The 2010 NWOTA Annual Meeting was held on November 22nd at La Scola Italian Grill. The night consisted of the State of the District Reports, League reports, video presentation of the 10 and under Quickstart programiming, presentation of awards and socializing.
Congratulations to our award winners The Family of the Year- The Hager Family and the William T. Ratbun Award to The John Schlessman Family.
2009 NWOTA AWARD WINNERS
Family of the Year – The Hager’s
“This year’s NWOTA family of the year is from the tennis mecca (or hotbed) of Wapakoneta Ohio. They truly have earned this years’ award as a family, as tennis has been a family affair for all of them. It all began as a form of physical education for Hanna when she was 12 years old, as she began playing in an outdoor summer YMCA program. From there, the sport has grown on the family so that 3 of the 4 children all play or have played competitively. The family has been as actively involved and supportive of NWOTA and USTA events as they could be from Wapakoneta. The family is right now working with other concerned tennis enthusiasts in Wapakoneta to form a community tennis association in Wapakoneta, and to bring the USTA Midwest Youth Team Tennis concept to Wapakoneta in 2011.”
William T. Rathbun – The Schlessman Family
Although John was a "basketball guy" his entire life, he met his wife of 32 years, Lori, on the tennis courts. By the way, Lori played on the Perkins' boys teams in the early 70's because there were no ladies high school teams in our area.
Our daughters, Kelly & Amy, both played for Perkins and @ the DIII level in college. Our son, Alan also played tennis.
Kelly - Ohio Wesleyan (Jr. & Sr. years)
Amy - Kenyon College (current soph.) playing # 1 doubles & both # 1 & 2 singles. All American
in doubles as a Frosh.
We started a non-profit corporation, Al's Clinics, upon the tragic death of our son, Alan in the Ohio State arson fire on his 21st birthday in 2003. see: www.alsclinics.org
The foundation supports athletes of his sports - tennis, golf, & basketball by providing financial assistance toward clinics, memberships, & equipment. We also run a USTA youth QuickStart program @ our relatively new tennis facility in Sandusky.
The Hager Family The Schlessman Family