Love God. Make Friends. Play Tennis!
On Sunday, December 16, the BCCTA family got together to celebrate all of the wonderful blessings God has lavished upon us during the past year. We’ve seen more and more kids join our Academy. We’ve seen more and more kids begin to climb the ladder and move from our Sunday “Fun Bunch” into our tournament training program. We’ve broken ground and are now ready to finish our new outdoor training facility. Things are looking for up for the kids and coaches of the BCC Tennis Academy!
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Congratulations to Tokara Henderson on winning her third straight USTA Missouri Valley Champs Circuit Girl’s Singles title today in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Tokara has won 7 matches in a row and 13 out of the last 14 matches.
Tokara has been playing tennis with the BCC Tennis Academy since she was 4 years old. Now, still only in the 5th grade, Tokara is a leader for our younger kids who are working hard on the court and off to live out the motto of the BCCTA: Love God. Make Friends. Play Tennis! Congratulations Tokara. The kids and coaches of the BCCTA are so proud of you!
This was a big, BIG week for the kids and coaches of the BCC Tennis Academy. The bulldozers came in and the work on the BCC Tennis Center began! For the past several years we’ve been traveling to the OKC Tennis Center and The Kickingbird Tennis Center on Sundays for our Sunday “Fun Day” tennis. We are so grateful for our friends, Steve Henry and David Minihan, for all of their help in providing us a place to play tennis on Sundays.
For the past year our leaders have been asking if it was possible to have our own tennis center, our own training facility for the kids of the BCCTA. Our leaders made the commitment to try and make it happen and our supporters responded with such amazing generosity! Once the BCCTA Tennis Center is completed it will be paid for in full. Praise God!
Not only will we no longer have to travel to play on Sundays, but our older kids will be able to train throughout the week at our own training facility. In addition to these wonderful blessings we plan on creating new opportunities for those in our community to learn to play the wonderful game of tennis.
Once the courts are completed you will all be invited to the dedication of our new training facility. It will be an afternoon of great celebration and humble gratitude for the grace of our God and the generosity of His people. Love God. Make Friends. Play Tennis!
It was a historic day for the BCC Tennis Academy. On Sunday afternoon the newest addition to the BCC Tennis Academy, the 12U JTT Barracudas took the court for the very first time at Oak Tree Country Club. The kids have been putting in the work over the past several weeks, with their coaches, in preparing for this new challenge in JTT.
All of the players on the Barracudas, Kadence Williams, Javier Vazquez, John Paul Dillon, Taytum Jones, and Macy and Kellen Hays, began playing JTT with our 10U Cheetahs team. It’s a big step to move up to a full court and playing against older kids (three of our players are 9 years old,) but these kids know how to work hard and their hard work paid off on Sunday. The Barracudas ended the day with a 32-14 win over Oak Tree. I hope you will come out and watch the Barracudas compete this Fall as they compete against over 12U squads from across Oklahoma City.
Tuesday afternoon we had a welcome party for our newest additions to the Cheetahs JTT squad! The past two years the Cheetahs have accomplished so much in winning three JTT City Championships and then, this past summer, winning the USTA JTT State Championship at LaFortune Tennis Center. Several of the kids from the team have now advanced to Green Ball play and we are so proud of them. At the same time, we are beyond excited to welcome our new teammmates!
Braver Reineke, Alma and Andrea Mendoza, Hayden Shriner, and Audrey Bohnstedt have been participating with the BCC Tennis Academy in one or more of our programs for some time now. Our coaches have recognized their hard work, commitment, and over-the-top great attitudes. As a result, our coaches extended the invitation to them to become a Cheetah. They and their families have made the commitment and now they’ve begun putting in the work. Congratulations to each of the kids and their families! We are so proud of you!
Saturday, August 18 was a big day for the kids of the BCC Tennis Academy. We had 9 players competing in tournaments at Oak Tree Country Club and the OKC Tennis Center. Congratulations to Parker Dillon on winning his first Championship a 14s Challenger Tournament and to Jett Birsner for winning 4th in his first Challenger event.
We also had 7 players competing in Orange and Green Ball tournaments at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond. Javier Vazquez, John Paul and Grey Dillon, Taytum Jones, Kadence Williams, and Macy and Kellen Hays all left it all out on the court. Kellen Hays took home 2nd place in his very first Green Ball tournament!
It was a hot, hot day at the Greens Country Club Smasher’s tournament today. We’re so proud of our BCCTA kids who fought through the heat and took home the hardware! We had five of our kids in the tournament and when it was all said and done they took home three 1st Place and two 2nd Place medals. Macy Hays and Taytum Jones both won their draws while Javier Vazquez and Kellen Hays captured Silver medals in their draws.
The outstanding performer of the day has to go to Kadence Williams who won her draw by winning all three of her matches! It was Kadence’s first Singles title of her career. Kadence split sets in two of her matches and won both tiebreakers by the identical score of 9-7! She was on the court for over three hours in blistering heat that caused some of the girls to forfeit their matches. Congratulations to all of our kids!
The Junior Te
am Tennis season came to an end this past week at the LaFortune Tennis Center in Tulsa with the USTA Oklahoma District Championships. After an undefeated Summer season, and another City Championship, the BCC Cheetahs traveled to Tulsa to compete against the Oklahoma City Tennis Center as well as the two top Tulsa teams, RH91 and Indian Springs. After two hot days of round robin competition the Cheetahs brought home the State Championship defeating the 2nd Place Indian Springs 10U team with 92 total games to 72 total games.
The kids and coaches of the BCC Tennis Academy are so proud of our Cheetah team and all of the hard work they’ve put in throughout the year. They will continue to practice and compete this summer in individual tournaments to prepare for next Fall’s Junior Team Tennis season. John Paul Dillon, team captain, is the only player who will age up to the 12s for next season. Kadence Williams, Taytum Jones, Kellen and Macy Hays, (all 9 yr olds) and Grey Dillon (7 yrs old) will all return for next season. In addition to these players we will gain new players in Braver Reineke, Alma and Andrea Mendoza, and Yuri Mendoza. Exciting things are happening with the players of the BCC Tennis Academy!
The BCCTA Cheetahs won their 3rd straight 10U Team Tennis City Championship on June 29 at the OKC Tennis City! With the win the Cheetahs ran their winning streak to 14 matches. All of the players came ready to play and worked incredibly hard for every point.
Up next for the Cheetahs will be a trip to Tulsa for the USTA Team Tennis State Championship at LaFortune Tennis Center. The top 4 teams in the state will compete over two days to see who will win the State Championship. Good luck to all of our players and coaches.
For the past 6 years the Britton Christian Church Tennis Academy has provided summer camp for kids who want to learn more about loving God, making friends, and playing tennis. Each summer new players have joined us and their parents have been blown away by the level of coaching and love offered by our coaches.
An opportunity like the BCCTA Summer Camp doesn’t just happen, it takes tons of work throughout the year raising money, recruiting coaches, and making preparations for the best four days of summer. Jessica Reineke, our Executive Director, and Board members Steve Porter, Brad Lund, and Rob Braver are the heart of our organization. They don’t just make time for the four days of camp each summer; they work year round in coaching and encouraging our kids. Steve Porter leads a dynamite group of volunteers who work with our Los Gatos Tennis and Learning Club. Brad Lund is Director of Player Development and coaches our 10U City Champion Team Tennis “Cheetahs.” Rob Braver is Head of Development and works year round to get the word out about the great work going on in the BCCTA. Our players and their families are more than grateful for our leaders who give and give and give to bless our kids.
It has often been said, “There’s no ‘I’ in team.” It is such a joy to work alongside of Jessica, Steve, Brad, and Rob. They’re more than tennis coaches, more than people with big hearts; they are a team who share a common vision of changing the world one child at a time!