Weekly Update November 4, 2012

Tennis is set to get started this week with :

-          Social Tennis(offered Monday thru Friday) starting Monday, November 5  at 9:30 AM.  We are asking Non-Members to sign in so we can capture their information.  There is a clip board in the social tennis ball bin with the clip board, pencils and the sign up sheets.

-          Ball Machine 101 (offered every Monday) starting Monday November 5^th at 2pm

-          Men’s League starts on Tuesday, November 6^th.  Sign up sheet is posted on the bulletin board

Couples Open is scheduled to start on November 18^th.    The first week play will be from 2pm – 3:30 followed by a Happy hour.  The following Sundays will move to play from 1-2:30.  As Gwen said on her sign up sheet, “You don’t need a marriage license to play.” 

Palm Creek is turning over 12 new pickleball courts to the Pickleball club on Monday November 5^th.  The grand opening for the new pickleball center is now scheduled for mid November.

The water fountain by the tennis shed has had a thorough cleaning and is clean, filtered water.

CPR

There are 2 slots available for volunteers from tennis who spend lots of time at the courts that would like to be trained in CPR.  Class is Wednesday Nov 14 from 9am - 3 pm in Sonora North.  Wayne Black attended last year and found it to be a very helpful class.  It would be great if would could get two people to volunteer as we have new machines down there (machine that will talk you through procedure). We want to make sure there are people around who know how to use these in case the need occurs.  I need to let activities know by November 8^th so please get back to me ASAP as I need to get the names back by Thursday.

Contact info

It was brought to my attention last week that a call was made to Ann Lykens in Activities because maintenance cleaned one of our courts and as a result had some mud placed on another court.  This was because the maintenance crew did not finish the job before their workday ended.  They did continue working on it the next day.  The courts are much better, but still need some more work.    The bigger issue is, if you have a concern about the tennis courts or anything related to the tennis club, please contact me (520-876-6459 or just 6459 from within the park).  If Activities had to take every call from softball, lawn bowling, shuffleboard, pickleball, etc.  they would be overwhelmed.

Reservemycourt.com

We will once again be using Reservemycourt.com for all court reservations.  Mark and I are in the process of updating the calendar for all of our planned activities.  Also, if you would like to schedule permanent court time, please give us a call.  As we still only have 5 courts, permanent court time will be available from 11AM forward when there is no organized play scheduled on the courts.  If you would like us to wipe out your registration information because you can’t remember you id and password, please let us know.  Then you can reregister.

Desert Cactus Tennis League

I have heard from a few of you who are interested in playing in the Desert Cactus Tennis League.  But, I have not heard from enough to make up a team.  If you want to play in the league and don’t have a team, they will match people to create a team.  The cost is $15 per person for each Divison.  The deadline for registration is December 14^th.  Registration is jnow open and you can register by clicking on this link: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?llr=jciwg5bab&oeidk=a07e6j9v2vhd9404f73&oseq=

Divisions offered in January 2013

WOMEN 

LADY DIVISION - Beginner 2.5-3.0
plays Mon @ 2pm - starts Jan 7th 

PRINCESS DIVISION - Intermediate 3.0-3.5
plays Mon @ 2pm - starts Jan 7th 

QUEEN DIVISION - Advanced 3.5-4.0
 plays Mon @ 2pm - starts Jan 7th 

MEN 

ROYAL DIVISION -Beginner 2.5-3.0
plays Fri @ 2pm- starts Jan 11th 

KING DIVISION - Intermediate 3.0-3.5
plays Fri @ 2pm - starts Jan 11th 

EMPEROR DIVISION - Advanced 3.5-4.0
plays Fri @ 2pm - starts Jan 11th 

MIXED 

PRICKLY PAIRS - 3.5 and under
plays Sat @ 2pm - starts Jan 12th 

PRICKLY PAIRS - 3.5 and over
plays Sat @ 2pm - starts Jan 12th 

Individual players that do not have a team can register individually or with a partner. We will make every effort to place you on a level appropriate team for the first season. If you are uncertain of your level, please email me: orly@palmtennis.com so that we can determine the best placement for you. 

So, contact your tennis friends and form a team, or register as an individual or as partners and they will match you on a team.  The play will rotate between the courts at Mission Royale, Robson and Palm Creek.

See you on the courts,

Kate

News from our President, Kate Perrie

The nets are all up, the lights have been cleaned and hopefully maintenance has cleaned the courts and the water fountain.  When you go out to the courts look up at the lights – its amazing you can actually see the light bulbs!!  We will have Social Tennis beginning on November 5^th.  And November Men’s League will begin on Tuesday, November 6^th.  There will be a sign up sheet for Men’s League posted on the tennis club bulletin board.  If you are not here yet, but would like to play in November Men’s League let me know and I will get you signed up.

New Courts

The Pickleball courts are still a “work in progress.”  At this point, Wendell shared with me,  they plan on starting work on the conversion of the tennis center pickleball courts to tennis courts beginning in December.  We will have to keep our fingers crossed and keep positive thoughts that they will be ready for play in January. 

Organized Play Handout

You can see the new schedule in the attached Tennis Club Handout.  This covers from now until we get the additonal courts.   When we get the additional courts I will print a new handout.  Right now the following changes are planned:

January

Ladies Advance – Changes to 9:30-11:00 when the new courts open

Ladies 2.5-3.0 – 9:30-11:00 will be offered on Thursdays

Saturday Round Robin – can expand beyond the current three courts

Men’s /Ladies Adv – can expand beyond the current two courts

Prime Time – When the new courts are available all court times not scheduled for organized play will be open for permanent court time scheduling

If you don’t have a printer, Organized Play schedules will be available in the Activities Office and hopefully by the white board in the Tennis Center.  If you have any questions, or suggestions, please let me know.  Always looking for your ideas. 

Volunteers

Thank you to all those who volunteered as court captains this year.  Please see the handout listing of the organized play,  the court captains and their in park phone numbers.  Feel free to give them a call if you have any questions on their organized play.  A huge thank you to Penny Mason for an exceptionally successful nominating committee effort for the 2012/2013 season.   In addition to all the court captains listed on the handout, our volunteer list is rounded out by the following:

Marion Gavin – Treasurer

Sandy Hurlbert – Secretary

Walt Krahl/Glenn Arnold/Bob Fulton – Court Maintenance

Helen Arnold – Membership

Bob Gibson – Tennis Ball Captain

Marg Wildeman – Publicity

Mary Williams – Tennis Club Blog

Mary Sullivan Pondell – Bulletin Board

Hank Olson – Craft Fair Set Up

Sieny Kouwenhoven – Bingo Take Down

The last two noted volunteers leads me into the next topic…

Chair Set Up

Hank and Sieny graciously volunteered once again to chair the Craft Fair and the Bingo chair responsibilities.  In addition, this year, with a very busy entertainment schedule, the park has requested tennis, along with pickleball and softball, to participate in chair set up for some of the entertainment events.  The good news is that in addition to the $700 we will be reimubursed for the Bingo take downs, we will receive another  approximately $665 for the event chair set ups.  The park supports our tennis club in many ways, especially this year with the conversion of the pickleball courts back to three additional tennis courts.  This is one way we can help them out and also get reimbursed for our efforts.  Hank Olson chairs the Craft Fair Set Up and Take Down.  Sieny Kouwenhoven chairs the bingo take down.  However, I need a volunteer to chair the 5 entertainment event set ups.  This is a little easier than the bingo take down as you don’t have to deal with any tables – just setting up chairs.  The schedule for the events we are responsible for are: Friday, 2/22 noon, Sunday, 3/3 -3pm, Wednesday, 3/6- 3pm, Wednesday, 3/13 – 3pm, Sunday, 3/17-3pm.   I will help this volunteer  by sending out a request for volunteers in my weekly update letter the week before you need the help.  This person will be the one who coordinates with Activities on how to set up the chairs and direct the volunteers.  PLEASE GIVE THIS SOME CONSIDERATION – OUR TENNIS CLUB IS ONLY AS GOOD AS LONG AS OUR MEMBERS GET INVOLVED!!!

People Update:

-Sandy and Rod Hurlbert celebrated their 70^th birthdays by hiking across England.  You can see their journal at http://www.trailjournals.com/location.cfm?trailname=13995

-Carol Mason will not be joining us this season as Don is going in for open heart surgery.  We send our thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.

-Carol Heinz has a new series of chemotherapy which has been yeilding more positive results.  Although it is fatiguing her she has been cleared to go visit her daugher’s family in San Antonio the week of 10/4.   We look forward to see Larry and Carol in January.

Roster:

If you have not done so already, please take the few minutes to send Sandy Hurlbert your roster information.  We have received quite a few responses but there are still many of you who have not yet responded.  This year we are asking for:

First and Last Names:

Arrival Date: If known

Departure Date: If known

Site #: If known

Self/USTA Rating:

Cell Phone Numbers:

We are asking for cell phone numbers especially for those of you who do not use the park phone system or who do not have a messaging service on your park phone.

Please send this information to Sandy Hurlbert at rshurlbert@q.com  as soon as possible.  Your quick response helps our valued volunteers.  Let’s all make life easy for our volunteers and show them how much we appreciate their work to make our tennis club the great organization that it is.  Thanks to all those who have already responded and thanks in advance to all of you who are going to click on Sandy’s email address and send her your info.

Desert Cactus League:

The Desert Cactus League has ladies playing on Mondays at 2pm, men playing on Fridays at 2pm and Mixed playing on Saturday at 2pm.  Our ladies league is on Mondays from 11-1.  This will leave you with time to make it to the league play.  Connie and I have looked at all the opportunities to move ladies league but it would then create conflicts with other events our ladies participate in at the park.  So, for those of you who play in the Palm Creek ladies league you can play in both, or pick one or the other.  Isn’t it great to have options.  This also holds true for the Intermediate Men’s Group that will be playing this season from 11-12:30 on Fridays.  This will give you time to make it to the 2pm scheduled start of Desert Cactus League Play.  If you have any further questions, please let me know. I will be attending the captains meeting on November 17^th and will share with you all of the information that is available at that time.  If you have any questions you want me to ask, please let me know.

Save the date:

Please get out your calendars right now and save these dates:

Sunday, January 13^th – Our Arkansas contingent is going to host a tennis/pot luck event

Wed/Thur/Fri – January 30, 31 and Feb 1 – Cancer Awareness Tennis Tournament

Saturday evening – February 2^nd – Cancer Awareness Awards Dinner

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday – February21, 22, 23, and 24 – Palm Creek Tennis Tournament

Sunday, February 24^th – Tennis Tournament Awards Celebration

Thursdays – January 10, 17, and 24 – Club Team Tennis

Sunday – March 17^th – Annual Tennis Club Meeting – San Tan Room

Membership Dues:

I will let you know when Helen Arnold is in the park and ready and available to receive your dues.   So, hang on to your monies until then.  I also want ot share with you why I think Palm Creek Tennis Club Membership is such a good investment. 

·        Organized play – you get many opportunities to play tennis without having to find partners or schedule court time

·        Permanent Court Time – Only members of the tennis club can book permanent court time.  This gives you a set schedule for your tennis matches without having the hassel of going into the tennis court reservation system (www.reservemycourt.com) on a weekly basis.

·        Free tennis lessons – Skip Nirenberg and his team offer great tennis lessons/opportunities to hit lots of tennis balls

·        Social Events – The tennis club has some great opportunities to get to know the other members of the club and just the meals offered by the club offsets the cost of your dues.  So even for the non-tennis player spouses, the couples membership is one great deal!!

·        Weekly updates – Lets you know what is happening in the club on a weekly basis

·        Tennis Tournaments/Club Team Tennis – These events are an additional cost if you are not a member of the tennis club

Hope you agree and we look forward to your membership to help support our tennis club!

Looking forward to seeing you back at Palm Creek for a great 2012/2013 tennis season,

Kate

A note from our Tennis Club President, Kate Perrie

Hi all,

Yes, its time to start planning for our upcoming tennis season at Palm Creek.  Let’s start with the great news – as soon as the contractor finishes installing the new Pickleball center the existing pickleball courts in the tennis center will be converted to three additional tennis courts.  Yes, we will have 8 tennis courts in the Palm Creek Tennis Center!!!  This is tentatively scheduled to begin November 15th so we will have the 8 tennis courts ready when the busy season begins!!  At least I am keeping my fingers crossed J

With that news we are making some changes to the tennis schedule:

1-      We are going to eliminate prime time and all time slots not scheduled for organized play will be available for permanent court time reservations.

2-      With many of you requesting two hour time slots because you can’t get in three sets in a 1 ½ hour time slot we are going to make all time slots from 11AM on into two hour time slots.  This will result in the following time slots: 8-9:30, 9:30-11, then 11-1, 1-3, 3-5, 5-7 and 7-9.

3-      Organized play will not always adhere to these time slots as we want to not force any of our volunteer court captains to have to change their schedules.

I will have the tennis club handout ready to go in the near future with have the organized play schedule and I will send it out in an email and we will also post it on the tennis club website www.palmcreektennisclub.blogspot.com.

Save the Date:

Mark your calendars right now so you don’t have any conflicts.

January 13th – Arkansas group hosts tennis event

Cancer Awareness Tournament :  January 30 – Ladies doubles, 31 Men’s Doubles, Feb 1 Mixed Doubles

Cancer Awareness Awards Banquet – Saturday February 2^nd

Palm Creek Tennis Tournament – February 21, 22, 23 and 24

Palm Creek Tennis Tournament Awards Dinner – February 24

Annual Meeting – Sunday, March 17th

Other good news:

We are going to be getting a tennis racquet stringer in the park.  As many of you know it is recommended that you have your racquet restrung the number of times in a year equal to the number of days you play tennis in a week.  That is, if you play 3 days a week, you should have your racquet restrung three times a year.    Mike Murray will be at site #1488 and is planning to arrive the first week in November.  Below is the email he sent to me requesting any advance requests so that he can be sure to bring the correct inventories with him:

I will be bringing my stringing gear with me this year and look forward to working with club members as needed.   If possible, I would appreciate it if you could query the membership in advance to find out if there are any requests for string or grip brands/types.  If so, I'll be sure and have my inventories ready for anyone who needs work done.  For your information, I typically charge $20 for stringing with a standard synthetic gut and $5.00 for a basic grip, $1.50 for an overgrip.  More expensive strings/grips are additional at my extra cost only.  My wife and I plan to arrive sometime around the first week in November and will be in site #1488. 

Mike’s contact information is:

Email: Mike Murray [w0agmike@gmail.com]  

Cell: 931-248-0722

It's almost time....

Are you ready?



Have you done any practicing/playing this summer?

Does your racquet need to be restrung?

Do you need a new pair of court shoes?

How's your supply of fresh balls?

It won't be long till we're all gathered at the courts at Palm Creek again.

Hope to see you there!

They didn't all abandon Palm Creek

April first found quite a few of our tennis faithful heading in all directions.  But there were still a decent number of players hanging around to get a match together for a while.  Social Tennis edged its starting time earlier and earlier as the daily temperatures began to climb.  There was a foursome or two that played at 7am.  Hank and Glady gathered about 20 of us for one last happy hour at their place.  Larry Marik entertained us with his musical talent as we enjoyed drinks and snacks cleaning out our pantries. 

As we moved towards May, there were even fewer players.  (No surprise there!)  And, of course, Arizona’s famous “dry heat” increased daily.  Jean and Bob McConnell organized a ‘mixed doubles round robin’ for Thursday evenings.  It was quite pleasant to play under the lights and we usually had three courts of players drawing for partners and entering into friendly competition.  When we’d had enough tennis, we moved to McConnell’s lovely rear patio for drinks and snacks.   Although they lit their fireplace to set the mood, it was wonderful being able to sit outside in the evening without being chilly or bothered by bugs!  Big thanks to Bob and Jean for being the weekly hosts!!

By Memorial Day Weekend the tennis courts were definitely quiet.  We’ll be looking forward to the return of all our players next season!  Be sure to see our post of June 2 and invite your friends to join us at Palm Creek.

Tennis Friends & Family promotion at Palm Creek

Palm Creek has developed  a New Program called Tennis Friends and Family.  Click on coupon to enlarge and then print.

This is how the plan will work (not what is printed on the coupon)

If you refer a first time guest or bring an old friend back (someone who has not stayed at Palm Creek since 2010)

• Guest will receive $150 per month discount up to $450 for a 3 month Stay
• You will receive $100 per month - up to a $300 for a 3 month Stay
• The Tennis Club will receive $50 a month up to a $150 for a 3 month Stay

Note:

You can also find more information about the park on the following website:

·        The Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort website can be found at www.palmcreekgolf.com

Saturday Night at the Courts

It was a beautiful evening for the "social event" of the 2011/2012 Palm Creek Tennis Club Season, Saturday Night at the Courts.

Everyone arrived with their appetizer, bottle of wine and unique "black tie" attire as modeled here by Connie Emerson and our greeter/sommelier, Penny Mason.

Upon arrival there was a lot of  chatting and wine tasting taking place on Court 3.

Everyone was treated to some very inspired "Opening Ceremonies" with the singing of the Canadian and the US National Anthems.

Then the games began!  Special thanks to Ken Civiello, Mary Ellen Halm, Penny Jacobsen, Patrick Leonard (from Mission Royale), Bev Argo and Mark Costello for putting on a fun and exciting competition under the lights.

A big thank you to the many members who came out and made this event an outstanding success.  I have heard from many that it was "the best party ever!"  Here is a sampling of photos of some of the attendees.  Thanks to all of you who sent me photos!

As the evening came to a close and the tennis court lights went out it was a lot of fun sitting around enjoying fresh brewed coffee and  all of the gooey desserts (tiramisu, carrot cake, oreo cake,double chocolate cake, and  boston cream pie, and assorted cheese cakes) under the light of our tennis ball candle centerpieces.  A good time was had by all!








We actually left the courts with everything a mess as it was too dangerous for us to try and pick up in the dark.  The clean up the next morning was something to see - all the tables and chairs were put back under the pavilion before we even got back and within 30 minutes the court 3 was back to being ready for tennis!