Fun Time and Work at the Symposium
February 2023
Our traditional East Coast symposium was fun and productive. It was wonderful to catch up with our long-time donors and friends like Ron Manilla and meet new members.
The awards banquet night was entertaining. The food was tasteful and the speeches were heartfelt. Dr. Loehr, through a video message, reminded the members about Dennis’s vision, the importance of giving and the foundation’s mission and focus.
Nancy Hoekstra’s tireless work and boundless energy dedicated to the Special Olympics athletes won her PTR Humanitarian award for the second time. Thank you, Nancy, for all you do for the athletes and for the tennis community.
Our board member, Jean. H. Mills was inducted into the PTR Hall of Fame. Lucy Garvin perfectly delivered an award presentation speech. Jean was the first woman in the world to earn the PTR designation of “International Master Professional,” and was the first woman to serve on the PTR’s Board of Directors. Jean, you rock!
A big shout-out to the PTR for donating $2,500 to the PTR Foundation in honor of Jean Mills.
Our number one focus is to provide grants to Coaches Development / Continuing Education.
We were excited to have our very own space at the trade show. The PTR staff were a great help from start to finish. Our booth had a mix of interesting items. Helma Cap’s creative book sale idea helped us raise close to $200. We were thrilled to display our enhanced web page at our booth. Thank you to Vinestrat Strategies for getting the web page completed in such short notice. Members who shared their contact information with us had a chance to win a fine bottle of wine. We hope you enjoyed visiting our booth as much as we did. The entire PTRF community is looking forward to meeting more members next year.
During the symposium, our PTR friends helped us raise $1,820 through a silent auction. For the first time we used an app to run the auction and it worked out pretty well. We learned a few dos and don’ts and hope to streamline the process next year. We hope to auction more attractive tennis items and open it to the entire PTR member community for the 2024 PTR Symposium.
Again, a huge tip of the cap to our silent auction sponsors noted below. We couldn’t do it without your thoughtful support year after year….
Our family of PTR members has helped to amplify the impact of the PTR Foundation. Your spirit to give back is instrumental in providing the foundation with the resources needed to realize its mission to make tennis available to everyone.
Your continuing support will help us escalate our ability to create more opportunities for scholarships, member support, career development, and worldwide goodwill – all of which will serve to preserve the legacy of our founder – Dennis Van Der Meer.
Together – we can truly make a world of difference in shaping the future of the game of tennis.
Scott Tharp, Chairman
PTR Foundation
We have an ambition to help you, but we can’t do it alone.
- PTR Staff
- USTA Foundation (donated US Open tickets)
- Tennis Point
- SportMaster
- On Court Off Court (Joe Dinoffer)
- Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education (Scott Tharp)
- Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL
- Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA
- Babolat
- Wilson Racquet Sports
- Dr. Jim Loehr
- Van Der Meer Tennis Academy
- Comcast- Spectacor
- HAR-TRU Ball Mower
- Boom MP - Signed by Lorenzo Musetti
- Junior Tennis Circuit - Mike Jizmejian
- iPlayMe2
- Head Penn
- Special Olympics
- WTA Charleston Open
- Habtu Belayneh
- Kim Lutian
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