ITA Leadership Awards Weekend Concludes With Visit to Cary Leeds Center

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ITA Leaders at Cary Leeds Center (Web)
The ITA Leadership Awards Weekend concluded Sunday with the ITA's 13 award winners making a visit to the Cary Leeds Center for Tennis and Learning.

BRONX, N.Y. – The ITA Leadership Awards Weekend concluded Sunday with a great day of fun and camaraderie at the Cary Leeds Center for Tennis and Learning in the Bronx, New York.

The 13 ITA Leadership Awards winners met with a group of 15 young aspiring tennis players for a day filled with a get-know session before moving to the courts where they participated in a series of drills and some friendly competition before concluding with lunch and a question-answer session.

Opened in 2015, the Cary Leeds Center for Tennis and Learning provides free year-round instruction and play for youth ages 5-18 and all skill levels. The youth who participated in Sunday’s event are in the Center’s Intensive Training Program and interested in playing college tennis.

The 10 ITA Arthur Ashe Jr. Leadership and Sportsmanship Award winners, 2019 NCAA Division I Male and Female Players of the Year and recipient of the ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award Endowed by Billie Jean King were invited to New York where they were honored for their on-and-off-the-court excellence and participation in community outreach.

The group included ITA Arthur Ashe Award winners, Isaac Perez (Air Force Academy), Sophie Whittle (Gonzaga), Robin Möller (Georgia College), Paola Carpio (St. Edward’s University), Julian Gordy (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps), Mary Hill (Whitman College), Grant Esposito (Indiana Wesleyan University), Lizzie Bauss (Indiana Wesleyan University), Colten Way (Iowa Central Community College), and Maddie Mitchell (Santa Barbara City College), ITA Division I National Male and Female Players of the Year Nuno Borgess (Mississippi State University) and Katarina Jokic (University of Georgia), and ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award Endowed by Billie Jean King winner Andrew Akins (Duquesne University).

The weekend opened Saturday with a visit to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York where the group participated in Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day powered by Net Generation, the largest single-day, grassroots tennis and entertainment event in the world that included chart-topping music acts and today’s best tennis players coming together to celebrate tennis legend and humanitarian Arthur Ashe.

The day featured a ticketed Stadium Show inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, as well as a free Kids’ Festival.

The group spent the morning welcoming large numbers of youth onto the court where they had stations set up and offered instruction and opportunities for kids to hit balls.

The day concluded with an awards banquet inside the Empire State Building where the award winners were recognized and received their awards.

About the Intercollegiate Tennis Association
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is committed to serving college tennis and returning the leaders of tomorrow. As the governing body of college tennis, the ITA oversees men’s and women’s varsity tennis at NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College divisions. The ITA administers a comprehensive awards and rankings program for men’s and women’s varsity players, coaches and teams in all divisions, providing recognition for their accomplishments on and off the court. For more information on the ITA, visit the ITA website at www.itatennis.com , like the ITA on Facebook or follow @ITA_Tennis on Twitter and Instagram.

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