Charity Clinics: Huge Success!

First Serve Tennis honored a family member and wildlife advocate with its first annual charity clinic event for the Alaska Wilderness League.

On June 22nd, right after finishing their session of summer clincis, Co-Directors Aaron Reznik and Matt Slowinski lead the first ever Adam Kolton Memorial Charity Clinics. Scheduled rain caused the event to be moved from outdoors in Verona to indoors at Maywood Tennis Club in Maywood, NJ, the place Aaron and Matt started training together and became friends at back in middle school. The event consisted of two 1.5-hour clinics with players ranging from young kids to adults and beginners to advanced, along with a free pizza lunch, prize giveaway, and guest speaker session. Between clinics and donations, First Serve Tennis was able to raise over $16,000!

Proceeds went towards the Alaska Wilderness League, an organization that works to protect and preserve public lands and wildlife throughout Alaska, heavily focusing on the Arctic Refuge.

The event was held in honor of Adam Kolton, the uncle of Co-Director Aaron and a mentor to him throughout his life. “Our academy may not have grown to what it is today without the motivation and guidance I got from my uncle over the years, “ said Aaron.

Adam spent his career working to protect the environment and advocate for Alaska’s lands, and lived in Bethesda, M.D. with his wife Laura and kids Jacob and Sam. He sadly passed away earlier this year due to cancer, though his values and work will carry on to serve for years to come. To learn more about Adam, click here.

First Serve Tennis coaches Leo Kupferman and Kevin Wallace also helped out with the event. Following the first hour of clinics, a free pizza lunch and guest speaking session lead by Aaron and Adam’s wife Laura helped bridge the gap leading to the second session of clinics. The event also included special prize giveaways following each clinic, where players earned tickets from playing and used them for a random drawing with prizes such as rackets, shirts, hats, free lessons, and even a pickleball paddle! Some of the prizes were kindly donated by Diadem. Much help in setting up the event and donation process also came from Chris Konish, AWL’s Director of Development.

Overall, the event went great and First Serve Tennis is already excited for their next Adam Kolton Memorial Charity Clinics event. “This event really helps show how great of a community we have around us,” said Aaron. “It was an incredible opportunity to be able to honor my uncle and do good for the world. We can’t wait to do more!”