The American Tennis Association, hereafter referred to as the ATA, was established in 1916 as an alternative to the USTA (United States Tennis Association) because the USTA would not
allow minorities to compete in their national tennis championships. In 1917 the
ATA established its own national championships and through it has produced
several of the world’s top players and coaches. Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe,
the first African Americans to be ranked No. 1 and to win Grand Slam titles,
were sponsored and groomed by ATA officials and coaches.
Most African American professional tennis players were
trained by ATA Clubs and played ATA Tournaments before turning pro. The list
includes such greats as Zina Garrison, Leslie Allen, Lori McNeil, Chandra
Rubin, Katrina Adams, and Mali Vai Washington to name of few. The list also
includes Southern California notables as Mel “Bobo” Lewis, Don Bly and Charles
Teaberry.
Today the ATA continues its rich history of developing
young tennis players and providing ATA members with the opportunity to compete
in our National Championships. The ATA will host its 100th National
Championships in 2017. The Championship is the largest and most unique of its
kind in the United States offering more than 50 competitive categories for
players from 8 to 80.
We presently have several up and coming junior tennis
players playing in the Los Angeles area that would benefit from the experience and exposure of competing
in this tournament.
Let us introduce you to our Team:
Boys Team
Tory Bailey 13, John Baptist 13, Jordan Brown 14, Alexander Coleman 9,
Girls Team
Maxi
Duncan 13, Jordon Harris 14, Marley Lambert 11, Olivia Macintosh-Adams 13, Keynon Thompkins 13, Kayla Brown 16 and Katrina Scott 12.
All of these juniors are high
performance athletes truly dedicated and ranked in their age division.
The monies raised will sponsor to send ten junior players to Baltimore, Maryland and their chaperons to participate in the American Tennis Association (ATA) 100th National Championships and we need you help to make this happen. Can we count on you?
http://www.americantennisassociation.org/ata-the-first-100-years/