Youth Tennis Foundation of Florida - Youth Sports, Tennis, College Scholarships. Cedar Key, FL

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Evert Tennis Academy

The Evert family is, without any doubt whatsoever, one of the finest tennis families in the state of Florida, and in the country. The Youth Tennis Foundation (YTF) has had an association with the Evert family for many decades. Board members Pierce, Christopher and Allan Kelley grew up in Miami at about the same time the Evert family was growing up in nearby Ft. Lauderdale.

All five of the Evert children became championship caliber players, beginning with Drew, then Chrissie, Jeannie, John and Claire. Drew is about the same age as Christopher, and Allan is less than a month younger than Chrissie. Back then, in the late '50s and early '60s, there were dozens of tournaments throughout the year in South Florida and everyone knew everyone else.

Beginning in the early '80s, the YTF began making awards in honor of their parents, Jimmy and Collette. In fact, in 1985, at our annual meeting, Arthur Ashe was our featured speaker, and he, together with Jack Blair, our president at the time, presented the first of many "Evert" awards. The event was held at the Doral Country Club and it involved an elaborate dinner at a cost of $100 per person, where hundreds of tennis patrons were in attendance. Parenthetically, Billie Jean King, who was unable to attend the meeting, had given the YTF thousands of t-shirts, courtesy of Domino's Pizza, as well as thousands of dollars, to support our Youth Team Tennis program, which evolved into what is now the USTA's Junior Team Tennis program, which is, of course, a national program.

In 1989, when Pierce wrote his book, Introducing Children to the Game of Tennis, which was called by the United States Tennis Association and Tennis magazine, to be "the" perfect introduction and primer for parents of beginning players, Jimmy wrote the Foreword to the book. Incidentally, at first, Jimmy didn't want to do it and suggested that Pierce ask Nick Bollettierri to do it. Pierce insisted, saying that he wanted Jimmy to do that for him, not Nick, and Jimmy acquiesced.

For the past six years or so, the YTF has given an award in honor of Jimmy Evert, a highly respected tennis professional who worked at the public facility in Ft. Lauderdale for decades, to one deserving male player to attend a week-long summer camp at the Evert Academy in Deerfield Beach. An award is also given in honor of Collette Evert, his wife, to a deserving female junior player. It is an excellent facility, where the top pros in the world train, and all who have attended have raved about the experience.

-2023-

The 2023 Evert Academy Award male recipient was Dillon Chylinski, who is the grandson of our newest YTF Board member, Maura Moynihan.


	2023 Recipient, Dillon Chylinski

Dillon is pictured with Sabalenka (# 2 in the world) and is also pictured with Ajla Tomlijanovic at the Chris Evert Academy.


	Dillon and Sabalenka		Dillon and Tomlijanovic

The 2023 Collette Evert Award female recipient was Weronika (Nika) DeLong. She was very thankful for the opportunity that YTF gave her to attend the Evert Academy. She made some great memories, met new friends, and of course played a ton of tennis. Nika feels her tennis game has improved since attending and she is eager to compete again; it was a week to remember!


	2023 Recipient, Nika DeLong

-2022-

The 2022 Evert Tennis Academy was held in Boca Raton, FL the first week in August. Both a male and female participant were selected by YTF Board Member, Sue Zipay to attend. All expenses for the week long camp were paid for by the Youth Tennis Foundation.

Congratulations to Hunter Andres and Parker Zautcke who earned the opportunity to attend the camp. They both sent a note of appreciation to YTF for supporting their experience.

From Parker:
Dear Youth Tennis Foundation,
I cannot thank you enough for providing this opportunity for me. I know that I learned a lot from the Chris Evert Tennis Camp and I really tried my best to make the most of my time there. Not only was it fun but it was super beneficial to my progress as a tennis player. It also taught me life lessons that I will hold close to me hopefully for life. I am so grateful for your grace. Thank you so much for providing these opportunities, not only to me but to kids everywhere.
Sincerely,
Parker Zautcke

From Hunter:
Dear Youth Tennis Foundation,
Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity! The Chris Evert Tennis Academy was truly a wonderful experience that I would not have normally had the opportunity to attend. Starting from day one, I was surrounded by amazing opportunities to really develop my overall game. The academy was very clean, and lived up to the reputation that it was given. Everyday I really looked forward to being able to play matches with the other players, and also being able to do the fitness routines. At the start of my day, I was given a private lesson with my coach, Diego. He provided me with a lot of information that really boosted my technique and my confidence. This camp was such an amazing opportunity for me, and I can't wait to take what I learned from here and apply it everyday. Again, thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Hunter Andres


	2022 YTF Sponsored College Tennis Academy Camp players Parker Zautcke and Hunter Andres

-2021-

Congratulations to Elisa Viplav, daughter of Anjan & Liza Viplav. Elisa was selected and is being sponsored by Youth Tennis Foundation (YTF) of Florida to attend Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, FL on June 21-25.


	Coach Liza Viplav and Elisa Viplav		Elisa Viplav with her sister and Chris Evert

Congratulations to Camrin Wilcoxson, son of Yolanda and Darnell Wormely. Camrin was selected and is being sponsored by Youth Tennis Foundation (YTF) of Florida to attend Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, FL on July 5-9.

Coach Tom Moore, Camrin Wicoxson, and step dad, Darnell Wormely