This is Elmer A. Dolera of The Goodwill Tennis Tours.
Regarding USPTA Certification (
http://www.uspta.org/index.cfm?MenuItemID=1634&MenuGroup=New%2DUSPTA), once the
on-court tests are analyzed and the results of those who took their written exam over the internet are known, we will have certified nineteen Filipinos as USPTA Tennis Professionals.
As the result of the Recreational Coaches Workshops (
http://www.usta.com/coaches/custom.sps?iType=12362&icustompageid=17306), we certified twenty Filipinos as USPTA Developmental Coaches, the entry-level of USPTA Certification. This number does not include the many who sat in on the course. We also did tennis clinics for several hundred children and juniors.
My 2008 Philippine tennis program is the first year the USPTA gave us permission to certify Filipinos as USPTA Tennis Professionals. To date, to get the real total tally you must take the above numbers and also include the around fifty we certified as USPTA Developmental Coaches during our 2004 and 2007 tennis programs.
As references you should contact those who participted in the 2008 USPTA Certification Program of which I have great admiration such as Jean Henri Lhuillier, Raul Antonio Guerrero, Roland Kraut, Jun Toledo, Randy Villanueva, Gerard Maronilla, Chase Tinio and Roel Pacana.
Special thanks to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, especially Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney, Deputy Chief of Mission - Paul Jones, and Cebuana Lhuillier and the President of the company, Jean Henri Lhuillier, for making my 2008 tennis program a reality with their sponsorships.
I also want to thank The Manila Polo Club, most notably, Raymond Suarez, the Head of the Tennis Committee, for allowing us the use of their wonderful facility on short notice, PHILTA for the use of The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, my contacts at our sites in Davao City (Albert and Carolina Angel), Cagayan de Oro (Raul Antonio Guerrero and Alvin Garcia), Subic Bay (Harry Torrente), Laoag (Willie Boy Agcaoili) and Calatagan (Jean Henri Lhuillier) and Roland So of Dunlop Philippines for providing us the tennis balls.
Lastly, I want to thank and express my deep gratitude to USPTA Tennis Professionals - my Associate - Ted Sayrahder, Brian Cunniff and Mark Allen, for volunteering their time and expertise for the people of the Philippines. I am forever grateful.
If we are fortunate to get sponsorship for 2009, my plan is to do tennis programs in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, so we can get participation throughout the Philippines. If we have additional time, we will do an elite junior tennis camp at The Subic Bay International Tennis Center and I will work to make sure that the participants can attend for free, especially those who cannot afford world-class tennis instruction.
My Associate - USPTA P1, Tester, USA High Performance Coach and RCW National Coach, Ted Sayrahder and I are committed to the Philippines and want to complement the efforts of the Philippines by people such as Jean Henri Lhuillier, Rommie Chan and Oscar Hilado and organizations such as PHILTA and JuntaPhil, to strengthen Philippine tennis.
To view pictures of my just concluded 2008 tennis program, please go to the following web addresses:
Manila Arrival -
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=395281212009591707/l=390642236/g=15905395/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB Davao City -
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=193281211999829096/l=390639790/g=15905395/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB Cagayan De Oro -
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=612281211998809196/l=390639478/g=15905395/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB Rizal Memorial Sports Complex/Manila Polo Club -
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=358301212153873880/l=390664294/g=15905395/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB Laoag -
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=616281211974719170/l=367632829/g=15905395/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB Travel - Laoag to Subic Bay to Manila -
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=808291212052967174/l=390648789/g=15905395/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB Calatagan, Batangas -
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=421251211714416350/l=367586935/g=15905395/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB To view a video of me meeting U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie A. Kenney, at our Ateneo de Manila program in 2007, please go to the web address:
http://philtennis.multiply.com/video/item/38/gw7.AVI To view pictures of my last five tennis programs in the Philippines before 2008, please go to the web addresses
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=449251180112424121/l=268808799/g=15905395/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB and
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=34741188891545954/l=303450868/g=15905395/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB and
http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwhs097.html .
My parents were from Bohol but I was born in the U.S. Throughout my life I have been embraced by the loving culture of the Philippines. The Goodwill Tenis Tous is my way of celebrating the lives of my parents and their generation upon whose shoulders I stand and to give back to the country and people I have great affection and respect.
Promoting friendship and goodwill using the world game of tennis,
Elmer A. Dolera
Founder and Organizer - The Goodwill Tennis Tours
edolera@hotmail.com