[New Board]Member Spotlight: Bryn Auld
Brandi Bratek
Bryn Auld grew up in Atlanta, GA and started playing at age 11. She competed in both junior tournaments and high school matches. She went on to play her freshman year at Florida State University in 2001 but developed what she described as a heavy case of burnout from tennis. She hung up her racquets until 2008 when she moved to Orlando. A friend there asked her to play some doubles for fun and by the following week, she was already registered in two different leagues and her love of the game was back.
It took a few years, but tennis was re-imagined for her and she was finally playing and competing on her own terms and having so much fun doing it. Reflecting back, she did have fun as a kid competing in the junior tournaments and fondly remembers road-tripping with her mom and tennis buddies to all the tournaments. The academy life was stressful though and wore her down. She is happy to report that she is still friends with many of her tennis friends from growing up and has been amazed at what a small world tennis is.
After a few years of league play and having her daughter finally become old enough to enroll in school, she was introduced by Kathy Foulk to the world of Level 1s and what it means to play for a gold ball. Once she played her first 35s L1 at Houston, she was hooked. She found joy in competing again and meeting so many fun women who all shared a similar love for the same sport.
Now, she loves training for tournaments more than anything. She has never been someone who could train without a specific goal in mind. Having the opportunity to compete against the best for a chance to win a gold ball is a big motivator for her and she likens it to dangling a carrot in front of her face!
She is currently a stay-at-home mom (aka CEO of the Auld house) in Winter Park, FL. She is on the board at both the Lakewood Center in Orlando and at her local tennis club. Previously, she was in Marketing for WAMU Credit Card Services and a Mortgage Broker for Countrywide Home Loans.
Her daughter Monroe is 11 years old and is currently keeping Bryn and her husband Andrew very busy with all of her sports. Monroe is just beginning to dip her toe into the tennis tournament scene and Bryn is excited to see where that adventure takes her daughter. She also stays busy with their two cats (Toots and Tang) and their two dogs (Henry and Kenny).
Bryn recently joined the NWTO board to help represent the younger demographic. She hopes to increase participation in the 35's in tournaments and at the Intersectionals event in November each year. Please reach out to her if you have suggestions on how to increase participation in the younger age-level tournaments.