Tennis tourney supports humanity

Tennis for Habitat was held at Centennial tennis courts on Nov. 3.
The event was coordinated by Mariano Cebrian, a senior psychology major, Erick Sequeria, a junior exercise science major and Angelina Wallace, a mass communication major as a project for their principles of marketing class.
They were given options about an organization for whom to raise money and had to coordinate an event to do so. One of the reasons they decided to use tennis is Cebrian plays and Sequeria has played tennis for GCSU.
“The Tennis for Habitat was an idea for fundraising for a marketing project in our principles of marketing class,” Sequeria said. “My group and I thought that would be a good idea, and since I am on the tennis team and one of my group partners, Cebrian, was on the team in the past; it was something we were familiar with as well.”
The first clinics were held from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and the second round was from 3 – 6 p.m.
Not many people came out that Saturday morning, which Wallace attributed  to the cold weather.
“A lot of people probably got up and saw how cold it was and said they would come later,” Wallace said.
During the clinical, members of the GCSU tennis team showed individuals the basics needed to play tennis. While they had members of the tennis team helping with the clinics, Cebrian and Sequeria instructed as well.
“The clinics consisted of instructions for the strokes (forehand, backhand, volley and serve) and visual demonstrations of how it should be done,” Sequeria said. “Mariano and I did the demonstrations. These instructions were presented one at a time, for example, (first) the explanation of the stroke, (second) a demonstration, and (third) 20-30 minutes of action and instruction.”
After the clinics, a tournament was held for the participants. Prizes were for first and second place and included things like most improved, most fun participant, most energetic, most valuable player, best forehand, most enthusiastic and best serve.
Brian Underwood, a sophomore nursing major, participated and won first prize for the morning tournament. He said he went because he is friends with many of the tennis players and it was for a good cause.
“I had a lot of fun,” Underwood said. “Since I have been playing tennis my whole life, a lot of what was taught to me were things that I already knew. During the drills, I asked more advanced questions to help my level of play.”
Individuals who donated were able to write the donation off for tax exemption. They raised $180, and it all went to Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County.
Cebrian said he thought the day went well, but he was a little disappointed with the turn out.
“I hoped a little more people would come, but we were competing with Sweetwater,” Cebrian said.
Wallace said she thought the day was pretty successful as well.
“I think overall the day went well,” Wallace said. “The tennis instruction was superb and all the participants commented that they really learned a lot and enjoyed themselves. We had a smaller turn out than we had initially anticipated; however, it’s hard to compete with Sweet Water and GCSU Parents’ Day.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 10 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry