Orange County – November 2009
-image-3105″ title=”09.11.oc1″ src=”https://www.insidetennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/09.11.oc1.jpg” alt=”Tournament Honoree Vic Braden enjoying the company of Karin Davidson, Kim Parham and Serena Merlino.” width=”500″ height=”335″ />
The 7th annual Queen of Hearts Charity Tournament concluded its successful two-week run at the prestigious Newport Beach Tennis Club. Lost amid the color and competition was the message to the player participants and the tennis community of Orange County that tennis in the name of charity is a serious business.
Following in the proud traditions established by the Adoption Guild tournament and the former Children’s Hospital Tennis Classic, the Queen of Hearts Tux and Tennies celebration hosted an enthusiastic field of singles and doubles players, included a free gala/dinner, poolside party complete with live entertainment, dancing and a spirited night of casino rivalry.
Conceived 10 years ago, the Queen of Hearts Foundation was founded as a means of raising community awareness and funds for the detection, research and cure of the debilitating and deadly disease, ovarian cancer. Known as the “silent killer” this most serious of all gynecological cancers will effect over 35,000 this year. Early detection and treatment can result in a 90% satisfactory and successful cure rate. Tournament Director Deidre Wilson thanked the many sponsors, players, the Orange County Grand Prix and all of the supporters for helping to raise over $45,000.
Winners were Jamil Atcha/Chico Bonner (6.0 MD), Julie Shapiro
/Jennifer Lyons (6.0 WD), Jamil Atcha/Christen Bartelt (6.0 MXD), Samantha Mills/Tatiana Steinberg (5.5 WD), Julien Faurel/Kate Romm (5.5 MXD), Rob Horsch (5.5 MS), Bruce Beinlich/Fernando Hernandez (5.0 MD), Pam Bruns/Julie David (5.0 WD), Chris Cyga/Stella Tran (5.0 MXD), Bruce Beinlich (5.0 MS), Bill Markle/John Geis (4.5 MD), Terri Anderson/Laurel Dennis (4.5 WD), Al Ramirez/Anne Marie Risquez-Tomasyan (4.5 MXD), Andrew Bartlett (4.5 MS), Trisha Dang (4.5 WS), Rick Covey/Bob Renko (4.0 MD), Tricia Guinto/Janet Lee (4.0 WD), Geoffrey Wey/Dodie Nordberg (4.0 MXD), Tim O’Neil (4.0 MS), Nadia Dorsey (4.0 WS), Dennis Rispoli/Nick Rispoli (3.5 MD), Treeva Beard/Ann Bergeron (3.5 WD), Mike Gray/Tracey Neuman (3.5 MXD), Fred Afshar (3.5 MS), Dennis Claus/Lisa Sigaty (century mixed).
The next tournaments in the Grand Prix Series of Community tournaments are: The Newport Beach Tennis Club, Oct. 30-31 and Nov. 1; the 14th Annual Mexico Madness, Grand Prix trip and tournament to Manzanillo, Mexico, November 11, followed by the (rescheduled) Tustin Hills Racquet Club, Dec. 4-6.
OCCTA Awarded USTA Grant
The USTA announced that the Orange County Community Tennis Association (OCCTA) has been awarded a Program/Project Support Grant in the amount of $7,000.
The grants are designed to support community based organizations who are seeking funding to support their general tennis programming, project and equipment needs. The organizations that were selected met the following criteria: increasing tennis participation, supporting programming and fostering diversity with both participation and programming. Loren Nelson, OCCTA President, said, “As a non-profit, funding is always a challenge yet the demand for services and programming in the community continues to rise. With the help of the USTA , the OCCTA can more readily focus our energy and attention not only on increasing the interest in tennis within our local communities, but continue and expand our programs that are much needed in schools to battle youth obesity.”
