President’s Letter

What a Summer ALTA Season it has Been!

2020 has been an unprecedented year for everyone and everything, including tennis and ALTA. I would first like to thank all the summer season ALTA captains for their extra work and understanding, as we all worked through the oddities and issues that arose throughout the season. Thank you captains for your patience and the positive attitudes displayed. ALTA appreciates your acceptance and compliance with the temporary COVID-19 guidelines implemented. We received numerous thank you messages for allowing the summer season to happen, even though it was not a “normal ALTA season.” I know for many, including myself, a scheduled ALTA match day gave us a break from the monotony as we all traverse through this COVID-19 experience! Thank you to all of our captains and members for your support and positive thoughts!

None of this could happen without our ALTA coordinators, overalls, and league vice presidents, so I want to say thank them for their additional time, thought processes, positive support, input, and involvement needed to work through all the unique and unexpected issues and situations that evolved daily throughout the 2020 summer ALTA season. Our ALTA office staff has been golden with their knowledge and ability to be flexible, as we worked through unusual, “un-programmed” oddities. Thank you to all of the ALTA volunteers, office staff, and our members for enabling our 2020 summer City Finals to be held at 53 separate facility home courts throughout the Atlanta ALTA area. Due to the delay of the ALTA summer season, be sure to look for the 2020 summer City Finals results and any pictures submitted in our November/December edition of the Net News.

I think about what I have personally learned from this summer season, such as the importance of tennis, and the social, physical, and emotional support given to me. The enjoyment of each match played, the camaraderie, the niceties as we clicked racquets, all while following the six-foot social distancing requirements, made for a great tennis experience. I enjoyed hearing how glad so many ALTA members were that ALTA had allowed the season to happen, many stating the “mental relief” that tennis provided them. Many players loved the mandatory third set 10-point tiebreaker implemented to lessen the off-court waiting time, especially in this summer heat! Players even voiced the “relief” of not providing a full food spread at matches (even though never having been a match requirement); however, many teams did furnish pre-packaged individual snacks and beverages.

Heading into the fall 2020 ALTA season with all the same COVID-19 guidelines in place, I wish all our members, team captains, ALTA volunteers, and our wonderful ALTA office staff another amazing season of ALTA tennis. Let our passion for the game of tennis, our positive thoughts and support, our friendships, and our empathy for what we are ALL going through currently, guide us into making sportsmanlike decisions and solutions for any unique and strange situations that may arise at a match during the fall season. We’re all in this together.

Sandy Depa, 2020 ALTA President

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