Tennis Talk
By Adrien Fournier
Wow!!! The 2024 Tennis Club Open House is in the books. We had a four-court extravaganza (I don’t know exactly what that word means, but it’s got “Extra” in it, and “Ganza”, which sounds like Ganja, so it’s got to be good, right?). The attendance was great with a mix of regular players along with about 15 new players, who have gone on to participate in the Jump Start Program which meets on successive Tuesday afternoons beginning April 2nd for 10 weeks at 5:00-6:00 PM. Best program ever, as so many players that have gone through it are now regulars on the courts. Thanks to our Villager “experts”, Gail & Mike Tuft, Roy Pennington and Peggy Seidel, who help you learn and improve your strokes, under the direction of Sherry Benz…who has been involved in every Open House event…like forever!
Anyway, the theme of this year’s Open house was “Tennis Olympics with a Carnival Theme”, hosted by our resident Pro, Brett Foreman. Starting on court 1, we had some basic skills which included bouncing the ball with the racket, which helps with telling your brain that the untrained arm and hand are actually longer by about a racket’s distance away. Our elderly brains don’t like this, so we moved on to bouncing the ball in the air while turning the racket over 180 degrees between bounces which exercises hand-eye coordination and racket control, oh, and cussing control. A side benefit to this is that it helps with bladder control as well. I don’t know how, I just know it does. Next was court 2, where hitting balls way above the net over a rope, re-enforced getting balls deep in the court, although some made it to the parking lot. Lots of targets were layed out which made it really fun. Court 3 was a few serving drills with more targets and tips from the Pro, who was wandering all the courts imparting game changing nuggets. Thanks, man! Court 4 featured our ball machine, “The Gordon”, and 20 Wilson demo rackets, courtesy of our longtime partner, Tennis Anywhere. Thank you! And Thanks to Roy Pennington and Ken Klein who ran that whole affair.
Oh, Oh, Oh…Last but not Least, Strawberries and Cream…Pink Cream…over sliced cake. OMG…I snuck a second. Nancy Domingo and Andrea Alvarez, our Hospitality Directors did a wonderful job and I believe for the first time, added a veggie plate to the menu. Awesome duo!!!
2024 Open House…A Huge Success!!! Jayme Dickson, who was the lead on this production, is mentioned at the very last here…so his name will stick in your head. Great Job Jayme…Thank You!
See You on the…ya know!
