News

Success! Our first Marcia Anderson Tennis Festival

After all of our other events, camps and mixers we’ve put on over the years, we were so honored to have the first ever Marcia Anderson Tennis Festival become such a success. The outpouring of support from the community was unparalleled for us, raising over $10,000 dollars for the Belgrade Tennis Association with over 40 participants in our day-long festivities. Further, I will also venture a claim: this was the first tennis playing event in the last 15 years to have a waiting list. As we say on the court, “Let’s go!!!”

A quick note before I proceed: we had not anticipated this sort of turnout or support. Thank you for your patience as we learned some lessons and grew quickly over the past few months.

And keep on scrolling to see some photos from the event below.

What are you going to do with the proceeds?

Let’s not beat around the bush and get right to it, shall we? Our mission statement reads as follows, which you can find right on the homepage of our website:

Provide facilities and opportunities for the Belgrade community
to learn, play and enjoy the lifelong sport of tennis.

Belgrade Tennis Association Mission Statement

With the mission statement in our mind, here are our plans for the proceeds.

#1 Wind screens

To this end we will be, with the approval of the Belgrade school board, be obtaining new wind screens for the courts, as the current set has not been replaced or repaired since the courts’ inception 8 years ago. We are currently discussing further sponsorship for these, in which case we will keep some money in the coffers for other upcoming programs.

#2 Continue to maintain the courts

Alongside the Belgrade School District, we will continue to maintain the high level these tennis courts provide. The school has committed to a multi-year schedule of cleaning the courts each year, but we will be able to assist if any other maintenance issues arise.

#3 What’s next?

We have some ideas for the other programs we can provide, including:

  • Marcia Mixers: fun tennis get-togethers at the Belgrade courts
  • Middle school tennis club for Fall 2023
  • Setting money aside for the resurfacing of the courts about 4-6 years away

What do you think of these ideas? If you wish to comment or have other ideas to share, get in touch with us and let us know what you think.

Thank you, 2022 sponsors!

We have a long list of sponsors to thank for the success of this event.

Super Sponsors

Arison Antonucci, Aspire Realty

Bozeman Health Deaconess

Peggy Chesnut

Fay Ferraro

Gallatin Pet Getaway

Caroline Gentry

Hansen’s Surfboards, Shirley and Don Hansen (Big Sky)

Diane Hughes

MAP Brewery

Mint Cafe

Mike and Ginger Phillips

Riverside Country Club

Sime Construction, Jill Pike

Anonymous Donor

Generous Gifters

Bodhi Farms

Bozeman Wine Gallery

Bridger Animal Nutrition

Chris Brooks, of Mr. Fix It

Linda Buckner

Anne Caprio

Sharon Cleland

Costco

Crumbl

Girls Outdoors

Bridger Brewing 

Elinor Inglas

Kirsten Kainz

Dave Luebbe

Bill Martel

Maven’s Market

Lynne McCormick

Pickle Barrel

Todd M. Schilling, Graphic Design

Kent and Dana Strazza

Town and Country, Belgrade

Your generosity will help the Belgrade Tennis Association continue to provide kids and adults a safe and fun place to play tennis!

Thank you, volunteers!

We simply could not have done this without you.

Our three college players who put us all through our paces: Jamieson, Marty and Bradley.

Our three tennis pros who ran the fun games in the afternoon including Dave Luebbe, Linda Stancil and Cheryl Litle. Thank you for your support and growth of the game in our community.

Thijs Goossens, MSU Assistant Athletic Director who donated his time and the tennis facility so we could get out of the rain.

Sharon Cleland who worked behind the scenes to connect so many dots to elevate the Festival.

And the Belgrade Police who we nearly got to clock our serves, and are excited to join us next time.

Personal gratitude

We had some amazing, energetic people step up to help with this festival and without them it would never have turned into the event we experienced. I would like to personally thank Theresa Wise for her tireless work, organization, knowledge and support of the festival as her efforts allowed us to move to a smaller, indoor venue and still pull off an amazing event. Dorothy Filson, Caroline Gentry and their sponsorship committee used skill and hard work to pull together amazing donations, prizes and auction items that exponentially raised the level of our event. Not to mention, they performed many other coordination jobs and took those on with a smile. And, one more moment of gratitude to my Co-President Jane Wagner who continues to work hard pulling our financials together for a much, much larger event than we were expecting.

Lastly, I want to thank you, whomever you might be, reading this note. Your support of the Belgrade Tennis Association, no matter if you’re just reading this or you’ve donated thousands, means the world to myself and the rest of us at the Association. We are passionate about the life-changing power of tennis, and our mission to continue to offer and build the tennis community in Belgrade. We are honored to have your support.

Photos from the Tennis Festival

LATEST: Moving Indoors to Bobcat Anderson Tennis Center for the Marcia Anderson Tennis Festival

5 people removing water from a tennis court at the citi open

LATEST: We are moving to the inclement weather location for the Marcia Anderson Tennis Festival with the same start time of 9:00am with warm-ups starting at 8:30am. We will be indoors at the Bobcat Tennis Center in Bozeman. You can park in the garage near Grant and South 7th (map).

Follow this link for detailed information about the festival.

Festival information and schedule for attendees – Marcia Anderson Tennis Festival 2022

wimbledon queue

Important Announcements

You CAN stop by, even if you are not an attendee, to bid on silent auction items, cheer on your friends, or just enjoy a fun, friendly day at the Anderson Tennis Courts.

We cannot take credit cards at the event. We can process payment via Venmo, Paypal, check or cash.

If you have not paid, pay online or at the door. Please do not mail checks at this point, as the USPS is having some issues and we are aware of other delayed payments stuck in the mail already.

Please text, call, or email Theresa Wise directly if you can not participate so she can fill your spot with someone from the waiting list. 406-595-4727

General festival information

The Belgrade Tennis Association presents the first annual Marcia Anderson Tennis Festival, to be held on Saturday, August 6th from 9am to 4pm at the Bobcat Anderson Tennis Center at MSU.

Festival schedule

  • 8:30am – 9:00am: Register and Warm Up
  • 9:00am – 9:15am: Introduction and Instructions
  • 9:15am – 11:45am: Round Robin Doubles Play
  • 11:45am -1:30 pm Lunch (Provided) and Festival Stations
    • Belgrade Police/Radar Serves
    • MSU Players/Serving Games
    • Mix and Match Play with Pros
    • Bid on Silent Auction Items (all day)
  • 1:30pm – 3:30pm: Games in Teams of Four on all 5 Courts
  • 3:30pm – 4:00pm: Prizes and Auction Winners

Contact us if you need anything else, otherwise we’ll see you on Saturday!

Remembering Marcia Anderson

At the Belgrade Tennis Courts ribbon cutting ceremony. From right to left: Kimberley Walker, Rick Phillips (Belgrade Activities Director) and Marcia Anderson.

Written by Dorothy Filson, Belgrade Tennis Association Board Member

201408_kimberly-walker-rick-philips-marcia-anderson
At the Belgrade Tennis Courts ribbon cutting ceremony. From right to left: Kimberley Walker, Rick Phillips (Belgrade Activities Director) and Marcia Anderson.

Marcia Anderson, who funded the construction of the new Belgrade tennis courts and two years of high school tennis in Belgrade, passed away on December 31 in Santa Barbara, CA. She was 95.

In 2013, Marcia enthusiastically offered to pay for the new courts and the tennis program. The courts were completed in 2014 and the ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in August of 2014.

Marcia was a strong advocate of healthy activities for youth. She was so pleased to hear how many students became involved in the tennis program and the successes they had. As a former tennis player herself, she liked knowing the courts were being used by adults in the community as well.

Marcia’s generosity was evident in many ways throughout Gallatin Co. over the years, as a philanthropist for Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter, the riding arena at the Fairgrounds, the MSU Bobcat/Anderson indoor tennis facility, the Three Forks tennis court, the paddle tennis courts at Riverside and, most recently, the repair costs for the Bogert Pavilion.

Marcia’s vision and generosity will have a positive impact on this valley far into the future.

Her selfless commitment to making improvements in her community is an inspiration and an example of what is possible.

Recently, an article ran in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle featuring Marcia as well.

Tennis Night Live Session 3 is ON.

Dominic Thiem tennis player pumps fist

That’s right, we’ve got just enough folks to run our last session of Tennis Night Live. However, we still have spots open, so if you haven’t already, get signed up!

We are open to both beginner and advanced level players, as we will run two drills and include opportunities for both levels of play to get match experience, too.

Find out more about our Tuesday drills and Thursday matches on the Tennis Night Live signup page, and then save yourself a spot!

See you on the courts.