Now that it is all said and done and the evening is a pleasant memory of happy faces and moments….it was an awesome evening!! Pam Shriver our incredible MC and “Auctioneer” gave us a power show trying to bid up some of the wonderful Live Auction experiences we had for our bidders. There were trips to Guadalajara, Charleston WTA & US Open Tournaments and the best of Polo here in the desert at El Dorado as well as a private tour at The Living Desert. There were plenty of fun items in the Silent Auction & prizes for everyone. It was a nice group of guests and friends who were a part of the tennis community & family!
The evening was filled with celebrating the Honorees, past and present. Acknowledging WTA Alumni former players and those connected to tennis. It was about The Love & Love Tennis Foundation and the role it plays in spreading tennis for kids around the Coachella Valley. Thanking those who have contributed their time by volunteering on the court and off the court. To continue to remember those in the past like Annalee Thurston and commemorate them by naming and honoring special individuals with The Annalee Thurston Award. This year it was Hall of Famer Conchita Martinez.
The Love & Love Tennis Foundation partnered with WTA & The WTA Foundation in giving out two awards, the “Champions For Change” Award & The Georgina Clark Mother Award received by Tracy Austin. Her family all attended and her three boys, Dylan, Sean & Brandon all took turns up on stage talking about “mom” in glowing terms. Raquel Giscafre & Jane Stratton were presented with the “Champions For Change” Award for their trailblazing accomplishments in being one of the first women to promote women’s tournaments. In addition, the WTA Foundation under the leadership of Executive Director Ann Austin, presented a $10,000 check to Raquel & Jane, and they were kind enough to donate 5k to Love & Love Tennis Foundation and 5k to the Latin American Tennis Foundation. Thank you to Raquel, Jane and the WTA Foundation for their generosity.
Not to forget the ROSIE CUP ROUND ROBIN DOUBLES that took place Sunday morning at Indian Ridge C.C. Despite the time change everyone showed up and had a great time playing in their flight (The Desert Rose & Smash Hits). The format was TeamTennis with a 9 point Tie Break no add scoring and play all lets. The Desert Rose Teams were 3.5 players and Smash Hits Teams were 4.0 to 7.0. It was a very competitive field in both flights!
I want to congratulate the winners of both flights. For the SMASH HITS it was the ringer Ilana Kloss and Jeff Harrison who defeated a pretty good team of Madison Rose and Edgar Avilla. The DESERT ROSE flight was won by Trinity Miller and Barry Lipsett with finalist Brad Workin and Amy Springer. Congratulations to winners, finalist and all participants! Thank you to Randy Berg, Tennis Director at Indian Ridge C.C. for helping organize and run the tennis tournament.
So how did we do? I think The Love & Love Tennis Foundation did pretty well. We are approximating $100,000 gross with some outstanding accounting still being done. On behalf of the Love & Love Tennis Foundation I would like to thank all of you, sponsors, patrons, donors of our auction items, the restaurants who participated, our volunteers, our staff and Palm Valley’s staff and services. It was a great evening and I can only say that Tory and I appreciate everyone and look forward to next year’s event. We will make it better in every respect wherever we can for all those who attend.
We will continue to update you on the LLTF and what it is doing.
Thank You
Rosie & Tory
“In the spirit of Annalee”
