CTA Spotlight:  Roanoke Tennis Association

The Roanoke Valley Tennis Association (RVTA), located in Roanoke, Virg., is a non-profit organization originally founded in 1974 with the mission of promoting and supporting the game of tennis for adults and youth throughout the Roanoke Valley.

The RVTA is comprised entirely of volunteers who are dedicated to planning and promoting multiple opportunities in the Roanoke Valley for adults and youth to learn and play tennis. 

The RVTA sponsors and promotes programs for both youth and adults at multiple locations across Roanoke Valley. Adults can get in the game competitively or socially, participating on many of the USTA Adult leagues teams with almost 350 participants, sponsored through RVTA, or Friday Night Tennis events, or Women's Wednesday Social Tennis. RVTA's Youth TennisBASH offers youths from the ages of 7 – 18 the opportunity to play and learn tennis in a tournament setting. Each fall, RVTA sponsors a middle school tennis program that allows Middle School youth to play tennis, targeted to youth ages 11-14.

In addition to all the programs RVTA runs, the organization also awards four, $500 scholarships to two male and two female graduating high school seniors who have made significant contributions to their schools, communities and high school tennis programs. 

"RVTA has seen many benefits to those participating in our tennis programs," said Susan Lunsford, RVTA President. 

"Many youth and adults have learned to play tennis through our various clinics and have then been able to continue playing, either socially or competitively in our sponsored tennis events. Regardless of the venue of play participants choose, all are staying active and getting beneficial exercise by playing tennis, and also enjoy the social aspect that comes from playing tennis with other adults or youth." 

For more information on RVTA, click here. 

_{Photo courtesy of RVTA}