THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Newark Academy Athletics


TENNIS TEAM MEMBERS FACILITATE CHARITY TENNIS EVENT

Tennis Team Members  Facilitate Charity Tennis Event

STAFF

Newark Academy | 9/20/2022

PHOTO CREDIT: USTA

On Tuesday, August 23, four Newark Academy Varsity tennis players — Ayanna Varma ’25, Andrew Kotzen ’24, Josh Mandelbaum ’24 and Ethan Polen ’23 — helped organize and ran a Rally for Tennis (RFT) charity event at the West Orange Tennis Club, for the Greater Newark Tennis and Education (GNTE) in New Jersey. GNTE provides tennis instruction and educational opportunities to underprivileged children in the Newark area. Through the fundraiser, children from under-resourced communities will gain access to free tennis clinics, equipment and instruction from GNTE. This event, combined with the New England version, raised a total of $69,779.

Ayanna, Andrew, Josh and Ethan took part in 22 formal Zoom meetings along with numerous other phone calls in preparation for this magnificent event. The group, who are also NA student-athletes on the school’s tennis teams, worked tirelessly leading up to the fundraiser in an effort to obtain sponsors, raise funds and secure donations for the event’s silent auction and raffle.

“The Rally for Tennis event was a huge success and extremely fun to prepare and run," says Ethan. "We started to have calls with the Rally for Tennis New England team which created it last year in early May. These calls were mainly for us to learn about the program and determine the best way to run a successful event. By the time of late July and early August, we started much heavier work like contacting sponsors and corresponding with the USTA for silent auction items (U.S Open president's suite box tickets and men's finals tickets). In total we spent around 50 hours preparing for the event by contacting sponsors, contacting participants, raising funds and setting up the silent auction.”

Rally For Tennis was launched in 2021 and features tennis clinics, high-level exhibition play featuring top nationally ranked players, raffle prizes and an online silent auction. This year was the first time that the event was held in New Jersey.

"I have been passionate about tennis for most of my life. Not only has tennis been the gateway to learning important life skills like a strong work ethic, a growth mindset, and perseverance, but it has been a ton of fun," says Ayanna. "Rally for Tennis was a great way for me to share the sport that I love with hundreds of kids! Our NJ event raised over $49,000 for Greater Newark Tennis and Education, which was a game changer in their mission to provide underprivileged kids in the Newark area educational opportunities and tennis training. The team was humbled to meet some of the kids from the organization and help them improve their game. I think Rally for Tennis was an inspiring, positive, and worthwhile experience for us all."

For more information, visit www.rallyfortennis.com

PLATINUM PARTNERS
PRIVACY POLICY | © 2024 MASCOT MEDIA, LLC