Bob and Rae Lewis are shown keeping track of match scores on the scoreboard at the start of the CTC gender doubles tournament in mid-January. The membership of the tennis club is very grateful to them for being our tournament directors this year. Kudos to you both from the CTC!
Susie Welker
The Cottonwood Tennis Club wishes you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! We hope 2015 is a good year for you. More specifically: May you ace your first serve, smash your overheads accurately, drive your backhand return deep with perfection, slam lobs, place your alley shots expertly, win more matches than you lose and continue to take pleasure in your time on the tennis court!
As a reminder to not only our CTC members, but to all Cottonwood Palo Verde tennis players, the $25 racquet fee imposed by the HOA Board became effective January 1. This fee applies to all homeowners who wish to play on Cottonwood tennis courts during the exclusive hours of 7:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday whether they are a member of the CTC or not! A sticker is affixed to your homeowner’s card and will be checked regularly by the Patrol during these hours. You will be told to leave the court immediately if you do not have this sticker proving you paid the racquet fee. Although this tax is not popular with any of the players, we are forced to abide by it now.
In December we hosted a social with SunBird. It was a fun day! There were 65 total players and 25 matches played that day; plenty of seriousness and even more laughing! SunBird took home the honors beating the CTC 24 to 18. Such good hosts we were!
Don Neu and his helpers, Pierre Moresi and Mike DeMalleville, are continuing to give lessons to beginner and intermediate tennis players on both Monday and Tuesday evenings from 7:30-9:00 p.m. These lessons are open to everyone no matter where they live. It is a wonderful offering and gift from the CTC to the entire community. On Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m. there is a drop-in play time for lesson participants and anyone else who wants a pick-up game. Don helps organize this, too.
Our Men’s and Women’s Doubles Tournament is underway as this article is written. Bob and Rae Lewis, the CTC Tournament Directors for this season, arranged matches for 124 players over the six day tournament schedule. Club winners for this tournament will be reported in the next issue of this newspaper. Right now we are all anticipating some very competitive matches.
The Cottonwood Tennis Club is composed 300 players with six board members and over 170 volunteers who help manage over 7,000 hours of play for their members. The CTC is open to all Cottonwood Palo Verde residents. With established quotas, the club is open to residents of other Sun Lakes communities as well. Visit our fabulous website at www.cottonwoodtennisclub.com for complete information about our tennis club and to view our many photos.
Tennis tip of the month: Follow through – at the point of contact with the ball, you should accelerate your racquet, not decelerate. The longer the follow through, the deeper and more consistent your stroke will be.