After buying club, tennis team dominates national competition

GRANDVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) — West Michigan is home to a top tennis team, but it almost wasn’t given a chance to prove that.

The Premier Athletic and Tennis Center in Grandville is where you can find the Adult 40 and over 3.5 team, which finished second overall in the United States Tennis Association League National Championships in October.

Wayne Lawrence, the captain of the team, led 12 other Michiganders to Tucson, Arizona, to compete in the championship and make it all the way to the final before losing to a team from Houston. It was the second year in a row that Lawrence led a team from Premier to the USTA finals.

“We have a saying that it’s fun to play tennis but it’s more fun to win,” Lawrence said.

The team that finished in second place was comprised of Lawrence, Jeffrey Kunnen, Robert Foti, Francisco Andrade, Troy Herczak, Ben Adams, Joe Phanrisvong, Doug Leonard, Carlos Lourido, JungWoo Kim, Kevin Thelen, Duc Duong and Damond Timmerman.

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“It was a great run for the guys. It’s something that we’ve been trying to get to that level for a couple of years now,” Lawrence said. “We finished ninth in the nation last year so finishing second in the nation with this team was a huge accomplishment that really meant a lot to us.”

The wins were a surprise to some members of the team, not because of the team itself but because of the competition.

“We really didn’t think we were really going to pass the first day, at least I didn’t,” Lourido said. “But as we kept winning, one match after the other, we were like, ‘We may have a chance.’”

The trip to the finals was all the more surprising when you consider that the team was almost disbanded from Premier and may have folded altogether.

The club was on the verge of being sold and eventually turned into an apartment complex. The building served as the meeting ground, practice facility and overall home to many residents, including several tennis teams for the past 50 years.

All looked lost until West Michigan Community Tennis stepped in to purchase the building and save it. Over $2 million in donations were raised by members of the club to complete the sale. That coming together has really left an impact on the members of the club, and more specifically the team.

“Premier was on life support for a little while … I was very happy to hear (that we purchased the club),” Phanrisvong said. “It meant a whole lot myself and to the team that we were able to save Premier. That created a long-lasting bond for the people that are here.”

“Had this club gone away … tennis really would’ve taken a big hit,” Premier General Manager Justin Beckstrom said.

Thankfully for the tennis community here in West Michigan, the club is here to stay. On top of being bought by WMCT, it has also been reclassified as a nonprofit. Premier now hosts several events aimed at helping the community through the sport.

Had it not been for the club, many of the players on the team likely would have never even picked up a tennis racket again or for the first time. Many players had found the love of the sport through their wives or events that welcomed them back to the court.

“Never in a million years did I think I would be a tennis player,” Andrade said.

“It really is a lifetime sport,” Thelen said. “You can play as a kid, you can play all the way into your 80s or 90s.”

“Just because we’re older, doesn’t mean we’ve lost our competitive drive and spirit,” Duong said. “I feel like I did in high school.”

As for what’s next for the team, that remains to be seen. Around half of the team that finished second will be moving to different teams at Premier due to their skill level. Despite that, Lawrence is ready to run it back and make it to the finals.

“As a captain, I’m looking at rebuilding, looking at advancing my skills, I’m looking at how do we move to the nationals again next year,” he said. “We’re always looking at that. Let’s move from where we are right now, let’s win that district, let’s win that state, let’s win regionals, let’s go to nationals.”

If you would like to find more information on joining a team or the club itself, click here.

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