Read more from Carol
Congratulations to CATA on 50 years!!! What a milestone with thousands of people benefitting from the programs and services that our staff and volunteers have provided over the years. When I reflect on my more than 40 years with CATA, my greatest memories include all the wonderful relationships that I have had. Whether it be those who I played against or with or the many CATA volunteers and staff that I have had the pleasure of working with. These dedicated people have helped earn CATA the Organization of the Year several times at the national and section levels. I became the Executive Director in 1986 and served for 9 years in that position. During that time, CATA grew from a few hundred members, primarily playing in our tournaments, to many thousands today playing in tournaments, USTA Adult Leagues, Junior Team Tennis and Gran Prix events. I continue to serve our local communities because I believe in our vision that the entire CATA-wide community will have access to the sport of tennis.
When I first joined CATA, we ran about 6 tournaments a year, all done by hand, and had a newsletter that was mailed to each member. It wasn’t until the USTA Leagues and Junior Team Tennis came under the CATA umbrella that we really grew in serving tennis to the capital area tennis community. In addition to the adult and junior leagues, we started the CATA Tour, now the Gran Prix, local tournaments for beginner to intermediate players. In 1995, we had our first Annual Junior Awards Banquet held at the Onion Creek Country Club on an icy night in February. It is so rewarding to see that the Junior Banquet has become the highlight of the year for our juniors, their families and coaches. Two years ago, we had a record 600+ attendees.
In 2025, we will celebrate 30 years of hosting the Junior Awards Banquet
at The Doubletree Hotel on May 4 th . With the internet and online registrations, programming became more efficient for players and staff (once the bugs were worked out). In the late 80’s/early 90’s, one of our board members had the foresight to register our web domain as austintennis.org. We developed a website which has evolved into a highly relevant site with the help of our current President, Grant Chambers. Social media has also become a great way to promote tennis opportunities for all.
There have been many changes over the last 50 years, but one thing still remains the same – CATA ‘s mission “To promote and develop the lifetime sport of tennis for all in order to have a happier, healthier community.”
Carol J. Welder
CATA Executive Director 1986-1995
CATA President 1997-2000
CATA Board Member 1996-2024
Read more from Grant
“Being involved with CATA for the past 27 years, whether as staff, a sponsor or a volunteer, has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I’ve witnessed countless individuals and partners pour their passion and energy into strengthening our community, creating the solid foundation that supports us today and continues to impact thousands of lives. As President, I’m deeply grateful to our team for not only sustaining operations but also driving growth with essential initiatives like the “Let’s Grow Tennis Grant Program,” the Facility Utilization and Expansion Committee (FUZE), and our exciting new Dynamic Triples Tennis Cup. The future holds so much promise, and together, we can continue moving forward, step by step.” Grant Chambers – President 2022-2024
Read more from Mike
I was browsing through a CATA newsletter that I managed to hold on to from 2002, we sure were doing a lot of things. The years I was at CATA (2000 – 2004), were an interesting time with technology. The internet was readily available for online registrations, which helped spike membership and enrollment in the tournaments and leagues during that time, but social media was not yet a ‘thing’, which made the hardcopy CATA newsletter an important source for Austin tennis information.
From a numbers perspective, CATA membership grew from 600+ to 3,000+ members.
Tournament participation increased by over 30%. Supersized tournaments with 600-700 entrants requiring 12-14 facilities and dozens of volunteers became normal.
CATA received several awards from TX Section, including ‘CTA of the Year’, ‘Best Newsletter of the Year’, among others. I had a newsletter that listed the different awards from that time but handed it off a few years ago to the lady who worked for CATA in communications. I forget her name but I believe she then went to Colorado for a job and then back to Austin during the pandemic, we met once to talk about CATA things back in the day and I handed her a few newsletters that I had, maybe she still has them..
I remember as a ‘Community Tennis Association’ one of the things I wanted to make sure CATA did was try to introduce tennis to all parts of the Austin community. CATA formed partnerships with Big Brothers / Big Sisters, we started a Special Olympics Team, CATA partnered with “Liv in the Game” (a foundation designed to help develop self-esteem in young girls through physical activity), CATA hosted the Austin Children’s Shelter for tennis ‘fun days’, and we had tennis outings with “Communities in Schools”.
Other outreach programs that CATA partnered with were NJTL which had hundreds for participants thanks to Lonnie Lyman, and Sarah Pernell’s “Project Helping Hand”.
We also started some fun mixers, “Doubles for Singles” which were held at different clubs around Austin. We had a US Open raffle.
In 2003 CATA came in second place in all of Austin for most successful small business from the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
All in all a very full, fun, and fulfilling four years.
Cheers,
Mike
Read more from Jessica
CATA led the Section in having the highest registration numbers for Junior Team Tennis. In 2018, we had over 1,000 kids playing in our Juniors League as well as six teams competing in Nationals! (We also got coded for excessive cheering…… ha ha ha)……..
We also hosted so many community outreach events; Kids Tennis Day at Austin High every October with coaches from all over and Varsity players helping as well; Friday Night Mixers everywhere; SATC, Lost Creek, Caswell, River Place, Onion Creek, etc.
Our littlest players LOVED our Red Ball City Championships where we built our community with beginner parents and players……
CATA’s teams always won at the Gran Prix State Championships and we had the most players! Our Gran Prixs more than tripled in size…….
All of the Adult Social Events we hosted; The Old School Mixer Junior Scholarship Fundraiser, and our Women’s Leadership Event.
I’m so proud of how many lives we touched just by extending an invitation………… The Austin Tennis community is second to none!
Jessica McMillen – Director of Junior Development and Director of Community Outreach
Read more from Martha
I started in 2004 as a volunteer back in the old days entering players manually on the desktop computers we had in the conference room when we were at the office on Burnet Road!!! For me, working at CATA was not a real job! I so much enjoyed interacting with other tennis players about the sport we all loved. I especially enjoyed working with other captains, trying to help out with the challenges they faced and sharing the rewards!! Kim Grant and I had a great time working the Combo, Tri-Level, and all other CATA events.
Martha Ware – Assistant Leagues Director
Read more from Anthony
I think one of the many exciting memories I have from my time as Director of Leagues for CATA was during my second year, 2019. CATA was tracking near the top of the national leaders in year over year Total League Registrations.
I remember excitedly reporting to the Board each month our standing and how close we were to overtaking the top spot. I think it was October when CATA moved into the top spot and held it the rest of the year to finish as the top CTA in the Nation in Registrations.
I remember having a multiple choice question in my next Captain’s Meeting presentation asking the assembled captain’s where they thought CATA ranked Nationally in Registrations amongst the 700 CTAs. Guesses ranked all over. I remember the elated faces when I revealed that we were number 1 and applause broke out.
Anthony Horsley – Director of Leagues
Read more from Jon
I look back at my tenure on the CATA board with great pride that we were able to foster the sport of tennis in Austin and that we were instrumental in the much needed renovations of Caswell Tennis Center. Thanks to the hundreds of volunteers over the years who were responsible for the organizations impact on our community and congratulations on 50 years serving Austin. Jon Levy – President 1995-1996
Read more from Tom
In a weak moment because I owed him big time for helping me become a more effective tennis coach I had taken Bob Haugen’s place on the CATA board and the junior development committee. My hope was to be able to do something to increase CATA’s involvement with tennis in the middle schools. However, no one on the Board except you would even enter into a conversation about it and having to provide dinner for the board every so often was a pain in the butt. I told you I was going to resign and you talked me out of it and assured me that was an interest of yours as well. Fast forward a few years and we had inter-school competition between most of the middle schools. That led us to have a district championship match between the winners of the North and South zones, and a bit later to have an end of season banquet. I’m betting you remember how cold it was that night when we (+/-25 of us gathered at the Onion Creek CC’s banquet hall (Jeff Moore was the speaker). Fast forward a bunch more years,and even though I had been forced to resign from the CATA Board because of family health issues I got an invitation to the “Junior Banquet” to award the Flores Scholarships at the Arboretum and was dumbstruck by the attendance of 600+people and +/-$45,000 worth of scholarships. Paraphrasing the old “Virginia Slim’s” Ad ”
“We’ve come a long way’ baby”. Thanks for leading the way. Tom Webber – President 2014-2016
Read more from Peggy
My biggest accomplishment as president those many years ago was getting [Carol Welder] to serve as executive director when we had to let your predecessor go. Thank you for your all your devotion to the organization and your commitment to the tennis community. Peggy Van Court – President 1987-1988
Read more from Kim
50 years of CATA – amazing and how time flies!!
Highlights of my 10 years at CATA –
Leagues of course – loved all things with Leagues but my favorite was Lone Star definitely! Getting ladies to play the game and be excited about it was so much fun! They were laughing on the court and were nervous to play at first but by the end of the day, they were comfortable playing with others at their level and wanted to play more! Karen Brooks got involved with forming teams to play with her husband Andy, so when I see how involved she is today with CATA, that’s a wonderful feeling!
The Masters – a lot of work, but we pitched it to USTA, and it became the tournament all over the state that players wanted to qualify for and get the towel!
Great volunteer involvement with our tennis community, so it was fun to be a part of. Also great CATA Board involvement as well which was great to build relationships with members.
The Davis Cup and Austin Aces – great to be a part of having these events come to Austin!
Junior Banquet – I wasn’t involved with the kids and parents daily, but the event was always well attended and a special occasion for junior recognition in all categories! It was an event that I was always proud to be a part of as a CATA representative.
Marketing with Grant Chambers to upgrade the CATA logo and website. Coordinate a cohesive look and brand for CATA with materials that were all coordinated for all events for distribution to clubs/public facilities.
Began social selling with CATA Facebook page always up to date with event pictures and news.
<image001.png>
Working at CATA was my dream job. Getting to work with the game that I love and play today was such an honor.
Congratulations CATA on 50 years here in Austin!!!
Kim Grant Director of Leagues
Read more from Doug
I previously served on the board for several years – part of the time as treasurer, then vice-president, before becoming president.
I think my greatest accomplishment was bringing the Austin Tennis League and USTA League under the umbrella of CATA. ATL was originally a program run by the Austin Recreation Department. I was committee chairman of ATL during that time and wanted the program under the auspices of CATA. Also during this time, I was acquainted with a lady who was responsible for the administration of the USTA League in the Austin area and who was open to giving up that role. I convinced her to allow CATA to take responsibility of the League. By unifying these activities, we were able to significantly grow CATA’s footprint. My only regret was that the City of Austin did not allow CATA to have the money ATL had on account with the City.
I was very honored to serve CATA as president and I made many wonderful friends during my tenure. Doug Lawson – President 1989-1990
Read more from Michael
In the decade that I have been a part of the board, I am proud to have seen the recognition of CTA of the Year by national and the accolades we receive as a leader both in junior and adult league participation. While tennis has a strong component of individual versus the world, we have the numbers that show that the communal experience is strong and can be even stronger. I am better off because of working with CATA and we are better of as community when we know that the future is together and not separate Michael MacVay – President 2020-2021
Read more from Charlotte
Mardy Ayers talked me into joining the CATA board sometime around 2008 or 9. We were primarily involved in finding more courts. We went to late-night meetings with the planning commission to expand SATC and lost that battle but got the Austin Tennis Center. Around 2015 (not certain), I was “drafted” for the presidency. Carol [ ] became my Obi-wan Kenobi. I called [ ] often I’m surprised we didn’t have a personal line installed. It was a tumultuous time and during my “tenure” that, for various reasons, extended beyond the usual term, we hired and fired an executive director and, ultimately, hired Fernando. We also hired Anthony Horsley, a terrific director of Leagues. It was my first experience serving in that capacity and I learned a great deal. I realize, looking back, that it was an opportunity for personal growth for me and the organization and I’m proud that I navigated the ship through a transitional period. [ I cannot thank Carol enough for her guidance] and I am confident that CATA is the backbone of the tennis community. I am proud that I served. Charlotte Herzele – President 2016-2018
Read more from James
I came to Austin in 1995 fresh out of college and got reconnected to tennis after a couple years by playing in leagues through CATA and ATL. In 2001 I decided that I wanted to give back to my community and that I would do so through tennis. I got involved as a captain of league teams and then started volunteering to help with tournaments. Later I published a map of tennis courts, and was asked to join the ATL committee and the CATA Board where I helped with the Web sites and wrangled volunteers. Two of my most memorable defeats came when I was CATA President when we failed to convince the City to expand South Austin Tennis Center and I failed to keep our Executive Director from getting burned out and leaving. But while those two things didn’t go our way, every year we served thousands of players through our huge leagues and junior tournaments and built a relationship with the City that lead to the creation of the Austin Tennis Center. Some of my most cherished memories are the CATA Christmas parties and playing with my friends at Pharr, SATC and Caswell. I started out thinking I would be serving my community through tennis, and it turns out tennis has been serving me the whole time.
James Humphrey – President 2005-2006
Want to help make an impact through tennis?
BECOME A VOLUNTEER!