Div. 1 A Pink Longwood Green Homegame

Testing, testing... OK! Dear readers, once again we are blogging live from the Longwood Cricket Club. In the blogger booth is Magnus. It's the Longwood Green team that is playing against Lincoln. The LCC 1 A Pink team is captained by Liz O'Connell. The weather is a little iffy here at Chestnut Hill. We had some rain this morning but now it's just misty. It actually just stopped raining. The court is a little damp and the balls are a little heavier. The grounds did a good job getting the courts ready for this battle.

The teams are spinning a racket and it seems as if Jean and Katrina on the Longwood team won the toss. Yes, they did win the toss and they will start out serving. Great! The Longwood team is hitting from left to right across your computer screen.

Katrina is serving first. She bounces the ball, takes aim, and there she fires the first serve to the wide corner. Return goes cross court and Katrina has moved in and volleys back cross court to the Lincoln player Chance. The ball comes back to Katrina and it's a low volley, she just puts it back deep cross court. Good point here the first point in the match. Lincoln hits another cross court and Katrina puts her backhand volley in the middle between the two players. 15 - 0. Nice point.

From this first point I think we can see that the Longwood team is going to play agressively and take the net. Here comes the next point. Katrina bounces the ball. She's still bouncing it. Must be some odd service routine she learned from Dave. Not sure. Anyway, here comes the serve. It's going to the T, the inside return goes back to the middle and Jean is movig for it. Can she get it? Yes! She gets to the ball and the ball just dies on the other side of the net. The soft court took away the bounce. 30 - 0.

Next serve. She's bouncing the ball again.... A good serve that goes wide to the T. She hasn't missed a first serve yet. The return goes back cross court in front of Katrina, and she pops it up high. Here comes Laura from Lincoln and she hits a high volley down the line for a winner. Good point. 30 - 15.

Strategy meeting

A good serve

Now serving to the add side. Chance returns down the line. It's a good solid return but Jean is watching the alley and she volleys the ball back to the Lincoln player. Another bomb from the baseline, Chance hits to the middle. Katrina closes in very well and she volleys back cross court. Watch out for the lob now ladies. And there it is! The Lincoln player lobs the ball - didn't I just say that? - and Jean is going back for the over head. A lefty, Jean should be in a good position to put away the over head, and she does. 40 - 15.

We are up two game points and it looks as if we will take a lead here in the first set. Katrina is ready to serve. I guess not. Jean is walking back to Katrina, they have a little talk here. Who knows. Maybe they want to do a planned poach or play an Australian formation. Jean is moving back to her ready position. I don't see anything different here, ladies and gentlemen. Not sure what they were talking about. Anyway, here comes the serve. The return goes into the net. A soft return, and Longwood closes out this first game. 1 - 0.

You can find the score from todays matches at the Spring League Website.

The Ball Shed

Ever wondered where the tennis staff keeps all the tennis balls? It's not a secret that all the balls are kept in the ball shed behind the two teaching courts. At the beginning of the season it is very clean and neat inside the ball shed. Over time it tends to become more dirty and messy. The ball carts bring in some clay stuck to the wheels, and if the balls are wet the clay sticks to the balls and then falls to the floor when the balls dry over night. All the people running in and out of the shed also bring in lots of clay.

Hoppers and pick up tubes are now neatly stacked on the shelves and the floor, but tend to be spread around the shed as we go deeper into the summer.

Feel free to use the balls but please return them, and please help the tennis staff to keep the shed clean and organized.

Behind this covered up door is the Ball Shed

Balls are sorted by color - red, orange, green, and yellow

Teaching tools like ball machines, yellow lines, short rackets, ladders, and more is stored here as well. Feel free to use these tools, but please return them to their place when you are done. The practice balls are stored here in cases. The tennis staff changes the practice balls in the ball carts frequently. The balls in the cases should not be used for personal play. Cans of balls are to be purchased in the Pro Shop.

Unconfirmed rumours say that there is a ghost in the shed that you can see at midnight on the first Friday each month. If you dare, let's meet here at 11:59 PM on Friday, May 4th. Bring your flash light and a snack (Tony is long gone).

Div. 1 A Pink Homegame

Testing... Testing... OK! Hello readers! We are live at Longwood Cricket  Club for the Div. 1 A Pink home game against Wellesley. Blogging court side is Magnus. On the first court, Cecilia and Sarah are serving from left to right across your screen.

Sarah tosses the ball, and there is the serve. It goes to the wide corner. Wellesley slugger Kellog is returning cross court, Sarah is hitting a cross court back, and she is coming in to net. Now both LCC players are at net and there is the next shot from Wellesly. It goes to Cecilia who hits a pressure volley right at the poor Wellesley woman Hope, who hits the ball into the net! 15-0.

Here is the next serve. Sarah is serving to the T, and Wellesly is hitting a cross court return, but Cecilia is poaching for a winner. Nice poach! Seems as if those poaching drills with coach Larry is paying off. 30-0.

Serving to the deuce side again. Fault. 2nd serve coming. The Wellesley receiver is creeping in closer to the service line for the return. Here comes the serve, and the return goes cross court back to Sarah. The Wellesley player is moving in behind the return, and Sarah is hitting a dipper right in front of Kellog from Wellesly, who pops up the ball. Cecilia is closing in for the high ball and she puts it away right between the two opponents. A fantastic dipper from Sarah and a rocket volley. 40-0.

Three game points. This looks good. Sarah has been serving very well. She looks very confident today, and so does Cecilia. Here come the serve. It is going to the wide corner, the the backhand. Sarah is coming in behind the serve and she volleys the return back cross court. Both Longwood player are up at net again, taking the net away from the other team. Sarah's volley is going deep to the corner, the Wellesley player is reaching for the ball and she hits a high lob. Sarah and Cecilia are moving back and it is Cecilia who hits the over head. The ball goes to the center of the court, just inside the baseline. The Wellesley team is lifting up the ball again, but it's a short lob. Sarah moves in and she hits a great angled backhand volley to close out the game to love. Great tennis here at Longwood on court 1!

For Spring League results, click on this link.

Sarah serving and Cecilia at net

Coach Larry and Team Captain Jessie

Ready for Spring League Take Off

Yesterday was the last spring league team practice before the league kicks off on Tuesday. Our Div. 3 C Green team, captained by Susan Clancy, plays at Brookline. LCC Div. 3 B White, captained by Lisa Cummings, takes on the Windsor Club on the Longwood courts. I will try to blog live from the first home game!

Here is a link to the Spring League website where you can find the schedule and the scores.

LCC Div. 3 C Green with Coach Wolf

All the Coaches are feeling confident with the teams and are looking forward to starting the season again. Quick reminder to all players: The warm-up time is limited to 15 minutes, including serves. Keep in mind that the purpose of the warm-up is not to "work on your game", but to warm up your strokes and get your footwork going.

Please someone remind Tony to cook up some good food for Tuesdays home game!

1st Spring League Practice!

Today two teams practiced to prepare for the first spring league battle next week. The first team only saw 2 players, but it was a full house on the second practice of the day with 15 players practicing. With Larry, Tim, and myself as Coaches on duty, the players went through volley drills, approach shot drills, and point play. Effort level was high among players and coaches.

All set up and we are ready to go

Action on courts 5 - 8

Two wo new members who came out to practice with their new team mates, Liz and Cecilia. Welcome to LCC Spring League. Just so you know, it's not always as nice practicing outside in April as it was today. Today was a great day, with a blue sky and almost no wind. The courts were in good shape too. This early in the season the clay courts are always a little on the softer side as they haven't been played much on yet. The more they are played on, the harder they will become.

Volley drill

Next week is the real deal with our first round of matches. As he has in the past, I expect Tony will serve up a great lunch for the home teams and their opponents. Maybe the Coaches can have some left overs?

Opening Day!

It doesn't get much better than this. Under a blue sky at the club today, it felt almost like June. Many old and new members came to the clubs opening day to play tennis under perfect conditions. The parking lot was full, and Paul prescribed doubles on most courts so everyone could get to play. I hit for an hour with Andrew Sternlicht until we were challenged by Jim Notman and Ed Taff to play doubles. It was a good doubles, where Andrew's serve was outstanding, and Ed consistently hammered his cross court returns, and Jim scored many points with his reflex volleys. 

Ed, Jim, Andrew

Our Tennis Director LW ws busy on the teaching court all day. Serve practice is always well invested time, as all points start with a serve. New member Andrea is serving under a watchfull eye of Larry.

There was more tennis played by the Lobon family, who at the same time introduced new member family MacLean-Lietoud to the club and made them feel welcomed. Other players took a break for a while and socialized outside the Pro Shop. A women's doubles match on a teaching court draw some attention due to the high level of play but also because one of the players wore an illegal non-white scarf...

Blue sky

I didn't see Tony all day, which must mean that he was busy in the kitchen. I found rost beef sandwiches in the club house and I had two, they were delicious. I hope they were free b/c I didn't fill out a slip.

Spring League Kick Off Meeting

A sure sign that spring is here is the spring league kick off meeting. Old and new members showed up to a breakfast and to learn more about the 2012 spring league season from our Tennis Director LW. Practice starts next week on April 15, and the matches start in the week of April 22.

Larry laying out the spring league practice schedule

No club fields as many spring league teams as Longwood. This year we have entered 8 teams! 105 players have expressed an interest in participating. Practice schedule will be e-mailed to everyone later this week, and also posted on this blog.

Thanks to Tony for delivering a superb breakfast. I thought the coffee was better than usual! French roast?