Historical File - Sep/Oct 2001
| Welcome New Members!!!
The Bluewater Bay Tennis Center welcomes you and hopes that you will have lots of fun, play great tennis, and make new friends. Elaine Weeks Junior Members: Kellon Marchman Special of the Month: With the summer over and school and teams
in full force, it is time to bring your racket to life with a new set of
strings. Say you saw it on the web and receive 25% off any string
(excluding natural gut). Also check out our incredible Prince racquet specials. The Recent Addition of the American Flag: The Tennis Center recently received a large American Flag that hangs from the ceiling of our clubhouse. This flag was donated by long standing member Dave Howe. Dave served in the Marines from 1951 to 1972. We are a large part of Dave and Betty’s life and are honored to receive such a significant gift. In the wake of the recent tragedy it is certainly time to stand behind our country as we enter the first war of the 21st century. After School Junior Program finishes September 27 and New Six Week Session Begins October 8th: There are many options for this years after school program. You can choose from two, three, or four days a week of after school tennis. Members receive the best discounts. Please see the program specifics on the Clinics link. BWB USTA 4.0 Adult and Senior Tennis Teams If you are interested in playing USTA League Tennis at the 4.0 Level, Adult and/or Seniors, please contact Brad Cunningham at 897-3622 or E-mail him at ebc@cyou.com. Seniors Qualifications: You must be at least 50 years old by 31 Dec 02 to play during the 2002 season which starts approximately Mar or Apr 02. You can play in both USTA Leagues, Adult and Seniors, if you are at least 50. You can also play in the USTA Mixed Doubles League as well. The Mixed Doubles League starts approximately Jan or Feb, Seniors League starts approximately Mar or Apr, and the Adult League starts approximately May or Jun. Housekeeping: Please check in before playing… In order to better serve our members and guests it is important to check in with the pro-shop prior to play in case any scheduling changes have occurred. Please respect business hours… Our hours of operation are: Monday and Wednesday from 8:00am to 9:00pm, Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30am to 9:00pm, Friday 8:00am to 6:00pm, Saturday 8:00am to 5:00pm, and Sunday 9:00am to 5:00pm. In order for our staff to operate as efficiently as possible we kindly ask that you plan your tennis between these hours of operation. Beer and Wine now available… After a four month political battle and miles of paper work, we are finally able to offer a selection of beer, wine, and wine-coolers. Our selection includes Budweiser, Bud-lite, Michelob, Mich-lite, Sutter-Home (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Merlot), and Strawberry, Margarita, Berry, and Peach wine coolers. Beer and wine-coolers sell for $1.50 and wine for $2.25. Because we now offer this beverage service for a very reasonable price we kindly ask that you do not bring beer, wine, or wine-coolers from home, but that you purchase them here. Court brushes and liners now available courtside… There is no doubt that our club is growing into the premiere Tennis facility around. From kids, families, middle aged, and even senior players…we have it all. There is always a game at Bluewater Bay. With that being said, there is more court usage then there ever has been. That is what a good tennis center has to have…to both survive, and provide a service to the many different ages and levels that abound. With all the activity, your court will not always be brushed before you play on it. In Europe (and I very much like this system) the players always walk on to a freshly brushed court, but the new players must leave it they way they found it. Which means, they have to brush it before they leave. We are not adopting the European policy, but if you are the last person playing on the court for the evening I encourage you to brush and line your court. Brushes can be found between court 1 and 2, 4 and 5, 9 and 10, and, 10 and 11. The other purpose of the
brushes is for night play. Many times we are very busy between 4 and
6 pm with junior practice after school, and then we are busy again with
after work play from 6 to 8 pm. Having brushes court side offers the
evening players the option of brushing their court (if it hasn’t already
been brushed by the prior group). This is still very new and will
take some time before brushing courts after play becomes second nature,
but I see a day when we will have brushes and liners on all twelve courts,
and brushing after play will be common practice. Some other side notes to know about brushing your courts: Brushing takes moisture out of the court, so an already dry court is only going to get worse after brushing, in this case it might be better not to brush the court. That way you keep whatever moisture you already had on the court…especially if the court is not very chopped up. Never brush a court with standing water….wait until all the water is completely evaporated before brushing. Brushing a court should take less than five minutes. If one person brushes and the other person lines it is a very quick and non-taxing event. Brushing a court is easy….it is very hard to mess up a clay court by brushing and lining it. There is no right or wrong way to brush a clay court. The main point is to go around the court in a circular, side to side, or up and back pattern until the entire playing service is brushed. It is also o.k. to brush the outside of the court if you so desire. After that is done simply run the liner over all the lines. The liner brush rolls when the wheels roll. The key to lining is not to “scrub” the line, but to lightly roll the bristles of the liner over the line. Good luck and have fun! Membership Awareness: Wet Clay Courts Are Very Dangerous!!! A wet clay court can sometimes be deceiving. It might look perfectly fine, but if still wet can be as slippery as ice. Clay is basically dirt, and when wet this dirt becomes mud. Please be careful after a rain shower. The court may look dry, and it may be dry in some places, but one lunge or one slide on the wet clay and the damage could be major. The best safety advice I can give would be to NEVER play on a clay court that has standing water, and secondly look at the court before playing on it. If it looks wet or just doesn’t have its normal appearance, then walk on it, slide your foot over the questionable area and see if it is muddy or slippery. If it is, do not play on it! It is a safety hazard. Inform the desk staff and let us check it out. Also don’t assume that our court staff has checked or done every court. For one, we are human, and secondly, often times at night the lawn sprinklers will run onto the courts making it hard for our staff to catch. So please be careful and be smart. A wet clay court is an accident waiting to happen. Also check out our Web Page during inclement weather to see if the courts are open or closed. Running Shoes Are Dangerous When Used as Tennis Shoes!!! Running shoes are
comfortable and very cushiony. Unfortunately they are not ideal for
tennis. Running shoes are made for one thing, and that thing is
going forward. Tennis is a side-to-side game. Tennis shoes
lower your center of gravity. Your foot sits closer to the ground
and the soles are rounded more to provide the best possible support for
side-to-side motion. Running shoes, however, sit high allowing a
relatively easy possibility for turning an ankle and also making it harder
to balance while setting to hit. Think of how a sports car sits low
to the ground versus an SUV which sits up high. The sports car may
be able to handle a turn at up to sixty or seventy miles an hour without
rolling over. The SUV could potentially roll over at speeds of 30 to
40 miles an hour. The same goes for tennis shoes versus running.
The tennis shoe is going to stay grounded on the wide running shots,
keeping your foot and ankles stable, the running shoe is not going to
support this side to side motion. The moral of the story is this:
if you are playing tennis in running shoes you are not only risking ankle
injury you are also taking balance (a key ingredient in shot control) away
from your game, thus, making this game harder than it already it is! Consult a Pro Before Buying a Tennis Racquet!!! There are so many racquets out there today. Which one is the right one for you? To me there aren’t really any hard and fast answers to this question, however, there certainly are important things you want to look for in a racquet. Some of the main things are grip size, head size, racquet length, and racquet weight. The most common grip sizes are 4 ¼, 4 3/8, and 4 ½. Head sizes vary from 90 square inches to 130 square inches. Racquet lengths vary from 27 to 29 inches. Racquet weights vary from 8 to 14 ounces. After these fundamentals are considered the next important questions to consider are the power level of the racquet, the type of strings, and the proper tension. A rule of thumb is that hard hitters need less powerful racquets and soft hitters need more powerful racquets. In terms of strings, most players use a variety of synthetic gut strings strung at about the mid tension range. In general the tighter you string the more control you feel, the loser you string the more power you get. Lower tensions are also recommended for people with arm problems. Of course we here at Bluewater would love for you to buy with us. But more importantly we want you to have the correct equipment. If you are shopping for a racquet please let us know, we would love to offer our advice, and at least like the chance to gain your business. |