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Solutions November 2005
Tabco’s
Tennis Tournament Is Aces
When
Kris Bilyeu was 12, he started
taking tennis lessons with an
organization now called the Terre
Haute Junior Tennis Association.
Several years ago, his daughters
Katie and Emma, now 15 and 14
respectively, followed in his
footsteps and began tennis lessons
with the association.
“When
I was young, I benefited from
the program as a player and later
as an instructor,” says
Bilyeu, vice president of Tabco
Business Forms, a distributorship
based in Terre Haute, Ind. “Now
my kids are getting the same opportunity
as I did to play and teach the
younger kids.”
Bilyeu
is an outspoken supporter of the
association, which provides free
lessons to several hundred kids
each summer and jobs for high
school players who teach lessons.
Ten years ago, Tabco began sponsoring
an annual fund-raising tournament
the first weekend in June. “It
kicks off the summer season for
the local park,” says Bilyeu.
The Tabco Terre Haute Doubles
Championships, held at the Rea
Park Tennis Center, is open to
tennis players of all ages and
abilities.
Approximately
100 players participate each year,
ranging from young children teaming
with their grandparents to nationally
ranked college players. Teams
compete in men’s and women’s
doubles, divided into A, B and
C levels based on ability. “Even
the little kids can have fun and
play,” says Bilyeu. “It’s
a family event. It’s tough
competition, but kept on a fun
level.”
Each
team pays a $25 entry fee, and
proceeds go to the association.
Bilyeu says the tournament has
raised several thousand dollars
during the past 10 years. Tabco
provides all participants with
lunch and T-shirts featuring its
logo. In addition, the distributorship
supplies prizes for the winning
teams. Winners receive blue or
red duffle bags imprinted with
Tabco’s logo.
“[Sponsoring
the tournament] is an opportunity
to give back to the community
that supports us,” says
Bilyeu. It also provides good
exposure for the distributorship.
The local newspaper runs articles
about the tournament: One front-page
feature about the junior tennis
program included a large photo
of an instructor wearing a Tabco
T-shirt and teaching a child.
“Any time people hear or
read our name, it reinforces our
place in the community,”
says Bilyeu. “And it makes
new calls easier because they
may have heard of Tabco in a positive
way.”
—Susan
Keen Flynn
