When Tennis Parent Extraordinaire, Steve Johnson, passed away unexpectedly in May, the tennis world was in shock. Steve was a man who devoted his life to his family and his sport, coaching not only his own son to the highest level of the game but also committing himself to helping all young players who wanted to learn and succeed in tennis.

Dennis Claus was a good friend of Steve's and decided to pull together a tournament to honor this dear man. The tournament included a Men's Open division as well as a high school division in order to further Steve's work with the high school he and his wife, Michelle, and their kids all attended - Orange High School. The proceeds of the event will go toward preserving the facilities and the tennis program at Orange.

In this week's episode, Dennis talks about the how and why of the tournament as well as his thoughts on the importance of playing high school tennis. Dennis currently coaches his local high school team as a labor of love.

For information on the joint tournament between USTA and UTR that we discuss in this episode, go to http://events.universaltennis.com/tournaments/761/ and https://blog.universaltennis.com/2017/11/01/usta-and-utr-partner-to-stage-a-tournament-in-orlando/. 

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