Tennis Director Makes Summer Sojourn to New York

As summer drew to a close, Craig Pasqua, Harker tennis director, traveled to Flushing, N.Y., to volunteer at Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day 2010, held Aug. 28 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. According to Pasqua, who was attending the event for the third straight year, more than 30,000 children and adults used the 18 available tennis courts, which included Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Pasqua was busy giving lessons for the United States Tennis Association Serves Foundation, a charitable corporation that offers support to programs that serve at-risk children and people with disabilities.

While in New York, Pasqua also attended the USTA Tennis Teachers Conference, which took place during the U.S. Open. He attended speaking engagements with several well-known tennis coaches, including Tom Gullikson, Jose Higueras, Oscar Wegner, Mary Joe Fernandez, Tracy Austin, Cliff Drysdale and Billie Jean King. In addition, he was able to meet a number of young rising stars, such as Melanie Oudin and Coco Vandeweghe. He even had a chance meeting with alumna and former varsity tennis player Brittany Chu ’10, who was preparing for her first year at Columbia University.

Pasqua announced during the conference that he would be stepping down as the chairman of the USTA diversity committee in November, but said he looked forward “to joining the USTA’s community tennis committee, as my own nonprofit, Standing Tall Tennis, will begin serving the San Jose American Indian community this fall.”

Finally, besides getting to view the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Pasqua was also able to attend a taping of “Late Night With David Letterman.”