WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
MOUNT VERNON, July 28, 2022 – Competitive sports have a long history of bringing disparate
groups of people together for a single cause. It was in this spirit that Mount Vernon recently
welcomed about 60 young athletes to the City for a one-day tennis tournament.
Conducted under the auspices of the Northeast Ohio
Tennis Association and organized by Steve Tier,
president of the Kokosing Valley Tennis Association
and a tennis coach at Mount Vernon High School, the
Meet Up Event featured tennis teams from Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Geneva, Watkins Memorial, Zanesville and
of course Mount Vernon.
Participants also had the opportunity to hear from one
of the best tennis players to ever come out of Mount
Vernon, Steven Ryuse, who spoke to the athletes
about his experiences finding success at tennis at
Ohio State University and in the Big Ten Conference
during the 1970s, and what he has learned since then
as a tennis coach.
“Tennis is a great vehicle for so many things,” said
Tier. “Once you learn the skills, you can play the game
for life. It can also serve as an icebreaker. Tennis has
allowed me to go places and meet people that I
otherwise would not have encountered.”
This marked the second time Mount Vernon has
hosted the Meet Up Event, which featured tennis
players from 12 to 18 years old playing in doubles
matches. The games were played at Mount Vernon
Nazarene University and in the Mount Vernon City Schools’ fieldhouse.
Tier described it as a cordial event.
“Players had the opportunity to play against athletes they rarely get to compete against,” he said.
“And they also got to know them as people, and see that – like them – they come from all kinds of
diverse backgrounds.”
