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Racquet Club The welcome confluence of warmer days, milder breezes and daylight savings has sparked a resurgence in tennis activity, even to the point of placing a premium on court reservations. The men's 3.5 morning games on Monday, Wednesday and Friday now involve upwards of eight players while the 3.0 mixed doubles, also played MWF rotate better than 10 participants. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the 3.5 women send out six members to their double play that often is marked by incredible rallies as the ball continues to be returned even when there appears to be an outright winning shot! Following MWF men's doubles, Irve Sturner has organized hitting drills, forehands, backhands, volleys and the occasional lob which are bringing out those seeking physical conditioning along with shot improvement. These sessions run 30-45 minutes with upwards of eight players changing court position periodically to optimize the experience. We're also witnessing more afternoon activity from residents who are finding compatible partners for singles and doubles as well as solos and groups checking out our state of the art ball machine to enhance shot quality and placement. Can we find the right tennis spot for you? Here are three suggestions: Come to one of our last Saturday of the month Play Days, visit one of the sessions mentioned above and ask your fellow tennis residents about getting started, or attend a drill session around 11 am M/W/F either to watch or to hit! Two of our newest members, Larry Zimmerman and Scott Martin are drill regulars and their Paddle Ball On the evening of March 28, our group was invited to a round robin at the neighboring community of Sun Lakes. We had lots of fun and played with some of their top players there. Our A team of Gary Campanella and Terry Miller (picture inset) were undefeated and managed to win all seven of their matches. We plan to make this a monthly thing alternating between the Four Seasons and Sun Lakes courts. We were also recently introduced to a new hi-tech paddle designed by Brian Lee who was the US reigning champion for the last five years. The new paddle has a bit more "punch" and is supposedly going to improve your game, but I feel that like all games where a ball is involved, the player is 95 percent and equipment is 5 percent. We finally got two umbrellas and a third bench (hooray) and 38 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MAY 2013 | sports Activities Ping Pong Club games are clearly showing the benefits of sustained practice. The 2013 Paribas open is now a fading memory but NOT for those from Four Seasons who volunteered. They were recently treated and feted to a "lights-out" multi-course appreciation dinner at the Esmeralda resort. The first prize drawing was a week in New York at the Four Seasons hotel, including round trip airfare plus box seats at the US Open itself to be contested this September. How would you like to be one of the 800 in attendance — practically on your knees — hoping that your drawing stub would magically be in the MC's hands? And that was just the top prize, 4 Bulova watches were handed out plus all kinds of gift certificates including most of the signature restaurants in the Coachella Valley. Here's more trivia from this year's Indian Wells tourney, nearly 32,000 tennis balls in use, over 1,100 volunteers plus another 364 ball kids, attendance swelling to another record, 382,000+. And it will be better in 2014: a brand spanking new Stadium Court #2 is under construction with seating for 8,000, three new restaurants and four practice courts will have been added, plus a new entrance/box office facility! We are so lucky to have Larry Ellison and his checkbook(s) at the helm of the Paribas. Our committee meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 4 pm in the Lodge. The meeting is open to everyone contributing positive thoughts and inputs. See you on the courts. ~ Ken Elliott the court has been scheduled for a make over in mid April to accommodate the pickleball players. So for summer we should be in good shape as far as the courts go ! As of May 1, our play times will be 7 to 9 pm. All new players are welcomed. It is a fun and challenging sport and not too hard on your knees and elbows. For more information call Jim at (951) 769-5525 or Alan at (951) 769 4202. ~ Alan Chan We recently finished our first Four Seasons Golden Paddle Tournament. This tournament was played with the small paddles that Santa (aka Don Fant) gave us for Christmas and we used the smaller 38mm ping pong balls. When the dust settled, Frank Wen-hui Tsai won the Golden Paddle and the gold medal. Niles Sundstrom was awarded the silver medal and Suchart Sudhamma got the bronze. It was so nice to have Mac, Paco, Pete, Rob H. Ben Oh, Ben Wang, Mike, and My all join in this tournament and make it a fun day. ~ Niles Sundstrom Above: (L-R) Niles Sundstrom, Frank Wen-hui Tsai, and Suchart Sudhamma Right: The smaller paddle was a challenge for all of us. Pickleball There are two things we know for sure: 1. There is strength in numbers; 2. Persistence pays off. We have been growing at an amazing rate and soon will have the most active players of all the sports clubs in Four Season. There are so many players added each month that it has been hard to keep the contact list updated. No complaints here — that is truly incredible. We have also been persistent in seeking recognition for our club and asking for and receiving needed items to make our club a success. After months and months of taping and retaping the correct lines for the pickleball courts, we have finally achieved our goal; newly striped and correct lines for both the Paddle Tennis and Pickleball Clubs. In addition, we now have two umbrellas, a trash can and two additional benches (photo insest). It is fairly obvious that before we got the benches and umbrellas, we were way too cozy and slightly overheated. As of May 1, we will be changing our start times. We will still meet Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday but our start time will now be 9 am. Due to our overwhelming popularity, we have added a Monday evening to our schedule. That play will start at 6 pm. We would like to thank the Paddle Tennis players for generously sharing their courts with us. We were forced to tape the courts to accommodate Pickleball and their members accepted it and were willing to share without any complaints. That kind of teamwork and cooperation is a benchmark for all the sports clubs and a tremendous benefit to our community. We have even had a few of the Paddle Tennis players join us on the Pickleball Courts. As usual, we encourage all interested players to come on out and give it a try. The game is easy to learn and so much fun. You don't know what you're missing. For more information, call Linda at (951) 797-3939 or e-mail to lbsnipes@yahoo.com. See you on the courts. ~ Linda Snipes Players enjoy the new bench. (L-R) Gary Campanella and Terry Miller SPORTS ACTIVITIES | FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MAY 2013 39

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