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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2018 61 Tennis Club Thank goodness we have gotten through the holiday season. It's not that I am all that much of a Grinch, but I am so tired of all of the versions of "Little Drummer Boy" that played incessantly from Thanksgiving to Christmas. What troubles me about the d#$@ song is that it reminds me of when I was about eight years old, and I got referred to during the Christmas Pageant as "The Little Dumber Boy." (Barumpa bump bump.) That was not very nice of Sister Mary Elizabeth. Maybe I should not have mentioned her fish breath during Catechism. But holy mackerel, it was nasty! Oh, right. This is supposed to be about the Tennis Club, not my unhappy childhood. The club's committee is really working on trying to grow membership and participation. Among the ideas have been the revamped monthly play days, including a very workable and fair method for setting up the initial teams and matches, along with a rotation plan that provides players with constant playing time and a chance to play with and against many different participants. This helps the developing players improve their games and gives the stronger players the opportunity to be gracious and instructive. Speaking of instructive, the committee is also working on a plan to provide some structured lessons and practice drills. Some of us remember how beneficial it was to have Cheryl Smith teaching lessons and helping those of us who had left the great game behind for years get back on the court as senior players. Details will be shared here when they are finalized. Another new idea is to have a bracket competition in which players will compete to make it to a final championship match that has linespersons and a referee or whatever they call the person in the tall chair who speaks unintelligibly during the match. The linepersons will be the same visually-impaired seniors who made bad calls while they were losing their elimination matches. It should make for some opportunities to demonstrate integrity or vindictiveness, either of which will make the final match exciting and fun for the players and throng of spectators. In the meantime, play days will revert back to the last Saturday of the month and Bernadette Martin will continue to arrange for Thursday evening doubles matches. ~ Steve Hovey

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