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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2022 59 By the time you read this article, most of the major holidays will be behind us, except for New Years Eve, which to many, can't come fast enough. Woven into the December celebrations was our holiday party. It was a blast. We had a fully-catered affair with tri-tip steak and chicken cordon-bleu for the main entrees. We were honored to have Dave and Janine Rohrbacker, true ambassadors of our community and masters of karaoke and line dancing, as our emcees for the night. Dave and Janine were challenged with prying many of us out of our precious comfort zones with many post-dinner activities. That being said, maybe we should have shut the lights off and held our ping pong party in the dark to alleviate any threats of having our "not-for- prime-time" dance moves go viral! Oh, the horror! With most of the past two years being totally consumed with vaccines, variants, and excruciatingly boring quarantines, many of us are looking forward to the Times Square Ball dropping us into 2022. On behalf of the Four Seasons Table Tennis Club, here's wishing all residents a happy and perhaps more importantly, healthy New Year. Stay safe. ~ Bob Rubenstein, brube88@gmail.com Table Tennis Whenever we are on or near the tennis court, either as a player or spectator, there is certain basic etiquette we should all follow. In a professional match, there are specific rules to abide by in order not to be thrown out of the venue. However, at a club like Four Seasons, it's just simple courtesy for everyone to adhere to some unspoken rules so that the game is more enjoyable. The following are just a few rules for common court etiquette. For the Players 1. Call the score – If you are serving, call out the score loud and clear before each point to prevent score disputes later. 2. Line calls – Poor line calls are one of major causes of disputes. If you are not 100 percent sure of the correct call, you should give your opponent the benefit of the doubt. Just because you are making the call doesn't mean you should call it in your favor. We are not playing for a million dollars here. More importantly, it's not worth losing friends over it! 3. Changing sides – Do not take excessive amount of time when changing sides and make your opponent wait. It's just common courtesy. 4. Offer encouragement – Don't criticize your doubles partner. Everyone has bad days. Encouragement will build better relationships. Criticism tends to generate resentment. 5. Targeting your opponent – If your opponent is at the net, never try to take aim at him/her. Doing so is not only poor etiquette, it can possibly injure that player. 6. Celebrating wins – Part of good sportsmanship is being a humble winner and a graceful loser. Being happy inside after a win is fine, but gloating is unbecoming. For the Spectators 1. Talk quietly when you are near tennis courts that are in use. Talking or laughing loudly is very distracting to the players. 2. Hold your clapping and cheering until the point is over. 3. Never enter a court or walk behind the players when a point is in play. Wait until the point is over. 4. Let the players decide on line calls. Don't interfere. It's not your job! Although these upspoken rules seem innocuous, they are often not followed. If everyone tries to be a bit more mindful about them, it will make the game that much more enjoyable. See you all at The Courts! Visit our website at https://sites.google.com/view/tennis- fourseasons/home. ~ Stan Lam, (714) 757-2141, slamcpa@gmail. com Tennis Club

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