Tennis, anyone?

The past couple of decades around the New River Valley, the question has more accurately been, "Does anybody around here play tennis?"

Certainly, there is no shortage of young people who play and play well. Blacksburg High is usually in the district, region and state championship mix in Group AA, both boys and girls. Giles has had it's moments, particularly with two-time state A champion Evan Bowling.

Perhaps no locality has been more associated with the game than Radford, home of defending state singles champion Malik Mubeen, the second Bobcat to win it in the past eight years along with Shaan Goswami. The Bobcats have also claimed state team runners-up the past three years and four since 1999.

The Radford girls have been just as formidable. Recent years have seen Bobcats girls winning five singles state titles in a row, two each by sisters Caroline and Ashton Downs. The team has been state runner-up twice since 2005 and won it five straight years ending in 2002.

Yet after high school, everybody seems to put the fuzzy balls back in the bag and go separate ways.

It didn't used to be that way. There once were all-comers summer tournaments in Radford that riveted the attention for a couple of weeks at a time. Then it all stopped. Eventually, the courts where the tournament was played were dug up and a restaurant planted there.

"We had the tournament right there at the old rec hall," said Betty Branch, tennis historian and the face of the game around here for years as a coach and player.

Then somebody came up with the idea of staging another tournament. The scheme was hatched by then-high school student Ian Akers, who was interested in starting a fundraiser for the high school's public service club.

He chatted with his grandmother Janell Dobbins, who knows a thing or two about sports after coaching at Radford University for many years. She suggested a tennis tournament.

"She said she thought there'd be a lot of interest," Akers said.

Interest didn't materialize at first when the first Radford Open was announced last year.

Akers became very nervous at the shortage of entries.

"There were times when I thought it was going to be a complete failure," he said.

The entries started to roll in at the last minute and the affair was launched. About $1,000 was raised, part of that through business sponsorships.

Akers graduated this spring en route to Yale University, where he will study economics, but still has had a hand in coordinating the upcoming tournament. Branch is again the tournament director. The club for which the tournament will benefit has a tennis connection aside from the tournament: The club sponsor is Don Lawrence, a past Bobcats tennis coach.

Among the good deeds of the club has been the collection of 2 tons of school supplies for the less fortunate in Belize; raising $1,200 for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund; an after-school tutoring program for elementary schoolchildren; and a white paper recycling campaign at the high school and Dalton Intermediate.

The club also sponsored a 3-on-3 basketball tournament this past spring to benefit the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Seth Greenberg, the Virginia Tech coach, spoke.

It's been since the 1980s that a large tennis tournament has been held in Radford. It appears as though this will be around for a while. Akers will pass the club president's gavel to Sanjay Kishore, another tennis player.

The hope this year is that the tournament's can raise as much money as it did last year. That is going to be a challenge because business donations are not being actively sought.

"If somebody does want to donate, we'll take it," Akers said.

The tournament drew more than 50 players last year. It will be held this year Aug. 1-3 at the Dedmon Center courts at Radford University. Entry information is available at www.nrvtennis.org. The entry fee is $10 per participating adult; $5, youth.

Akers is looking forward to it for reasons other than his commitment to community service. He wants to play again.

"Last year I didn't do very well."