2021 Winner: Chase Wilson
Ephrata High School

Chase is a senior at Ephrata High School. He is a four-year member of the school’s tennis team, leading the team both as the #1 player and as a captain. Chase excels on and off the court. He is an original member of the Tennis Central Leadership Team and served more than 200 community service hours.

Chase will be attending Messiah college in the fall and playing tennis. He plans to become involved with as many organizations and clubs as possible and work to the best of his ability in everything he does and this also includes tennis. He believes that “both my extracurricular activities and diverse high school experiences have set me up well to achieve my future goals.”

Tennis Central is pleased to announce the 2021 Dr. Charles R. Appel Memorial Tennis Scholarship.

This $2,500 scholarship was established to honor the memory of the late Dr. Charles R. Appel, Jr. who was an advocate of the sport of tennis for many years and gave freely of his time to develop young players. In fact, in 1980 he became the first President of the Lancaster Tennis Patrons Association, now Tennis Central, which is one of the oldest community tennis organizations in the country. After his premature passing from cancer at a young age, his wife, Joy Appel Walker, succeeded Dr. Appel as President and established in his memory the Dr. Charles R. Appel Junior Memorial Fund which has supported a summer junior tennis tournament for over 30 years.

The Dr. Charles R. Appel Memorial Tennis Scholarship is to be used towards post-secondary educational expenses and the award will be paid directly to the college/university the Scholarship Winner will be attending. Please consider the criteria below on which the applications will be judged, and use your discretion in passing out the enclosed applications. Student-Athletes in consideration for this award should meet the following requirements as well as possess and display the traits below:

  • High school graduating senior boys tennis team member;
  • High school located in Lancaster County;
  • 3.0 Grade Point Average or higher;
  • Plans to attend an accredited post-secondary school in the same year of high school graduation;
  • Hard-working, cooperative, positive, and supportive team member;
  • Displays good sportsmanship and determination on the court; and
  • Has community and/or extracurricular involvement.

Please also note:
• The student does not have to be a top player on the team
• The scholarship is awarded without regard to financial need

The completed application must be received by Saturday, May 1, 2021. The scholarship winner will be selected and notified by the end of May. The scholarship award will be presented during our Gala and Lancaster County Tennis Hall of Fame. Please contact Robert Kintner at (717) 940-2312 or robertkintner@aol.com with any questions.

Chase’s essay reads:

Everyone has something that comes to mind when their name is brought up in a conversation. Something that they are dedicated to and can’t be torn away from. Something that will stick with them for the rest of ther life.  For me, that is tennis. More specifically, my high school tennis seasons.  Being a member of my school’s tennis team has given me a sense of belonging in high school and is something I look forward to every year. Each season, I earned the number one spot and achieved new goals that positively affected my high school experience. Apart from these achievements, I learned leadership by becoming the team captain twice. This inspired me to join the National Honor Society , junior year, and the investment club to stand out as a leader on the team. On top of that, I completed a science fair project titled: “Optimizing Your Tennis Game” in the category Physics and Aastornomy that earned me 3rd palce in districts.  Split-stepping to my senior season, I led Ephrata to an undefeated season and winning section 2.  This is a major accomplishment for Ephrata tennis because the last time we won the section was in 1993. Looking back on my high school years, playing an important role in Ephrata’s tennis team has  given me a sense of belonging, leadership qualities, accomplishments and much more.

Since I was seven, I have poured countless hours on the tennis court that led up to being successful on Ephrata’s high school team.  From getting knocked out of the first round of the league tournametn to being awarded a Lebanon League All Star, tennis has taught me temtal toughness and the importance of giving your best effort even in difficult matches. One match that helped me realize the importance of mental toughness and effort was in the league tournament at the end of my sophomore year.  I recall being down in the first set 4-5 and coming back to win the first set 7-5. I gave it all I had and won the second set 6-0. Staying mentally tough and not giving up helped me in this critical match and has helped me to be resilient off the court.  Throughout my four years of tennis, doubles served as a great learning experience. This year, my brother Lance and I were Ehprata’s number one doubles team and had a choice to make. We either needed to stay mentally positive and win, or bring each other down.  To summarize our season together, we dominated with a positive mindset to push us to victory.

My passion of serving the community through the Tennis Central Leadership Team has greatly encouraged working with people and helping children and teenagers become a better version of themselves.  Being part of a team during the high school tennis season or working with ACES court leaders inspired me because of the power of working together to accomplish a goal.  This gave me the aspiration of becoming a physician assistant, a vital part of a medical team with a common goal of providing excellet service to the community through medicine. During my post-high school years, I will be attending Messiah University majoring in Biomedical Sciences and completing prerequisites for the Pre-Physician Assistant pathway.  I plan to become an Emergency Medical TEchnician (EMT) or find a job that completes my patient care hours required for Physician Assistant school through an internship. From my job to the classroom, I want to develop a better understanding of how to give back to other people who are in need physically or emotionally.  After graduating with a four-year degree, another goal I have is to gain acceptance into a Physician Assistant graduate school and specialize in Emergency Medicine, Orthopedics or Sports Medicine.