Pueblo Tennis Center and Colorado State University-Pueblo men’s and women’s tennis collectively hosted its second tennis mixer for club members on Aug. 30 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.The event featured several tennis drilling events, serving and aiming contests, and doubles play. Participants had an opportunity to socialize and enjoy pizza afterward.
The goal of the event is to help club members improve their game while drumming up support for CSU-Pueblo tennis, thereby encouraging locals to attend matches at City Park.
Proceeds fund men’s and women’s tennis at CSU-Pueblo, as well as the Pueblo Tennis Club.
“I think it’s good for the club members to see a higher level of play, and it’s good for them to see strong energy from the college players and realize the levels of players out there,” said Mark Jacques, owner of Pueblo Tennis Club.
“We’re trying to build that relationship between the school, team and tennis community, and it’s more personal for the community to know about the players they’re reading about,” said CSU-Pueblo tennis coach Mark Schlief.
Sophomore returning player David Mould agreed that this fundraiser is helpful to the team.“It publicizes the team, so they come out to our matches,” he said.
“It gets the fact that CSU-Pueblo has a tennis team out there. I think it lifts the team and our moral to have the community come to our matches.”
Club members of all ages agreed that the mixer encouraged them to attend the team’s local matches for the fall and spring seasons.
Mould shared his hope that Pack Tennis will get more exposure and support from the local community and other CSU-Pueblo students.
“We could use more support from the Pack Athletics, and it could be more well publicized on campus about our team,” said Mould.
He expressed hope that the school’s local radio station REV89 will announce matches and other tennis-related events.
Shlief expressed that Pueblo’s various outreach programs, including the YMCA, women’s league, or even the local newspapers could help the team gain exposure.
The men’s and women’s teams will have their first home matches at Pueblo City Park on Sept. 9-10, during CSU-Pueblo Pod matches. They will face off against Colorado Mesa University, Metro State University, Nebraska Kearney, Fort Hayes, Central Oklahoma, Colorado College, and Air Force.
Match schedules and other team information for CSU-Pueblo tennis can be found online at gothunderwolves.com. For more information on Pueblo Tennis Center, please visit pueblotennis.info or it’s physical location at 1001 W 31st. St., Pueblo or call 719-543-0450.
Edited by: Theresa Wolf
