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Category: News
Busy Schedule Coming Up
Tennis Talk
By Betty Olsen
One more time get your calendars out for more tennis dates!
Friday, August 23. Rescheduled Mixer
Saturday/Sunday, September 7 & 8. Club Tournament-Men’s and Women’s Doubles. This is the first half of our annual club tournament. All play will be in the morning with 2 matches on Saturday and 1 match on Sunday. The format is a compass draw where you keep playing whether you win or lose if we have 8 teams in the draw.
There will be 2 categories: “A” and “B.” Please signup below. There is also a signup link on our tennis website: villagestennis.vgcc.club. We hope to have 16 teams signing-up, so don’t delay. Find a partner and join in the fun.
Play will be in the mornings only, starting at 8:00am to beat the heat.
Men’s 6.5 USTA Home Schedule. For the first time, the men are fielding a 6.5 USTA team, coached by resident pro Brett Foreman That is a combined team of a 3.5 player and 3.0 player. Please put these dates on your calendar to come down to the viewing stand and root for your club.
Sunday 9/8 4:30 PM vs LG Bay Club
Saturday 9/21 4:30 PM vs LG SR
Sunday 10/6 12:00 PM vs Wallenberg PK
Sunday 10/20 4:30 PM vs Almaden VAC
Saturday 11/2 3:00 PM vs EVC
Saturday/Sunday, September 28 & 29. Club Tournament – Mixed Doubles. Same format and it is not too soon to secure your Mixed partner.
Sunday, October 8. Award Banquet at Foothill at 5:30pm. You don’t want to miss this Italian catered dinner with short ribs, chicken piccata, and vegetarian homemade cheese ravioli.
Saturday, October 19. Semi-annual match with Rossmoor Tennis Club here at the Villages.
Summer Mixer on Aug 23
Tennis Talk
By Peggy Seidel
Friday, August 23, 2024 is the new date for the annual Summer Tennis Club Mixer Social. Unfortunately, our first attempt on July 19 was cancelled due to a weather advisory – heat over 90 degrees at 5 pm is just plain too hot to be fun!!
The notice has been sent out to all TC members this week to sign up (we request that you sign up again, even if you did it before). Let us know if you are bringing a guest for the dinner, as well as if you prefer non-meat options. Our VP, Gene Mariani, has let the Mixer committee know that he expects GOOD food for the event, so we will do our best to comply. If you are not currently receiving the regular communications in your email, please give Don Clarke a note at don@clarke2.com or call/text him at 408-218-5450.
One other request: please let us know if you still own a very old wood or early metal variety tennis racquet you can bring to use in our fun tennis games designed by our pro Brett Foreman.
Please sign up here, or on the tennis club website (villagestennis.vgcc.club).
Choose your preferred time to play, 4:15 or 5:30. We would love to see 24 players at each time slot. Hope to see you there!! Questions? Call Peggy Seidel at 713-398-7955.
New Flash: Mixer Tourney Resurrected
Hoping for better luck with the weather – on August 23!
Yes, we haven’t given up on playing the Summer Mixer social tennis event.
Please sign yourselves up below, or on our website (villagestennis.vgcc.club). We will have two groups, early birds starting at 4:15, and later arrivals at 5:30. We will play 24 at each time period, all 6 courts, men and women together, and we will mix it up with some great funky tennis games designed by our pro Brett Foreman.
The food will be great – the Tennis Club has a new grill to try out. Let us know your preferences for meat or non-meat items. Come and bring your spouse/partner/friend.
Note: We will not play if the forecast says it will be over 90 – any heat that warrants a weather advisory.
Hope to see you there!
Court Manager’s Report…READ!
Tennis Talk
By Marty Funcell
The Villages is fortunate to have 6 championship tennis courts and wonderful viewing stands. Each year the Villages Tennis Club Board elects a Tennis Court Manager to oversee keeping the courts in the best shape possible. Since 2023, Marty Funcell has been the Court Manager.
Court Manager:
The Court Manager’s role is to monitor the physical conditions of the courts, viewing stands, tennis shack and storage units, and recommends upgrades to the Club Board and coordinates maintenance and upgrades with the Villages Golf and Country Club.
Court Projects:
One of the major projects this year was to seal the cracks on Courts #1 through #4. Village Maintenance used internal resources to complete this task which they estimated saved thousands of dollars. Although both blue and green crack sealant was applied, the color mismatches the original paint resulting in spider patterns. There is a plan underway to touch up the cracks with matching paint to improve the court appearance.
Court Enhancements:
- Large digital clock for easier viewing will be installed later this summer.
- Tennis shed proposed improvements for easier tennis ball machine access is pending review by the Villages’ Board.
- New BBQ was purchased for our various club and USTA events.
- 911 signs for the courts with a proper address for medical emergencies are still pending.
Recent Upgrades:
- New clocks were purchased for Court #1 and also for the Viewing Stands.
- Clock repaired on Court #6.
- Umbrella repairs were done by Jayme Dickson and Helen Varenkamp in order to delay purchasing new ones. Thank you, Jayme & Helen!
- Water leakage issues adjacent to Court #6 created water puddles have been resolved.
Ball Machine:
The Villages Tennis Club is fortunate to have a Tennis Ball Machine that Tennis Club members Tim Keys and Gil Ong volunteer to oversee the maintenance, training and managing the plethora of used tennis balls. Used balls are first repurposed for the ball machine, some balls are collected and donated to Silver Creek High School and the unplayable ones are simply trashed. Thank you, Tim & Gil!
Next Tennis Club Event:
- Come enjoy our beautiful tennis courts at the Men’s and Women Doubles Tournament on September 7 and 8. Mark your calendars!
Mixer Cancelled, Wimbledon Insights
Tennis Talk
By Betty Olsen
Heat is back….and so our planned Mixer scheduled for Friday, July 19 has been cancelled, hopefully to be rescheduled if and when it gets cooler! During our last heat wave, it was a pleasure sitting inside watching Wimbledon as it rained every day for the first week and people were bundled up.
Because I bought a raincoat for my 2018 trip to Wimbledon, it did not rain one day and it was quite hot sitting in the stands. London men who usually attend Wimbledon in suits or coat and ties were suffering. Everyone took breaks to go inside for the air-conditioning and watching the matches on TV. And the players were struggling with heat cramps!
How about those Wimbledon matches this year! The top echelon of tennis seems to be changing. Alcarez is not only a spectacular player, but is so fun to watch. Too bad Sinner got injured because we did not see his full talent and capability.
And what a treat to see Paolini play her matches…. the energizer bunny. I am sure all of us short tennis players were rooting for her and her unique game against mostly tall and taller big names.
Can’t wait for the Olympics and US Open.
Hey, New Members on the Menu
Tennis Talk
By Betty Olsen
Meet new Tennis Club members Mary Green and Manny Juarez who moved into Hermosa about 3 weeks ago. This tennis couple have been together for 25 years. They met playing tennis at Cuesta Park in Mountain View.
Mary retired in 2016 from working at Stanford University. Her final position at Stanford was working in their Graduate School Business Department working with data. Manny also retired in 2016 from Agilent, and they decided to move to Arizona for their retirement. They built a lovely home and spent 3 years in Arizona, but eventually found it too hot and they missed the bay area weather, their friends and familiar surroundings.
Therefore in 2019 they moved back to the bay area, first renting and then buying a condo in Sunnyvale. Next came the opportunity to buy a condo in Hermosa, first doing a little remodeling, but finally moving into the villages about 3 weeks ago. They are currently emptying boxes in their garage and trying to sell their condo in Sunnyvale.
Mary is ready to get back on the courts and I suggested Brett’s Thursday clinic at 10:30. In her tennis past, she played for several different USTA teams in the Southbay, but mainly for Cupertino. Manny does not play much tennis anymore due to an aging slow-down, but I assured him he would fit right in with the rest of us slower tennis players and advised trying the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday drop-in.
Please say hi to Mary and Manny when you see them around the courts.
Evening Men’s Action on the Courts
Tennis Talk
By Marty Funcell
WHOA….It’s HOT out there!!!
Luckily our Men’s 3.0 and 3.5 players finished their ten scheduled matches just before the heat wave.
The Villages Tennis Club is gearing up to launch a competitive Men’s COMBO 6.5 USTA team later this summer. To prepare, they organized two internal teams consisting of USTA level 3.0 and 3.5 players, each led by captains Tim Keys and Marty Funcell.The primary objective was to develop the less experienced 3.0 players under the guidance of Club Pro Brett Foreman in preparation for challenging USTA matches. Over ten scheduled match dates, the two team internal men’s 6.5 league alternated between Round Robin and 8-Point Pro-Set play formats. The improvement in play was evident, marked by extended rallies and adept strategies such as defensive lobs.
Brett coached the players to focus on getting the first serve in, returning serves away from the front player and not letting the net win the point. These efforts have significantly enhanced the team’s readiness for the upcoming competitive USTA season.
Tim’s team consisted of Clayton Krinard, Sukh Johal, Dari Tarabini, Vince Alvarez, Josh Liao, Jay Pinson and Lisi Bettencourt. Marty’s team consisted of Harry Soin, Brian Dombrowski, Yan Chen, Jayme Dickson, Venkat Prabhala, Don Clarke and Adrien Fournier. Special thanks to our super-subs Liz Kung and Michael Castle.
REMINDER: Don’t forget to sign-up for the club’s tennis mixer on FRIDAY, JULY 19. It will be much cooler!
July Mixer Coming Up
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Bocce BBQ & a Playoff Win
Tennis Talk
By Betty Olsen
Sunday, June 9 was a big day for the Villages Tennis Club. First the viewing stands were filled with spectators to watch our Men’s USTA 7.0 team play their first playoff match against #3 team from Hollister. And the spectators were treated with food and drinks provided by our hospitality team of Nancy Domingo, Andrea Alvarez and their committee.
And to make it a perfect day for the villages, our team came out victorious, winning two out of three matches. The matches started at 11:00am and concluded at 1:00pm. Next playoff match will be against Silver Creek on Friday, June 14 at 6:30pm. Go Villagers!
Then there was just enough time to get ready for the club’s annual Bocce/BBQ at the new bocce courts. Lucky it was a beautiful day to be out and about. Lots of bocce was played and we were treated to entertainment by our villages dance group and the singing duet of Don Clarke and Lolivic Shaw.
Adrien Fournier was the M.C. and introduced Ruth Domingo Liu, our president, and her board for our official club meeting.
Marty Funcell then read a poem he wrote for the occasion of acknowledging the many volunteer hours that Brett Forman has contributed to the betterment of our tennis club and its members. Brett was presented with the poem and a gift.
And many thanks to all of the volunteers that worked the events on this day, especially the cooks!