Charlotte Wylie, the outgoing USPTA Texas president who will retire from Richland Tennis Center in mid-March, lived in many places before she moved here in August of 1996. Born and raised near the Jersey shore (no, she has never seen the show--that's among the many things I like about her), she resided in (in order) Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Texas, Tennessee and Kansas before landing in Keller, where she and her husband, Michael, have lived for 17 years.

I would like say thank you to the growing number of TennisFortWorth.com visitors who are getting their news and photo directly to me (via email or Facebook message) or to the people who run their local Community Tennis Associations (CTAs). Largely because of you, I have a full mailbag, so I'm going to post some material here and some later this week on our News & Notes page.

The first item I would like to share with you is about Arlington SuperChamp Michal Matusiak, who has participated in several of our Junior Media Playdays. Matusiak recently won the Boys 16s consolation bracket at a tournament in Corpus Christi, and he proudly mentioned the victory on his Facebook page.

We always enjoy catching up with our local juniors by doing Q&A sessions with them, because they give us insight into their somewhat complicated, high-pressure world. The really good ones often train both on and off the court, and they have to find time for schoolwork and spending time with their friends and families.

Fort Worth’s Charlsie Lee Parks is fortunate that her father, Richard, chooses to play such a big role in her learning tennis the right way, and that he makes time to take her to practices and tournaments. They are loyal to McLeland Tennis Center, which has gone through many changes over the last year or so, and so far that loyalty has worked out well for them.

As president of North East Tarrant Tennis, Teresa Risley attends events throughout the county and plays a lot of tennis. I have hit with her, sat with her at playoff matches and driven down to Austin with her to watch Davis Cup matches. NETT is fortunate to have her remain its president for a third straight year, and I hope to run into her more often and maybe even get to practice with her again.