Larry Newton 2008 OTA Volunteer of the Year

 

The amount of time Larry Newton has volunteered not only to the Omaha tennis community but also the Nebraska tennis community in general is truly remarkable!  Over the years, Larry has given so much of his time in running tournaments, serving on the boards of both the Omaha and Nebraska Tennis Associations, and serving as the Competition Training Center Director.  Larry has been a tournament referee and umpire at numerous tournaments-- all as a volunteer.  He has served on a countless number of seeding committees for tournaments as well. 

Outside of all of this work, he has found time to be a member of the OTA Board for the past nine years.  Larry is a former president of the CTA and is currently serves on the Tournament Committee.  For the past six years, Larry has been active as a board member of the Nebraska District, serving as President of the NTA in 2004-2005. 

During Larry’s term as NTA President, he worked diligently on a number of district projects including the NTA Caravan.  This project provides grants from the NTA to set up tournaments and clinics for smaller communities in Nebraska.  Each community receives a laptop computer for tournament data entry.   If that community successfully runs a sanctioned tournament for four years, it keeps the laptop. 

Larry serves as Director for the Competition Training Center..  Within the past few years, Larry has created a “farm team” which invites young players who have talent or a real interest in the game to participate in a fall competition program.  These players compete for four spots on the thirty-six player CTC Roster.  In 2004, over 90 juniors played in over 900 matches that were all recorded and posted on the internet.  In 2005, around 110 juniors competed in over 1000 sanctioned matches.  By developing these 12 & Under players who would not normally be invited to play in the CTC, Larry has created a real desire for these players to excel.  Many of these juniors go on to play sanctioned tournaments throughout the year. In addition, the Nebraska District teams formed by many of these players have experienced excellent results in competitions within the USTA/Missouri Valley Section. By establishing the “farm team”, Larry has begun to raise the overall level of performance of our juniors at the state and sectional level.  The Omaha tennis community is extremely fortunate to have Larry Newton as such an outstanding volunteer and innovator.