What an awesome fun tournament and luncheon we had on Monday!  It was a BEAUTIFUL day to  be on the courts with friends!  Our numbers were low, but we had a great time. Thank you to each person who participateThen we shared a delicious meal at Bocage!  Thank you to each member who participated in either food or monetary donations to the  Baton Rouge Food Bank!  You “showed up and showed out”!  In addition to the many bags of canned goods, you donated a grand total of $1,651.00!  Thanks to your generosity, this donation will make a huge impact on those in need!  Thank you so much!!

December 9^th is the date for our next fun tournament and it is gearing up to be very festive!  It is a MEMBER/GUEST, so be thinking of a friend to invite and introduce to BRWTA.  We will have several things going on at the luncheon, so please make a note and don’t forget!  First, we will have a CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT EXCHANGE.  If you want to participate in the ornament exchange, please bring a WRAPPED ORNAMENT.   If your guest wants to participate, make sure they know to bring one as well.  Secondly, we will have a HOLIDAY RECIPE EXCHANGE.  Your recipe needs to be on an 8 x 11 sheet of paper with your name on it!  You must bring enough copies for everyone, so we will send out an email several days before with that final number.  You are not limited to one recipe, but every recipe that you bring must have enough copies for each person attending.  The recipes can be any category….main dish, dessert, drinks, appetizers, etc.  It will be fun to look through our “book” and see everyone’s favorites!  Then we can go home and be ambitious with our holiday entertaining from our new recipes!

So,  there you have it….Tennis (member-guest), Ornament Exchange, Holiday Recipe Exchange!  A great combination for a FUN December BRWTA event!

Congratulations to our November Tournament winners….

Nicole LaNasa  & Valerie Debosier  Forest Park 3.0 

Rhonda Searcy & Rhonda Rayborn  Bocage 55’s 3.0 

Suzanne Wortmann & Cathy Bass  Forest Park 3.5 

Kerri Howard & Lisa Raiford  Indy 3.5 

Looking forward to seeing each of you on December 9^th on the courts!

Rhonda Searcy

January 13

February 10: Mardi Gras Theme

March 9: St. Patrick’s Day Theme

November 9

December 14

January 11

February 8

March 8

April 12

May 10

Dear Tennis Friends,

I hope that each of you are having a wonderful summer and that you are ready to start an exciting year of tennis. We have new board members, a new luncheon location, a new prize format and a new Social calendar filled with really fun parties and events.

As president, I am honored and so excited to be a part of such a talented and dedicated group of ladies. BRWTA has a rich tradition of doing great things to promote tennis and its players in our area. This years BRWTA board has been busy planning to continue these traditions. We welcome our new board members, Phyllis Pederson, Elizabeth Delaney, and Lisa Thomas.

Our luncheon will now be held at Bocage Racquet Club. We can expect good food, beautiful presentation and lots of friendly service from Nathan Webster and his talented staff. Nathan even mentioned they have a new sound system! The location is 700 Jefferson Blvd.

Spring Survey results spoke loud and clear to this board. We not only listened to you, we changed things. Survey said excessive heat in August should cause fun tournament to be moved back a month. Okay. Now y’all are all invited to a “kick off the season” pool party at Bocage for our August event! For the regular tournament price we will rent the pool, provide life guards, serve a pool side lunch, play games and have door prizes. If you don’t want to wear bathing suit …we wear yoga clothes when we do water aerobics. Come on, jump in. Sign up with partner so we don’t have to change computer program. See you August 12th. If you have trouble signing up, call any board member. We will get you signed up.

I hope you can see how excited we are about this season. Tournament dates are listed below . Make sure to check your membership status. See you soon!

Making a SPLASH!!

Rhonda Searcy

Tournament Dates

August 12 Pool Party at Bocage 10:00-12:00

September 9 Favorite football team theme

October 14 Halloween Theme

November 4

December 9 Member/Guest Cookie Exchange

January 13

February 10 Mardi Gras Theme

March 9 St. Patrick’s Day Theme

April 20

May 11 Member/Guest

TOURNAMENT DATES FOR 2018-2019 SEASON:

August 13, 2018

September 10, 2018 – Favorite Sports Team Theme

October 15, 2018 – Halloween Theme

November 12, 2018 –  Bazaar

December 10, 2018 – Christmas Theme

January – NO FUN TOURNAMENT

February 11, 2019 – Mardi Gras Theme

March 11, 2019

April 8, 2019 

May 13, 2019 (Member/Guest)

 

2018 Service Award Recipient – Stephen Magnon

WOW!  Attendance this month was the greatest in my four years as a board member!!!  Thanks so much for all of you who played and to all of you who invited a guest to experience BRWTA!  Weather was great, very warm, but beautiful day!  This is our last tournament of the 2017-2018 Tournament season and my last month as BRWTA President.  It has been a privilege to serve on this board for the past four years, two as Vice President and two as President!  Our board members have made my job very easy and I appreciate everyone who volunteers to serve and grown our tennis around the Baton Rouge area!  We appreciate all of our court captains and hope they enjoyed their t-shirts as a token of our appreciation.  Just a reminder that our Annual dues will increase on June 1, 2018 to $25.

Here are the MAY winners:

3.0 Highland Park – Court Captain – Julie Waguespack

1st place – Alison Williams and Julie Zartman

2nd place – Susan Lefever and Wendy Elliott

3.0 Independence – Court Captain – Leslie Fernandez

1st place – Sybil Rhodes and Jennifer Oliver

2nd place – Teri Meliet and Kaci Massett

3.5 Highland – Court Captain – Julie Purdy

1st place – Cathy Bass and Suzanne Wortmann

2nd place – Julie Waguespack and Alena Prejean

3.5 Forest Park – Court Captain – Lisa Raiford

1st place – Kim Elston and Jeannette Braud

2nd place – Brenda and Cindy Keith

50s 3.0 Independence – Court Captain – Debbie Schott

1st place – Rhonda Rayborn and Clynda Vowart

2nd place – Judi Allen and Barbara Bahlinger

50s/3.5 Forest Park – Court Captain – Nancy Garland

1st place – Elizabeth Delaney and Connie Atkinson

2nd place – Janice Casaday and Faye Aydell

7.5 City Park – Court Captain – Mindy Lovell

1st place – Mindy Lovell and Kelly O’Brien

2nd place – Renee Simoneaux and Shawna Gardiner

Have a safe summer and we will see you in August!

Julie Waguespack, BRWTA President 2016-2018

Mindy Lovell, BRWTA President 2018-2020

Office	Name	Email	Cell Phone
President	Mindy Lovell	mailto:netninja66@gmail.com	225-324-1579
Vice –President	Rhonda Searcy	dblfault2@aol.com	225-939-0416
Secretary	Lisa Thomas	BRLisaT@yahoo.com	225-978-5936
Treasurer	Terri DuCote	terriducote@cox.net	225-772-6790
Historian/Publicity	Susan Barry	stephenbarry@cox.net	225-953-0037
Membership	Jackie Westerfield	jwesterfield3@cox.net	225-505-8367
Awards/Prizes	Rhonda Rayborn	rhondarayborn@cableone.net	601-757-7388
Tournament Director	Julie Purdy	purdyfamilyemail@gmail.com	225-405-6636
Publicity Asst.	Lisa Marie Raiford	scottrayslove@gmail.com	225-955-0019
Past President	Julienne Waguespack	juwag@etigers.net	225-278-1311

 

Thanks to all of you who came out and played in the April Fun Tournament.  The weather was a little different than expected, but it turned out to be a cool and enjoyable day!  Next month will be our last tournament for the 2017-2018 BRWTA Season.  The May tournament will be held on May 14th and will be a MEMBER/GUEST tournament, so please get some of your tennis friends and teammates introduced to our organization and signed up to play!  Our membership has really been down since the flood and we are looking for ideas and new ways to increase membership.  We will have comment cards at next month’s luncheon so that our members can give any feedback on how we can improve and grow!

Just a reminder that due to tax law changes and new requirements, BRWTA incurred expenses hiring a tax attorney and CPA to file for non-profit status on our behalf with the Secretary of State and the Internal Revenue Service.  These expenses as well as computer updates/expenses has depleted our small savings forcing us to increase our annual membership dues for next season.  Currently, annual membership is $21 and will remain at that rate for the end of this tournament season which ends in May.   Annual dues will increase on June 1, 2018 to $25.

You won’t want to miss the May tournament luncheon, as we will be honoring annual selected service award winner and introducing new board members for the 2018-2019 season.  We will also be giving a special “thank you” gift to all of you who were court captains during the 2017-2018 season.  We appreciate all of our court captains!!!

Here are our April winners:

3.0 Highland Park – Court Captain – Carol Moore

1st place – Carol Moore and Trish d’Aquin

2nd place – Damona Guillera and Gloria Murphy

3.0 Forest Park – Court Captain – Terre Powers

1st place – Elizabeth Delaney and Rhonda Searcy

2nd place – Lisa Thomas and Vicki Proffitt

3.5 Highland – Court Captain – Julie Purdy

1st place – Julie Waguespack and Julie Purdy

2nd place – Ingrid Osuna and Patti Nelson

4.0 Highland – Court Captain – Jackie Westerfield

1st place – Mindy Lovell and Jackie Westerfield

2nd place – Amber Owens and Betsy Bernhard

50s/3.0 Forest Park – Court Captain – Terri Ducote

1st place – Rhonda Rayborn and Terri Ducote

2nd place – Susan Lafever and Wendy Elliott

50s/3.5 Forest Park – Court Captain – Nancy May

1st place – Nancy Kora and Diane Pirello

2nd place – Faye Aydell and Janice Casaday

 

See you next month,

Julie Waguespack, BRWTA President 2016-2018

Cystic Fibrosis Thank you

We are very thankful for a beautiful, but windy March fun tournament.  We appreciate all of you who played and attended the luncheon, and especially to our subs who filled in at the last minute so that we could fill all of our courts!  Please remember that if you register and must cancel, please try to find subs, especially if the courts and brackets have been assigned.  Members pay to play a minimum of three sets and a team cancellation causes people to have to sit and miss out on playing one of their sets.  We also have a no refund policy for cancellations.  We must pay for a minimum number of dinners no matter if we have that many or not, so your luncheon spot is counted when you register.  We realize that some cancellations are unavoidable, but it really helps if you can find a sub!

Due to tax law changes and new requirements, BRWTA incurred expenses hiring a tax attorney and CPA to file for non-profit status on our behalf with the Secretary of State and the Internal Revenue Service.  These expenses as well as computer updates/expenses has depleted our small savings forcing us to increase our annual membership dues for next season.  Currently, annual membership is $21 and will remain at that rate for the end of this tournament season which ends in May.    

Thanks again to all of our court captains!!!  Our next tournament is on Monday, April 9th, we hope to see all of you there!  

Here are our March winners:

3.0 Highland Park – Court Captain – Julie Purdy

1st place – Rhonda Rayborn and Rhonda Searcy

2nd place – Debbie Hymel and Paily Lightsey

3.0 Independence – Court Captain – Leslie Fernandez

1st place – Alison Williams and Alysia Graves

2nd place – Linda Williams and Lisa Sanner

3.5 Highland – Court Captain – Julie Waguespack

1st place – Kimberly Jones and Lisa Raiford

2nd place – Mary Kay Devillier and Carol Naquin

3.5 Independence – Court Captain – Nancy Garland

1st place – Audrey Braud and Nancy Garland

2nd place – Cathy Bass and Angela Angelloz

50s/3.0 Forest Park – Court Captain – Terri Ducote

1st place – Diane McGowan and Missy Ryan

2nd place – Barbara Chalmers and Judi Allen

50s/3.5 Forest Park – Court Captain – Carol Moore

1st place – Patti Nelson and Ingrid Osuna

2nd place – Wendy Elliott and Arlene Brignac

7.5 Highland – Court Captain – Amber Owens

1st place – Amber Owens and Betsy Bernhard

2nd place – Heidi Morton and Lissa Gaffney

See you next month,

Julie Waguespack, BRWTA President 2016-2018