Congratulations to govt director Nick Walton and everybody concerned with the Sarah Vande Berg (SVB) Tennis Basis, which hosted its 4th annual “Increase A Racquet” gala on the SVB Tennis Middle (positioned on Simon Rd. in Zephyrhills) on Nov. 9. This yr’s gala raised greater than $63,000 to help the Basis’s ongoing efforts to offer tennis racquets, classes and the chance to play the game for gratis to children who wouldn’t in any other case have the ability to afford them. Among the many 12 faculty companion packages, impacting greater than 350 college students, are Watergrass and New River elementary colleges.
The Basis additionally supplies alternatives for highschool college students to function the Basis’s Ambassadors, the place they’re taught by grownup mentors the right technique to coach youthful children.
“By instructing our Ambassadors the right way to lead and coach,” Walton stated, “we’re not solely constructing expert athletes but additionally position fashions who information our youngest student-athletes with enthusiasm and coronary heart.”
Walton additionally famous that, due to the truth that the Ambassador program had extra candidates than ever this yr, the Basis has added a Junior Ambassador group, “giving future leaders as younger because the third grade the prospect to shine.”
Among the many Basis’s 14 Ambassadors for 2024-25 are three Wesley Chapel-area highschool college students — Amya Ramsey, a junior at Wesley Chapel Excessive; Dalton O’Donovan, a freshman on the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation; and Treye Hochstetler, a junior at Kirkland Ranch Academy.
The winner of this yr’s Sarah Vande Berg Memorial Character Award, given annually to one of many Basis’s Ambassadors, was Zephyrhills Excessive senior Jenna Goodman. Jenna was introduced the award by Emily Vande Berg, the sister of Sarah Vande Berg. Sarah and Emily’s father, Todd, additionally spoke on the occasion.
Sarah, after all, was the Zephyrhills Excessive tennis star for whom the Tennis & Wellness Middle was named. She was persevering with her profession on the College of South Carolina Upstate when she was tragically killed at age 21 — with three different of the varsity’s athletes — in a automobile accident in 2015.
Practically 200 of the Basis’s supporters attended this yr’s gala, the place attendees raised a offered tennis racquet throughout dwell public sale “bidding” on presents for the collaborating college students — from $18 for one racquet for one child as much as $5,000 for 30 children to obtain 8 weeks of after-school programming at one of many Basis’s companion colleges.
For more information in regards to the SVB Basis, go to SVBTennisFoundation.org. For information in regards to the SVB Tennis Middle, name (813) 361-6660 or go to SVBTennisCenter.com. — GN
