Contact:
Steve Honig
The Honig Company, LLC
818-986-4300
press@honigcompany.com
For Immediate Release
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 26, 2011 — Celebrities from movies, television and music will join with some of the most famous names in tennis on October 15 for the fourth annual Serve It Up to End MS tennis event to benefit the Southern California & Nevada Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The tournament will be held at the famous Jack Kramer Club in Rolling Hills Estates, approximately 30 minutes south of Santa Monica. In addition to the official celebrity pro-am tournament, the event will include a series of clinics, team tennis challenge, chances to beat the pro, lunch, silent and live auctions, and a terrific cocktail party. Tickets can be purchased at www.serveituptoendMS.org.
Joining the celebrities will be professional tennis players including Tracy Austin, John Austin, Pam Shriver, Lindsay Davenport, Justin Gimelstob, Murphy Jensen, Vijay Armitraj, Derrick Rostagno, Eliot Teltscher and Anand Armitraj. Event sponsors include Mercedes-Benz, Nike, POWERADE, Neutrogena, Raymond Weil and POM Juice.
“This year’s event is shaping up to be the biggest one yet,” said Chris Ojakian, organizer of the annual fundraiser. “Every year we get a tremendous response from the celebrities, tennis pros and sponsors who step up and support the cause.”
Every person 21 years of age or older who attends the event will receive a Nike Team Training Cinch Bag containing a Nike Tech Cap, Nike Dri-FIT Anklets and a pair of Nike Premier Wristbands. And if they visit the Mercedes-Benz South Bay dealership and test drive a Mercedes-Benz, they will also receive a pair of Nike Lunar Vapor 8 Tour tennis shoes for Men or Nike Lunar Speed 3 tennis shoes for Women.
The amateur winner (21 years of age or older) of each flight of the Serve It Up Pro-Am will receive a three-day, two-night trip to the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Scottsdale, AZ where they will compete in the Mercedes-Benz Western Sectional. Two additional spots for the Western Sectional will also be raffled off. The winning team of the Mercedes-Benz Western Sectional will receive a VIP trip to the 2012 U.S. Open in New York, including Mercedes-Benz Suite access to various matches and an exclusive “behind-the-scenes” tour of the National Tennis Center. For more information about Serve It Up to End MS or to purchase tickets, please visit www.serveituptoendMS.org or call 310-479-4456.
Multiple sclerosis interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body and it stops people from moving. Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S., and 2.1 million worldwide.
MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t. We help each person address the challenges of living with MS. In 2010 alone, through our national office and 50-state network of chapters, we devoted $159 million to programs and services that improved the lives of more than one million people. To move us closer to a world free of MS, the Society also invested $37 million to support 325 new and ongoing research projects around the world. We are people who want to do something about MS NOW. Join the movement at nationalMSsociety.org.
Ojakian Tennis is an elite tennis company that helps individuals achieve the physical and mental skills they need to be confident and self-reliant each time they step on the court. Ojakian Tennis separates itself from other tennis companies through its communication with clients and how instructors break things down in a simple manner and provide clients with a database of tools from which they can draw. Ojakian Tennis employs certified world-class tennis professionals who provide positive reinforcement and develop safe and effective programs that work on getting clients to the next level. Ojakian Tennis has training facilities in Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Bel-Air, Santa Monica, Culver City, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Hancock Park and Malibu.