Long time Greenwood Tennis Club member Allen Kiel and his college tennis team were recently inducted into the DePaul Athletic Hall Of Fame. Allen reports “We had no home courts and a $600 budget. We finished 5th in the College NCAAs. Sherward Stuart, a 5-time Grand Slam doubles champion, defeated a Mexican Davis Cup Player to win the tournament. I am very proud of these players!” Allen is a modest guy but I will tell you that he was also inducted in to the Colorado Tennis Hall of Fame during the CYTF Gala in 2008. He has served on several national USTA committees including, Marketing, Strategic Planning, Sectional Presidents, Multicultural, Nominating and as a US Davis Cup co-chairperson. Congratulations Allen, we’re proud of you!
Unfortunately, Depaul lost on the last shot of the game to #4 ranked Syracuse on an otherwise perfect day!
Allen is pictured 6th from left
Pictured is sixteen year old Greenwood member Brittany Warly. Brittany and her partner Erin Gebes won 5 consecutive rounds to reach the finals in the girls 18’s doubles at the Copper Bowl National Championships held in Tucson Arizona last month. Brittany has been a member of Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club for 12 years. Her first lesson ever was with Peggy when she was just 4 years old!
Other Greenwood kids who represented big time were Mark Miller, Colin Haas and twins Jesse and Mira Ruder-Hook. Mira made it to the consolation semis in girls 14 singles and won the doubles with her partner Caroline Turner from Texas. Congratulations to all of our competitors, we’re very proud of you!
By Ron Steege, Director of Tennis
If you know me, then you may have heard that I took up golf about 12 years ago and that I’m somewhat obsessed with the game. What has been interesting to me is how similar my journeys toward improvement in both golf and tennis have mirrored each other over the years. My progress in golf has been slower, but I find the pathways I’m choosing toward meeting my goals with golf are similar to those I had while learning tennis. Learning a new sport has reminded me of this process and how much fun it can be when a goal is met and a skill is finally realized. In both sports I’ve enjoyed practicing as much as playing. My golf learning experience has also made me a better tennis coach because I can relate to what my students are going through.
Learning a new sport or any skill as an adult can be a real challenge and very discouraging at times, but you’re to be applauded for trying. The first lesson that one has to remember is that tennis is a difficult sport and there are no easy answers or short cuts to becoming a skilled player. I mentioned above, how much I’m enjoying the journey of learning new golf skills; this should be the foundation of your development. An unfortunate element of learning a new sport as an adult compared to a child is finding enough time to work on your game. Most adults are lucky if they get to play once or twice a week. So one can expect progress to take longer and come in smaller steps as you work your way up the NTRP ladder. You can expect larger jumps in your game as a 2.5 level player, but as you move in to 3.5, 4.0 and beyond, it may take a year or two depending on a number of variables before you see a jump in your rating. Be patient with yourself and keep chipping away at improving those areas of weakness.
Since finding the time to practice can be such a problem in developing a tennis game, the time you have for practice must be used wisely. The quality of your practice becomes more important than the quantity. It was said, that Jimmy Connor’s practice sessions were so intense that he would get more out of a single hour, than most pros could do in three. This requires good planning and intense concentration. For starters, one must have clear goals in mind for every practice session. I’m a big believer in setting goals; the change of seasons can be a great time for reviewing and establishing goals for the year and months ahead. All journeys require a clear pathway for getting from point A to point B. You should have a realistic main destination goal, such as becoming a 4.0 player. The next step is to evaluate your current skills and determine what you must develop to get to that level. This may involve developing technical, tactical and mental skills. Our USPTA certified tennis professionals can help you evaluate where you are in each of these areas and prescribe the best plan for you. It is also very important to have mini goals during your practice sessions and matches. Progress should not be measured against wins and loses. The goal may have been to get 60% of your first serves in. If you lost the match, but achieved your first serve percentage goal, then check it off as mission accomplished and be happy regardless of the score outcome. Your improved first serve percentage is a great building block for the future. Typically, your goals during the winter months will be different than the summer months. Working on a technical problem during the summer when you’re playing tournaments and league matches is usually not a good idea. This is a time to grow tactically and mentally. The winter months are perfect for repairing those technical flaws.
Finally, there must be balance in your development; your time should be divided depending on the season between lessons, drills, hitting and match play. Overdoing any one facet can slow progress in other areas. If you spend all of your time playing, you may be weak technically. Conversely, if you only take lessons, you may lack some of the creativity of point construction and important mental skills for competing. Remember, “Failing to plan is a plan for failure.” Have a plan for every practice session and match you play and measure your progress against your plan. Good luck, I look forward to seeing you on the courts!
January 31st, 2010 in
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Members of Juliet Hubble’s 4.0 USTA Team gathered recently to celebrate their accomplishment in qualifying for this year’s USTA District playoffs. Congratulations team, we’re very proud of you and we look forward to hopefully doing it again next year. Pictured standing from left to right are: Jan Kennedy, Georgene Hall, Judy Brand, Debbie Yoon and Sally Scott. Seated is; Bridget Witsell, Pam Noonan, Susan Nye, Juliet Hubbell, Chelsea Holman and Sue Legg-Matthews
Pictured L-R Coach Molly, Michelle Harmsen, Pene Miller, Ellen Goldstein, Jennifer Fronk, Jane Niederbrach, Ronda Fox and Lori Tavarez
Our 3.0 team had a terrific season finishing with a 6-0 record, this qualified them for a trip to the playoffs this past weekend. For most of the team it was their first experience competing in playoffs but they all played hard and did great! They didn’t win the division but represented Greenwood exceptionally well. Congratulations team, we’re proud of you!
Members of our 4.0 USTA and Senior Teams got together for an end of the season
celebration. They played, they laughed and everyone had a great time! Pictured L-R is
Judy Brand front, Char Parkinson, Marty Mayeda, Kim Moorhead, Eileen Finn, Susan Nye,
Candace Harris, Kristi McCauley, Peachy Goebel, Cathy Stemper, Susie Erzinger and Trisha Banks
Pictured left, Laird Stewart and his partner Stone Heyman captured
the boy’s 10 and under doubles title this past weekend at the Crestmoor
junior Satellite tournament. Both Laird and Stone are 9 years old. Congratulations boys!
Tracy Austin addressed the crowd and handed out awards to the Champions. Over $3,000 was raised to benefit the Colorado Youth Tennis Foundation. It was a fantastic evening and a definite summer highlight!
Here are your Champions:
Women’s 3.0 - Joanna Moore and Lynne Barlow
Women’s 3.5 - Rebecca Hite and Anna Thumim
Women’s 4.0 - Kim Moorhead and Linda Schley
Women’s 4.5 - Suzette Riddle and Amy Hand
Women’s Open - Molly Carter and Greer Satherlie
Mixed 6.0 - Jamie and Chuck Steese
Mixed 7.0 - Jim and Debbie Scheper
Mixed 8.0 - Gary and Kristi McCauley
Mixed 9.0 - Ryan Haith and Linda Schley
Men’s 3.0 - Patrick Reed and Andy Hite
Men’s 3.5 - Gary Forrest and Don Jacobsen
Men’s 4.0 - Bruce Baskette and Mark Gates
Men’s 4.5 - J.D Ready and Adam Burbury
Men’s Open - Kavan Hahn and David Hand
