This October, tennis will once again become something much bigger than a game.
Serve It Up for Life is returning to Albuquerque for the 3rd Annual CRC Memorial Tennis Tournament, bringing together players, families, volunteers, businesses and mental-health advocates for a day built around competition, community, remembrance and hope.
The tournament was created in memory of Christopher “Ryan” Collins, whose family transformed an unimaginable loss into a growing community effort to make conversations about mental health easier to begin—and harder to ignore.
What started as a memorial has become a movement.
The first CRC Memorial Tennis Tournament brought 88 players together in Albuquerque and raised more than $14,000 according to USTA Southwest. In 2025, Serve It Up for Life reported raising $27,000 through the second annual event and the support of its sponsors, players and volunteers.
Now the community is preparing to rally again.
The third annual tournament will take place October 24, 2026 at the Jerry Cline Tennis Complex in Albuquerque, NM in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with proceeds benefiting Breaking the Silence New Mexico (BTSM).
Whether you play tennis every week, have not picked up a racquet in years, want to volunteer, represent a local business, or simply believe that nobody should have to struggle in silence, there is a place for you in this effort.
More Than an Albuquerque Tennis Tournament
Tournaments are normally measured in wins, losses, sets and scores.
Serve It Up for Life measures success differently.
- We measure it in people who show up.
- We measure it in conversations that may not have happened otherwise.
- We measure it in businesses willing to support their community.
- We measure it in volunteers who donate an afternoon because they believe mental health deserves attention.
- We measure it in families, players and friends who discover that talking about mental health should never be something to fear or hide.
And ultimately, we measure it in the resources we are able to provide to organizations working directly in our communities. That is what makes the CRC Memorial Tennis Tournament different. Tennis is what brings us together.
Connection is the reason we are here.
From Remembrance to Community Action
Serve It Up for Life began with the Collins family and their desire to honor Ryan’s life.
Ryan experienced mental-health challenges for years. His family has also described him as someone friends trusted when they were going through difficulties of their own. After Ryan died by suicide at age 20 in January 2024, Tammy and Travis Collins made a decision: his story would not disappear into silence.
They created the CRC Memorial Tennis Tournament as a way to remember Ryan while encouraging the community to talk more openly about mental health, reduce stigma and support organizations doing prevention and education work throughout New Mexico.
That decision resonated.
- People came.
- Players registered.
- Businesses sponsored.
- Volunteers stepped forward.
- The tennis community embraced the event.
- Mental-health advocates joined the effort.
USTA Southwest later recognized Tammy and Travis Collins with its Dianne Miller Courage in Tennis Award for the way they transformed grief into community action through Serve It Up for Life.
The tournament’s growth since then has demonstrated something important:
- People want meaningful ways to help.
- Sometimes they simply need someone to create the opportunity.
The 2026 CRC Memorial Tennis Tournament
This year’s event will continue that mission while expanding the opportunity for Albuquerque and the broader New Mexico community to participate.
Event Information
Event: 3rd Annual CRC Memorial Tennis Tournament
Presented by: Serve It Up for Life
Date: October 24, 2026
Location: Jerry Cline Tennis Complex
City: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Registration: Coming Soon!
Registration deadline: Coming Soon!
Beneficiary: Breaking the Silence New Mexico
Additional tournament divisions, scheduling, player information, food, prizes, auction opportunities and event-day details will be available through the official tournament page.
You Do Not Have to Be a Professional Tennis Player
One of the most important things to understand about Serve It Up for Life is that this is a community event.
- Yes, there will be competition.
- Yes, players want to win.
And yes, there will probably be some very enthusiastic discussions about whether that ball was actually in.
But the purpose extends beyond the scoreboard.
The CRC Memorial Tennis Tournament welcomes people who want to participate because they enjoy tennis, because the mission matters to them, because they knew Ryan, because mental health has touched their own family, or simply because they want to spend a day doing something positive for their community.
If you have been considering participating, this is your invitation.
- Find a partner.
- Register.
- Come play.
- And bring someone with you.
Why Connection Matters
Mental-health advocacy involves much more than encouraging someone to seek help during a crisis.
- Communities also matter.
- Friendships matter.
- Feeling that you belong somewhere matters.
- Being able to have an honest conversation matters.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies supportive relationships and feeling connected to family, friends, schools and communities as protective factors that can help reduce suicide risk.
That does not mean a tennis tournament is therapy.
It is not.
And participation in a community event is never a substitute for professional mental-health care. What an event like Serve It Up for Life can do is create opportunities for people to connect.
- It can make resources visible.
- It can normalize conversations.
- It can remind someone that asking another person how they are really doing is worthwhile.
- It can introduce families to organizations they did not know existed.
And it can turn one family’s story into thousands of individual acts of awareness and support.
Four Ways You Can Join the 2026 Movement
1. Register to Play
The simplest way to support the tournament is to get on the court. Register yourself or your team. We also encourage returning players to bring someone new this year. If every returning participant introduces one new person to Serve It Up for Life, the reach of this event can grow dramatically without spending another dollar on advertising.
2. Become a Sponsor
Local businesses are an essential part of this tournament.
Sponsorship helps create the event, support community outreach and increase the amount of money that can ultimately benefit mental-health programs.
Organizations can participate through:
- Financial sponsorships
- Employee tennis teams
- Matching donations
- Volunteer teams
- Auction items
- Food or beverage support
- Printing
- Equipment
- Media
- Professional services
- Community promotion
Businesses interested in participating can visit our sponsorship page to learn about ways your can support this event.
3. Volunteer
You do not need tennis expertise.
Volunteers can help with registration, setup, photography, video, player support, social media, sponsor hospitality, community outreach, flyer distribution and dozens of other activities.
Even two hours can make a meaningful contribution.
Visit our volunteer page to participate.
4. Help Us Spread the Word
You can help without spending anything.
- Send the tournament information to a friend.
- Share it with your tennis league.
- Ask your employer to include it in a company newsletter.
- Post it in an approved community group.
- Take a flyer to your gym, coffee shop or workplace.
- Invite a business owner to become a sponsor.
- Tell your tennis coach.
- Tell your counselor.
- Tell your church, neighborhood association, school, club or professional organization.
Grassroots movements grow through individual conversations.
- One introduction can produce a player.
- One player can recruit a doubles partner.
- One employee can introduce an employer.
- One employer can become a sponsor.
- One sponsor can introduce another sponsor.
That is how community grows.
Albuquerque Businesses: We Need You on Our Team
Serve It Up for Life is actively seeking businesses throughout Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe and across New Mexico that want to support mental-health awareness and suicide-prevention efforts.
We especially welcome participation from organizations involved in:
- Healthcare
- Behavioral health
- Banking and credit unions
- Construction
- Engineering
- Insurance
- Law
- Accounting
- Technology
- Education
- Real estate
- Fitness
- Sports
- Hospitality
- Food and beverage
- Media
- Gaming and esports
- Professional services
But the organization does not need to fit into a particular industry.
It needs to care.
Sponsors receive opportunities for community recognition, employee participation, event activation and association with a cause that directly affects families throughout New Mexico.
More importantly, they help create tangible community impact.
Gamers Are Part of This Story Too
Ryan was a gamer. For that reason, Serve It Up for Life is also beginning to build connections beyond the tennis community. We are inviting gaming organizations, esports programs, streamers, gaming businesses and online communities to participate in the mission. A game controller and a tennis racquet might seem to belong to completely different worlds.
We believe they can serve the same purpose: bringing people together.
Our growing Controllers to Courts initiative will explore ways for New Mexico’s gaming and esports communities to participate through charity streams, volunteer efforts, community challenges, tournament teams and mental-health awareness.
More information will be announced as those partnerships develop.
A Third Year—and the Beginning of Something Bigger
The third CRC Memorial Tennis Tournament represents another milestone. But Serve It Up for Life cannot become something meaningful only one weekend each year. The larger goal is to build a year-round community.
Throughout the coming months, we will share:
- Stories from players and volunteers
- Mental-health resources
- Conversations with professionals
- Sponsor spotlights
- Gaming-community partnerships
- Tournament updates
- Stories about Ryan
- Updates showing where fundraising dollars go
- Opportunities to volunteer
- Ways businesses can participate
- Information that may help someone support a friend or loved one
We want this website and this community to remain active long after the last tennis ball is hit in October.
Every Serve Creates Connection
A tournament cannot solve the mental-health crisis. A single fundraiser cannot reach everyone who needs support. But a community can make it easier to talk.
- A family can refuse to let silence win. A tennis player can invite a friend.
- A business can provide resources.
- A volunteer can introduce someone to help.
- A gamer can tell another gamer that reaching out is strength.
And hundreds of individual actions can become something much larger than any one person could build alone.
That is why we play. That is why we remember. And that is why we continue to Serve It Up for Life.
Join Us
Register to Play: COMING SOON!
Become a Sponsor >>
Volunteer >>
Donate To Our Cause >>
Media inquiries: info@serveitupforlife.net
Share this article with someone who should be on the court with us this October.
Need Support?
If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or a mental-health crisis, support is available through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Call or text 988 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.
Serve It Up for Life is an advocacy and fundraising organization. The tournament and its volunteers do not provide clinical mental-health or crisis-intervention services.
