University of Minnesota Athletics
Baseline Tennis Center Collects USTA Top Honor
4/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The University of Minnesota’s Baseline Tennis Center has been named the Member Organization of the Year by the United States Tennis Association, capping a lengthy list of recent prestigious honors for the seven-year old facility.
The award is given annually to an organization that provides outstanding service to its members and the local community. In the past year, the Baseline Tennis Center was also honored as one of 13 regional winners of the USTA Outstanding Facility Award and was named one of the nation’s top 50 “Tennis Welcome Centers.”
“The Baseline Tennis Center is humbled and honored to receive the 2009 USTA Organization of the Year Award,” said the facility’s director, John Pratt, who accepted the award at the USTA’s annual meeting in March in Palm Desert, Calif. “Our success has been based on a terrific partnership with the state of Minnesota, Gopher Athletics and the United States Tennis Association.”
The Baseline Tennis Center received the award for continuing to serve every tennis constituency, including juniors, adults, seniors, super seniors, adaptive players, beginners and frequent players. To further encourage community involvement, the center offered discounted court time for the Senior Tennis Players Club and donated free court time for a number of St. Paul Urban Tennis events.
In addition, during the past year, the Baseline Tennis Center added new 100-foot candles to brighten its 10 indoor courts and added individual scoreboards to each of its six main indoor courts. The facility also resurfaced the indoor courts in time for the 2008 USTA league and tournament seasons.
“U of M students, Golden Gopher tennis athletes and the loyal fans and customers that fill this facility can all share in this great award,” Pratt added. “We are proud of the broad base of our programming that has helped keep tennis accessible to everyone.
“The vision of David Geatz, Jerry Gruggen, Bob McNamara and the entire Baseline Club Board of Directors gave us our beginnings and we owe them a big debt of gratitude for this opportunity. We hope to continue to showcase the University of Minnesota and grow this great game.”
The center is home to both the Gophers’ men’s and women’s tennis teams and the Minnesota State High School League state tournaments. It has hosted both the Big Ten men’s and women’s championships within the past three years. The Baseline Tennis Center’s 10 indoor courts and 12 outdoor courts are available for public use year-round. The facility opened in the fall of 2002 and is attached to Ridder Ice Arena.
