HWTA Newsletter May 2017 President s Message Dear HWTA Ladies, Congratulations to every HWTA member. Being a 2017 HWTA member means you re a part of a premier tennis association. I hope you re excited and are involved in all the 50 th HWTA celebrations. The first part of 2017 has already proven to be exciting. How about that HWTA Happy Hour general membership meeting? Was that one of the best-ever wine events you ve attended? If you needed a reboot this was the event for you. HWTA loves offering second chances, so mark your calendar for June 9 th and plan on coming to the Swinging with the 50s event under the pavilion at HTC for our next general membership meeting. Cindy Gattis is working on getting some 50s music playlists together, so you know it s going to be another fun event you re not going to want to miss! The HWTA Spring Tennis Tournament is one of those times when you want to bring out the best. For starters everyone received a 50th anniversary dri-fit shirt with a sharp looking logo on the front and back. The 2017 HWTA Handbook cover is fantastic, and dedicating the book to Betty Choate was very fitting. I heard so many say LOVE THAT! after they had a chance to thumb through their book. Were you one of the lucky tennis ladies that grabbed the Oreo Balls decorated like tennis balls off the food table? That was another Love That being expressed around the courts thank you Kristy Palmer for making these delicious treats. I am excited that HWTA has been going strong for 50 years and am thrilled that the HWTA association members continue to embrace change and look for ways to innovate with the goal of providing opportunities to foster tennis friendships, serve our community, have fun, and simply be proud to be a HWTA member. This year s charity MEALS ON WHEELS is all about reaching out to others. Thank you all for helping to fill up the red wagons with donations. Some of our HWTA ladies deliver meals on a regular basis, but everyone within HWTA gets to help in donating. This HWTA team effort, with us all working together with a shared purpose, is a big reason why HWTA is a premier association. Come on and get happy on May 23, 2017. This is HWTA s over-the-top 50 th Anniversary Party, and it will be a memory-making event. It s events like this that will reboot your smile, health, and happiness. Want to keep Feeling Good? Simply keep up your HWTA membership, support and attend the HWTA events, and volunteer when you can. Kim McCandless President
2017 HWTA Calendar March 22 - May 10 May 23 June 1-4 June 7- August 2 Friday, June 9 Saturday, June 17 August September 16 October 12-15 December 5 Spring Session, Wed. Day League (Chair: Laurie Ann Creager) 50 th Anniversary Celebration hosted at the home of Sally Walker Southern Senior Cup (Chair: Kim Lund) Summer Session, Wed. Day League (Chair: Laurie Ann Creager) General Membership Meeting, Pavilion at HTC 6:00-8:00 p.m. Swingin in the 50s Theme Pizza & beer served Summer Social (Chairs: Kathy French and Pam Vickroy) 10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Round Robin at HTC followed by luncheon HWTA Social Details coming soon! General Membership Meeting, 8:30 a.m. HWTA Fall Tournament (Chairs: Sue Gibson and Babs Bruce) Holiday Luncheon (Chair: Cindy Gattis) SAVE THE DATE: HWTA Summer Social The HWTA Summer Social will be held at HTC on June 17 from 10 a.m. - 12 noon with a luncheon served upstairs after play. The sign-up sheet will be posted by June 1 for this event. The social is open to both men and women and will be played as a round robin. It is a fun event and in case of rain, there will not be a make-up day. So hope for sunshine and cool breezes!!!! - Kathy French and Pam Vickroy What HWTA Has Meant to Me How blessed I personally have been to be a member of HWTA for over 40 years! It is hard to even describe what my life would have been like without it. Through the years I have met so many really lovely women I am fortunate to call my friends. I have worked side by side with many of you helping with Nationals, Super Senior and HWTA tournaments, doing the Newsletter, Yearbook, and working on the 50th committee. Not to mention all those fun matches over the years. Tennis and HWTA has made me a better person. Thank you each and every one of you who have touched my life. - Mary Ann DeMaioribus
General Membership Meeting Don t miss our next General Membership Meeting on June 9th (Friday night) from 6:00 8:00 p.m. Beer and pizza will be served under the pavilion at HTC. It s a Swinging 50s theme, so wear your Bobbie socks, scarves and maybe even a poodle skirt! Register now for HWTA Wednesday Day League Summer Session! Hey, ladies!!! We're over half way finished with the Spring HWTA Wednesday Round Robin, and it has been going GREAT!!! Thanks for everyone who is participating and especially to those that help me out since I haven't been able to participate in the round robin as of yet. HWTA Wednesday League is a great way to get play and fellowship time with new and old friends. Sign up is being held now for the SUMMER session. The season runs from June 7th through August 2nd. We will not have round robin on JULY 5TH due to the holiday the day before. We will start the summer session at 8:30 am each Wednesday morning. At this time, HTC can give us only 8 dedicated courts. If we have more people wanting to play than we can accommodate, we will consider adding a separate league for Tuesdays. If you would like to play, please e-mail Laurie "Ann" Creager at hwtadayleague@yahoo.com to sign up. In your e-mail please indicate whether or not you would be able to play on Tuesdays if it is necessary. If you have any suggestions or recommendations for changing the way that we do round robin, please don't hesitate to contact me. Many people do not realize that you can share a spot for Wednesday League! If you want to play but know that you might be out for several dates, ask around and someone else may be in your same situation. If you share a spot the two of you can coordinate who will play on which date. That way more people get to enjoy playing without having to find so many subs. Remember, if you have signed up as a regular, YOU are required to find your own sub! Normally this is not a problem because we have such a large sub list. If you are currently on the sub list & need to be removed or if you want to be added as a sub, please email me as well. If you have any questions, please contact me! Laurie "Ann" Creager, hwtadayleague@yahoo.com, (256) 919-5389 (Text will work best during the daytime hours.) Laurie Ann Creager
HWTA 2017 SPRING TOURNAMENT This year s Spring Tournament was definitely one for the books and one we ll all remember for a long time. We had 112 ladies participating, and 13 who played in two divisions. In celebration of HWTA s 50 th Anniversary, all of the players in the tournament received a specially designed 50 th Anniversary dri-fit shirt as their players gift. There was a lot of activity and fund raising during the tournament for our charity, Meals on Wheels. Karen Mitchell s Meals On Wheels wagons were filled with lots of donations for the goody bags we will be filling to distribute to the Meals On Wheels recipients. Who didn t love all the great pizza we had from Donato s? They were such a great sponsor, and they helped to raise even more money for our charity that we have invited them back again for the Fall Tournament. Saturday was HWTA Wear Your Whites Wimbledon Day. And even though it was rainy and gloomy, there were lots of smiling faces everywhere. Saturday and Sunday the rain decided it did not want to go away, and it was a challenge for everyone involved in the tournament to try and get those last matches in. Unfortunately, we weren t able to finish all the matches this weekend and we can t tell you who the winners were in each division yet. Look for an addition to this newsletter with the winners and their pictures later this month. We re already underway planning for the Fall Tournament which will be held October 12-15. Because this tournament has become so big and raises the most monies for our charity, we are looking for individuals to head up our Clothing Sales and our Raffle during the tournament. (1) Clothing Sales You, along with your helpers, will collect all donations, sort and tag items for sale, set up clothing racks with tagged items at HTC during the tournament, collect monies, plus arrange to donate any items not sold during the tournament. (2) Raffle Part of the monies raised for our raffle come from contributions donated by individuals, teams, businesses, and the community. Some items raffled off in the past have been picnic baskets for 2 complete with wine, private lessons with Joc, and jewelry. We ll need someone to solicit and coordinate contributions for the raffle. - Sue Gibson Thank you for a wonderful tournament!
A BIG thank you to Bob Topp for sharing these amazing photos of our Spring Tournament. To see more shots of our HWTA members in tournament action, visit Bob s website. http://public.fotki.com/hbn-photos/tennis/hwta-tournament-pictures/2017-hwta-april-tou/
HWTA Membership Form 2017 DATE: NAME: ADDRESS: CITY: STATE: ZIP: HOME PHONE: WORK PHONE: CELL PHONE: E-MAIL ADDRESS: USTA RATING: RENEWAL: NEW MEMBER: Has your information changed since last year? Yes or No (please circle one) The above information will be used for HWTA s Handbook. Handbook, leave the space blank. If you do not want the information in the Membership dues are $15/year. Please make your check out to HWTA and mail to Cindy Gattis, 809 Muriel Dr., Huntsville, AL 35802. Questions, please contact Cindy Gattis at 256-714-6167 or cindy.gattis@mtsi-va.com.