Boerne Sam Champion varsity tennis player Heather Warren gets ready to serve during the Chargers’ fundraising tournament held Saturday at the new courts on the Champion campus. Photo by Mike Reeder

Just about everything is going well lately for the Boerne Samuel V. Champion tennis team.

The varsity is off to an 8-3 start overall and is 4-0 in its tough new district. To top things off, the team’s annual fundraising tournament on Saturday at its new courts on the Champion campus looked to be at least as successful as prior events, which have netted the tennis team about $15,000 in extra revenue.

“Every player on the team goes out and finds a partner and those partners donate money to the tennis team,” Boerne Champion Tennis Coach Joey Cantu said.

“We also run our concession stands, sell merchandise and do some sponsor signs. Every bit of money raised goes to the tennis team, and that’s how we raise our funds for travel and equipment.”

In addition to buying merchandise and participating in the tournament, the fundraiser gave donors and other fans a chance to check out the new tennis facilities on the Champion campus. Before the new high school was built, Boerne teams played most of their matches on the Boerne Middle School South courts.

“This is a very beautiful setup,” Cantu said.

“It’s a lot easier to come straight here after school instead of having to drive to another site like we did before with South. It’s been a good situation and we’re having a lot of fun.”

The inaugural Charger team is also having a lot of fun in competition and has its sights set on another district title.

“We’re having a good fall,” Cantu said. “We just won a match against Clark 10-3, which is a very good win for us. We’re looking good. We have really high expectations this year. We’ll be one of the favorites at regionals and we have our first legitimate chance to go to state.”

New Braunfels beat out Boerne last year at the Region IV Class 4A regionals for the right to advance to the state tournament. The Unicorns’ move to Class 5A gives Boerne a clear path to Austin. Boerne did send two doubles teams to state last year and brought home a gold and bronze medal. The victory in boys’ doubles marked the first state title of any kind for a Boerne tennis team.