November 21, 2008

TENNIS

SenioRITA 2007 Womens Tennis Doubles for Breast Cancer

Published on October 10, 2007

Sawgrass Country Club and the RITA Foundation spice up the charity women's doubles event in the fight against breast cancer

By Richard Vach

The RITA (Research is the Answer) Foundation's tennis events, the RITA Championships and the SenioRITAs at Sawgrass, are advancing founder Charles Jantz's vision for Jacksonville to become the Southeast's center for cancer research and treatment.

Next up is the SenioRITAs at Sawgrass, Oct. 19-21 at Sawgrass Country Club, the doubles event for women 40 and over that came about in the late 1990s by special request.

"In 1999 I received a call from a Mary Pappas," Jantz says. "She suggested that I move the RITA Championships to the Beaches, specifically Sawgrass. I replied, 'Why should I do that?' Her response was that the Beaches was a special place, with special people and Sawgrass would be a wonderful place to have the event. My reply was I did not see any benefit to moving a successful event, already the largest charity tennis event after only three years. Mary was still insistent that it would just be wonderful, so I said, 'If the Beaches are truly such a special place, why don't I create a new event for you?' That, of course, led to the SenioRITAs at Sawgrass event.

"Since I wanted a somewhat different format, we went with A, B, C, and D levels versus the NTRP we were using for RITA at that time. I also decided to keep the event at one location versus the three that RITA was then using. Since everyone would be at one spot, Sawgrass, we could then offer lunches as part of the player package and invitations to the party and auction. Last year was over 130 teams which is about the max that Sawgrass can handle."

This year's event participants will see some new perks and divisions, in addition to the player party and auction on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at the golf clubhouse at Sawgrass.

"New at SenioRITAs this year, we are offering a complimentary RITA cap to all breast cancer survivors," Jantz said. "We have split the B level into B-1 and B-2, and C level to C-1 and C-2. In addition the D-66+ level will be a round robin format."

Sawgrass Country Club Director of Tennis Magnus Berglund predicts another full house for the event that annually has to turn away participants.

"I am looking forward to another great SenioRITA tournament," Berglund said. "Due to our scheduling we hope for no rain. Big thanks go out to our SenioRITA committee for an excellent job done. If you are not playing, come out and watch some great tennis at Sawgrass Country Club."

Last year more than 50 participants were turned away, and this year the entries started coming in as early as April.

"We did discuss expanding, but the committee prefers to just have everyone at Sawgrass," Jantz said. "It creates more energy, and is much more social than RITA. We would rather have people dying to get their entries in early rather than miss out on the fun."

RITA attempts to raise awareness for all cancer diseases, with special emphasis on breast cancer research, awareness, education, and patient programs. All grants are unrestricted and are given to local Jacksonville non-profit organizations. Recipients include Shands Jacksonville, Baptist Medical Center Beaches, The Mayo Clinic, Baptist Cancer Institute, and Baptist Medical Center Nassau among others.

"This year we have already purchased two pieces of equipment for the Baptist Cancer Institute from the RITA Black Tie proceeds and are enabling four oncology nurses to attend an advanced educational seminar," Jantz said. "We are paying for a mammography study by Dr. Elizabeth dePeri of Mayo Clinic with part of the SenioRITAs proceeds. The other part will help Baptist Beaches purchase new digital mammography equipment. We will also be making an announcement soon of a large donation to the University of Florida Shands Breast Cancer program in Jacksonville which will enable them to purchase a new digital mammography machine. The amount will be at least $250,000 and if we include this year's Lexus golf tournament, proceeds will go to over $350,000."

Last year the RITA Foundation received a $79,750 donation from Brumos Motor Car and Lexus of Jacksonville after the two dealerships became title sponsors for RITA's fundraising efforts. For Charles Jantz and wife Nancy, the organization they founded in 1997 to allow the tennis community to give back to charity continues to put Jacksonville at the forefront of cancer research and treatment.

This article appears in the October issue of JAX Tennis Magazine, Northeast Florida's tennis source, www.jaxtennismagazine.com.