USTA News

The USTA/Midwest Section's most prestigious award, The Mel Bergman Award, is given in recognition of continuous and distinguished service to the USTA/Midwest Section in an unselfish, dedicated manner for ten years or more.  Mel Bergman, an extremely dedicated volunteer, was a President of the USTA/Midwest Section who served on the USTA Executive Committee. 

 

Doug Wenger is currently serving a two-year term as Past President of the USTA/Midwest Section. He is a member of the USTA Information Technology Committee, including five years as Chairman. He also currently serves on the Midwest Youth Tennis and Education Foundation Board of Directors. He was the founder and President of the Greater Battle Creek Tennis Association, where he organized and conducted leagues, tournaments, and free tennis lessons for youth and adults. In the late 1980’s he founded the Harper Creek Optimist Junior Tennis Program, and an annual grassroots tennis tournament which he ran for over 10 years, receiving the President’s award for his leadership. He was instrumental in bringing tennis to the streets of downtown Battle Creek as part of the World’s Longest Breakfast Table event. In 2001, he served as the volunteer coach of a USTA/Midwest Section Junior Team Tennis team which finished second in the nation. Wenger and his son Darren also served as volunteer instructors at Arthur Ashe Kids Day at the US Open. Wenger said, "I am honored to receive the Mel Bergman award.  There are so many heroes of tennis from the Midwest Section who have won this award over the years.  I am thankful to those who preceded me as well as the current volunteers and Midwest Section staff for their guidance and counsel.  I am also grateful to my friends in Battle Creek, Michigan, who helped me get started in tennis volunteering, and most of all my family for their support and encouragement."

 

 

 

The Jay & Marilyn Hacker Family have given back to tennis in so many ways. At the National level, Jay has served the USTA since 1996 as a member of numerous committees. At the Section level Jay became involved as a volunteer in 1981 and served on multiple committees as a USTA/Midwest Section volunteer.  From 1996-2007 he served on the Board of Directors as Secretary, Vice President, Executive Vice President, President, and Section Delegate.  Jay also chaired the Building Committee during construction of the $4 million USTA/Midwest Office Complex. Jay has also been a Member of the Board of Directors of the Midwest Youth Tennis & Education Foundation since 1996 as Secretary, At-Large Member, Vice President, and President.  At the District level Jay served on a number of committees, including 1983-1989 as a Member of the Northern Indiana District Board of Directors including  Second Vice President, First Vice President, President, District Delegate, and Pas President. He served 2001-2002 as the Director at Large of the Central Indiana Tennis Association. 

 

Marilyn, Jay's wife served from 1986-1999 as the Northern Indiana District Executive Director. Marilyn also served as a Chair and Member for the Midwest Sanction and Schedules Committee and Awards Committee. Other achievements include volunteering for a CITA After-School program, captaining USTA League teams for 10 years, and volunteering at the US Open Membership Booth for nearly a decade. Their daughter Brenda Freije and her husband Dick and their children Anslyn, Wilson, Ben, Tom, and Rick play tennis. Brenda is a former scholarship player for Indiana University, and IU won the Big Ten all four years of her collegiate career.   Jay and Marilyn's son Todd Hacker, was also a scholarship player for Indiana University, and is a coach for a middle school tennis team. His wife Kerry is a USTA League captain and also volunteers for her son's middle school tennis team.  Their children Chris and Alec both play tennis. Jay Hacker shared, "We are very honored to be selected as the USTA/Midwest Section Family of the Year. All 13 of us covering three generations are involved in tennis. Everyone in the family plays tennis either competitively or for recreation. Volunteering as league captains, serving as middle school assistant coaches, tutoring kids on the basics of tennis as well as serving on various USTA committees allows us to give back to the game that we enjoy! We really do consider tennis a 'sport of a lifetime'. " 

 

The NJTL of Indianapolis is this year's USTA/Midwest Section NJTL of the Year. This year the NJTL of Indianapolis focused on healthy lifestyles. The NJTL partnered with the Out Run the Sun organization which educates youth and their families about the dangers of melanoma.  To combat youth obesity, NJTL not only serves as a venue for physical activity, but also teaches youth healthy lifestyle choices.  With the American Heart Association, NJTL of Indianapolis educates youth on healthy decisions through fun activities and learning materials.

 

In addition to healthy living and life skills, NJTL also promotes education through the National Arthur Ashe Essay and Art Contest and a summer reading contest. In 2010, NJTL submitted 295 participant entries to USTA for the contest. As a result, NJTL had a National Art Contest winner and four USTA/Midwest Section Art Contest winners. Youth will receive recognition and their award plaques on stage October 17th during NJTL’s annual fundraising gala. This contest not only promotes reading and research, but youth learn valuable lessons, as National Art Contest winner Lauren Kenninger explains, "The 1968 US Open was a great personal achievement by Arthur Ashe but better yet I believe it opened doors for others who needed more…[Racial Prejudice, AIDS, Apartheid, Education, NJTL]." Secondly, NJTL’s summer reading contest helps fight summer learning loss by providing youth with incentive prizes to keep reading during their summer vacation. This past summer 126 kids read 165,325 pages!   

 

Executive Director Nancy Carr shared:

NJTL of Indianapolis is thrilled to receive this award and recognition.  We are committed to Arthur Ashe's vision of using 'tennis as a way to gain and hold the attention of young people...so that we can teach them about matters more important than tennis.'  By teaching life and healthy living skills, as well as encouraging educational pursuits, we assist Central Indiana youth in building a foundation for a successful adulthood. 
  

NJTL has a long-standing partnership with Indianapolis Parks and Recreation (Indy Parks). NJTL’s roots can actually be traced back to Indianapolis’ Riverside Park in 1969. In 1969, the program was known as the Riverside Upswing before it officially became NJTL of Indianapolis in 1973. Now 37 years later, NJTL and IndyParks still work together to provide over 1,200 Indianapolis youth with summer tennis and 200 children with Winter QuickStart tennis during March-April and October-November. For NJTL’s Summer Program, Indy Parks provides in-kind tennis court usage at 12 park locations, promotes the program in print through the Indy Parks Summer FunGuide, and also assists with recruitment of participants. The NJTL of Indianapolis is thrilled to be recognized for their efforts to provide the youth of Indianapolis with the opportunity to learn tennis and enrich lives.