Tennis

TENNIS NEWS

TENNIS ASSOCIATION The next Tennis Association Meeting is scheduled for Sunday, March 22nd, at 5:45 PM.

APPRECIATION DAY Appreciation Day this year was held on Saturday, February 22nd.

One of our own – Fred Puhlfuerst – was the Honoree for this year’s festivities. I think it was a well-deserved honor for Fred.

As for the games that were played on the tennis courts, there was the “Hole in the Board” game chaired by Gail Stewig, the “Bowling” tennis game chaired by Janet Daly, and the “Hit the Chairs” game chaired by Greg Girard. We appreciate them stepping up to again make tennis part of the Appreciation Day games. Linda Engel

TENNIS LEAGUES WOMEN’S LEAGUE Women’s Team – Angels Our match on January 16th, was played at Sabal Springs where we won all 6 sets.

Our match on January 23rd, marked the end of the first half of our tennis league season. We had a home game against Six Lakes and we again won all 6 sets. We finished the first half in first place in our league of eight teams.

January 30th, marked the beginning of the second half of our season, so we are now playing each of the teams for a second time. We played at home against Herons Glen and we won 5 of the 6 sets – the same result we had when we played them earlier in the season.

On February 6th, we traveled all the way over to Lake Fairways who are presently in second place in the league. When we played them earlier in the season we won 4 sets and lost 2. This time we split the match with 3 sets won and 3 sets lost. One of the sets was an exciting, come-from-behind battle which resulted in a tie-breaker, which we unfortunately lost. It was back-andforth in the tie-breaker score, with Lake Fairways prevailing with 8 points to our 6.

I am happy to report that the Tara Woods Angels remain in first place with an impressive 8 sets advantage over the second place team. Linda Engel SWIFT INFO Here we go with the final month of our ladies SWIFT tennis league. It’s been a great season with a lot of fun and great tennis. We have had great support at our matches from a lot of people in the community. Thank you for that.

March 5th and March 12th will be our final two matches. March 5th we will host Sabal Springs and March 12th, we will be at Six Lakes. Following that will be a Round Robin with the other teams and then our annual banquet – lots of fun.

We have set a tentative date for Tuesday, March 17th, to have our Tara Woods ladies tennis meeting. If you have any interest in joining the team, please plan to attend. If we have enough interest, we’ll vote to have one or two teams. If you’d like to be the captain or nominate someone to be captain, that will be voted on as well. It’s a good day for discussions and decisions from the team. The final date and time for the meeting will be posted on the Tennis Bulletin Board by Tuesday, March 3rd.

Hope to see everyone at our final two matches and, again, thank you for all of your wonderful support. Pam Ahlers

MEN’S LEAGUE White Team – Stallions Just a reminder: We, the White League, changed our Tuesday start time to 1:00 PM instead of 1:30 PM.

On February 4th we played against Lake Fairways and split the sets 3 and 3. So far, we are tied for third place, but the standings are very close. We have four teams within 3 points of each other. Will keep you posted. Cheers,

Glen Fisher

Blue Team – Tigers I can’t believe I am writing the March issue of The Columns already – where did the time go?

Our Tigers are into the second half of the season and adjusting to each player’s ability. Game Play update: On January 16th we played our other Tara Woods team, the Mustangs. The teams seemed to be reasonably matched; it was a home game for the Tigers. Result: Tigers 2 and Mustangs 4 with two tie-breakers played.

On January 23rd it was an away game against the Six Lakes Raptors. Result: Tigers 2 and Raptors 4 with one tie-breaker won by the Tigers. We enjoyed the Raptors’ hospitality, as we had refreshments at a team member’s residence.

January 30th was another away game with the Lake Fairways Cougars. Our teams were pretty evenly matched. As a special note, three of the Cougars players are 83 years old – what an inspiration! Result: Tigers 3 and Cougars 3. Our Court 2 players were very competitive.

February 6th was our last away game before our first bye of the season. The game was played against the Herons Glen Yard Dogs. The Tigers always enjoy playing on clay courts; however, this day became a real challenge. With 20-30 mph wind gusts, including adjusting to playing on the clay surface, this made for exciting play. Result: Tigers 1 and Yard Dogs 5, with one lost tie-breaker. A welcome discussion over a few pitchers was enjoyed by all.

A special note: Tennis is a great fit for seniors of any fitness or skill level looking to play a fun, competitive sport! Tennis is a very popular sport for many seniors, and for a good reason. It can be not only

extremely healthy, but it’s also a sport that seniors can compete in and master. If you are interested, please stop by at the courts.

Al Dion / Mike O’Hearn

Blue Team – Mustangs We are now at the halfway point in the season. We had a very competitive match with our other Blue Team, the Tigers. The Mustangs won the match 4 sets to 2. The following week we played at home against the first place team from Pine Lakes; we lost all 6 sets.

As I mentioned in previous articles, the other teams in our league are much more competitive. We are currently in third place in the league standings. Mike Renzulli

ROUND ROBIN We had our second Round Robin of the season on Sunday, January 26th. There were 17 players competing in 16 matches. Many players showed their playing skills and had fun playing with and against their fellow Tennis Association members. After the matches, we all enjoyed a Verandahcooked Buddy Burger dinner party. We have to thank all the many people who helped make the event a success: Mary & Ed Sandre set up the courtside snacks and Gail & Tom, Kathy & Roger, and Judy worked on the BBQ dinner set-up. We also want to give a special thank you to Gail for devising a new pairings board to display the match setups. I also want to thank Al Dion for helping match the players.

The Tennis Association monthly meeting was held after our dinner. Future club activities were discussed and planned. We must remind everyone that Association elections will be held in the coming days. All members are expected to offer their input and efforts to continue all the future club activities.

Our last Round Robin of the season is Sunday, March 22nd. The sign-up sheet will be posted in early March. Be sure to sign up to play so you can enjoy this fun social tennis event. Dale Holat Submitted by Linda Engel