John Lopez- 2006 OTA Volunteer of the Year

John Lopez has been named the 2006 OTA Volunteer of the Year.  He has contributed in so many ways to the Omaha tennis community.  His commitment to excellence and his passion toward growing the game of tennis is contagious.

John Lopez was new to the OTA Board in 2006, but assumed his role as Community Development Chair with a comprehensive plan for diversity outreach in Omaha.  John had extensive communication with school principals with the purpose of establishing after school programming in the inner city.  John not only organized those after school programs at Marrs and Norris Middle Schools, he provided instructors’ training sessions, and donated over fifty hours of instructional time to these programs.  John created an impressive manual to assist other CTA’s with after school programming, and has distributed this manual to other CTA’s in the Nebraska District. John participated as a volunteer at three USTA Tennis Block Parties.

John created an alliance with the Omaha Clay Court Association to mentor selected players from these after school programs at Dewey Park.  John works with these players on a weekly basis as well.  He is a volunteer instructor for the Hope Center at Kountze Park tennis program.

In addition to his roles on the Community Development Committee, John was an active member on the OTA Membership Committee, Hall of Fame Committee, and Public Relations Committee.  He has a regular column in the OTA Newsletter called “Community Corner”.

John was chair for the OTA Raffle for US Open Tickets.  This effort raised nearly $2000 for the Omaha tennis community and to purchase racquets for inner city players.

We are grateful to John for giving so much of himself to our Omaha tennis community.

John Lopez at the OTA Awards Luncheon