Medical Lake Tennis-A-Thon celebrates 24th anniversary

MEDICAL LAKE - Medical Lake held its 24th annual Tennis-A-Thon beginning on July 21 at noon and ending at the same time on July 22. Leroy Lemaster, the former high school tennis coach who began the endeavor in 1997, was there to watch the continued tradition.

The Tennis-A-Thon's main goal is to raise funds for the Medical Lake Food Bank and Medical Lake Community Outreach, but a percentage of the funds go to the high school tennis teams. With the help of sponsors, the event opens tennis to community members of all ages. It is the only time the tennis team does any sort of fundraising.

"We find sponsors from the community to help with the event," said Cardinals tennis coach Brian Tellez. "We accept food donations, and it's all just trying to raise awareness and get money for the bank, but also to make people love tennis because we love tennis."

They managed to raise almost $4,000 in donations for the community. They also received over $1,000 in gift cards from local businesses that were handed out at the event.

The event kicked off with kids lessons from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The high school students who play on the tennis team coach the younger kids, guiding them through games and activities. Some members of the team also did face painting for the kids. Almost 75 kids attended the event and received free tennis lessons.

Family and adult lessons were available later in the night, and the celebrity match for alumni was held at 8 p.m. Almost 30 alumni attended. The staff match followed soon after. At 10 p.m. they held the ball bouncing contest, which was open to everyone. The salmon run scramble tournament was held at 11 p.m. The tournament was in a round-robin format, allowing rotating partners and ever-changing teams. They finished things off with additional kids lessons from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. the next day.

This year featured the first appearance of the Kona Ice Truck. The truck settled in the tennis court parking lot to keep participants cool and bring attention to the tournament.

"I think it's really cool because it's giving back to the community and raising people that love tennis the way we do," Tellez said.

Riley Kankelberg can be reached at [email protected].