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Tempe, AZ – Nominations are now being accepted for the 2026 ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award and will be accepted until Friday, March 27th when the nomination period closes. Endowed by icon of our sport, Billie Jean King, this award honors revered college tennis coach and educator, Dr. Ann Lebedeff, who left a lasting impact on the sport of college tennis.
“Ann Lebedeff is a champion on and off the court and I am so proud to be part of the ITA’s leadership award program that honors Ann’s commitment to our sport,” stated Billie Jean King. “By showcasing and celebrating the work of leaders in college sports like Ann, we can create a foundation for growth and success for student-athletes.”
The ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award will stand to honor a recent college graduate who played college tennis and demonstrated excellence on and off the court, leadership on his or her team, as well as on his or her college campus and in his or her community. The annual recipient of the award will have demonstrated grit (i.e., passion and perseverance towards long-term goals), a commitment to social justice and equality and will have pushed others to be leaders in addition to demonstrating his or her own leadership.
Past Ann Lebedeff Award recipients include Ella Brissett (CMS, 2025), Esther Adeshina (Tennessee, 2024), Nathan Turtledove (St. Lawrence University, 2023), Caroline Vincent (Army, 2022), Victoria Flores (Georgia Tech, 2022), Daniel Park (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, 2020), Andrew Akins (Duquesne University, 2019), and Nithya Kanagasegar (Case Western Reserve University, 2018).
Criteria
Applicants must:
Have graduated from a four-year American ITA member institution (slated to graduate on or before June 2026)
Have letters a minimum of two (2) years on the school’s varsity tennis team
Please submit the following in ONE (1) email submission:
A letter of application that includes an essay describing the role tennis and higher education have played in his or her life.
Contact email and phone number (for nominee).
Letters of support on behalf of the candidate must also be submitted by the candidate’s varsity tennis coach, a college professor, and a colleague/teammate.
During the Spring semester, the ITA will select at least three (3) finalists from all applications received from the candidates. At that time, a dossier pertaining to these candidates, including a letter of recommendation from the candidate’s college or university President, will be submitted to the ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award Selection Panel. The ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award winner will receive a specially engraved gift and a post-graduate scholarship. In addition, the ITA will also donate $1,000 to the tennis program of the institution from which the award winner graduated.
Please submit nominations to Rachel Dagen ([email protected]) by Friday, March 27th
