Rome welcomes ACC athletes
Volunteers make up part of the hospitality at the ACC tennis tournament.
After a season of hard work, the tennis players of the Atlantic Coast Conference were greeted with a sampling of Rome’s hospitality on Wednesday.
The first day of competition for the ACC Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships brought players, coaches and fans to the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College. It also gave tournament organizers and the volunteers a taste of what the next four days will bring.
The tournament features two of the top five men’s tennis teams in No. 1 Wake Forest and No. 3 Virginia. In the women’s rankings, North Carolina is No. 5, while Georgia Tech is No. 8.
“Rome strived to go the extra length to make these players feel welcomed and to have a different perspective when they left the tournament,” said Brandon
Neff, ACC Assistant Commissioner for Championships.
According to Neff, the conference wanted the teams to feel celebrated, so it was worth making any adjustments to accommodate these players.
Neff also said that so far he has heard that the tennis players have been blown away and appreciate the city of Rome and its volunteers.
Ann Hortman, director of the Rome Sports Commission, said the tournament represents a hope they had when the 60-court facility was built to host large-scale tournaments like the ACC event.
But the people most visible in making sure the tournament runs smoothly are the many volunteers.
According to Hortman, the volunteers seen around the grounds are there for one sole purpose and that is to be a part of something special.
Several of them play tennis or are tennis fanatics, but there are others that are there to enjoy the athletes and the experience as a whole.
Two local volunteers, Alice Stevens and Jeanne Watson, were helping update a match scoreboard adjacent to where the Pitt and Notre Dame women were playing an opening round match. Both women play tennis and said they were delighted to volunteer for this tournament.
Watson said she found the interaction with the different athletes to be a pleasant part of her experience, and both had athletes they spoke to thank them for the work they had done to make the experience great.