attacked the problem.
It has:
Taken over the role of area tennis curator from the defunct Roanoke Valley Tennis Patrons Association;
Hired a paid tennis coordinator, David Flanagan, former tennis coach at Lord Botetourt High School. One of his duties is to help avoid scheduling snafus that often resulted in Roanoke's better players being out of town for tournaments when the city or county held a tournament;
Become co-sponsor of several Roanoke-, Roanoke County- and Salem-run tournaments in hopes of turning them into moneymakers, which would help fund the club's efforts;
Launched a membership drive it hopes will spread from country-club members and experienced tournament players to the general tennis-playing public;
Secured the donation of a $300 adult scholarship from Van Der Meer tennis camp, which has its headquarters in Hilton Head, S.C. Any new adult member of the RVTA is eligible to win the scholarship in a drawing, and will receive a week of instruction either at Hilton Head or at the Van Der Meer camp at Sweet Briar College. The RVTA hopes the scholarship will encourage membership sign-ups.
The RVTA also hopes to land one of Lynchburg's three Volvo tournaments. Nene Roe, the RVTA president, said the directors of the Lynchburg tournaments have offered to let Roanoke play host to one if the RVTA can coordinate it. Volvo tennis is a nationwide program run by the United States Tennis Association and offers tournament participation for players 19 and older. Roanokers compete in the Mid-Atlantic Region and can advance to the sectional in Virginia Beach. From there, they can go to the national Volvo tournament.
"Lynchburg is a tennis community," Roe said. "There's no reason in the world that Roanoke can't support tennis."
So far, the response has not been overwhelming. Roe said the membership drive began with a mailing of about 700 letters to country-club members, members of Ridgewood Tennis Club and people on the sign-up lists of recent Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Volvo tournaments. It has produced about 100 new members at a minimum of $25 per member.
That is not enough to sustain an organization that was conceived in October after a breakfast meeting of Roe, Roanoke attorney Mark Feldmann and Roanoke businessmen Bob Bolling, Arnold Masinter and Horace Thomas. The RVTA does not have enough money for a second wave of membership mailings, but Roe said she hopes to spread the word by mouth. She is aware of skepticism in the area.
"We say we're getting better tourneys, say we're doing this," Roe said. "We may have to prove we're doing this."
If the RVTA is to meet its "tennis awareness" goal, the first sign of success or failure is likely to come this spring and summer. The RVTA is scheduled to co-sponsor 12 tournaments, including the Roanoke "Star City" Championships and Junior Championships and the Roanoke Valley Invitational Tennis Tournament. It also will be involved in the Virginia CorEast State Games' tennis venue and the USTA Women's Circuit tournament at Hunting Hills Country Club.
Roe said that when the city and county ran the summer tournaments, turnout sometimes was sparse, which led to the cancellation of some tournaments. The RVTA's goal is to promote turnout by scheduling the tournaments so they don't conflict with Volvo events and by simply encouraging players to participate.
Roe said Flanagan will direct the Wightman-Davis Cup junior tennis program, a developmental program targeted toward junior (ages 12-18) players. Among other activities, players will receive two hours of instruction per day, most likely from area college players. Flanagan said he will try to set up competition for the players with players from other junior programs, something that has not been offered recently. In recent years, Roe said, the quality of players in the program has been diluted.
Although Roe hopes all goes well during the summer, she is not expecting a tennis boom in Roanoke - at least not in 1990.
"We're a baby, and we're growing," she said of the RVTA. "We can only do so much."
by CNB