Monday Night Team Tennis #3

Around 4 PM today Paul asked me how many courts I expected for Monday Night Team Tennis. Thinking that it is the 4th of July week, and that many people go away, I said my guess is 5 to 6 courts. 40 players showed up and we had 10 courts of tennis! Curt, Vicki, Walter, Pam, David, and Carol played in their first MNTT. Welcome!

I was wondering whether Larry would call in from South Dartmouth to check on his team. He and Linda are on a well deserved family reunion break. There were no calls. Hmmm.... he must be communicating with his team somehow. Maybe he just sent some possitive vibes from the So. Dartmouth beaches.

The first round was tight. Larry's team won 33 games vs. Magnus/ 24 games. Going in to Round 2 I said to myself: "I need to stir things up here". So I put the Taffs together, and they got the job done. However, Round 2 ended up in Larry's favor despite the Taffs. For the 3rd round I got desperate, so I had to play my best card: McNay/ Rappaport. They already played together in Round 1, but in this situation I couldn't take any chances. My coaching paid off and McNay/Rappaport won their match, Larry's team however again showed who was the stronger team tonight, and ended up winning also the 3rd round. There must have been some hidden coaching going on after all. I will find out!

Final score: Larry 131                            Magnus 101

Excellent conditions for MNTT

Round 2 Order of Play

A Doubles

If you read the title of this post as "a doubles", you're reading it the worng way. It is supposed to be "A Doubles", and it refers to the Club Championships Men's A Doubles, Women's A Doubles, and Mixed A Doubles. All these 3 divisions were played up to the finals this passed weekend. Two matches on the Friday and one on the Saturday were played on clay, all other matches on grass.

I was lucky to capture the best point in this Men's A doubles match on video. Study the footwork of the receivers partner and tell me how good it is on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the best)

It was a beautiful day on Saturday up on the terrace. The Grounds did a fabulous job getting the courts ready after some heavy rain Friday morning. I noticed very early Saturday morning that Grounds Man elite Neil drove the tractor with the 100 year old roller behind it over the courts to firm them up and improve the playing experience for the competitors. Neil was wearing his orange baseball hat, a slight mismatch with the color of the tractor. Tennis Director Wolf brought up water and towels for the players as well as balls and most importantly: the Draws. You have got to know who you are playing, and when.

Tournament Director with The Draws

There were many hard fought matches, and some players ended up playing more than they could chew. Creative stalling techniques to conserve energy between matches and after split sets were indeed observed.

One of the more entertaining matches that I watched was KofolKofol vs. O'SullivanChen. Team O'Chen lost the first set and was up 4-3 in the second when DKofol served a long game that could have gone either way. After several deuces she held to 4-4. Team Kofol then broke, and TKofol served out the match.

As you know, all finals are played on the Championship weekend in September. The Doubles Finals will be played as follow:

Men's A Doubles: Gregor/Porter vs. Ament/Meringoff

Women's A Doubles: Driscoll/O'Sullivan vs. Judge/Lane

Mixed A Doubles: L. Ford/Porter vs. Judge/B. Power

Action on the Terrace

Fans with 1st row tickets

Porter/Ford receiving serve

It was hard to take one picture of all the courts. This is a poor attempt...

Penn's grandfather

One of the most popular tennis balls is the Penn ball. At LCC the Wilson ball is the most popular, and in my opinion, the better ball to play with. Anyhow, I came across a can of Penn's grandfather - the Pennsylvania ball. The color scheme of the can is the same as the Penn ball, and it contained 2 white balls. My guess is that at one point someone in the administrative office said "Pennsylvania is too long. Let's just call it Penn.".

Cardio Tennis

Cardio tennis is a much better work out than playing singles or doubles for an hour. Especially if you go to Aarons' Saturday Cardio Tennis at 11:00. This Saturday 8 participants worked on their stamina and probably lost 300 calories each. Cardio is great for everyone. You can go at your own pace, and feel free to sit out for a little bit if you need to. Aaron makies sure the music pumps you up (sorry, no ABBA music), and he will also challenge you to run down every ball. Sign up by calling the Pro Shop. Remember to bring you water bottle, and take my advise to wear a headband or a hat to absorbe your sweat!

Shadow strokes in the warm up