Club Championships & Much More

Club Championship Singles
And so the Singles Championships are underway. Early matches include Laurie Watson, Captain of our Power Shots 3.5-Minus team, posting a 6-2, 6-4 victory of Liz Byck, who captains our 3.5-Minus Sure Shots team, which is in first place in its division.

In the first thriller of the event, April Burkholder, who recently announced victory in her battle with cancer, couldn’t quite pull out the victory against the gritty Anna Pitts, who faced set game in both sets. Anna eventually won 7-6, 7-5, but April is truly a winner to perform as she did after what she has been through recently.

Other first round results include Terry and Jan Carlson both winning in straight sets. Given that Terry only started playing tennis a few months ago, and got out of a cast on his foot a couple of weeks ago, his straight-set victory over Bill Otey was an accomplishment. Of course, Bill also is recovering from recent surgery on his leg, and was having some back issues, but showed his champion's spirit and played anyway. Jan dispatched the very game Lori Frantz who was playing singles for just the second time.

Zoe Bradley, another member who showed her tremendous heart and love for the game, gave it all she had despite very distressed knees against the incredibly quick and determined Ann Wright. The word mercy is not in Ann’s vocabulary, and despite Zoe’s valiant effort, it is Ann who is moving on to face Carol Carr in the quarterfinals.

The men swing into action tonight (Wednesday, 6:30pm) with Bill Wright facing Chuck Klucka in the Men’s Ball Bashers Division. Bill is stepping up into the top division this season even though he failed defend his Ball Bashers title of two seasons ago. He faces a tough test against Chuck’s skill and experience, but if you know Bill, you know better than to count him out despite his underdog status. Stay tuned for more results and we hope you can make the semis and finals this weekend.

Club Championship Doubles
If you didn’t get into the singles, you may want to get into the doubles event which will be held February 4 – 6. Registration opens this Friday the 14th, so get yourself a partner and sign up. You can register online or on the bulletin board adjacent to Court 1. Last I heard, Defending All Aces Ladies Champion, Jemin Martinsen, was still without a partner. I’m thinking about shaving, a wig, and a short skirt. I wouldn’t mind riding those coattails (wink).

USPTA Pro League
In preparation for the Double Championships, watching your pros play at Heritage Palms this coming Friday the 14th, in the first Pro League of the New Year, should provide plenty of opportunity to absorb some dos and don’ts of competitive doubles. It is a pretty close race thus far this season, with only a few points separating the top three teams. Mike and I play at 4pm this time around, and if you really want a show, Joel plays at 5:30pm.

Memorial Foundation
Two weeks after the Doubles Championship, the tennis community will once again do its part to contribute to the worthy Memorial Foundation cause. Last year our tennis members raised over $17, 000.00 for the charity, and although it may be too much to ask to meet or exceed that tally, we plan to give it the ole college try.

The event was very well attended last time around with members participating in Tag Team Tennis, Blind Draw Round Robin, Fast Serve and Target tennis contests, raffles, auctions, and they also sampled the bake sale goodies provided by our expert bakers. Your pros can attest to the baking skills of our tennis members, as Amy Ciarrocchi and Meg Jacobs, and Inge Lorenz do their level best to make us fat with their delicious offerings all too often (Thanks ladies!).

The bottom line is that the Memorial Foundation Tennis event spearheaded by Lili Canfield, Connie Hess, with strong support from Tim Baldwin and others, is one of the more important events on the tennis calendar. It is a ton of fun and it contributes even more to the local community. Put Sunday, February 20th on your calendar, and prepare to spend the morning having a great time with your friends and tennis family.

Members Corner
Speaking of our tennis family, it has been a tremendous pleasure to see Norma Schuyler back out on the tennis court! Hopefully Norma’s tennis game will soon be looking as good as she does (wink).

In addition to welcoming back some much missed friends, we have some new additions to the family. Pam Duncan (Memphis, Tennessee) has come into the fold, and Amy Ciarrocchi gracefully made room for the talented newcomer on the 4.0 team. Pam should really help the team. We are hoping that Amy makes a speedy recovery from shoulder surgery, because she has been sorely missed around the courts.

Lisa Murn (Waukesha, Wisconsin) is another very talented player who recently joined the tennis community. After hitting with her yesterday, I can assure you that she will fit right in amongst the top women at Gulf Harbour. If she’s around next season, I would expect her to pose a serious threat to capture at least one event in the Club Championships.

Well that’s about it for this edition of your Gulf Harbour Tennis Blog. I’ll be back with you soon with more on the Club Championships. Game, set, match….