Cinderella Team Makes The Trip

FUNDRAISING HELPS TEAM get to mobile

By John McDevitt/USTA Southern

Trey Love/All American Imaging

Every team who has qualified for the 2011 USTA League Southern Section Championships has overcome many challenges. Whether the challenges were forming a winning team, gutting through tough matches, or simply dealing with injuries, each team represented in Mobile have hurdled all of these obstacles and now have their sights set on winning a Section Championship. Regardless, if the 3.5 South Carolina Senior Women’s team wins this tournament or not, they have already achieved their greatest victory… simply making it to Mobile. 

The talent level in Lexington, S.C. is second to none as six teams here in Mobile this weekend are from the Lexington Area Tennis Association. For two of the last three years, this South Carolina 3.5 Senior Women’s team has played in the State Championship, but they have received second place both times and fallen short of qualifying for the Section Championships. However, with an odd number of nine states making up the USTA Southern Section, every year one finalist from one state within the section receives a wild card. And this year, South Carolina was the lucky state for the 3.5 Senior Women’s division.

After receiving the wild card into the USTA League Southern Section Championships, this determined team had to get creative and raise money to fund their 500-mile journey. Due to the sagging economy, several of the players have lost their jobs and others were in the midst of troubling financial situations. With the odds stacked against them, this team came together and created fund raising opportunities for themselves. They sold snow cones at the South Carolina Junior Hard Court Championships, sold ammonia spirits to their local community and they also hosted a garage sale to generate money for their trip this weekend. So far, the team is currently (2-0) after two days of competition. If they can continue this winning streak and qualify for the USTA League National Championships who knows what fundraising ideas they will come up with next.