For the past 13 years, during the first weekend in October, the Peak Health and Wellness Racquet Club has hosted a charity event, the Pro-am Tennis Tournament, for the Watson Children’s Shelter. The Watson Children’s Shelter is a place where more than a hundred kids every year stay if they are in need of temporary housing. The children, ages 0-14, are able to stay at the shelter until a solution to their family crisis is found.
In 1968, Janice Watson opened “Jack and Jill Nursery” after she retired from teaching elementary school at Target Range. At that time, in Missoula Child Protection Services and the police did not have many people to turn to when looking for housing for children in need, Watson graciously welcomed many children into her home. In 1977 the nursery was turned into the Watson’s Receiving Home. The home continued to grow and expand, even with the passing of Janice Watson in 1993. Her vision became the Watson Children’s Shelter. In 2010 the shelter added a second location at 4878 Buckhouse Lane, right next door to the Peak Racquet Club.
At the time of the grand opening of the shelter, Scott Potter (Peak Athletic Club Tennis Director) was struck by the great work of the shelter and wanted to help contribute, and so the Watson Children’s Shelter Pro-am tennis tournament was born. For 13 years, the fundraiser has grown to raise over one million dollars for the shelter. In addition, the event has become a fun tradition for the tennis community in Missoula while attracting tennis professionals from all over the world.
This year, 34 professionals from around the world made their way to Missoula to participate in this fundraiser. The weekend was made up of five main events. It started on Thursday night with an auction where community members could bid on a pro to be their partner in the upcoming pro-am tennis tournament. On Friday morning, the junior-pro doubles tournament took place. This is a unique opportunity for young junior talent to get to play high-level tennis with current and past professional tennis players.
The adult pro-am tournament began Friday afternoon, with the champions crowned Saturday afternoon. The main event of the weekend was the pro-pro portion of the tournament, which took place on Friday night. This part of the tournament is when two professionals play together against two other professionals, this leads to some very high level and entertaining tennis. In addition to the great tennis, there was also a fun atmosphere with food, drinks, and a chance to bet on who would win. There was also a silent auction with numerous prizes ranging in size, from Peak T-shirts to signed game worn Roger Federer tennis shoes.
Jesse Witten, who at one point in his career got a set off of Novak Djokovic (the #1 player in the world) has participated in the pro-am for 10 years. He said he continues to come to this event because “this is an amazing event, one of the best.”
The tournament director, Scott Potter continues to put the event together because ”It’s for the kids that don’t have a chance,” he says. It is his way of giving back to the community and he will continue to put this event on for as long as the Missoula community continues to come out and support it.
