Visionary Tennis says thanks for a wonderful first year
At Visionary Tennis, we'd like to say thank you.
Thank you — to all those who participated in Visionary Tennis singles and doubles leagues. At Visionary Tennis we understand the Atlanta tennis player has many options for spending their court time, and we appreciate the fact you chose Visionary.
Thank you — to all those who have endorsed Visionary Tennis and recommended our leagues to their friends and family. We are grateful for the trust you have extended to Visionary, and we will continue to work daily to exceed your expectations.
Thank you — to all who have offered suggestions to Visionary Tennis as we learn and adapt as any new business would. You are being heard! Based on your feedback, we added doubles leagues this past season, and in 2007 we are creating Weekday Women's and Business Women's divisions to make playing in our leagues even easier.
Thank you — to all the sponsors of Visionary Tennis. It is our goal to fill our Redemption Center with the prizes YOU want — and with our sponsors' help, we will continue to do just that. In 2006 we awarded more than $5,000 dollars in Dick's Sporting Goods gift certificates! Many other prizes were awarded compliments of Mambo Italiano Restaurant, Natural Body Spa, I Play Tennis in Midtown Atlanta and more, not to mention the fantastic private lessons courtesy of Dennis Hord and the Big Dog Tennis Academy at Suwannee Station. Sponsors also helped Visionary Tennis host a free poolside party this past summer; many thanks to Concourse Athletic Club for providing their facility, and to Finlandia Vodka and Jack Daniels Country Coolers for the libations.
2006 was a great year ... but we're not stopping there.
As you have noticed, we are proud to have partnered with Clear Choice Telephones as our Presenting Sponsor. The Redemption Center will see further expansion in 2007, including our newest sponsor, Wild Wing Café. Dick's Sporting Goods, Natural Body Spa, Mambo Italiano and the Big Dog Tennis Academy will all be back, too.
Also coming in 2007 — “The Chase for the Really Big Trophies” (more on that soon!). And you can bet we will have more parties, more clinics, and more great opportunities to enjoy the game we all love.
Thanks for being a part of year one, and for your continued support. We promise not to disappoint.
Fall Tournament of Champions a HUGE SUCCESS!
Congratulations to the Fall "Really Big Trophy" winners. Check the website for all the pictures.
SINGLES:
| Women's 4.5+ |
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Denise Lumpkin |
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Men's 4.5 |
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Brent Watts |
| Women's 4.0 |
Encar Kazemi |
Men's 4.0 |
Greg Winey |
| Women's 3.5 |
Mariel Cordero |
Men's 3.5 |
Jerry Mizzell |
| Women's 3.0 |
Cheris Craig |
Men's 3.0 |
Randall Wilson |
| Women's 2.5 |
Tina Thomas |
Men's 2.5 |
Greg McAfee |
DOUBLES:
| Women's 4.0 |
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Amy Massengale and Heather Koth |
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Men's 4.0 |
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Michael Robins and Sung Choe |
| Women's 3.5 |
Kadee Blake and Mariel Cordero |
Men's 3.5 |
Ben Cowart and Dan Gasser |
| Women's 3.0 |
Jennifer Ellis and Jennifer Jenkins |
Men's 3.0 |
Grant Hawkins and Kent Hawkins |
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Men's 2.5 |
Lou Aguilar and Chris Wooldridge |
Congratulations to our Tournament of Champions Raffle winners:
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Jennifer Jenkins, $20 I Play Tennis Gift Certificate |
| Joe Nicholson, $25 Dinner Card for Mambo Italiano |
| Ben Cowart, $25 Dicks Sports Gift Certificate |
| Gail Shamp, $25 Dicks Sports Gift Certificate |
| Jennifer Ellis, $20 I Play Tennis Gift Certificate |
| Steve Podgurski, Dinner Card for Fishbone Wood Grill |
| Rhona Albright, $20 I Play Tennis Gift Certificate |
| Dan Wexel, $25 Dicks Sports Gift Certificate |
| Greg McAfee, $25 Dinner Card for Mambo Italiano |
| Kadee Blake, $25 Dicks Sports Gift Certificate |
| Cheris Craig, $20 I Play Tennis Gift Certificate |
| Joan Hicks, $20 Dinner Card for Fishbone Wood Grill |
NEW WEBSITE FEATURE AND CONTEST FOR YOU — Tell your friends about Visionary Tennis and WIN!
Now it's even easier to let your friends know about Visionary Tennis.
Introducing the new Tell-A-Friend form. Simply fill in your name and your friend's email address and "Tell-A-Friend" automatically enters them into our weekly prize drawing and sends them the Visionary Tennis Information E-Packet along with the latest issue of the VISIONS e-newsletter.
The first person to tell 25 friends will receive a $25 Gift Certificate from our newest sponsor, Wild Wing Café.
As always, when those friends register for a league, you'll be awarded 25 PlayerPoints for each one. So why wait? Get the word out today!
November weekly prize winners announced
Each and every Friday, Visionary Tennis draws a lucky winner who receives prizes from sponsors like Dicks Sporting Goods and I Play Tennis. Sign up for the free weekly drawings on the homepage at www.VisionaryTennis.com.
Last month's winners were:
November 3 - Carol Worthman
November 10 - Shirley Kemper
November 17 - Justin Templeton
November 24 - Katherine Virginia
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Registration for next season
Online registration for both Singles and Doubles is open at www.visionarytennis.com.
Winter Doubles begins January 31 (registration closes January 28).
Winter Singles begins February
7 (registration closes Febuary 4). |
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VISIONARY TENNIS VOTED THE CITY’S BEST!
Atlanta Sports and Fitness Magazine recently released their yearly awards issue, where their readers speak up and vote for their favorites, and Visionary Tennis Leagues was recognized as one of the best public leagues in Atlanta.
Thanks to all our players, and thanks ASF! |
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Our Partners, Sponsors and Supporters
Nothing of real value can be accomplished all alone — it takes the hard work and support of many! Visionary Tennis would like to extend warm thanks to all those who have helped us turn the vision of America's most exciting tennis leagues into reality. |
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Visionary Tennis welcomes
as our newest sponsor. |
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Advertise in VISIONS!
Reach a wider audience of tennis players and fans through this newsletter! Visionary Tennis welcomes all inquiries and will help style your promotion to best suit your needs. For more information, please contact visions@visionarytennis.com. |
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Message from the Editor
What a way to finish a year — a new league (doubles), a great Tournament of Champions, and a huge vote of confidence from Atlanta tennis players like you. There's not much more to say except thank you all for helping us make Visionary Tennis a success!
Everyone's busy this time of year with holiday preparations, so I'll keep it short and sweet. I have one suggestion that just might help you scratch a few people off your list.
Joe Gransden, local jazz trumpeter and singer has the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who loves Jazz. His new cd "I'll Be Home For Christmas" is available now at JoeGransden.com. The cd features a 17 piece big band, string orchestra and children's choir.
Having high profile fans like jazz lover Clint Eastwood doesn't hurt. Joe has performed numerous times in Carmel, CA for the former mayor there. Local fans can catch Joe and his trio at Spivey Hall on 12.17. For more info visit his website at www.JoeGransden.com.
Hope to see you back for all the fun in 2007. Best wishes to all for the holidays, and remember: work hard ... play hard ... and just have fun!
MiMi Cain
VISIONS Editor
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Lifestyle & Leisure
Chef of the Month — Jérôme Grilhot — Au Pied de Cochon, Atlanta
Close your eyes and imagine swimming in azure Mediterranean waters, waking to the smell of freshly baked breads and inhaling the fresh Provence air every day on a sunny hillside in southern France.
Welcome our May Chef of the Month, Jérôme Grilhot. Jerome was born in Provence, and at an early age began enjoying the fruits of labor at his uncle’s restaurant. This was the beginning of Jérôme’s career as an executive chef. Southern France was a mecca for holiday visitors and required his entire family (mother, father and brother) to share the duties of running his uncle’s restaurant. Somehow, young Jérôme found time to participate in one of his favorite sports, tennis.
The thought of cooking for a living was intriguing to Jérôme; but he also had the travel bug, and set his sights on seeing the world before he turned 30. After spending a few months in Corsica, he ventured off to London where he apprenticed at a two-star Michelin restaurant for two and a half years, then on to Malaysia and Bali where he enjoyed eight glorious months of cooking, sailing, soccer and bicycling (and lots of tennis!). Sports were a big part of Jérôme’s life and he continues today to enjoy the sports that were a large influence on him.
By 1992, Jérôme was ready to conquer yet another country — this time the United States. Atlanta became his new home, and today you can find Jérôme putting smiles on the faces of all who dine at Au Pied de Cochon, Atlanta, where he is the executive chef. Along with his sous chef, Jérôme ensures that anyone dining with him will leave with a smile on their face knowing that this French restaurant is “as good as it gets”. From the south of France to Atlanta, Georgia, we welcome you, Jérôme, to our neck of the woods. |
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Restaurant of the Month — Au Pied de Cochon
Oh la la! One of the hottest restaurants in Paris has come to Buckhead. Au Pied de Cochon in Atlanta is the first U.S. venture for Les Frères Blanc, a prominent French restaurant group that serves some 9,000 meals a day at eleven Parisian hotspots.
Au Pied de Cochon brings a new and unique international dining experience to Atlanta. Located on the lobby level of the Hotel InterContinental, in the heart of the city's most affluent community, the French brasserie features a Southern-flavored menu, with savory seafood platters of oysters, shrimp, clams, mussels, lobster and stone crabs. All of the delicacies from the restaurant's raw bar are flown in daily from around the world. Diners can also enjoy steak pomme frites, steak tartar, French onion soup and escargot, as well as the signature dish: grilled "pig foot" with béarnaise sauce.
“Au Pied de Cochon is the perfect contribution to Atlanta's ever-present international flair,” said Ronen Nissenbaum, general manager, InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta. The entire staff at Au Pied de Cochon welcomes their new chef, Jérôme Grilhot.
The 168-seat restaurant, open 24 hours a day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and "after dinner," also has an open-air terrace along Peachtree Road which seats 42 people. Au Pied de Cochon also features a private dining room and a private chef's table where patrons have an exclusive view of the kitchen and can witness extraordinary behind-the-scenes culinary action.
3315 Peachtree Road — Hotel InterContinental, Atlanta, 30326, 404-946-9070
www.AuPiedDeCochonAtlanta.com |
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Charity Update
Dear Friends and Supporters of Dream House:
Please take a look at this poster and forward on to your fellow employees, friends and anyone else you may think would love to support Dream House. This would be a wonderful gift and help spread the word about Dream House.
Jeff Jansma
Development Manager,
Dream House for Medically Fragile Children, Inc.
jeff.jansma@dreamhouseforkids.org
P.S. Visit my Dream House home page at www.firstgiving.com/jeffjansma if you would like to make a donation to Dream House for Medically Fragile Children, Inc.
Proceeds from the sale of this calendar go to benefit Dream House for Medically Fragile Children, a 501c3 organization, created to give medically fragile children the quality of life they deserve by providing them with a home, a family and a future. Approximately 1,500 medically fragile children in Georgia are in foster care, many living in hospitals or residing in senior adult nursing homes because their families have abandoned them, or cannot care for them.
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The Last Word...
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Somewhere along the path of ‘growing up’, the essence of play becomes more and more elusive, like a dream’s receding memory. Many of us give in and allow the sheer fun of life to be discredited, forced to cower behind a wall of ‘reasonable expectations’.
But once in awhile, something rekindles that spark, awakens that child to come out and play.
It is that moment that gives us all hope.
Visionary Tennis is all about that moment, and about bringing it back to you again and again and again. We want you to play. We want to remind you that ‘playing tennis’ really is just that. It’s not a job, it’s not a discipline —
it’s a game.
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| Know anybody else who’s into sports as much as you? Why not forward VISIONS to them and spread the word! |
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VISIONS is the official newsletter of Visionary Tennis, and is published on the first Friday of every month.
All written content © Visionary Tennis Inc., 2006. No part of this work may be copied without the express permission of Visionary Tennis.
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