FROM AUSTRALIAN OPEN TO FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA

THE WORLD'S TOP PLAYERS ENTER MAIN DRAW

Fort Walton Beach Tennis Center to Host $25,000 Pro Circuit Event, March. 14-21, 2010

Fort Walton Beach, Florida, March 3, 2010 - This year's Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS $25,000 Women's Challenger will feature its strongest playing field yet, boasting two former Grand Slam champions and four Wimbledon semi-finalists. Players from forty countries, several of whom rank in the top 100 in the world, have registered to compete in the week-long tournament to earn valuable WTA ranking points.

All but three of the registered Main Draw players competed in the January, 2010 Australian Open, a fact which highlights the significance of this event for the Fort Walton Beach area. Local tennis fans will have a unique opportunity to see world class tennis played at a distance of a few feet. With the exception of the semi-finals and the finals, admission to this tournament is free. New to the tournament, which is now in its fifth year, will be a "featured match" each weekday at 4:30 P.M. to make the event more accessible to the local community.

While there are no American women currently listed in the Main Draw, there are ten slated to play in the qualifying rounds,one of whom, Alexandra Stevenson, is a former Wimbledon semifinalist.

For a complete list of players, ranking information, and titles, go to www.usta.com/pro-circuit.

For ticket information and match schedules, go to www.fwbtc.com, or call the Tennis Center

At (850) 244-4566

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Hit me like a ton of bricks

I - like many people - question my career at times and realize how eerily accurate Bill Murray's depiction of life's routines is in a Groundhog Day. Each day I wake up. I drive the same car down the same street to the same tennis facility. I teach the same fundamentals and do the same job... day after day after day... fourteen years and counting. Routines, habits, and life's painful predictability converge, awakening my need for novelty, change, challenge, and ultimately my need for purpose and meaning. The lingering question...why?

Often the answer is simple: a small child's spontaneity running down tennis balls and hitting them with obvious joy, focus, and energy is in and of itself rewarding. To see kids run enthusiastically from their parent's car onto the courts is another, those are the answers... on a good day. As they grow older, conflicts and complexities emerge. good Working with them on a daily basis I experience their struggles with apathy, obesity, drugs and parental friction. "Erik, you can not tell my parents, but listen to what happened to me this weekend..." is often part of a daily dialogue. To hear them talk about strange video games, or of spending entire nights in front of inappropriate web sites: violence, radical chat groups, internet gambling, is often a difficult and confusing challenge but - of course - ultimately rewarding as I reflect upon the positive impact the sport (and sportsmanship) of tennis can have during the after school hours.

So why did I find it strange and surprising when, at a recent USTA Advocacy Seminar in Tampa, none other than the Daytona Chief of Police was celebrated for preserving city funds for their municipal tennis facility and programs? Why would a chief of police go to bat for a tennis facility? To him there was a crystal clear correlation between after school programs - or lack thereof - and teen crime. I had not contemplated it in those terms, perhaps.

I had gone to Tampa due to the closing of two local tennis centers: Fort Walton Beach Racquet Club and Destin Racquet Club. Add to this a recent letter from the owner of Shalimar Pointe Country Club stating that their courts could be 'razed' any day; and the fact that our own city's budget had also cut out all of the proposed $14,000.00 upgrade. The future of our sport appeared bleak. However, the connection between after school programs and teenaged criminal activity that had been experienced first hand by the Police Chief and his staff intrigued me. To me it was not that obvious, but if it is obvious to Law Enforcement, then don't we have a moral obligation to make it obvious to everybody else? I had gone to Tampa to learn about funds for tennis facilities. I spent the entire eight-hour drive back to Fort Walton Beach contemplating the larger issue of after school programs.

I reflected on the $25,000 Women's Challenger - our marquee Event. In two short years, this Event not only serves its primary purpose of inspiring our youth but also brings in one million dollars to our local economy. The Mayor, the City Manager, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the Parks and Recreation Director, and the entire City Council (almost) comes out to watch and support. It has inspired us all... More importantly, it is a tournament that keeps the Tennis Center alive and connected with many dimensions of our community; where else do you see a group of sixth graders cheering alongside retired snowbirds from Minnesota? This Event allows our community to network with some of the people who run the US Open - the largest event in all of sports. For one extraordinary week, they are here running our Event as well. We get to experience the excellence of some of the greatest female athletes in the world, who we end up following all-year on the Internet. More importantly, it has become an event where schools, charities, and the business community come together. Their involvement in 2006, 2007 and now 2008 has been astounding, and our full-page ad saying "Thank You" in our local paper... was genuine. Indirectly, this tournament has given the Tennis Center significant exposure and many opportunities to raise money to keep the Tennis Center active, energized, and upgraded... And to keep children active and the crime rate lower?

What are the consequences of fewer tennis facilities in Okaloosa County? Where will the kids be between 2pm and 8pm? What will they do? With whom? What would I have done at 15 without sports but with easy access to cheap thrills and instant gratification? Confession: nothing good or productive. The realization that we can lessen the incidence of teenage crime adds an interesting (moral?) dimension to our commitment. To keep Tennis Centers alive, energized, and active is a daily, never-ending.. opportunity.

It is an opportunity to give the next generation a chance to develop discipline and team spirit, to get in shape, and to have fun. Being a part of the Parks and Recreation Department at the crucial time of the day youth spend after school hours is an awesome responsibility and privilege. During the Spring, we have about 150 kids here every single day. We help three middle schools and one high school with their team practices and matches, in addition to all our regular lessons, clinics, leagues, camps, and tournaments. We get to be part of the answer to healthy, well-adjusted youth. This does give me enough meaning and purpose for another fourteen years. The years between 1994 and 2008 have been good, and now I am looking forward to 2008 through 2022. Paying the toll on Mid-Bay Bridge, that realization...; hit me like a ton of bricks.

Sincerely,

Erik Stenberg, Director of Tennis at Fort Walton Beach Tennis Center and Tournament Director for Okaloosa County's only Professional Sporting Event.

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OUR SWEDISH SISTERS

Mary Davis

These sisters weren't given to us in the usual way, and most of us are probably unaware of their existence, but the arrival of our newest siblings is cause for optimism in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Across the world, under Scandinavian skies, beyond snow-covered plains, and lovely glimmering lakes, we indeed have new "sisters," conceived in the name of cultural, educational, and economic promise.

The Emerald Coast, itself a thing of natural beauty and sparkling waters, is broadening its horizons through a number of "sister"; relationships in the Swedish Varmland. Varmland is a province in south-central Svealand, a name oddly familiar to Okaloosa County residents living north of Laurel Hill in Svea. Pronounced sweer by locals and swee-yuh by Swedes, Svea began as a community of Scandinavian immigrants, the majority of whom made their living off the land. Significant among these mostly Swedish immigrants was Eric von Axelson, the settlement's first banker, newspaper publisher, and real estate promoter extraordinaire. It seems fitting, or perhaps humorously coincidental, that just over a century later, through the tenacious efforts of another Swede named Erik, the Tennis Center's own Erik Stenberg, our area should initiate business partnerships and cultural exchanges with Sweden by means of a world-class, pro-circuit tennis tournament. It was through the ECAR $25K Women's Challenger and her Sister Tournament in Kristinehamn, Sweden - the Rolls Royce Women's Cup - that ties began to form and big ideas took root.

First among these big ideas was a formal proclamation, made in 2009 by the City of Fort Walton Beach, declaring Kristinehamn our "Sister City". The proclamation was soon followed by two Business Expos, one held locally in conjunction with last year's ECAR Challenger, the other, hand in hand with the Roll's Royce Cup in Kristinehamn. Both events served to match business interests in the Swedish Varmlands to those along the Emerald Coast. Occurring simultaneously with these ventures, was the pairing of the University of West Florida with Sweden's Karlstad University, which resulted in a dynamic international exchange program. In the summer of 2010, AAA Travel, through Tammi Brant, is helping Northwest Floridians to discover Sweden first hand. Her tour, Enjoy Summer in Sweden, will accommodate business and leisure travelers as they spend time in Stockholm and Kristinehamn from June 21-June 30.

This month, The ECAR $25,000 Women's Challenger, in addition to bringing to our area the world's finest tennis players, will facilitate the occasion of a Swedish-American "Trade Show" on March 16 th. The event will feature speakers from the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, E-Florida, and the Economic Development Council, whose expertise include investments, international trade development, and defense initiatives. Martin Lester, Esq. of Fleet, Spencer & Kilpatrick, will give an overview of Visa programs, and Swedish entrepreneur, Tony Michaelson, the CEO of Huvudkontoret AB will discuss entrepreneurship and his vision of an exciting, evolving "Sister City" relationship.

Who would have thought that a professional women's tennis tournament could bring so much to Fort Walton Beach? Here's hoping that big ideas continue to grow on our beautiful Emerald Coast.