Secretary Tracie Rohlf and president Becky Blue of the Brandon Tennis Association were presented with the Modern Woodman Hometown Heroes Award on Sunday, Aug. 17, at Huset's Speedway in Brandon, S.D., in front of a huge crowd of race fans. The local award is given each year recognizing volunteer service in the community.
Since 2000, tennis participation has increased 30.6 percent – the most of any traditional sport – according to the 2007 Tennis Health Index just released by the Tennis Industry Association and the United States Tennis Association. Tennis is one of only four sports that has shown positive growth since 2000. Golf (2.4 percent), baseball (1.3%) and fishing (.4%) are the other three. Conversely, soccer has fallen 3.5 percent, ice hockey 24.3 percent and slo-pitch softball 30.1%.
Mounds View High School boys and girls tennis coach Mike Cartwright has been named one of 12 finalists for the USTA National Starfish Award, which honors high school coaches who implement a "no-cut" policy for their teams.
Northern teams placed first and second at the USTA 12 Zonals Championships in Omaha, Neb. Rochester's Ingrid Neel was the overall winner of the girls sportsmanship award, while Neel and Tommy Entwistle of Sioux Falls were the Section winners.
Ingrid Neel of Rochester, Minn., won the 10-and Under OUATT World Championship located just outside of Paris. Neel defeated Maia Lumsden of Scotland in the finals 5-4, 5-2, to win the first international tournament of her young career.
Bismarck’s Caitlin Bakke and partner Mimi Yunker (Grand Forks, N.D.) placed second at the USTA Summer 12s National Open Tournament in Omaha, Neb. The duo, seeded No. 1 in the tournament, won three matches in their first-ever national tournament before falling in the finals to Brigitte Desnoes (Indian Wells, Calif.) and Amanda Zurdema (Anaheim, Calif.) 9-7.
