The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation’s decision this year to take over Vero Beach’s annual USTA Pro Circuit event – our home-grown tennis star putting his name on our hometown tennis tournament – was a no-brainer.
The next step, however, will take some thought.
That’s because the next step, according to Fish’s father, Tom, is to find a permanent home for the tournament. And the foundation. And other sports, cultural and entertainment events.
Tom Fish, the tennis director at Windsor and foundation chairman, said the foundation is exploring the possibility of building, buying or sharing a multi-purpose facility that would serve as the headquarters for its after-school and weekend youth programs as well as the home of the $10,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships.
The facility would include a small, open-air stadium – 1,000 to 1,500 seats – that could be used for concerts, plays, sports exhibitions and other tennis competitions, such as Fed Cup, Davis Cup, ATP Challengers and Champions Tour tournaments.
“We were talking about what’s down the road for us, and our dream from Day 1 has been to have our own place, a home for the foundation,” Tom Fish said. “We’d love to have a place where the kids can come after school, do their homework, then get involved in some type of activity, whether it’s tennis or basketball or soccer.
“It would also be a home for this tournament and, if we had a small stadium, give us an opportunity to bring in other events,” he added. “There are a lot of possibilities.”
At the moment, that’s all this is – a possibility.
Or as Tom Fish put it: “We’re one step beyond dreaming.”
The concept was the creation of part-time Moorings resident Randy Walker, the longtime tennis author, writer and publicist who has teamed with Tom Fish to serve as the tournament’s co-director.
Walker said he has been thinking of such a complex since heading the effort to bring to Vero Beach a 2012 Fed Cup first-round match between the U.S. and Belarus. The match eventually was awarded to Worcester, Mass.
“Tom and I worked on that project, and we quickly realized that there needs to be more of a tennis infrastructure here to bring in those kinds of events,” Walker said. “This is a terrific tennis community. People here love and support tennis. The tournament here has been a huge success.
“But if we want to bring in other events,” he added, “we need some type of stadium facility.”
And the foundation needs a home.
So Walker pitched his idea to Tom Fish and others on the foundation’s board of directors. They agreed to explore the matter further and see if it’s possible to put such a plan in motion.
“It’s just talk right now – there is no real plan – but the talk is accelerating,” Walker said. “We’ve run our idea past some city and county officials, but only on a very casual basis and only in terms of the long-term vision of the foundation, but it seemed to be well-received.
“Truth is, we’ve been very busy getting ready for the tournament, which has taken up a lot of time,” he added. “We’ll give it more attention and the talks will get more serious after the tournament.”
That doesn’t mean all talk of the project has been put on hold until May 2, however: Walker said he and Tom Fish might mention their idea to some potential donors and sponsors who are expected to attend the tournament.
USTA Pro Circuit officials say the Vero Beach tournament, which was run by longtime local tennis pro Mike Rahaley for two decades before he turned it over to the foundation this year, is among their most successful stops.
“The tournament is a catalyst for this, because it gets people excited about tennis,” Walker said. “That makes it a good time to talk to them.”
Nobody needs to sell Joe Pappalardo, the retired business executive who moved to Vero Beach in 2004 and lived at John’s Island and Windsor before moving to Orchid Island.
He cares about kids, he loves this community and he believes in what Walker and Tom Fish want to do.
He said he won’t be surprised if the people step up and support the foundation’s effort.
“This would be an ambitious undertaking,” he said. “But Vero Beach is a magical place. Randy is a visionary, I’m a marketing guy and the foundation has become an important part of this community. If everyone contributes a little bit, it can add up to a lot.”
But will it add up to enough?
Again, the fate of such a project would depend greatly on the generosity of donors and the ability for the foundation to attract sponsors. Also, the foundation would need to find ways to utilize the stadium on a regular basis.
“A tennis-only facility isn’t feasible,” Walker said. “Even if we brought in another tournament, it makes no sense to build a stadium for a couple of tournaments a year. What do you do the other 50 weeks of the year?
“We could use it for lots of things other than tennis – orchestras and bands, plays, Shakespeare under the stars, pro beach volleyball exhibitions, maybe a Jake Owen concert,” he added. “That’s just off the top of my head, but I think we could make it work.”
I like what the foundation does, getting kids to put down their smart phones, pick up rackets and spend an hour or so running around a tennis court. I like the idea of sitting under the stars listening to a concert or watching a play.
And, yes, being a tennis guy, I’d love to see a Fed Cup, Davis Cup or Champions Tour event come to Vero Beach.