GACTA Accomplishments and Activities 2014

Overview

• GACTA appoints its first paid staff member, Addison Staples, as part-time Executive Director, effective 1/1/2014.
• GACTA website overhauled (Gainesvilletennis.org) and Aces in Motion website (acesinmotion.org)
• created
• Gainesville Community Tennis calendar developed
• GACTA and Aces in Motion Facebook presence established and maintained
• GACTA sponsors its fourth season of Middle School Tennis
• April 2014: Addison Staples attended the Change the Game conference in NYC
• April 2014: GACTA became a member of Up2Us.
• May 2014: GOWTL (day league) luncheon raffle raises $725 for GACTA.
• June, 2014: GACTA awarded a USTA Serves Grant ($10,000) to expand the Aces in Motion Tennis Outreach program in east Gainesville
• June, 2014: First Constant Contact newsletter sent out to approximately 1100 individuals
• August, 2014: GACTA holds its first annual fundraiser, The Bryan Shelton Celebration of Gainesville Tennis, Past and Present. This event raised over $25,000 for GACTA.
• Established the Dr. John J. Ross Pre-Collegiate Scholarship Fund and the McDonald Scholarship
• September 2014: GACTA was accepted into the USTA Foundation NJTL Capacity Building program
• October 2014: Addison Staples and Anne Koterba attend the Pre-TDW NJTL Capacity Building program in Atlanta
• November 2014: USTA Florida Section Foundation grant award ($7078) for expansion of the Aces in Motion program in new 21^st CCLC elementary schools and to establish a Special Olympics tennis program, based at Sidney Lanier Center.
• December 2014: Awarded USTA Foundation grant support of $12,500 to expand AIM programming at Boulware Springs Charter, Pineridge neighborhood and at T.B. McPherson. In addition, GACTA was awarded a $25,000 USTA Foundation NJTL grant to increase the capacity of our organization (expand Executive Director position to full-time and hire a program director.

Activities by Month

January

• Ball machine donated to GACTA for tennis programming at T.B. McPherson
• Aces in Motion partners with EAGY after-school program at T.B. McPherson
• Sidney Lanier outreach program begins
• City of Gainesville installs new benches at T.B. McPherson tennis courts
• Jan 22^nd: 21stCCLC elementary school student field trip to UF Men’s Tennis match vs. UNF
• Jan 29^th: UF Men’s Tennis Team visits HBMS 21^st CCLC tennis program
• 21^st CCLC tennis program continues at HBMS and Lincoln Middle Schools.
• 21^st CCLC tennis program continues at Idylwild, Lake Forest, Rawlings elementary schools

February

• Feb 8^th: First USTA Florida Community Tennis Workshop held in Gainesville
• Reichert House and EAGY after school programs continue at TB McPherson
• Feb 22^nd : First TB McPherson Play Day held

March

• March 1^st: GACTA was a vendor at the Parent Appreciation Day/Gang Awareness at Rawlings Elementary
• Aces in Motion booth at the JTC Pro Circuit Women’s Futures tournament
• March 10^th: UF Mens Tennis team volunteered at TB McPherson
• March 15-16: USTA Florida Team Tennis Challenge @ Jonesville Tennis Center
• March 27^th : Village Green Spring Break Play Day
• HBMS tennis team forms and Middle School Tennis team practices begin
• March 30th: UF Women’s Tennis Community Play Day at UF

April

• Fourth season of GACTA sponsored Middle School Tennis matches begins
• Water fountain installed at T.B. McPherson
• After school programming continues at various elementary schools and T.B. McPherson.
• April 22^nd: First Kids Count tennis clinic held in church parking lot at Rawlings site.
• April 30^th: First Kids Count tennis clinic held at TB McPherson tennis courts

May

• May 7^th: First tennis clinic held at NE 31^st Ave courts, with Kids Count
• May 7^th: Addison Staples presented AIM program at City of Gainesville Public Safety Committee meeting
• May 13^th: Tennis clinic with Woodland Park Boys and Girls Club at T.B. McPherson
• May 20^th: Racquet Award Day to Reichert House tennis program participants
• May 29-June 1^st: GACTA Middle School Tennis Tournament

June

• June 7th: AIM Field Trip to St. Augustine with Addison Staples
• Summer Heat Wave tennis program begins at MLK Center
• Tennis program at HBMS continues, led by Bessie Patterson and Chris McDonald
• 21^st CCLC 8 summer tennis program at Terwilliger, Idylwild, Lake Forest, and Rawlings elementary schools (reached over 250 students per week for 6-7 weeks)
• June 29^th: GACTA-sponsored Summer Play Days begin at Westside Park, organized by Chris McDonald
• Meetings ongoing with River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding

July

• GACTA representatives began attending Pineridge neighborhood community meetings
• Meetings ongoing with River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding
• July 11th: Guatemala trip, led by Addison Staples, begins
• Tennis courts resurfaced at T.B. McPherson and blended lines added to all four courts
• Summer Heatwave program continues

August

• August 5^th : Village Green Community Day with GPD (vendor)
• Partnership begins to provide tennis instruction to all students at Boulware Charter School as part of the PE program.
• Expanded partnership with Reichert House, to provide tennis instruction to both elementary and middle school students at T.B. McPherson
• Partnering with Youth Combine to provide once a week tennis instruction at HBMS.
• August 23^rd: First Annual GACTA fundraiser held, with successful, sold out Community Tennis Clinic @ DB

September

• Formed second east Gainesville 14 & Under Intermediate Team Tennis team for fall play, T.B. McPherson courts are the team’s home court
• Working with ACT/SAT tutor and PhD student, Sanethia Thomas, to provide tutoring at T.B. McPherson
• Met with new superintendent Owen Roberts to discuss Aces in Motion program

October

• October 1^st: Addison Staples attended the Education Form hosted by Plum Creek, entitled, “Preparing Our Youth for Future Opportunities: Our Shared Responsibility”
• October 10^th: First Pineridge Aces in Motion Tennis Festival held

November

• 5^th: USTA Foundation Capacity Building Convening. Addison Staples and Anne Koterba represented GACTA
• 8^th: Addison Staples represented Aces in Motion at the 4WS Network Health Expo at Pineridge
• Nov 22^nd: USTA Florida Annual Meeting. One of the original Aces in Motion participants, Keonna Perry, provided a testimonial at the Awards Dinner, explaining what tennis means to her.

December

• December 7^th: GACTA 10^th Year Anniversary Party and Annual Meeting at the Gainesville Country Club.
• December 12^th: GACTA received word that we received $12,500 in grant support from USTA Foundation to expand programming at Boulware Springs Charter, Pineridge neighborhood, and T.B. McPherson after-school program, and $25,000 in grant support from the USTA Foundation NJTL Capacity Building program.

From: http://www.florida.usta.com/news/gainesville_hosts_community_tennis_workshop_growing_healthy_communities111/

The tennis community of Gainesville and surrounding areas rallied approximately 70 tennis advocates for a USTA Florida Community Tennis Workshop, “Growing Healthy Communities Through Tennis” on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014 in Gainesville, Fla.

Participants returned to their communities armed with new strategies for growing and maintaining grassroots as well as advanced adult and junior programs and events.

“While it was storming outside, it was pouring all kinds of tennis information and new ideas inside,” said USTA Florida volunteer and Community Outreach Committee chair Deb Anderson. “People who attended were from all walks of life within the tennis community. Attendees included local and state volunteers, municipal employees, tennis professionals, tennis parents, USTA Florida and USTA national staff and more.”

The workshop was designed for the North Central Florida area where Gainesville tennis advocates were joined by attendees from Tallahassee to Daytona Beach.

Some of the topics included:
o       Creating Sustainable Community Tennis Programs
o       Growing Junior Tennis
o       Recruiting and Retaining and Getting Former Players Back
o       Marketing Tennis Events and Programs and the Role of Social Media

Anne Koterba, a member of the Community Outreach Committee and one of the workshop organizers said, “We wanted members of the various tennis communities in our area to meet and realize that if they share their local experiences, the whole area can benefit.  Our workshop topics were based on a survey of community tennis people within the state, and these topics did seem to resonate with the attendees at the workshop.”

“The workshop was short, surgical and energizing,” said Glen Howe, tennis superintendent for the city of Tallahassee. “The bad news is that it gave me and my friends a number of items that Tallahassee will need to work on.”

The workshop was a pilot for future workshops to be held around the state, conceived by the USTA Florida volunteer-run Community Outreach Committee. Its success was the direct result of the financial and directional support it received from USTA Florida as well as the time commitment and planning on the part of the following committee members and staff liaisons:

o       Chair, Deb Anderson, Bradenton
o       Connie Fenchel, Daytona Beach
o       Judy Foster, Clearwater
o       Sue James, Tallahassee
o       Anne Koterba, Gainesville
o       T.A. Niles, Fort Myers
o       Linda Curtis, Staff Liaison
o       Lynne Salus, Staff Liaison