Category: News

By Peggy Siedel for Publication 10/27/2023

2024 Slate of Officers

In accordance with the Tennis Club bylaws, the nominating committee appointed by President Randy Shaw would like to present this slate of officers for the year 2024:

President: Ruth Domingo-Liu
Vice President: Gene Mariani
Secretary: Roy Pennington
Treasurer: Tina Parsley

Hospitality Directors: Nancy Domingo and Andrea Alvarez (1 vote by either) Communications Director: Don Clarke
Membership Director: Cheryl Diltz
Court Manager: Marty Funcell

Master Scheduler: Akiko Giordono

Tournament Director: Karen Hillis

These candidates will be voted upon at our Annual Meeting to be held in the VGCC Clubhouse on Sunday evening December 3, 2023.

Previously elected board member is past president Randy Shaw.

To reach a total of 13 voting members on the board, 2 Members-at-Large will be appointed by Ruth as president-elect. They will be selected before the first meeting of the board on the fourth Tuesday of January, 2024.

Nominating Committee: Peggy Seidel, Akiko Giordono, and Brian Dombrowski

Hello Villagers,
I hope this finds you well. Today’s Topic is how to be best prepared for a tennis match.
With the start of our Villages Tennis League and Rossmore approaching, here are some easy suggestions to help you with Better Match Play.

All matches start 24 – 48 hours before game day
1. Hydration with electrolytes to prevent Dehydration and potential cramping
2. Eat healthy – carbohydrates,protiens , and vegetables. I.e. – pasta,chicken,fish and vegetables.
3. Sleep- get lots of rest!

Match Day -Dynamic Stretches to help Prevent Injuries
• Fast Feet over line
• Side Shuffles
• Gental Body Twists – Helicopters
• Arm Circles – Forwards and Backwards
• Leg Lunges
• Jumping Jacks
* Each exercise do 10 – 15 repetitions
To complete your warmup finish with a light jog

On Court
1. Juggle Drill with Partner – toss and catch 10 – 15 times repeat with shuffle go slow!
2. Dribble Ball Down 15 times Repeat with Ups and Alternating
3. Service Box warm up with partner – Two Touch – bump ball and send (important! Both players to count each touch this is to help focus and readiness)
4. Rally short court 10-15 reps
5. Rally – Volley 10-15 times! (1 Up 1 Back Alternate Baseline player to feed some overheads
6. Rally Both back –half court – Cross Court 10 –15 times each
7. Serve and Return (Serve + 1) both players are to practice serve and recover with return 3 shots this will prevent – Serve and Observe!

Ready For Play !!!!
• Here are a few extras for on court Preparedness
• Pack your Bag with towels,grips,sun block
• Ice and Cooling towels Great for those really Hot Days
• Snacks – slices of fruit, apples, oranges and bananas and energy bars
*Remember to pace yourselves to avoid exhaustion and fatigue Drink Water
even when you’re not Thirsty!!!

Finally remember
-GET YOUR FIRST SERVES IN!
-GET YOUR RETURNS BACK!!
-DON’T LET THE NET WIN THE POINT!!!!!

* If you should have any questions call me 408 509-5011

Tennis Talk
By Betty Olsen

September 30 and October 1 completed the club tournament with Men’s and Women’s Doubles. Unfortunately, Saturday greeted us with rain drizzle, so we had a brigade of members squeegee the courts plus using many old towels to dry the courts. However, it only delayed matches about an hour. Many thanks to those making it happen.

Results of Men’s A – 1st place – Amit Seth/Ken Leon, 2nd place – Steve Olson/Roy Pennington, 3rd place – Brett Forman/Brian Dombrowski, consolation winner – Sheng Chen/Venkat Prabhala

Results of Men’s B – 1st place – Tracy Scott/Rajeev Singh, 2nd place – Don Clarke/Marty Funcell, 3rd place – Jay Pinson/Martin Hoek, consolation winner – Bob Semple/Chuck Moss.

Results of Women’s B – 1st place -Tina Parsley/Lolivic Shaw, 2nd place – Nancy Domingo/Vonda Reid, 3rd place – Sharon Bartels/Maureen O’Neill

And to celebrate, the Awards Dinner was held Sunday night, October 1 at Foothill. President Randy Shaw handed out medals to the winners following a delicious BBQ dinner. Many thanks to Tina Parsley for the lovely flower centerpieces and the many who helped clean-up.

Tennis Talk
By Peggy Seidel:

September is the month for our Tennis Club President to select a three person nominating committee to find Tennis Club members willing to take a position on the Board of Directors for the next year. The nominating committee for next year’s directors picked by President Randy Shaw consists of Peggy Seidel, Brian Dombrowski and Akiko Giordono. These three have already met and worked to fill the open positions for 2024. The whole slate of officers, including our Vice President Ruth Domingo-Liu, who will become our President in December at the annual meeting, will be announced later in October or November. If any TC member would like to be considered for a role on the board next year there is a process for self-nomination in our Bylaws (which you can find under the menu “Rules” on our website, I quote Article VIIC here:

“Any regular member may nominate any regular member as a candidate for any elective office by presenting the nomination in writing to the President no less than 35 days prior to the Annual Meeting. This nomination must be accompanied by the candidate’s written acceptance, and must be signed by five regular Tennis Club members declaring their support for the nomination.”

35 days prior to our annual meeting will be October 30.

I hope you all enjoyed the Women’s and Men’s Doubles club tournament and the Sunday night Awards Dinner. Results of the tournament will be in Tennis Talk next week.

Next club activity will be on Saturday, October 21 against Rossmoor here at the Villages. Come on down to the viewing stand and cheer on your team.

Tennis Talk

By Betty Olsen

It was a beautiful weekend for our mixed doubles tournament September 16 and 17. Thanks to Linda DuMont and her crew for morning refreshments to the delight of the many folks in the viewing stands. Results as follows:

Mixed Doubles A-1st place-Brett Foreman/Betty Olsen. 2nd place-Roy Pennington/Peggy Seidel. 3rd place-Sheng Chen/Lolivic Shaw. Consolation winner-Ken Kline/Karen Hillis.

Mixed Doubles B-1st place-Dari Tarabini/Nancy Domingo. 2nd place-Don Clarke/Cheryl Heusser. 3rd place-Marty Funcell/Sharon Bartels. Consolation winner-Martin Hoek/Suzi Hathaway.

Now on to the Tennis Club’s Men’s and Women’s Doubles tournament tomorrow Saturday and Sunday, September 30 and October 1st starting at 8:30am. Come on down to the viewing stands and cheer on your friends!

And finally. The Awards dinner at Foothill on Sunday, October 1st at 5:30pm for a delicious BBQ. Hope to see you all there. You don’t want to miss the fun.

Our Tennis Club’s 6.5 women’s team plays a home match Monday, October 2. We need lots of cheering from the stands because we are playing Morgan Hill, the 1st place team!

Tennis Talk
By Betty Olsen

Saturday, September 16, our tennis club’s mixed doubles tournament starts at 8:30am. Come down to the viewing stands to watch and cheer. Finals will be on Sunday, September 17 at 8:30am.

Then in 2 weeks the tennis club’s men’s and women’s doubles tournament will be on Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1. There is still plenty of time to sign-up so reach out and find a partner. If you are having trouble finding a partner, let us help. We need 8 teams for men’s doubles A, and 8 teams for men’s doubles B. The same for the woman’s doubles, so don’t be shy. You keep playing whether you win or lose. The only requirement is PARTICIPATION.

And finally, we celebrate the club’s tournament with the Awards Dinner on
Sunday, October 1 at Foothill. The menu will be from Art’s BBQ with chicken and ribs, potato salad, roasted vegetables, cornbread and ice cream for dessert, wine, beer and lemonade, all for $30.00. You don’t want to miss it. Watch your email for sign-ups.

Tennis Talk
By Betty Olsen

It’s Tennis Time.  Get motivated watching the US Open! You don’t want to miss the tennis club’s mixed doubles tournament Saturday and Sunday, September 16 & 17.

There will be 2 draws, “A” and “B.”  Sign up online.  The tennis club sent out several emails with a button to click on that takes you to registration.  You can also find the same button on Your Courts.  Here is the link so you can register right now! NO PARTNER, NO PROBLEM.  We will do our best to find you one.  For problems, call Karen Hillis, Tournament Director, 209-602-4388, or email hisknoggen@Yahoo.com.

The Men’s & Women’s Doubles club tournament is September 30 and October 1

And finally, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1, the club’s awards dinner will be at Foothill.  Please put October 1^st on your calendar as a definite date.  Watch for more information and sign-ups in your email.

The Village Women’s 6.5 team played its first match Wednesday, August 30 in Morgan Hill.  Julie Hawkinson acted as captain.  We were competitive against younger players, but came out 2^nd best.  Two matches went the distance with 3^rd set tie-breakers.  Next match is Tuesday, September 5 at 10:45am at home.  Come cheer on the ladies

Tennis Talk
By Betty Olsen
The US Open is just around the corner, and that means after binge watching the US Open you will be anxious and motivated to sign up for our September Club tournament.

You can do that by opening the email you received many times from the tennis club announcing the dates and a convenient button to click on that takes you to a google document to register (or just click this link!). You don’t want to miss this fun tournament.
Participation is the key!

Mixed doubles will be played on Saturday and Sunday, September 16 and 17. We will have 2 categories: “A” and “B.” The format is a compass draw meaning to continue to play whether you win or lose. You will play 2 matches on Saturday and 1 on Sunday if we have 8 teams for each category, If we have less than 8 teams. adjustments will be made. Each day we should be finished by 1:30pm. NO PARTNER, NO PROBLEM, Sign-up and we will do our best to find you one.

Men’s and Women’s Doubles is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, September 30 and October 1. Again the compass draw will be used as the format. There will be 4 categories: Men’ A. Men’s B, Women’s A. Women/s B. NO PARTNER, NO PROBLEM, Sign-up and we will do our best to find you one.

Put on your calendar, TENNIS CLUB AWARDS DINNER, Saturday, October 1 at Foothill. Watch for your email to sign-up.

Contact Roy Pennington, Peggy Seidel or Jim Murphy to sign=up for our
interclub Mixed Doubles League. We will have 4 teams that will play October, November with a few weekends. The spring league was such a success, this fall league was requested. You don’t want to miss it either!

Tennis Talk
By Betty Olsen
Meet new tennis club member Amit Seth and wife Swati Seth, who just
moved into Valle Vista on July 30 th ! He said he had his eye on the
Villages for a while so when he turned 55 in March he called his realtor.

Amit grew up in Bangalore, India and participated in cricket and
snooker while growing up, and now he represents the US at the
Snooker World Championships. He has one younger sister who lives
with her family in Los Gatos.

About 10 years ago Amit retired from cricket and took up tennis. He
started with USTA leagues playing as a 3.5, but now plays USTA 4.0
from Courtside. Amit is competitive in several sports: cricket, snooker,
billiards, tennis and is looking to try pickleball.

He is still working, so most of his sports are played on the weekend.
Amit moved to the US in 1992 and currently is an AI and Data
Technologist at The Weather Company owned by IBM. Yep, The
Weather Company is the largest company in the world reporting on the
weather! So, if you have weather related questions, Amit is your guy.

Besides his sports, Amit feels compelled to give back to his community
by volunteering on several non-profit boards. His is especially
passionate about working for non-profits fighting child trafficking.

Welcome to the Villages Amit and Swati.

Tennis Talk
By Sherry Benz

Sunday saw the Tennis Club out on the golf course trying to understand why it was so much harder to hit a stationary ball than one that is traveling at the speed of light.  The format was a “step aside scramble” where you chose the best ball of the group for each shot and each person hits from that position except the player whose ball was chosen – he/she must “step aside”.  There were some bright spots:

• Low net for 18 holes:  Cheryl Heusser, Jay Pinson, Roy & Kathy Pennington
• Low net for 9 holes:  Sherry Benz, Dennis Cullen, Donna Quartaro, Marty Funcell
• Closest to the pin #4: Cheryl Heusser for the women – Vince Alvarez for the men.

Allow bragging rights … Donna drove the green on #6, Sherry put in a 12’ birdie putt – girl power!  Prizes were given for the winners and lots more by random draw.  Thanks to Scott Steele for donating a couple of baskets of range balls … some of us need it more than others!

The food was fabulous … tostado shells with all the fixin’s. Thanks to my co-chairs, Jayme and Lynn Dickson for a great job.  It’s never too late to have fun!

Get ready … VTL (Villages Tennis League) is coming back in October!  Remember how we met and played with other Club members, some we had never been on a court with.  It was (mostly) friendly competition and a lot of fun.  The play will be mixed doubles and most matches will be played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays with only a couple of weekend matches to include our working players  Thanks to Roy, Peggy and Jim for “herding” this group.  Sign up … and make a new friend!