Location
Mason High School
1001 S Barnes
Mason, MI 48854
Mission
To showcase the tennis talent from a universe of twenty-six High Schools in the Lansing/Jackson area. Tennis has a long history in many prep schools in this area. Further, it’s widely held that High School sports (and other extracurriculars) improve student’s physical and mental health, provides extra opportunities for social development, and offers added avenues towards maturity. Meanwhile, tennis stands-out among other sports as it can be continued for decades after graduation.
Tennis requires the physicality of a long run, the stop-start of basketball, the intensity of wrestling, the hand-eye effort of baseball, and yet has a comparatively small risk of injury. It’s participants make split-second decisions while moving. This is often described as “chess while running”. In Michigan High School tennis there’s no “on-court officials”. Thus, these young athletes are expected to “play-by-the-rules” via an honor-system among competitors not seen in other sports. Therefore, such a sport deserves more publicity and participation among High School athletes than is currently the case. Additionally, increased High School tennis participation will result in more future adult players with the skills and inclination to use tennis as a lifetime fitness tool. Finally, tennis is comparatively inexpensive: a pair of mid-priced shoes, a $70 racquet, and a $4 can of tennis balls gets the novice into the game. Few sports can offer a teenager’s parents better value.
The mission of this event is to raise student and adult awareness of High School tennis in our area. This event seeks to document, through media coverage and spectator attendance, the fun, athleticism, and safety of this “sport for a lifetime”. This event also seeks to expand the field of potential new tennis coaches as most High School tennis coaches played tennis as a prep. Offering this kind of event, which honors tennis merit on a large yet local stage, will only serve to further popularize tennis for potential players, coaches, and parents.
Executive Description of this Event
This is an annual spring event to be held over three consecutive days after the school academic year and thus, it’s a non-school, non-MHSAA event. This amateur event has a steering committee consisting of four area coaches and one area tennis pro.
The players will be invited by a committee based on the tennis merit they displayed in the immediate preceding High School tennis seasons. The specific criteria for player selection and the method of “seeding” is available on request. The universe of schools from which players will be invited includes twenty-six High Schools in the Lansing/Jackson area. Players are selected individually, not as teams, and no player will be invited to more than one of four draws. Players may be accompanied by their High School coach, if they choose. Players may not wear advertisements or political statements on or about their person.
Competition will consist of four “16-line draws”; to include 1). girls singles, 2). girls doubles, 3). boys singles, and 4). boys doubles. This results in ninety-six participants from all across Lansing and Jackson. Each draw will be seeded and include a so-called “back-draw” which allows all players a minimum of two matches. Awards will be presented to the 1st and 2nd places in each “front draw” and to the 1st place in the ‘back draws”. The days of the event are planned to include a contiguous Friday PM, through Sunday PM. All four draws will be played on the same weekend and preferably at the same site.
The steering committee expects to solicit sponsor/s, select a site, invite/seed players, design/supervise the event from start to finish, provide event liability to protect the sponsor and the committee, require a player waiver, register as a non-profit/if needed, obtain a bank account/if needed, provide all event support materials (portable P.A., tables/chairs, trophies, balls, score sheets, etc.), sell spectator admissions, maintain and publish event results, create and manage an event website, clean-up after the event, set-up/take-down sponsor/s banners, solicit event volunteers/as needed and such other assignments as may be agreed upon with sponsor/s or the owner of the event site.