A HUGE THANK YOU 
To everyone that helped out in 2022.

2022 has been an unusual year, one in which tennis in Vermont almost looked like it did pre-COVID. Competitive tennis resumed in earnest locally and globally – here at home, while our league participation hasn’t completely rebounded, we are keeping our LLC Beth Cook very busy! Our private indoor and outdoor clubs and public courts have been bursting at the seams with in-house leagues, tennis ladders, and clinics; a successful 2022 statewide high school season, year-round junior training, and summer match play; Tennis in the Parks and adult Learn to Play programming. As fans we’ve watched Serena and Roger retire and new upstarts battle for center stage. Some of us traveled to the US Open where an all-time record for attendance hit over 884,000 people. 22.4 Million people played tennis across New England, and Vermonters are excited to be counted in that number.

We at USTA VT wanted in on all the excitement:

  • We provided scholarships for PTR Level 1 coaching training in June for 10 new coaches. The program was organized by Errol Natrrass at the Burlington Tennis Club; we plan to support a training event like this annually.
  • Kathy Erickson of kathyedesign built our new website Tennis in Vermont to better communicate our initiatives to players and tennis partners around the state.
  • We supported both local league JTT and advancing junior tennis players led by Tammy Azur in partnership with clubs in Stowe, Middlebury, Essex, and Burlington. We funded championship on court coaching, a Grand Prix tournament, and travel and fees to New England Sectionals in Springfield, MA in August.
  • We celebrated our USTA League captains with a Captain’s Appreciation Event organized with great success by Local League Coordinator Beth Cook:
    • Drills and games were led by SLC Chair Jerry Knickerbocker and VT’s tennis and pickleball masters Jeanne Hulsen and Kristen Hartley.
    • Martha Small and Beth Cook partnered with Chef’s Corner in Williston, City Market, and local “Cake Queen” Donna Ellison to provide hospitality and gratitude for the hard work captains do throughout the year.
  • Led by USTA VT BOD member Sandy Foster, VT’s only NJTL Bennington Aces provided area kids both an inspiring year round tennis and education program and a fantastic summer filled with tennis, travel, and exploration
  • Thanks to Vermont Tennis Services Rep Karen Didricksen, our Tennis in the Parks program offered affordable lessons and coaching in areas around the state without any organized tennis programming
  • We sponsored the Vermont Senior Games with Karen as tennis tournament director, held this year at The Bridges in Warren, VT for players 50 and over in the doubles, mixed doubles, and singles formats. Medals were awarded in 5-year age brackets for men and women. 2022 was a qualifying year for the 2023 National Senior Games in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. All top three finishers in their age groups qualified for the 2023 Nationals.
  • We honored our newest celebrity Tammy Azur as the recipient of the 2022 USTA New England Junior Tennis Provider of the Year award. Along with five other outstanding winners, she was honored at New England’s Tennis Weekend on November 5th.

Looking Ahead

This was a fine beginning, but we can see that many opportunities lie ahead:

We want to find ways to connect more inclusively with tennis players of all ages, affiliations, and abilities through programs like Buddy Up for Life, adaptive and wheelchair tennis, and LGBTQA community wide tennis events.

  • We want to build a better volunteer resource pool, inviting our talented neighbors to define how they would like to bring their enthusiasm for recreational and competitive tennis to efforts such as the following:
    • Support communications through social media and our new website
    • Communicate opportunities to support tennis initiatives through grant funding at the state, New England, and national levels
    • Participate in training events to become certified coaches or officials
    • Nominate providers, facilities, individuals, players, and coaches for annual local, sectional, and national awards
    • Join our State Association by working as members of committees, event supporters and participants, advisors on initiatives, or by joining our Board of Directors
  • We can help community tennis initiatives like Tennis in the Parks and Parks and Rec programs by recruiting coaches, navigating financial resources to help update facilities, and providing funds and equipment to struggling programs through our grants initiatives.
  • We want to work with a JTT coordinator to bring energy and fun to year-round competitive opportunities for our junior players.
  • We want to broadcast the message to youth and high school players that tennis opportunities don’t disappear when school lets out for the year.
  • There are many opportunities around the state to train, join teams, travel, compete, and get to know each other.
  • We hope to create WTN and USTA sanctioned tournament events for juniors to give them a competitive edge in the New England junior development community.
  • We want to do our part to recruit new coaches and officials and support the financial burdens of their training
  • We hope to work cooperatively with the USTANE Pickleball task force to understand the pros and cons of the exploding pickleball community throughout New England.
  • In short, we want to provide financial support through our funding opportunities to tennis programming from Bennington to the Derby line.

Thank you!

Thanks for checking our new website and loving tennis so much that you will consider joining us for brighter things in 2023!

Last updated on May 24, 2023