Meet Kay Butler

Founder and Executive Director

A passion for tennis. A passion for fun and fitness. An organizer, teacher, motivator, linguist. Internationally experienced. Women’s advocate. All this and more.

Who is this multi-talented woman with great zest for life? Kay Butler-tennis professional certified by the United States Professional Tennis Registry (USPTR).

After living in Antwerp, Belgium, since 1982, she discovered this beautiful desert on a vacation about 7 years ago. It was, as with many, “love at first sight”. She became fascinated with the possibilities of developing her tennis career anew. She loved the resort atmosphere and the international favor that she was so familiar with while living in Europe. She loved the climate. The wonderful people that she met intrigued her. She was “hooked”.

After her arrival, she set out to use her seemingly boundless energies and ideas for creating programs for newcomers and players of all abilities.

Her philosophy is simple. Have fun while you play. Her belief is that we all need to “keep moving”, and once we stop we are in trouble. We do so much running and moving while playing the game of tennis that we do not even realize it. Only when we feel or see our bodies getting stronger do we then understand why.

She grew up in a small town in South Texas called Falfurrias. With her identical twin, Karen, they won the Texas State Tennis Championship twice. She went to college on a tennis scholarship. She has a master’s degree in recreation administration, and leisure studies, and a bachelor’s degree in physical education, and art. Taught school for 17 years in the public school system of Texas as a high school and junior high tennis teacher/ coach. At the same time, she taught at the community college level and also developed a tennis program for the parks and recreation department in Wichita Falls, Texas.

In 1982, she moved to Antwerp, Belgium, (going for only one year and stayed 16 years), created and managed a tennis organization that provided American and international expatriate communities the opportunity to learn and play this wonderful sport. She also taught tennis for the Antwerp International School.