Women's History Month - Emily Schaefer

Emily Schaefer's volunteer journey with USTA Texas began over 20 years ago, but her contributions to tennis go back much further than that.

Emily has worked extensively with Houston Tennis Association and the NJTL for decades, starting her journey back in 1999. For her efforts, Emily was the recipient of the Eve Kraft USTA Community Service Award in 2007 and the USTA Texas W.T. Caswell Service Award in 2015.

In 2017, Emily became just the fifth female to be named USTA Texas President. During her time as President, she was instrumental in creating the Hispanic Engagement Task Force to cater to the growing Hispanic population in Texas.

We were lucky enough to speak with Emily and several other past presidents earlier this month. Here is Emily's tennis journey in her own words.

"I started playing when I was about eight years old. Both my parents were nationally ranked players and founding members at the Houston Racquet Club, so that's kind of when I got my start. I just would go out with them -- it was a great club to learn tennis. They didn't try to make me do anything. They would just go hit with me which was great.

"I was about 10 years old when the Battle of the Sexes happened. Both my parents attended because it was here in Houston. There's a couple different things you remember as a kid -- it was kind of nice because you could see your parents each kind of rooting for the other. My dad could play up the male chauvinist and my mom could act like she was some giant women's right person for that moment. It was just fun to watch them disagree in a jovial way. We were also personal friends with Gladys Heldman who helped launch the Virginia Slim Circuit and the professional women so I knew a little bit about that leading up to that moment even though I was young. I felt like it was a very significant time even as a young girl for women and especially with the results as it came out.