The Bakersfield College’s Men and Women’s Tennis Programs held a fundraising event in the BC cafeteria on Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. The fundraiser was held to raise money for the tennis players’ uniforms, equipment and travel costs at away games, which can reach close to $300 per player. Nick Jacobs, head coach for the men’s and women’s tennis teams, shared some of his hopes for the outcome of the event, seeing as how this fundraiser in particular is where the majority of their funds come in from.

Jacobs said, “It kind of varies depending on the year, the last couple of years we’ve been pretty good with our fundraiser numbers, but usually we try to target anywhere from around five to eight grand just based off the dinner.”

Tickets for the event were sold for $40 a person and included a steak or chicken dinner with green beans, potatoes, salad and bread. A bar was also set up for guest to order wine or liquor with a tip jar that read “tip big.”

Guests were seated at their tables by either the men’s or women’s tennis team members and would then be offered raffle tickets for sale. One guest Stan Newman bought $20 worth of raffle tickets from the women’s tennis team. Raffle tickets were sold for a $1 each, six tickets for $5 or 100 tickets for $20.

After buying raffle tickets, guests were encouraged to enter their tickets into baskets that held the name of various prizes. The prizes ranged from amazon gift cards, jewelry, spa packages and lottery tickets to private tennis lessons with former professional tennis player Hank Pfister.

Guests were also offered entertainment and the BC drumline made an appearance and performed.

The coaches went up on stage to introduce the new tennis team players and to thank the guests for attending the event.

Coach Nick Loudermick said, “Thank you so much for coming out and supporting men’s and women’s tennis … The team is taking great strides, we are a top 10 tennis team in California, we kind of put tennis back on the map.”

The Tennis Fundraiser event raised approximately $6,200 and had 120 people in attendance.