What do you get when you take a junior player, college player, WTA Tour player, Senior player, club Director of Tennis, college tennis coach, high school tennis coach, Macon Area Tennis Association volunteer, USTA Georgia volunteer, Southern Tennis Foundation volunteer, and Southern Tennis Foundation employee and mix it all together? You get Jaime Kaplan! Then what happens when you add a fundraising event? Well, you get Jaime’s Love Weekend!
Jaime’s Love Weekend was created to raise money for a Southern Tennis Foundation (STF) scholarship in Jaime’s name. While STF’s endowed scholarships are $30,000, the goal was set much higher for Jaime’s.
Enter Randy Stephens and Bobby Walker, two longtime close friends of Jaime’s, to create and organize the weekend. Add Jaime’s brother, Mike, and other locals Beth Cohen, Beverly Olson, Patty Gibbs, Sherri Douthit, Lee Barrow, and Craig Jones and you’ve got a super group to have a great event while raising a lot of money!
The weekend kicked off on a Friday morning with a clinic for 100 third and fourth grade students from Lane Elementary, held at John Drew Smith Tennis Center. It was important to Jaime to host events at the facility that bears the name of her longtime childhood coach and mentor. Former UGA/NFL star running back Tim Worley gave the kids a motivational speech then they hit the courts with various tennis and agility activities, led by USTA Southern staff and local pros and volunteers. After lunch donated by Zaxbys, the kids were given an event t-shirt and a backpack with tennis goodies and one of Malcolm Mitchell’s books, all courtesy of USTA Southern.
Saturday morning was reserved for high school players with drills, JTT play, and Chick-fil-a for lunch. Later that evening, Beverly and Ed Olson hosted a party at their beautiful home for over 100 of our top donors. Saturday also kicked off events at Idle Hour Country Club with a ladies’ round robin in the morning followed by lunch with an exhibition featuring top local former and current college players – Becker O’Shaughnessey (Alabama), Samuel Barrow (Mercer), Cam Douthit (Mercer), Daniel Cohen (Oglethorpe), and Thomas Watson (Georgia College). A men’s round robin followed the exhibition then a round robin with several of Jaime’s former high school players. The day culminated with the unveiling of Jaime’s portrait on Idle Hour’s Wall of Fame, a club event that was held in conjunction with STF’s weekend.
Several Southern Tennis dignitaries attended from around the Section – Ted Reese, Bonnie Vandegrift, Mike Vandegrift, Rex Maynard, Randy Jackson, Terry Bunnell, Eleanora Mauritson, and Matt Olson.
Special thanks to our top sponsors including Butler Automotive Group, Beverly and Ed Olson, Eric and Margaret Hefner (Zaxbys), Forest and Elsa Hutchinson, Sandy Burgess, Mike and Pamela Napier, John and Lori Brewer (Brew Found), USTA Southern, USTA Georgia, and Macon Area Tennis Association as well as the dozens and dozens of others who supported the event. All contributors may be found in our Annual Report.
We are pleased to announce that over $194,000 has been raised so far. Two scholarships will be created in Jaime’s name once we reach $200,000. To donate, visit southerntennisfoundation.org and select Donate, then select Jaime Kaplan Scholarship in the drop-down menu.
