Penny Petersen

Cottonwood’s Rainbow Classic, the first social of the 2018-2019 season, gleamed with color, and in spite of the heat, all 85 participants showed up on time and played their matches with enthusiasm.

The “Rainbow” is a two-day social. Socials are planned events organized for enjoyable play that stress fun and companionship rather than winners and prizes. It was played Friday, October 19, and Saturday, October 20. Pairings are not made by ability level, so players get to play with people they have never played with or against before. It’s a great “meet everybody experience.” People sign up, and then the organizers divide the group into four teams: Red, Blue, Orange and Green. The winner is the team that wins the most matches. This year, Orange got first place with 24 matches followed by Red with 20 matches, Green with 17 matches and Blue with 15 matches.

It takes a lot of hours to put together the Rainbow, so President Bill Gosiak said, “Let’s hear a big round of applause for Mary Ann Rice who coordinated the event.” Mary Ann was assisted by committee members Kathy Moliter and Edith Tanniru. Pat McRoberts coordinated the food court with many people helping serve or bringing desserts.

Team Captains were Kathy Moliter (Blue Team), Spencer Roberts (Orange Team), Barb Jorgensen (Green Team) and Mary Ann Rice (Red Team). Ollie Johnson, Kathy Sundsrud and Bob Reider kept track of time and scores.

Coordinator Mary Ann Rice said, “It takes a lot of people pitching in to make our tournaments and socials successful. We can all be proud of this event.”

The next regular tournament will be the Triple-T, December 5-8. The new year starts with gender doubles: Men’s/Women’s Doubles January 6-12.

If you are interested in learning to play tennis, free lessons are offered every Monday and Tuesday (except close to holidays) at 7:00 p.m. on Cottonwood’s Court #1. For information, contact Pierre Moresi at [email protected].