EDWARDSVILLE— The USTA Pro Circuit Edwards Futures VIP party presented by the EGHM Foundation Wednesday evening at the Sunset Hills Country Club was once again an excellent time for players, officials, sponsors and media to socialize and exchange ideas.

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The casual atmosphere and buffet dinner enabled attendees to enjoy themselves, and the proverbial good time was definitely had by all.

“Fantastic,” said tournament director Dave Lipe, describing how the overall night went on Wednesday. “A big thanks to Sunset Hills Country Club for their efforts in helping us put this together. But it's a great night for our officials, our VIPs, our players, and our sponsors and a bunch of our local businesses with whom we work.

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“A lot of our interns, our staff, our executive committee were here. . .” Lipe continued. “There were just a lot of people here, and they enjoyed mingling and talking to each other. Tons of players were here, a lot of food was had. I thank everybody, the EGHM Foundation, the city of Edwardsville up at the top of that list. (Edwardsville) Township pledged and sponsored this year, which was great to have them on board. I look forward to the Futures party every year, and it's an opportunity for us to get everybody together in the same room, and to get people sharing ideas, communicating, laughing and having a good time together.”

The party gives everyone a chance to meet each other, and Lipe has plans for a new wrinkle to next year's proceedings.

“We have plans to add a fashion show to it for next year,” Lipe said. “if any local businesses, any local garment retailers feel like their apparel would be appropriate for a fashion show at this event for next year, they need to contact me. I have at least one tennis shop, but it can be casual wear or formal wear. We want to add a fashion show element to this next year, and I think that would be a lot of fun.”

The tournament runs through Sunday at the EHS Tennis Center.

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