Greetings! 

Welcome to my journal during the 2006 Nasdaq 100 Open here in gorgeous Key Biscayne, Florida.  This tournament has been a favorite of mine for years.  There is something pretty special about attending the 5th largest pro tennis event in the world.  This is the fourth year ICTA has had a presence at this prestigious event.

ICTA is committed to reaching hundreds of thousands of people a year with our message of salvation through Jesus.  Our goal for 2006 is to reach 1,000,000 in attendence at pro tennis tournaments.   By mid- April your ICTA will have reached over 450,000 in attendence at professional tennis tournaments.  That is exciting as more and more people worldwide learn of our ministry and our mission.  For ICTA it's all about Jesus.  We point to Christ.

In this section of the web site I'll take you along with me as ICTA brings the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the beaches and streets of Miami during this amazing tennis event!  I'll share with you my schedule, my thoughts, and our plans as the 20+ ICTA folks who have come here work hard for Christ.   I'll be upating my journal generally in the evenings here at Starbuck's.  Enjoy the pics and the updates! 

Our ICTA Tennis Missionaries are working hard and we are all having a great time as God stretches our comfort zones to help us grow deeper in Him.  My hope for you is that in some small way our work and sacrifice will inspire you to become more bold about your faith in Christ.

That's what it's about... Jesus.  My compass is set on Christ all day every day.  I'm called to preach, to evangelize, to reach the lost worldwide for Him.  There is nothing else I'd rather do and there is nothing else I can do.  This is my calling, my reason.  This mission trip combined with a high performance tennis camp,  tennis missionary training focusing on Leadership Skills development, beach & street outreaches, ministry partnerships; it's all about Him. 

God bless!
Coach Scotty


Today is the first day of the tournament!  Man, are we all excited. 

Did you know over 350,000 will be in attendence?  Wow!  This is ICTA's 3rd year here.  By the end of the 2006 Nas 100 Open the International Christian Tennis Association name will have been exposed to over 1,000,000 in attendence! 

That really gets me pumped.  One million!  That's great.  ICTA has hundreds of members in the South Florida Area.  Many of them became members here at Crandon Park.

Our drive here from Palm Coast, Florida went smoothly.  We're all somewhat still fatigued from our large scale short-term mission trip to Las Vegas where we established ICTA Las Vegas during the Tennis Channel Open.  But, we know our work is needed and worthy, so we'll sleep when we can. 

A mission trip like this 2+ week one to Key Biscayne can easily cost between $20,000- $30,000.  It's expensive!  But, when you consider our ministry work on the beaches and streets, it's worth it.  Plus, over 350,000 will learn of our ministry at the Nasdaq 100 Open!  That's icing on the cake.  If while we're here in the Miami area just one person comes to know Christ as their personal Savior, it'll be worth our investment both financially and timewise.

God bless and I'll check back in later!

Coach Scotty





Hey there!

All is well here in sunny Key Biscayne.  We have enjoyed a fantastic Monday.  My day was filled with meetings.  Somehow I managed to fit 9 meetings into an already packed schedule.  God has blessed ICTA in crazy good ways and we love partnering our ministry with other people, businesses, or ministries. 

My favorite meeting today was with a great friend named Don.  Don was a manufacturer rep until last year when he decided to go into the ministry!  Right now he is attending a seminary full time.  Don's goal is to gain his Master's in Divinity, then pasor a church.  He wanted to meet with me today and tomorrow. Don is working on a school project about missions, so he came to Miami to learn what I know.  We had a great time!  I can't wait till Don is planted in a church!

The academy gang trained twice today.  Jake's serve has improved an unbelievable amount.  He loves watching the best players in the world fight it out here at the Nasdaq.  From watching so much pro tennis Jake's entire game is improving!  Monkey see monkey do:)!

My big bro called.  We might be hanging out together in Colorado this summer.  Some of my ministry partners and friends have a huge event in the mountians, so his family and our ICTA gang are planning on having a great time together worshipping God in the Colorado Rockies!

And some big news... our own Rachel will earn her WTA ranking this weekend!  From beginner to WTA ranked within 7 years!  Rachel is so excited as are we all.  Rachel has a ministry to pro players on the women's ITF circuit.  Congratulations Rach!

ICTA has gained hundreds of new members in the last week.  What a great time we've been having.  I look forward to getting to know each of our new members and developing life long friendships!

God bless!

Scotty











ICTA Faith & Fitness Magazine editor and 6 year ICTA Member, Breck Henderson, posing for a pic with ICTA Staff and ICTA Tennis Missionaries.

Hello there!

This has been a fantastic Tuesday!  Before this ICTA Global Mission Trip began, ICTA Staff got together and made a committment that this entire mission trip would be dedicated to developing our tennis missionaries.  We wanted to pour into them!   Each morning I teach our missionaries different leadership skills.  This morning was a blast.  I taught the gang about the importance of having a fear of God and how that fear guides and protects us. From 9am till 10:30am we all enjoyed time!  I love this special time each day.  At the end of this Tennis Missionary Class the my tennis missionary students paired up and preached to the rest of group!  It was so great!  Everybody is learning leadership skills and is learning how to preach.  It just doesn't get any better than this in my day!

The tennis here at the Nasdaq has been amazing.  Our vendor's booth is right next to the Grandstand Stadium, so I often get a chance to side courtside and have a blast!  I recently watched Fernando Gonzalez get bounced by Kiefer.  Fernando's coach is an ICTA member and a great guy, so I enjoy watching them both in action.

My friend Paul Campo came by to see me.  Paul owns www.theGrinders.tv.  The Grinders show has been on the Tennis Channel for about 6 months!  I'm on the original show.  One of my former students was featured on a section of this show also.  His name is Vlad and he is the former #1 B14, B16, and B18 in Greece.  Vlad's now playing pro.  It was good to see Paul.  His mom is going to send me some of her favorite pasta sauce.

Members, members, members!  Wow, have we been signing up so many members from around the world!  I personally love it when a member signs up.  I give them a free giftbook that I know they will love.  Many people come up and say hi to us who signed up somewhere else!  We give all of our new and former members our newest book!

Today we began final preparations for our next mission trip.  I'll fill you in on that later!  Right now I need to make a few phone calls and wrap up the day.  God is good!

Blessings,

Coach Scotty












This pic is of the Women's Draw.



A husband and wife take a look at our booth.  Sometimes people pass by several times before signing up.  We have fun seeing them look at us.  It is so great growing the ICTA brand name. 


Hi there!

What a great day we enjoyed!  My favorite time this thursday was our tennis camp!  Nick and Matt both improved today.  That was fun to see.  These two guys really love to improve.  We had a lot of match play today.  Nick, Matt, Sam, Newbie, Jake, and Jonathan all trained for about 4 hrs.  I had such a great time watching them train hard, then run to the stadium court to watch Roddick, Federer, Blake, and Ferrer!  They trained twice today.  How awesome... great tennis training, missions work, and watching the best pro players in the world live in key Biscayne, Florida!  God is Good!!

Rachel trained with one of America's top juniors in the B18 division.  This young man has "pro"tential and has been featured in TennisWeek magazine.  He and Rach had a great time as he prepared her for her ITF $25,000 pro tournament in Alabama.  ICTA has a new men's pro team forming!  Two #1's from their countries, a top 20 USA B18, and a touring pro are coming together for a great Summer and Fall mission tour!  One of these young men recently split sets and lost 6-4 in the 3rd to the ATP #122!  This will be ICTA's strongest, most focused, and most Christ- centered men's team ever.  I'll enjoy coaching these future champions for sure!

Thank you so much for your emails and phone calls of support.  You are our partners and a valuable part of our day.  Please keep us in your prayers as we head into the final weekend here at the Nasdaq 100 Open.  God has brought many incredible blessings to ICTA.  Each day I have 6 to 10 meetings and God has blessed every single one.  ICTA is still a young ministry and we're still in our genesis.  We started in 1999.  My prayer is by our 10th anniversary ICTA will be well established and blessed with many wonderful programs worldwide.  So far so good!  We've worked hard and God is blessing daily!  As we continue to keep our ministry focus on Jesus ICTA will continue to be a voice for Christ in international sports ministry.

God bless!

coach scotty


This cool kid plans to be the next Roddick!



Rachel is a fantastic booth worker!  Did you know Rachel grew up in the ministry?  That's right, her parents were music missionaries!  Rachel Snelen began training with Coach Scotty in "99.  She has gone from a 16 year old beginner to a 22 year old who will earn her WTA ranking this weekend, plus Rachel is a fulltime ICTA Staff member, and she has her own ministry to pro players!  Great job, Rachie!  We love you and are so proud of you!



A very nice Latin-American model and TV announcer loved our newest ICTA God is Good T-Shirt!




ICTA Tennis Missionary Camper, Michael, flew down to Miami with his parents, Joyce and Randy (middle,rt)!  Joyce and Randy were a huge help to our mission trip.  Both of them also volunteered for the tournament as floaters.  Joyce and Randy are both teachers from Wisconsin.  It was so great to have them both be tennis missionaries for ICTA!  Our twins, Rach and Mel, have decided to adopt Joyce as their triplet!

Hi there!

Today is Friday and we have just 2 days left.  What a fantastic day today was.  We all woke up at 8:30am and headed out to the tournament.  At 11am I gave a message to our group in the Grandstand.  The message this morning really challenged these teens to discover if their motivation each day is from chasing the world or from following Christ.  We had a great time talking about setting their compass each day to point at Jesus. 

Jonathan's dad came in around noon from Atlanta.  All the guys had a fun time hanging out with him watching amazing tennis.  Rachie made it to Alabama.  She plays on Sunday in an ITF $25,000 pro tournament where she will qualify for her WTA ranking.  She is staying with one of my ministry buddies in Birmingham.  We sure miss here here in Florida, but we are all excited for her to reach this goal she set when she was 16 years old.    Rach would now like to work herself into the top 500 over the next 3 years.

Nick, Matt, and Sam left today.  Wow, did those three stretch their comfort zones and step out for Christ in big ways on this amazing mission trip.  Great job guys!  I really look forward to seeing what God lead you to do in the near future with your new skills!

I am ready for some sleep tonite!  This has been a long, awesome day.  I can't wait for tomorrow.  I love mission work.  I love challenges and obstacles.  Keep us in your prayers and keep the emails coming in.  Your emails mean more to us than you know!

God bless!
coach scotty


A fun play.  Scotty preached on Leadership Development.  Here 4 ICTA tennis missionaries helped.  Newbie (lt) pretended to listen to an IPOD.  Nick (2nd from lt) pretends to play video games, Jake (seated by stool) pretends to surf the internet, and Michael (rt, facing wall) pretends to talk on his cell.  Johnathan (rt, not in pic) pretends to watch TV.  Scotty teaches how our next generation of leaders are learning how to be loners!  He stresses teamwork and leadership skills must be developed in our next generation.


Through a simple game of toss, teamwork was developed and all had a great time!  The contrast between loners and leaders shone through in this fun example!  ICTA parents, tennis missionaries, and staff all had a great time.


Great to have these two new wonderful people join ICTA's international membership.