NEWS & EVENTS

CTA furthers the tennis cause
By Mike Christopherson, Managing Editor
Crookston Daily Times

April 23, 2004 - There was a fairly ambitious agenda when approximately 35 people gathered at the Northland Inn Saturday morning, Nov. 1 (2003) to hear all about the Crookston Vitality Project and also to offer some insights into projects they were involved in.

After a typical round of “ice-breakers” to get everyone relaxed and acquainted, Dan Wolpert of the Crookston Vitality Project committee led everyone through a PowerPoint presentation detailing what the CVP was all about. Next on the agenda, 90 minutes were set aside for those attending the retreat to stand before the group to talk about the projects they’re so passionate about.

The informal presentations were supposed to be wrapped up by 11 a.m., leaving an hour for the group to break into groups to discuss their visions for the community and how they might be able to go about making them happen.
But that was before Mike Geffre set the tone.

Geffre, a metals/welding teacher at Crookston High School, is also the Pirate tennis coach and a huge proponent of the sport. He was the first to stand up and speak to the assembled group at the Northland Inn on Nov. 1, and it was clear that when he sat down about 15 minutes later that the final item on Wolpert’s agenda was going to have to wait until a later date.

“I’m a talker, and I love to talk about tennis,” Geffre said. “What can I say?”

Apparently, plenty. Two things were made clear on Nov. 1: One, the community is full of people who are passionate about a variety of projects with which they’re involved, and, two, those people love to share their passions with others.
Geffre spoke on behalf of the Crookston Tennis Association, a local nonprofit organization formed two years ago.

“We were told by tennis proponents in other communities that setting up the nonprofit would make us more official and legitimate,” he explained. “Also, it made it possible for people who choose to donate money to us to be able to deduct it at tax time.”

Geffre said the CTA’s mission is twofold. First, it seeks to increase exposure to and interest in the sport of tennis, and, second, it seeks to get non-traditional segments of the Crookston population, such as various minority groups, to see the joys of the sport firsthand in their own community.
“They’re probably not getting exposed to as many different programs as other people, and for a variety of reasons they may not be participating in as many things,” Geffre said. “We’d like to change that, by helping them monetarily with equipment if that’s the case. We just want to get parents and kids out doing something positive, and we figure tennis is as good of an activity as there is. And they can do it at whatever level they’re comfortable with. No one has to play like a pro; in fact, no one around here does to my knowledge.”

Expanding facilities
The CTA has a practical goal, too, and that is to expand tennis facilities in Crookston. Without offering more quality venues at which to play tennis, it would be difficult for more citizens to be exposed to the joys of the game, Geffre said.
So to help make that happen, the CTA has worked closely with the Crookston School District and City of Crookston (on the whole and with the city Parks and Recreation Department). A variety of fund-raisers have taken place since the CTA’s birth, he said, and relationships have been forged where the three entities are working together to make something happen.

The city has six courts in town that it maintains, Geffre said, including two courts in Schuster Park along Locken Boulevard and Memorial Drive, both of which received new playing surfaces about a year ago. The school district has two courts adjacent to Highland School, but Geffre said that, without a major facelift, they have outlived their usefulness.
“There’s no real playing surface left, and with the younger kids going to school there, it’s basically a playground,” he said. “It’s all worn, and there’s always rocks and debris on the surface.”

There are four courts at the University of Minnesota, Crookston as well, but Geffre said some of the cracks on those courts are four inches wide.

Given all that, he said the community has lost half of its tennis courts in the past decade. That won’t do, if the CTA is to even come close to realizing its goals.

“We used to host some tournaments entirely in Crookston, but because of the current state of our facilities we have to use Grand Forks and East Grand Forks facilities along with ours,” Geffre said. “We think it would be pretty nice to get them all back in town again.”

The best courts in own are city courts located across the street from Highland. Geffre praised citizens who have been so gracious by allowing student-athletes use the courts almost at their leisure. “They’re community courts, but we have the run of them when we want them,” he added.
But if there were more school courts, Geffre said, the community courts would truly be for the community. Tennis facilities on the Crookston High School property would be just the ticket.

“When they designed the high school there were four courts in the original plan that were intended to be built with the original school,” Geffre recalled. “But they were taken out when the budgets went over; our initial goal is to get those four courts back. Once we accomplish that, we’ll determine whether or not we need more.”

Raising money
The CTA is made up of eight people that make up a good cross-section of community interests, Geffre said. Member Dave Kildahl of Widseth Smith Nolting has helped with some drawings, and member John Vallager helped the CTA attain its official nonprofit status. Meanwhile, the group continues to raise money, through various fund-raisers like spaghetti feeds, a huge garage-type sale in the CHS commons, and donations, many of which come from alumni. The fund balance continues to build and accumulate interest, Geffre said.

But it’s the CTA’s belief that it shouldn’t be asked to fund more tennis facilities entirely on its own, he added.
“You don’t ask football, basketball, baseball or hockey people to fund facilities all by themselves,” he said. “We’re there to help, to do something extra to push something over the top. And we’re fully capable of providing in-kind services or manual labor..whatever it takes.”

At the Nov. 1 CVP retreat, Geffre said he heard people sharing a similar passion about various initiatives.
“I learned a lot there, and I shared what I learned with other people afterward,” he said. “There are things going on in this town that totally amaze me, and I’m amazed I didn’t know about them until that day. The bird-watching stuff? That’s incredible there’s so much of that going on, and that people spend so much money on it.”

Whether it’s bird-watching, ski trails or other recreational things, or industrial initiatives like a potential new ethanol plant in Crookston, Geffre is all for it.

“I’m one of those people who believes you can’t just sit still and assume you’re good enough,” he said. “Even if you’re moving a little bit, you have to keep moving forward. People will get involved in something if they believe they’re seeing progress. I think that’s where the Vitality Project can really come in and be a valuable part of things.”