• The Richmond area could attract world class tennis events
• A tennis center could be built to host USTA and junior events.
• We could change lives by introducing more kids and adults in our community to the game of tennis.
• Richmond's tennis future could be even brighter than its great tennis history.

The Richmond Tennis Association can accomplish whatever you and the members of the Richmond tennis community want if we all join together. According to the USTA's records, the Richmond Metropolitan Area has more active league players than any other area in the state. If we work together using our energy, creativity and resources, we can improve the quality and quantity of the tennis opportunities in this area. If more USTA players become active members and join our Board, those players will be in a position to direct the growth of tennis in Richmond for years to come.

The Richmond Tennis Association is recognized by the USTA as a Community Tennis Association. We have worked hard for over 50 years to develop tennis as a lifetime sport throughout the community. Our City Tennis Championship Tournament, which has been sponsored by Davenport & Company for more than a decade, has been our most visible event and is one of the longest continuously running City Championship Tournaments in the country. It has highlighted the talent of our local amateur and professional players over the years and has been a spring board for success for local juniors who have gone on to become star players at colleges throughout the country and even on the world's greatest tennis stages. This year's event included a Battle of th e Pros which generated excitement and interest and resulted in a tournament which included most of the best professionals and junior players in the area and also resulted in the largest draws in the last decade.

The Anthem Club Challenge has become one of the crown jewels of the Richmond Tennis Association's programs. Working together with Anthem and the local tennis clubs, and thanks to the hospitality of Westwood Racquet Club, we have been able to create an exciting annual event for the tennis community. We think it is important that you know that the proceeds from this event and from the Davenport City Tournament allow us to increase our support for tennis throughout the community by providing funds for improvement to the facilities at Byrd Park and by providing for increased summer tennis instruction in the City's parks.

This summer we have increased significantly our efforts to attract new young players to the game. We worked with the Virginia Tennis Association and the USTA to provide a workshop for QuickStart tennis, an innovative concept that allows kids from 5 to 10 years to start playing games quickly using smaller courts, smaller racquets and lower compression tennis balls. We have purchased the necessary equipment for the City's summer program and, through funding for Paul Manning's U-TURN tennis instructors, we have provided additional instructors at Byrd Park thereby allowing the City to use their tennis instructors at more sites throughout the City. We also have worked with the local clubs and re creation associations to develop and host QuickStart events including the first sanctioned QuickStart tournament in the state at Robious Sports & Fitness Center. We are striving to make Richmond a model for other cities to use to get and keep inner-city kids playing tennis. The USTA and Virginia Tennis Association have recognized our efforts by awarding us a two year grant to assist us with our diversity programs. We are now planning to expand our inner-city program past the summer months. We hope to use the Arthur Ashe Center as a site for indoor QuickStart events this winter. Our long range plan is to keep more of the City's junior players involved in the game thereby making it possible to develop tennis teams in the City's high schools.

We want you to join with us to help the Richmond Tennis Association create more tennis opportunities for ourselves and for others. The RTA can be what the Richmond Tennis Community wants it to be. If we join together with new ideas and new energy we can make Richmond's tennis future even brighter than its great history. The tennis world knows Richmond as the hometown of Arthur Ashe. The City has honored him with a monument. If we work together as a tennis community, we can honor him even more by creating a tennis community that would make him proud.