Former state tennis champ coordinates tournament
Ivana Corley organizes Corley Cup that will run July 22-26 in Albuquerque
With everything from T-ball to college teams playing the waiting game with the novel coronavirus, there’s one sport in Albuquerque that’s taking a more direct approach to getting high school athletes back in action later this month.
Fed up with watching prep players mourning the loss of their spring 2020 season thanks to the pandemic, former state tennis champion Ivana Corley has organized a high school tournament — the Corley Cup — that will run July 22-26 at three different sites around Albuquerque.
Recently graduated seniors, as well as players who would otherwise be eligible to play at the varsity level right now are allowed to sign up and give it a go.
Proceeds will go toward scholarships for the top players, with donations also being made to local charities. For now, Corley said, the plan is to have separate fields of 64 players each for boys and girls with matches spread between the University of New Mexico’s McKinnon Family Tennis Center, the Tanoan Country Club and the Jerry Cline Tennis Center.
“I had all four years of my high school experience, so I feel bad for the kids who didn’t get that, especially seniors,” Corley said. “I want players to get something similar and as close to the state tournament as possible.”
Corley and her younger sister, Carmen, alternated the Class 5A singles state championship from 2016-19 while playing at Eldorado. In between, Ivana was part of the 2017 doubles championship squad while Carmen won in doubles the following year.
They reunited this spring at the University of Oklahoma where they were undefeated as a doubles team for the Sooners’ women’s program when the pandemic shut down the remainder of the NCAA season.
With the sisters back home in Albuquerque until given the clearance to return to Norman, Ivana said staging a tournament for high school kids is more than an excuse to get out and get a little vitamin D while playing a game.
“For me, the fun part of this is doing from the business side of things,” she said. “I’m always the player, I’m always the one out there who just sits there and plays my matches when it’s time for me to play. Now I’m realizing how much goes into the various tournaments that we play in and, yeah, it’s kind of fun.”
Ivana said she doesn’t know of a single tennis player getting COVID-19 while on the court, and she leans on recent findings that claim the sport is one of the safest activities anyone can perform even during lockdown.
“I think tennis is one of those sports where we’re really fortunate, and I think this is one of those times where we can shine little bit,” she said. “No more than five people can be on a court at any time, so this is kind of perfect for us.”
The plan, for the moment, is to limit fans at each site, ensuring all three locations are no more than 50 percent of capacity. Nonplayers are required to wear face coverings and all registration and player check-ins will be done online or on the tournament’s app.
Anyone in a player’s immediate circle showing signs of illness will not be allowed to attend the event and any player having traveled outside the state 14 days prior to the start of the event will be disqualified.
Tests are not required for registration, although temperatures of players, volunteers and officials will be taken each day. Other precautions, such as the availability of hand sanitizer and personal canisters of balls will be part of the daily routine.
“The hitches are out there and we’re expecting some for sure,” Corley said. “When we were planning this about a month ago we were hoping things were going to start opening up a bit more and that hasn’t necessarily happened, so we have to be ready to adjust from our side of things.”
There are some major differences to a typical high school event. The tournament isn’t sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association nor the New Mexico Activities Association, meaning players can sign up for both singles and doubles events.
The cost of a singles registration is $30 while a doubles player pays $20. For more information, visit the event’s website at CorleyCup. com.
“It’s really a charity tournament more than anything else,” Corley said. “It’s just a way for high school kids to get back a little of what they lost a few months ago.”
This story first published in the Santa Fe New Mexican, a sibling publication of the Taos News.