ROB KINAS and FRIENDS Cancer Research Racquet
Based on our belief that one person really can make a difference (think…You!), CRR combines love of tennis, champagne and good ‘ole fellowship and fun to create awareness and fund breakthrough cancer research. It’s the brainchild of Rob Kinas, a 9 year Mantle Cell cancer survivor (amazing), whose clinical trial was funded by one family who had lost their daughter to the disease. That clinical trial was what ultimately saved Rob’s life and, so, in the spirit of “pay it forward”, Rob’s efforts have gone international and continue to grow. All funds raised go to the American Cancer Society’s “Pay-If” program which funds researchers with potential breakthrough work that does not meet the traditional funding criteria. The American Cancer Society is one of the largest funders of cancer research but ACS can not fund all of the worthy cancer research projects. The “Pay if” program allows groups such as ours to make donations to ACS and, when those donations from around the world reach $150,000, ACS will provide us a list of worthy but unfunded cancer research projects. Our group selects the research project. ACS then funds the project and we form a relationship with the cancer researcher.
GET INVOLVED!
To get involved, join us on LinkedIn’s Cancer Research Racquet group where all of the events are provided. Also, send us an email that says you want to get on Rob’s email list where you’ll be kept up to date on all the latest happenings (eisc@eisc.net). You and your friends have an open invite to any events. Your only requirement is to have fun!
For more information or to donate, click below. 
Here’s a list of upcoming events and helpful links (at bottom):
Fall 2014
EVENT #1: Our Yacht, Tennis & Champagne Weekend at the Int’l Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI, October 3-5
For the first time, our East Coast “BrainStormers” (Lydia Owen, Janet Johnson & Ivan Johnson) have combined a weekend of sailing, champagne-sipping and grass court tennis to bring our international group even closer to funding its third cancer research grant through the American Cancer Society. The event takes place on Friday – Sunday, October 3-5at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI. The Champagne yacht cruise takes place on Friday evening and the tennis (all doubles) takes place on the grass courts on Saturday afternoon. Dinner, dancing and more Champagne follows the tennis.
The event size is limited to 48 yacht spots, 48 tennis spots and 100 dinner spots. To do everything including the tennis, the minimum donation to the American Cancer Society is $600 per person (the event is fully underwritten). To do the yacht, dinner and to watch the tennis, the minimum donation to the American Cancer Society is $375 per person.
If you are interested in joining us for the weekend, drop us a note by August 15 !!
EVENT #2: Our US Open / Broadway Show Weekend in NYC – Sunday and Monday, August 24-25
Our US Open tennis celebration with a Sunday Broadway Show and Dinner takes place on Sunday and Monday, August 24-25 in NYC. This year, our group will be experiencing “Jersey Boys”, winner of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical. Show time on Sunday, August 24th is 3:00pm. As always, we will be heading out for dinner afterwards. Our Jersey Boys tickets are sold-out. But we always have room for guests who would like to join us afterwards for dinner !!!
Monday is our Opening Day event at the US Open in NYC. If you would like to be part of our group, drop us a note. Our US Open Day Session tickets run $70 per person. We will be hosting an on-site “Endless Champagne” Reception of course starting around 4pm. We have a small, secret stash of day-session tickets for Monday . . .
EVENT #3: Our National Team Championship Weekend in Las Vegas, September 26-28
On September 26-28, the National Team Championships will be taking place at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas for the Open Men, Open Women, 5.5 Men and Over 40 Doubles. Over 400 players on 40 teams from around the country will be participating. The players party will be on Friday, September 26th . This year’s Players Party will have a Jimmy Buffet theme. The teams are able to expand their rosters to a maximum of 10 players through September 10th. If you are interested in joining a roster, contact our tournament director, Sue Johnson at sjohnson@swbell.net
EVENT #4: Our Napa Event: October 17-19 in Napa, CA — “Elegance in the Evening / Mimosas in the Morning” / “Our Ultimate Ringer Doubles Events at the Silverado Resort & Spa”
Registration for our Ultimate Ringer Doubles event in Napa, California on October 17-19 is OPEN !!! We have room for 4 more tennis players who enjoy wine (max of 28). Our hotel is the Silverado Resort & Spa. Click this link to book your reservations — http://www.silveradoresort.com/ After you make your reservations, PLEASE DROP US A NOTE so that we know you will be joining us. The Napa event benefits our group’s third cancer research project with the American Cancer Society
The Napa event flow is this –
Friday – 7pm wine reception at the Silverado Resort & Spa, 1600 Atlas Peak Rd, Napa, CA
Saturday –
Doubles from 8:30-11:30am
Wine / Vineyard Tour & Dinner at 7pm
Sunday –
Doubles from 8:30-10:30
EVENT #5: Our End of the Year “Endless Champagne” Reception at the “Top of the Mark” in San Francisco – Friday, December 12 at 6pm.
Join us at our Annual “Endless Champagne” Celebration at the “Top of the Mark” in San Francisco on Friday, December 12th at 6pm. The event is our treat for you and a guest. BOTH our cancer researchers will be joining us — Ryan Honaker and Bryan Mitton !!! While we completely enjoy all of the tennis fun during the year, our proudest moments are when the group funds cancer research projects. Advances in cancer research are why so many of us are here today (including me). And so we celebrate.
Summer 2015
May 19-20: Our “Endless Champagne” Reception and “Ultimate Ringer” Doubles Event in Scotland (BrainStormers – see above)
May 21-22 : Our “Endless Champagne” Reception and “Ultimate Ringer” Doubles Event in Dublin (BrainStormers – Kellie O’Flynn at William Fry, Marion Hanley, Emma Heffernan at A&L Goodbody, Carmen Pop at Linkedin)
May 23 : Our Annual Nos Ancestros Dinner with Digby in Paris (BrainStormers – The Vegas Team of Blakeley Griffith, Kelly Kinas, Lynn Konrad, Erin Elliott, Lauralyn McCarthy, Rosemary Brock, Charles Gianelloni, Mark Konrad, Devin Luzod and Rob Kinas)
May 24 : Our Opening Day, Corporate Event at Roland Garros in Paris (BrainStormers – Noemie Morel at the French Tennis Federation, Frederic Legal at the French Tennis Federation and The Vegas Team)
May 25 : Our Jeans & T-Shirt Day at Roland Garros in Paris (BrainStormers – The Vegas Team)
May 26 -27: Our journey to the Champagne Chalet in the Champagne region of France (Maryline Mertz at Goldman Sachs and The Vegas Team)
May 28-29 : Our “Endless Champagne” Reception and “Ultimate Ringer” Doubles Event in Brussels (BrainStormers – see above)
May 30-31 : Our “Endless Champagne” Reception and “Ultimate Ringer” Doubles Event in Pula, Croatia (BrainStormers – Senka Softic at Goldman Sachs, Selma Salkovic, Anja Mihaldinec at Coca-Cola)
June 1-2 : Our “Endless Champagne” Reception and “Ultimate Ringer” Doubles Event in Venice, Italy (BrainStormers – Sharon Oboshie Doku at Freshfields, Bruckhaus Deringer and The Vegas Team)
June 23-24: Our “Endless Champagne” Reception and “Ultimate Ringer” Doubles Event in Amsterdam (BrainStormers – Fieke Van Overbeeke at the University of Antwerp)
June 25 : The WTA Players Party at Kensington Rooftop Gardens (BrainStormers – Melissa Pine at the WTA)
June 26 : The BNP Paribas Classic at Hurlingham (BrainStormers – see above)
June 27 : Our “Endless Champagne” Reception and “Ultimate Ringer” Doubles Event at Surbiton / Bubble Dogs !!! (BrainStormers – Natasha Price at Clearwater Corporate Finance / Elissa James at Sasol Petroleum International / Julia Morris / Emily Johnson at PricewaterhouseCoopers / Sarah Rifaat)
June 28 : Our Surrey Tour of the Movie – The Holiday / Crazy Amazing London Entertainment (BrainStormers – Julia Morris, Emily Rubin at IMG World)
June 29 : Our Opening Day, Corporate Event at Wimbledon (BrainStormers – Emily Rubin at IMG World, James Dale at IMG World, David Leckie at Clyde & Co and The Vegas Team)
The link to our donation page on the American Cancer Society server is — http://community.acsevents.org/robkinas (click on the “Donations not related to a personal page” button)
The link to Elaine Sciolino’s New York Times’ article about our French Open event is at http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/a-traveling-tennis-fund-raising-party-hits-paris/#more-32440
our group’s Tennis Channel interview is at http://www.tennischannel.com/video/videoplayer.aspx?embedcode=V5dDk0YzqSeAaLY4k_z0ZTs64112KnzI&lid=1&#ooid=V5dDk0YzqSeAaLY4k_z0ZTs64112KnzI
You are welcome to post photos to our dedicated Facebook Tennis page – www.facebook.com/D1.Alum.Tennis.
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