MEMBERS EQUITY BANK COMES UP WITH THE ACES!

This year the Hopman Cup celebrated its 21st birthday… but it was Kids Tennis Foundation receiving a gift!

At this year’s tournament, held in January, Kids Tennis Foundation received a sponsorship boost with Members Equity Bank donating $25 for each ace served during the Cup!

We all watched the Members Equity aces tally board on the Burswood Dome centre court with elation on the final day as the amount reached $9125. Generous Members Equity then rounded this total up and KTF received a whopping $10,000!

Sincere thanks to Paul Kelly, National Manager of Advertising and Sponsorship at Members Equity Bank, and his team for their wonderful generosity. These much-needed funds will help us enormously this year, particularly in these difficult economic times, providing many more disadvantaged children throughout Western Australia with the opportunity to learn this great game, not to mention the boost to their self esteem and self confidence.

The tennis goes on as our glorious sunshine remains and we wait for rain over here in WA. Programs for 2009 are running smoothly at all schools. In recent years we have seen more of an expansion in our regional programs especially in Geraldton and Albany areas.

David Kerr, KTF Albany coach, was very proud of his KTF kids from Mount Manypeaks School and had this to say about his students:

“The school has a total of 29 students and the team of 2 boys and 2 girls was very excited to play in and win the Spring Valley Tournament playoffs in Albany against other primary schools; for the second year in a row.

The four students travelled to Perth with their parents (for one boy this was only his second ever tournament – the first being the Spring Valley Tournament playoffs). The team of Nathan, Declan, Sophie and Rebecca had a great time in Perth and represented their school and the Albany area with pride.

The Academy Plate is a very well-run event which gives the players the opportunity to play in the heat and on difference surfaces that we are not at all used to, such as grass, synthetic and hard courts. The team relished all the experiences and to their credit came a very well earned 2nd.”

It is an 80km round trip from Albany to Mount Manypeaks for David to coach these children on a weekly basis in such a remote area. So well done and congratulations to those KTF kids and David.

For 2009 we have welcomed back a few metropolitan schools. When inviting schools for the KTF Program we must always have a coach ready and willing to go and sometimes they can be a little hard to find. But Janie Feng fits the bill. She has just completed her Commerce degree at UWA and is keen to pick up some more tennis. Janie has conducted a few KTF programs in the past under the guidance of Ross Gerrans and will now be taking on more city programs at Highgate, Osborne Park, Dryandra and John Forrest. Thank you and happy coaching Janie.

Our Kids Tennis Foundation booth at this year’s Hyundai Hopman Cup was again very successful. It is heartwarming during these difficult economic times to see many of our subscribers still rejoin as a “Friend of KTF” or donate money and I would like to extend a big thank you to all of you. Non-profit organisations like ours battle financially in such times and it is thanks to the generosity of many that we are able to maintain our coaching programs.

One such subscriber has been doing so since the inception of KTF in WA and reaped the rewards of such loyalty by winning the Hyundai Hopman Cup fully autographed and framed posted! Well done Doris Martin!

Every year Doris subscribes at our booth to be in the running for the poster and to be placed on the priority booking list for the Cup and to receive a free voucher to the next year’s Cup. Although not a player herself, Doris just loves her tennis and has been a dedicated fan for many years.

When I delivered her prize, Doris could not wait to brag to her good friend, Alma Tempra, (another loyal supporter of KTF) who had also been a poster winner a few years back.