With the qualifiers over, organizers of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships – the former $10,000 USTA Pro Circuit “Futures” Tournament – hosted a Kick-off Pro-Am and Cocktail Party last Monday evening in advance of the main draw tournaments.
Funds from the tournament and related events benefited the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, named for Mardy Fish, Vero native and former top 10 tennis phenom. The nonprofit provides after-school exercise, nutritional and enrichment programs to more than 2,100 children in 15 local elementary schools and six middle schools.
Thirty supporters of the organization took to the courts to play with tennis pros from around the world, getting in two hours of doubles tennis with a rotation of pros. Many other tennis followers relaxed on the sidelines, enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres and bidding on some must-have raffle items.
“This is a way to experience what it’s like playing with somebody who hits tennis balls for a living,” said MFCF Chairman Tom Fish, Mardy’s father, giving final instructions to the amateur participants.
Mike Rahaley, who managed the tournament for 20 years before turning it over to the MFCF in February, beamed with delight at the festivities. “It takes so much work; you have to have really good people. I have three ladies who have been doing it with me every single year and they can do it with their eyes closed,” said Rahaley, giving high praise to Volunteer Coordinator Sue Lynch and team leaders Jacque Morton and Kim O’Connell. “She never misses; she can handle anything that comes up. When I found Sue it became 100 percent easier.”
Mardy’s mother Sally Fish also commended the hundreds of volunteers who came out to help make it a success.
“It’s been a wild ride, a wild two months,” said Sally Fish. “We’ve had nothing but positive comments and we’ve only had a couple of small catastrophes. The first day there were huge swarms of bees, and then we had two palm trees that caught on fire. The third one was when we had a huge rainstorm and the two big stadium courts flooded. But we’re just going with the flow.”
Kriegler Brink was relaxed and all smiles as he joked with the players at the pro-am, which Tom Fish also termed a “going-away party” for the popular pro. A former participant in the futures tournament, Brink recently resigned from his position as assistant tennis pro at Quail Valley River Club to pursue a new career in Dallas, Texas.
Watching as youngsters got their instructions as ball boys and ball girls in the pro-am, MFCF board member Joe Pappalardo said, “This is so sweet. They are so excited; all of us are so excited. These futures tournament star players are role models for our kids, our future stars. We’re empowering these kids with the knowledge of health and fitness in their lives.”
He added that over the course of the two weeks, more than 100 children who participate in MFCF programs will have been part of the event.
“This tournament is raising more awareness for us,” said Pappalardo. “People are coming to the tournament who didn’t realize that the MFCF was health and fitness; they thought it was just exhibition tennis. People always think about Vero being a sleepy little town. But this town is in motion, and they’re getting our kids in motion, which is what our foundation is all about. Healthy children become healthy adults.”
