TONI WILEY NAMED RECIPIENT OF 2019 USTA EVE F. KRAFT COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD

Dorchester, MA Resident Honored with National Award

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., March 25, 2019 – The United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced today that Toni Wiley of Dorchester, Mass., was selected as the recipient of the 2019 USTA Eve F. Kraft Community Service Award. Wiley was honored at the USTA Annual Meeting and Conference, held March 22-25, at the JW Marriott in Austin, Texas.

Wiley has been the Executive Director of the Sportsmen's Tennis & Enrichment Center for the last 10 years. She has been instrumental in the enhancement of the Center into a first-class facility and continues to drive the strategic direction of the organization and its programs. Through Wiley’s leadership and vision, Sportsmen's Tennis & Enrichment Center now offers a full menu of community outreach programs at schools and community-based organizations that work to increase physical activity, improve health, develop life skills, increase focus, foster positive relationships with adults and introduce youth to tennis.

In addition, Wiley developed Volley Against Violence, the largest and longest running police based tennis program in the country. This program was adopted as the model for the USTA's Serve & Connect program.

“Toni is one of those rare people that you run across in life who truly cares about helping other people and making a difference,” said Craig Morris, USTA Chief Executive, Community Tennis.  “Eve Kraft would have loved Toni because of her devotion to making her community better no matter what, especially the Volley Against Violence program.”

The USTA awards the Eve F. Kraft Community Service Award to individuals who best exemplify Kraft’s selfless mission to bring the sport of tennis to everyone who wants to play. Kraft was a tennis pioneer whose ability to touch people’s lives exceeded the boundaries of the tennis court. As a teacher, coach, author, USTA staff member and volunteer, Kraft was a lifelong champion of recreational tennis in the U.S. until her death in 1999. She introduced thousands of young people to tennis, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

The USTA Annual Meeting and Conference brings together USTA leadership, national staff, national committee members and section volunteers and staff in pursuit of the USTA mission: to promote and develop the growth of tennis. Along with leadership and committee meetings, the Annual Meeting provides educational opportunities for all attendees to develop and enhance their personal and professional skills and learn new ways to promote the game of tennis.

# # #

The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level -- from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 655,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, one of the highest-attended annual sporting events in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking six summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network. For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.

For more information contact:

Tom LaDue, Director, Corporate Communications, USTA, (914) 697-2352 or ladue@usta.com