QuickStart Tennis of Central Virginia (QCV) is still going strong in Prince Edward County.

Dr. Billy Rutherford, founder of QS Tennis Time, held the third annual weeklong tennis camp in June. He reports having a great turnout and lots of community support. Murrie Bates, former head tennis coach at Hampden-Sydney, Robert Bareford, current Hampden-Sydney head coach and Bruce Myers, the Longwood women’s coach, led the on-court instruction with an assist from other community volunteers.

Local businesses donated products for daily giveaways for the kids. There are plans to do one-day QuickStart Tennis clinics during the fall and winter. He plans to have players from the Hampden-Sydney and Longwood teams work with the kids. Rutherford also reported the “tennis garden” at the Fuqua School is doing very well.

The apple trees are growing and should produce fruit next season. The garden has tied in well with the theme of eating healthy for tennis. The Fuqua kids are learning early-on about the importance of good nutrition.

QCV QuickStart Coordinator Lynda Harrill said, “It is a pleasure to work with and support people like Billy Rutherford. He understands the importance of getting the community involved and supporting tennis for kids. Just a few years ago, other than college tennis, there wasn’t much going on with tennis in Prince Edward County. It’s a very different place today.”

QuickStart Tennis of Central Virginia is an all-volunteer, grassroots Community Tennis Association established in 2009 as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization to promote, develop and grow QuickStart Tennis in the heart of Virginia for all beginners, especially underserved youth, using the kid-sized QuickStart Tennis format.

QCV’s service area includes Albemarle, Amelia, Appomattox, Brunswick, Buckingham, Charlotte, Culpeper, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Fluvanna, Franklin, Greene, Greensville, Halifax, Henry, Louisa, Lunenburg, Madison, Mecklenburg, Nelson, Nottoway, Orange, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Prince Edward, Powhatan and Rappahannock counties and the cities of Charlottesville, Danville and Martinsville, We currently serve 159 schools with 76,000 kids, ten parks & recreation departments, three Boys & Girls Clubs and two YMCAs in 27 counties and three independent cities. We have also gotten tennis into PE classes in 30 additional schools with 14,000 students in southwestern and eastern central Virginia as part of the Mid-Atlantic Supercharge School Tennis Task Force.