Youth between the ages of 5 and 18 are invited to a free “skills and drills” tennis clinic on Saturday, May 14, 2022 at Fox Pond Park.
The Edmonds Tennis & Education Foundation will conduct the clinic from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the Fox Pond tennis courts. No registration is required, but all participants must wear appropriate tennis shoes/sneakers.
The event will include a ceremony to dedicate a tennis court in honor of Henderson tennis standout Mary Lloyd Hodges Barbera, who died in 2015.
The Henderson City Council last year approved dedicating courts 1 and 2 in Barbera’s honor.
Barbera was a tennis phenom and was considered one of the state’s premier junior tennis players in the 1970’s and 1980’s. She was ranked #1 in the state in the girls’ 12-, 14- and 18-year-old divisions. She won two 4A state singles titles as a junior in 1981 and again in 1982 as a senior. She graduated from Vance Sr. High in 1983 and went on to Peace College, where, in 1984, she was named an All-American athlete by the National Junior College Athletic Association for Flight #1 in singles competition. She transferred to N.C. State University in 1985 and led the Wolfpack women’s tennis team with 16 wins in singles competition. She was inducted into the William Peace University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012.