CALLING ALL FORMER LONGHORNS TENNIS BALL BOYS/GIRLS
First of all, I want to apologize for not getting to you sooner, but trying to follow-up on the awesome job the Garzas’ did for the past eight years was no easy task. The University of Texas Tennis Family is so grateful for their service to the program.
We want to let you know that the program will be organized by the Texas ACES student group. The ACES are the University of Texas students who not only run the scoreboards at our events, but also have begun to sell water and snacks at the matches. We have also had a few parents step forward to assist this group.
This will be the 9th season of the UT Men's Tennis Team Ball Boy/Girl Program. The coaches are always so thankful for your hard work and making this one of the only, if not the only ball kid program in the country.
The season has begun, but we still have the conference schedule before us. We will have a training session before the men’s match on Friday, March 30 at 4:30 p.m. We will go over some basics and get everybody ready for the rest of the season.
I'd like to hear back from each of you within the next few days letting me know if you are interested in participating in the program this year. Please reply to me with the kids’ names, ages, parents’ names and phone number.
Remember, you can work as many or as few matches as you can fit into your schedule. Also, don’t forget to tell your friends!
REMAINING HOME SCHEDULE
3/21 Women v. Illinois (2 pm) – no ball kids, but please come watch if you can
3/30 Women v. Kansas (2 pm) – again, no ball kids, but please come if you can
3/30 Men v. Oklahoma (6pm)
4/1 Women v. Kansas State (noon)
4/1 Men v. Oklahoma State (1 pm)
4/14 Women v. Baylor (11:30 am)
4/14 Men v. Texas A&M (6 pm)
4/15 Women v. Texas Tech (11:30 am)
Training:
The training will take place Friday, March 30 at 4:30, before the men’s match against Oklahoma. We may try to hold another one prior to the women’s match on Sunday.
Uniforms:
Everyone will be required to wear the white Longhorns Tennis Camp t-shirt or a white Texas Tennis shirt from last season, if you have one. The Tennis Team will be providing the camp t-shirts. The kids will be able to keep the shirts and can have them autographed by the UT players at the End-of-the-season Party.
Length of Each Match:It's hard to predict how long each match will last. The format is as follows: first there is a round of doubles (8-game pro sets) which last approximately 45 minutes; then there is about a 10-minute break followed by a round of singles (2 out of 3 sets) which take approximately 1.5 to 2 hours. During the break, all of the ball boys and girls eat a quick snack and get a drink. We will ask parent volunteers to bring snacks at a later date.
High School Boys and Girls:Unfortunately, high school boys cannot be ball boys for the UT Men’s Team and high school girls cannot be ball girls for the Women’s team. It is a possible NCAA recruiting violation to have potential recruits as ball boys/girls. That means that high school boys can only work the Women’s matches, and high school girls can only work the Men’s matches.
We look forward to hearing from you soon and Hook ‘em Horns!
Granger Huntress
Manager, Penick-Allison Tennis Center
The University of Texas at Austin
Over the summer Jesse and I recognized the need to bring on more team members to help us run the company on a national scale. We brought 3 other guys on board and ultimately chose Austin because we couldn't take another cold winter in the Northeast. Austin has an awesome entrepreneurial community, great resources at the University of Texas, a hip social scene, and a much lower cost of living for us recent college graduates. We hadn't heard a single bad thing about Austin until we came here. Apparently in the summertime the heat can become unbearable.
ATB: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in hiring a tennis instructor ?
A lot of different factors go into selecting an instructor. You want to make sure you choose one that will be right for you and your game. First and foremost you want a reliable instructor you can easily contact and trust to be on time. it’s also more enjoyable working with an instructor who is not only personable, but also capable of taking your game to the next level. Experienced instructors are capable of assessing ones skill level, and therefore properly evaluating and adjusting ones strokes and overall game play. I think the most important thing is to enjoy yourself on the court and have an instructor you can easily talk to, not only about tennis, but about everyday life.
ATB: How do you see mytennislessons.com fitting into the Austin Tennis scene ?
MyTennisLessons has hired over 50 tennis instructors nationwide since we landed here in Austin a couple months ago. We revamped our website, created a user friendly scheduling system, and have a presence in 10 new markets. I see MyTennisLessons helping to expand the current Austin tennis scene. Many people want to get involved with tennis but don't know the best way to find an instructor in their area, especially if they're beginners. There are a lot of opportunities to join leagues and interact with established players, but beginners aren't sure where to find lessons to get initially introduced to the game. Often when someone is looking for a convenient and affordable alternative, they simply go to Google and type in "Tennis Lessons". Fortunately we have developed to our website to the point where our website shows up on the first or second page in multiple cities. We hope to work with some local tennis clubs as well in order to help fill tennis lessons, camps, and clinics. Tennis is one of the fastest growing sports in America and we aim to help manage the growing demand for tennis not only Austin, but also nationally.
