Volley for Tennis offers mentoring opportunity in city schools

A Tennis Topics article by John Packett, RTA Staff Writer

Katherine Whitehead and budding tennis stars from Overby-Sheppard Elementary School

When the Quick Start Tennis program was offered to the city of Richmond’s elementary schools last fall, there was a need for volunteers to set up and help run the new activity.

The Richmond Tennis Association, in conjunction with the generosity of Elizabeth and Michael Frazier, got the ball rolling by paying for each school’s membership fee ($50) in the U.S. Tennis Association so they could have access to the Quick Start format and curriculum.

The community-oriented Fraziers donated the nets and other equipment for the project, which uses smaller courts and racquets with a foam ball – as well as a modified system of scoring -- to make it easier for the kids to learn the game.

But the physical education teachers at each school were going to have to have some help from the tennis community.

That’s where Slater Dunbar entered the picture and solicited help from the Richmond Suburban Ladies Tennis League.

“Elizabeth Frazier and Fred Bruner [past RTA president] asked me to create a volunteer force to help with the Quick Start program,” said Dunbar, who is the club coordinator for the Suburban League at Willow Oaks Country Club and plays on a USTA 3.0 team there.

Dunbar came up with Volley for Tennis, a slogan for volunteers who wanted to give their time to Quick Start in the schools.

“It was something of a play on words for volunteering and being a part of tennis to help the schools,” she said. “I thought the ladies would like it.

“So I approached each club in the Suburban League and asked them to promote this volunteer effort within their clubs and to their friends and neighbors, or anyone else in Richmond involved in tennis who had some time to give to the city school kids.

“It just seemed like a very worthwhile effort to promote tennis among children who hadn’t necessarily been exposed to it before.”

Volley for Tennis started in January and is scheduled to run through at least April 13, when a tournament called the Youth Aces Open is set at Virginia Commonwealth University. Some schools may continue the program after the tournament.

“I’d say the response was terrific for the first year,” said Dunbar. “I set up a web site where people could volunteer. People could pick a school that was close to them and work at that school. Or they could pick a day they had available and go to whatever school could use them.

“They would just go in and help the P.E. teacher. Teach the kids how to hold the racquet, or whatever the teacher had planned for the day.”

Some 40 women – and men -- have donated their time and energy to the effort since January and volunteers are still needed.

The web site is www.SignUpGenius.com/go/available, and anyone with tennis experience is encouraged to register.

With cold and snowy weather dominating the weather earlier this year, Quick Start could be held indoors in a classroom or gym

“That’s the great thing about Quick Start is that it can be taught pretty much anywhere you can set up the little net,” said Dunbar.

Dunbar added that the Volley for Tennis group has been to Fox, Overby-Sheppard, Swansboro, Linwood Holton, Carver, Broad Rock and John B. Cary schools. She’s hoping to expand the program into other schools next year.

“It’s a fantastic feeling,” said Dunbar of her own efforts. “You watch these kids participate in something they’ve never been exposed to before. It’s a brand new learning experience for them, and you quickly see there are some children that are very gifted in their tennis ability.

“They have terrific hand-eye coordination, and they are particularly pleased with each other when they see how well one of their classmates performs at something they know is brand new to everybody. It’s really lovely to see the encouragement the children are showing to each other.

“That’s exactly what the sport of tennis is all about. Encouraging and seeing accomplishments in your friends. It’s so much fun being in a casual role with a child and just showing them, not only the sport of tennis, but everything that goes along with it. Etiquette, the rules, sportsmanship.”

Dunbar believes every volunteer will have the same feeling if they take the opportunity available at Volley for Tennis.

Young Aces Open tournament will create ‘chaos’ on April 13

A Tennis Topics article by John Packett, RTA Staff Writer

Organized chaos. If you happen to be in the vicinity of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Cary Street Field on April 13, be prepared for a wild and crazy scene.

That’s because there will be as many as 168 fourth and fifth graders from Richmond Public Schools --- along with nearly that many volunteers from all over the city --- helping with a Quick Start tournament.

Quick Start tennis, which was introduced to the city’s 28 elementary schools last fall, courtesy of the Richmond Tennis Association, involves smaller courts and racquets with a foam ball, along with a modified scoring system to make it easier for youngsters to learn the game.

The tournament, which is scheduled from 1-5 p.m. on April 13, is called the Young Aces Open and will be held on the Cary Street Field (which is used by VCU’s field hockey team) and the Mary and Frances Youth Center, located next to the field.

There will be 42 Quick Start courts set up on the field and several more at the Mary and Frances Center, so a LOT of kids will be batting the little foam ball back and forth.

“All in all, when you add the volunteers, we could easily have 250 people out there that day,” said Tina Carter, director of the Mary and Frances Center. In other words, mass confusion could easily reign over the proceedings. But maybe not.

“It’s going to be exciting,” said Carter, who will be assisted by a group of four students from VCU’s Center for Sport Leadership working toward their master’s degree.

“I also think it’s going to be very organized,” said Carter with a laugh. “It is a first-time event, but we’re going to have the support of the VCU Center for Sport Leadership and their student volunteers. We’ll have RTA volunteers and P.E. teachers from each school.

“The USTA [U.S. Tennis Association] is going to be here to help us set up and break down and run some other activities. It’s hard to go wrong when you have that much support.”

(Anyone interested in volunteering between 1-5 p.m. that day should contact Carter at 804-827-0802 or cccarter@vcu.edu. Volunteers are needed for greeters, court monitors, and to help with activity stations. Limited parking will be available but car-pooling is recommended).

Each school will be represented by as many as six students --- three girls and three boys --- and they’ll play mixed doubles against other schools. Every point a team wins goes to their school’s team score, and there will be trophies for first, second and third places.

“Even though they might not win the match, their total points go into a team score,” said Carter. “We’re trying to promote this as a team effort.”

The VCU graduate students are Mary Bertram, Amanda Hiltunen, Stephen Embrey and J.B. Tanner, and their class is entitled Sports and Entertainment Event Development.

“It’s a two-semester class,” explained Bertram, who is from Salisbury, N.C., and graduated from the University of Richmond. “They split us up into groups and each group was assigned an event to take charge of. This is the event our group is doing.

“We started organizing it last semester. I’d say the past two or three weeks, we’ve really started making some decisions. We’re well on our way into planning everything. We want to make sure there’s no down time at all for the kids … they’re constantly occupied doing something.”

It appears the Quick Start arrangement has been accepted well by the city schools, according to Elizabeth Frazier, who, along with her husband, Michael, donated all the equipment for the program. The Fraziers also founded the Mary and Frances Center.

“The P.E. teachers just loved it, because it’s something different,” said Frazier. “I’ve been to two or three schools as a volunteer and the kids love it. It’s so easy for them to play on the smaller courts. What I love about it, too, is we try to teach sportsmanship.

“We’ll have a sportsmanship award at the tournament because I believe we should help kids learn to do the right thing.”

The Young Aces Open is intended to be an annual affair, Carter said, and who knows, maybe even more organized chaos next year.

Straus spent his life helping people on and off the court

A Tennis Topics article by John Packett, RTA Staff Writer

Raymond Straus was all about helping others.

Whether it was letting homeless people sleep in his garage when the area was hit by a snowstorm or starting an organization to give junior tennis players an opportunity to improve their games, the native Richmonder didn’t hesitate to lend a hand.

“He was always willing to do something for you and never, ever asked for anything in return,” said Bill Carli, who was friends with Straus since their high-school days. “He really got a lot of enjoyment from helping other people.”

Straus, 48, died in his sleep on March 6, and his passing will be missed not only by many in the Richmond marketing community, where he served as president of two local agencies, but by those in the area tennis fraternity.

With his wife of 19 years, April, Straus founded Tennis4Life Academy, a non-profit youth organization dedicated to making junior players in Richmond better. From its inception in 2007, Tennis4Life had grown to serving 125 families in the area.

“The three of us were chatting about it,” said Kim Brewer, a close friend of the family who also helped get the project going, “but he was always the guidance behind it. The voice of reason. He always sat and listened to everybody’s input and then, at the end of the day, would try and direct us.”

Tennis4Life paid area pros to work with juniors at Courtside West Racquet and Fitness Club, Virginia Commonwealth University, Kanawha Recreation Association and Collegiate in an effort to make them more competitive with their counterparts in Northern Virginia and Maryland.

“We couldn’t find the kind of tennis programs we wanted for our own children, nor could some others, so it just kind of started from that point,” continued Brewer. “We said, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to pull something together for our own children?’

“And then we had so many parents from different levels that came to us and it just grew from there.”

Brewer also pointed out how well Straus got along with whoever he had contact with.

“He meant a lot to everybody,” she said. “He really embraced everybody. Sears Driscoll was telling me, ‘You know, Raymond just made such an effort to get to know me and include me and become my friend. He didn’t have to do that. All I was doing was hitting with Brady once a week.’”

Straus’ son, Brady, is a ninth-grader at Collegiate and a member of the tennis team that won the Prep League and Virginia Independent Schools championships last year. A daughter, Allie, also plays on the junior varsity squad.

“That’s how Raymond was with everybody,” said Brewer. “He loved to get to know you. He was so kind and such an amazing man.”

A 4.0 player himself, Straus enjoyed watching Brady play, as well as other juniors.

“The thing about Raymond is he wasn’t so concerned about who the best player was, he really liked seeing these guys out there competing and showing good sportsmanship,” said Damian Sancilio, a teaching pro and director of tennis at Courtside West.

“I remember when Brady played a match against John DePew in the city tournament last year. It was a really good-level match. I remember his comments about that match. He loved the fact that it was a young guy against an older guy, and they were such good sports with each other.

“He loved that whole thing and he was so proud that he was the father of a guy who was so respectful to the other player. It wasn’t, ‘Oh, Brady, that would be great if you could beat this guy.’ He had nothing to do with that. He just like the fact there was a great spirit out there.”

Pat Anderson, another teaching pro who worked with Tennis4Life, said Straus got a kick out of watching everybody play.

“He followed other kids, not just Brady, in tournaments,” said Anderson. “Whether it was Shyam [Venkatasubramanian] or whoever, he was cheering for them. And in different sports. Brady was a good soccer player, too, and he went to his matches. He was really into sports.”

And Straus didn’t mind donating his time to help run some of the junior tournaments around town.

“I can remember sitting at the University of Richmond one Saturday during the city [junior] tournament,” said Anderson. “We were helping him for a minute. He had been out there all day and I swear it was like 97 degrees or something, with not much shade.

“He was out there buying lunch for the people who were helping him. He was always doing stuff like that. Just a great guy.”

Carli may have summed up Straus’ life best when he said, “He was a real gentleman and looked out for other people a lot of times more so than for himself.”