On Sunday, March 3, 2019, over one hundred local tennis enthusiasts gathered at the Holiday Inn Vanderbilt to be in the company of Nashville’s prestigious college tennis coaches and teaching pros at a party hosted by Tennis Nashville.
Tennis Nashville, an area non-profit community tennis association, brought together Geoff MacDonald, Vanderbilt University’s Head Women’s Tennis Coach and winner of the SEC Coach of the year, Kyle Burton, head Tennis Coach for TSU, Michael Chamberlain, USTA representative, and Bill Tym, local coach and teaching pro to form a panel that addressed various tennis situations and questions. The panel was facilitated by Tennessee Tennis Hall of Famer Mike Hurley, who is also a Board Member of Tennis Nashville.
Helen Neuhoff, President of Tennis Nashville, called this gathering the “2019 Relaunch Party” of the association, meant to re-establish the purpose of educating, informing, and sponsoring tennis events for the area residents of Nashville and Middle Tennessee.
Tennis influencers and players in attendance from the Nashville area included Carl Robinson, Charles Batt, Greg Chamberlain, Sharon and Jamie Tillman, Kobie Pretorius, and Kim Wilson from USTA.
After the coaches panel presentation concluded, Bill Tym gave a heart felt introduction of the 2019 Tennis Nashville’s inaugural Coach’s Award, henceforth to be called the Peter Van Lingen Coach’s Award, to long time teaching pro Peter Van Lingen. A standing ovation and encouraging applause proved that this award recipient was a crowd approved selection. Peter was born in Pretoria, South Africa and after an accomplished career as a member of the South Africa Davis Cup Team, a touring pro on the championship tennis circuit, an award winning 4 year stint as a scholarship tennis player at Oral Roberts University, , a National tournament title winner of more than 20 Father-Son Tournaments, plus a world champion title with son Van. Peter has coached many aspiring players and college bound scholarship players throughout his life as a respected and beloved teaching pro at Nashboro Village and the former Westside Athletic Club.
Tennis Nashville Board Members are busy planning more tennis-oriented events and opportunities. Visit our website TennisNashville.net for additional information about tennis in our Nashville area.
~ By Patty Diehl, Tennis Nashville Board of Directors
