• 2023 GACTA Middle School Tennis League Starting Soon!

    The 11th season of GACTA’s Middle School Tennis season is starting soon. This no-cut program welcomes players of all levels. Matches will run from late March through mid- May at tennis courts in the Gainesville area.

    Participating schools include: Westwood, Kanapaha, Oak Hall, Jordan Glen, Oak View, Fort Clarke, Lincoln, and Howard Bishop. If your school is not listed and you are interested in starting a program please contact Anne Koterba, program coordinator at akoterba@nullaol.com or call 352-665-9544.

    This year, we will be using an online registration system, which will go live on February 20th, 2023. See green “Register Now” button below and click on it.  Scroll down to select the school you are registering your student for, then click “Add to Cart” and then go to right column Your Shopping Cart and click “Continue” to access the Registration Form. For more details about the program, click here: http://gainesvilletennis.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-middle-school-tennis-fact-sheet-2-1-23.pdf

    Register Online for Middle School Tennis:

  • Sixth Annual AIM for the Stars Gala

    “AIM for the Stars” is Aces In Motion’s annual fundraising event you won’t want to miss.  Come celebrate our 6th annual event at the new Cade Museum on Friday evening, November 8th 2019.  Guests will enjoy dinner by Blue Water Bay, open bar, silent auction, and a fun filled evening of presentations, dancing and community.  Your attendance will be supporting our mission to “Coach for Life Beyond the Court” as we celebrate our student’s accomplishments.

    For more information, to purchase tickets, and to register for the silent auction, click on this link: https://aimforthestars.givesmart.comhttps://aimforthestars.givesmart.com

  • 9th Season of GACTA Middle School Tennis Starting in Late March 2019!

    The 9th season of GACTA’s Middle School Tennis season is starting soon! This no-cut program welcomes players of all levels. Matches will run from late March through mid- May at tennis courts in the Gainesville area. Participating schools include: Westwood, Howard Bishop, Kanapaha, Oak Hall, Jordan Glen, Oak View, Fort Clarke, and Lincoln. If your school is not listed and you are interested in starting a program please contact Anne Koterba, program coordinator at akoterba@nullaol.com or call 352-665-9544. For more details about the program, click here: 2019 middle school tennis fact sheet scholarships, and for a downloadable registration form, click here: 2019 middle school tennis registration form.

  • Fifth Annual AIM for the Stars Gala

    The Fifth Annual AIM for the Stars Gala features a new location at the Cade Museum, dinner catered by Blue Water Bay, and guest appearances by Todd Martin, MaliVai Washington, and Bryan Shelton. We think it will be a fabulous evening supporting a good cause, the Aces in Motion After-School Program.

    For more information, to purchase tickets, and to register for the silent auction, click on the link below or click here.

    https://cbo.io/bidapp/index.php?slug=aim

  • GACTA’s Aces in Motion Program Participating in The AMAZING GIVE

    Aces in Motion needs your support! The 24 hour Community Day of Giving begins on the evening of Wednesday March 21st and continues through Thursday March 22nd.

  • 2018 GACTA Middle School Tennis Season Starting in Late March!

    The 8th season of GACTA’s Middle School Tennis season is starting soon! This no-cut program welcomes players of all levels. Matches will run from early April through the end of May at tennis courts in the Gainesville area. Participating schools include: Westwood, Howard Bishop, Kanapaha, Oak Hall, Jordan Glen, Oak View, the Smashers (a home-school team), and hopefully Lincoln (we are still looking for a parent-coordinator).. If your school is not listed and you are interested in starting a program please contact Anne Koterba, program coordinator at akoterba@nullaol.com or call 352-665-9544. For more details about the program, click here: 2018 GACTA middle school tennis fact sheet, and for a downloadable registration form, click here: 2018 WORD middle school tennis registration form

  • GACTA Middle School Tennis League Completes its Seventh Season

    This spring, the Gainesville Area Community Tennis Association (GACTA) sponsored the seventh season of its no-cut GACTA Middle School Tennis league, which provided 160 local middle school students, from beginner to advanced players, an opportunity to play tennis in a team format for their school. As in previous years, the season ran during the months of April and May following the high school tennis season. Volunteer parent-captains recruited middle school students from eight middle schools under the guidance of Anne Koterba, President of GACTA and coordinator of the middle school tennis program. This year, as in 2016, a group of players from Sidney Lanier Center, a school for students with developmental disabilities, joined the Westwood Middle School team. The other local schools included Lincoln, Jordan Glen, Oak Hall School, Kanapaha, Howard Bishop, and Oakview, and newcomers the Smashers, a home school team coached by Sandra Phillips.

    This year, the Middle School League Team Championship, mirroring the FHSAA State Tennis Championship’s changed to a team vs. team format (but with an emphasis on doubles), was held at the Jonesville Tennis Center. This year, Jordan Glen took home the 2017 Middle School Championship, and Oak Hall ended up the Tournament Finalist. The number #1 doubles team of Graham Louis and Austin Jones (Jordan Glen) was also recognized.

    GACTA’s no-cut middle school tennis program is sustainable because the hard costs are covered by a modest participation fee ($55), and because our local private and public tennis facilities generously provide teaching pros for practices and courts for both practices and matches. In addition, the parent-coordinators provide a great deal of volunteer help. The participation fee also generates enough revenue to provide scholarships for students from low-income families, as well as support GACTA’s Aces in Motion tennis outreach program for at-risk youth. Again this year, Elizabeth Patterson, the parent-coordinator for Westwood Middle School and Special Olympics tennis coach, provided a unified playing experience for several Sidney Lanier players. They attended practices and competed in matches as a part of Westwood’s team.

    “Teamwork and sportsmanship is what this program is really about,” Koterba said. “We just want kids of all backgrounds and all abilities to be able to go out and play and learn how enjoyable the game can be. We like to emphasize that tennis can be a great team sport, whether playing for your school’s team or playing as a doubles team.”

    This year, the Jonesville Tennis Center (JTC), Westside Tennis, and the Haile Plantation Golf and Country Club provided courts for match play for the middle school league, and all of these facilities, as well as the 300 Club, “adopted” teams for practices. The Jordan Glen team was coached by Dave Porter (JTC) and the parent-coordinator was Nicole Christie. The Oak Hall team was coached by Chris McDonald (JETA) and the parent-coordinator was veteran Tammy Miller.

    For additional photos of the 2017 Middle School Tennis season or for more information on GACTA’s programs, please see www.gainesvilletennis.org or go to Gainesville Tennis or Aces in Motion on Facebook.

  • GACTA’s Aces in Motion program is Part of the Amazing Give

  • 2017 GACTA Middle School Tennis Season Starting Soon

    The seventh season of GACTA’s Middle School Tennis season is starting soon! This no-cut program welcomes players of all levels. Matches will run from late March through mid-May at tennis courts in the Gainesville area. Participating schools include: Lincoln, Westwood, Howard Bishop, Kanapaha, Oak Hall, Jordan Glen, Oak View and Queen of Peace.. If your school is not listed and you are interested in starting a program please contact Anne Koterba, program coordinator at akoterba@nullaol.com or call 352-665-9544.

  • GACTA Awarded the 2016 USTA Florida Member Organization of the Year

    Community Tennis Volunteers, Players Honored at 2016 USTA Florida Annual Awards

    From USTA Florida.

    Gainesville Area Community Tennis Association
    Their slogan is “Tennis for All, Strive for Success, Play for Life!”

    USTA national stole some of the thunder of this award when the GACTA was announced as the national NJTL Chapter of the Year Award recipient, and presented with the award at the US Open. Now the Gainesville community tennis association receives the Florida honor.

    This is the first Member Organization honor for the GACTA since its founding 12 years ago. It is the first for Gainesville since the Jonesville Tennis Center, which the GACTA’s advocacy brought about, received the award in 2010. Two outstanding components of the GACTA are the Aces in Motion tennis outreach program, and their middle school tennis program that has become a model for other communities.

    During the 2015-2016 school year, Aces in Motion programming reached more than 400 under-served African-American youth each week at 12 different sites in Gainesville. The GACTA’s no-cut Middle School Tennis league completed its sixth season this spring, with approximately 150 students representing nine schools, both public and private.

    The GACTA’s community partnerships and collaborations are too many to mention, as are the number of Kids Clubs, Play Days, JTT and other USTA program initiatives. If parents or players can’t pay a program fee, they scholarship players, or find another way to make it work. President Anne Koterba says, “We stress inclusiveness and diversity. We are becoming much more recognized in the community, not just as a tennis organization, but as a non-profit that is making a difference in Gainesville.”