Two long-time media volunteers win 2024 Charleston Open Volunteers of the Year award

Sal Kindel (l) and Lynn Coursey (photo by Daniel Ward)

This year’s Credit One Charleston Open Volunteers of the Year, Lynn Coursey and Sal Kindel, both volunteer for the media at the tournament, and some of us have known them for many years. Coursey, in fact, has a bit of a media cult following because of her “She’s…here!" introduction as each player enters the the room for her press conference.

Coursey and Kindel (photo by Daniel Ward)

Both Coursey and Kindel have worked as Charleston Open volunteers for a long time—Coursey for 20 years, and Kindel for 18. “We both started out as just regular volunteers,” Coursey explained, and the two ladies who were leading it when I moved up to be co-chair—one of them left. Nancy asked me to move up—she got shift leader, so I moved up. When Nancy got the job at the clubhouse, Sal moved up.”

Kindel became involved as a volunteer when her daughter was on the ball crew. She started at the ticket office, then—when there was a shortage among media volunteers—she was invited to cover for a week, and she never left.

Coursey’s story is different. She moved to Daniel Island in order to play tennis at the Charleson Open facility. “The second year when I came around, they had a little fan thing downtown, and all the players were on the stand, and it was just so much fun. I took a day off from work and volunteered with the USTA, and fell in love with it.” That was it for her—she became a tournament volunteer.

“It’s like a camp,” Coursey said. “You meet the same people every year, but you look forward to seeing them again.” “And it’s like you never left,” Kindel added.

Coursey’s favorite part of media volunteering is “seeing how it works, what it takes to make it work and make it work so well.”

“The people, for sure,” Kindel added, as her favorite part of volunteering. “And getting to see tennis up close.”

The two honored volunteers have many great memories of their time with the media, but—when asked to single out one or two—Kindel chose the infamous 2017 hailstorm evacuation. The media used to be housed in a temporary building we called the media tent, and when strong thunderstorms would come along, it would shake. In 2017, there was a hailstorm in addition to the thunderstorm, and we were told to evacuate, but first, we were given trash bags to wear to protect us from the rain. We were a sight.

Sal serving peak trash bag fashion (photo by Diane Elayne Dees)

Her other choice was “Jankovic, when we were in the clubhouse during the storm. She was going from table to table, thanking everyone, and sharing a gift. Very, very gracious.”
 
Coursey’s standout memory was also about Jelena Jankovic. She got to interview the Serbian star about what she would do if she were a volunteer. (JJ fans—I know that your imaginations are running wildd right now.)

“I can’t imagine not being here,” Coursey said, and Kindel agreed: “People don’t understand why we take five days off of work.”

Both women said that anyone thinking about volunteering for media duties should just “give it a try” for “just one day,” and it would become clear why they take on the job year after year.

“I was on the subway in New York, going to the U.S. Open with my swag on,” Coursey recalled, “and a girl across the subway, from Georgia, saw it and asked me about it, and literally, the next year, she signed up—because I was on the subway.”

Although the media volunteers don’t regularly see each other outside of the tournament, they do get together for dinner before the event, and they have a party when the tournament is over. “I wouldn’t have found all the friends that we’ve made doing this,” Coursey said.

And as a member of the tennis media, I can attest to the fact that this year’s Volunteers of the Year recipients are more than worthy of the honor.They and their fellow volunteers do so many things for us—in the press room and in the stadium—and they do it all with style, dedication and humor.