***** WACTA HISTORY ****

The Washington Area Chinese Tennis Association (WACTA) was founded in March 15, 1991 as a response to the tremendous increase in popularity among recreational Chinese tennis players. Between 1980 and 1990, we used to reserve several locations every weekend for those who were interested in playing tennis. Locations in Maryland included Walter Johnson High School, Montgomery College, and Hoover Middle School; with Annandale High School and Burgundy Park in Virginia. These weekend tennis playing did not bring the Chinese tennis players together as a community and it was strongly believed that a more cohesive organization was needed.

In September of 1990, Stanley Kao took the initiative and called the first meeting with a group of Chinese tennis enthusiasts at Dr. Tsunie ChanChien's residence. The members of this group were Stanley Kao, Sam Chang, Geider Chen, Robert Chen, Shing-Bong Chen , Dr. Tsunie ChanChien, Johnny Chi, James Hsu, Cliff Liu. The Constitution of the association were drafted at the following meeting. With the agreement of Edward Yang, the President of Chinese Tennis Association (CTA), our association was named Washington Area Chinese Tennis Association (WACTA). WACTA soon began recruiting members at a Thanksgiving tennis party in 1990. On March 15, 1991 a general election, with approximately 40 participants, was held in the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center (CCACC) at Sligo Middle School. Shing-Bong Chen was elected as the first President and five Board of Directors were also elected. The Constitution of WACTA were also adopted during this general election meeting. The WACTA was then formally organized with the government body.

WACTA offers two types of memberships, family or individual, to its members. Over thirteen years, WACTA has grown to over 700 membership accounts and more than 1400 members.

WACTA hosts many activities including various tournaments, social tennis, picnics, and annual general election and business planning meeting. The association also organized a summer camp at the Salisbury State University annually.

The goal and grassroots work of WACTA is to develop tennis as a means of healthful recreation and physical fitness, and promote socialization among Chinese and their spouses and to establish a tennis training site for new players and for our Chinese youth in the Washington Metropolitan area. In trying to improve our association, WACTA is looking for members who are interested in helping us with training, foundation funding, and youth scholarship. WACTA is striving to be a role model as a tennis activities center to serve our community members in this Greater Washington Metropolitan area.