In This Issue:

Recession Help for SMTC Members - No Dues Increase for 2009 HELLO TOURNAMENT - February 8 Members Page Palisades Interclub - January 25 Mulholland Came to SMTC Welcome New Members!

SAVE THE DATE - Morgan Run Resort Trip - Memorial Day 2009 Recap: Turkey Shoot Tournament Introducing New Board Members - Bill Nissley and Diane Brooks Mediterranean Tennis Invite The Tennis Health Index

RECESSION HELP FOR SANTA MONICA TENNIS CLUB
No increase in dues for 2009!

Santa Monica Tennis Club remains the best bargain of the area - for the sum of $65 you have at least forty days you can play all day and it does not cost you any money!!! Dues are due now!!! Form is part of this newsletter, so please send in as soon as possible. A new roster will be published after January 31st to show all current members and if your dues are not paid you will not be listed in the web page roster. Also, if your email address or phone number has changed, please note that on your membership form. We will also change the password for this page.

Click here for the renewal form.

By the way, please make your checks to Santa Monica Tennis Club - the bank does not like SMTC!

Thank you!

- SMTC Board

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HELLO TOURNAMENT - February 8th

For some of you new members this is an opportunity to meet other SMTC members and show your tennis ability. The tournament "kicks off" SMTC's year of events. We will attempt to have fewer tournaments in 2009, but will have the same number of Friday night socials. The Hello tournament is a round robin, mixed doubles event, so you play one set with a partner, then move on to the next set with a different partner. The partnering is determined by the number (or letter) that you draw, so if you get a bad partner, then you can blame it on the hat that you drew this out of. Hopefully we will have both a morning and an afternoon session.

SMTC furnishes the balls, the courts and the snacks, we will also have trophies. The site for the dinner that follows this event has not been announced but we can assure you that you will have good food and very pleasant company! Last year's event was a real sell-out.

Guests (or former members) may also enter the tournament or attend the dinner, so if you have a friend that thinks they might like to 'try us out' this would be an ideal time.

As usual, we will have a rain date set up, which will be March 1st.

Please see the entry form and get your entry in early. Mail your entries to Bill Nissley, 1122 Chelsea Avenue, Santa Monica, 90403 - phone 310-850-9407 - email: whnissley@hotmail.com.

Click here for the entry form.

- Marguerite Jorgensen

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MEMBERS PAGE

A new member, Carola Goodman, phone 603-769-7057 Cell, would like to know if there are ladies available to play singles during the day. Carola recently moved here from the east coast and would like to become better acquainted with our group.

Remember - this is your page - please use it!!

- Marguerite Jorgensen

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JANUARY 25 INTERCLUB WITH PALISADES TENNIS CLUB

SMTC has been invited to send 8 players for an afternoon tournament at the Palisades Park on Sunday January 25, 2009. Please plan to be there @ 12:30 pm for a 1:00 pm start. Refreshments will be served. Cost is $15 per person .

If you are interested send a check payable to Santa Monica Tennis Club ASAP to Katherine Spetner, 1022 26th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90403. E-mail: k.spetner@verizon.net, phone: 310-828-7109. Include your phone # or cell #, email address and USTA rating on the entry form in this newsletter.

Click here for the entry form.

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MULHOLLAND CAME TO SANTA MONICA

On December 7th, SMTC hosted six teams from Mulholland, one 3.5; three 4.0's and two 4.5's. The competition was fierce for some and a 'walk in the park' for some of the others. It was the best out of three sets for the first round and most the matches only went to two sets. We do not have the last names of the Mulholland attendees, however the strong SMTC teams of Carol Reston and Raul Hernandez; Gillian Cook and Dr. Luc de Shepper; Cassie Fisbeck and Mike Schmidt; and Claudia Tossolini and Bob McGuire made short work of their opponents. Unfortunately your president Marguerite and her partner, Gregg Zucker, did not give a makeup team of one of our members, Gwendolyn Coleman and a Mulholland player named Jeff, much of a battle. Carol Katz and Ron Elmer fought more fiercely and lost the second set in a tie-breaker 4-7. Some of the Mulholland members seem to think they had to leave early, so the rest of the afternoon made some of the SMTC members disgruntled with the lack of competition. The good news is that we will travel to their club next December to a much nicer facility. The weather cooperated and we had lots of refreshments, so it was not all bad.

- Marguerite Jorgensen for Ron Elmer

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Welcome New Members

• Brys, Laura  310-820-0260  3.5
• Carey, Nicola  415-374-9564  3.0
• Christi, Millie  310-403-7977  3.5
• Jonides, Tom*  818-961-7800  4.0
• Miller, Laurie  310-433-4114  4.0
• Rutchik, Gregory  650-224-2621  3.5
• Sacks, Andrew  310-926-7844  4.0
• Williamson, Richard  818-359-1527  4.0
• Zaslove, Mara  310-487-7524  3.5
• Nissley, Bill  310-850-9407 (number correction)

*Returning member from a few years ago - welcome back!

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SAVE THE DATE - Morgan Run Resort Trip - Memorial Day 2009

We have a well-known trip director, Joan Ello, formerly with The Tennis Players, who is going to be in charge of accommodations for this trip. We can assure you she sees that we will have the best available. We are going back to the remodeled popular Morgan Run Resort next year on Memorial Day weekend…the deposit has been made, so please enter this date in your calendar for May 23 through 25th, 2009!!

- Marguerite

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Recap: TURKEY SHOOT TOURNAMENT, November 23rd

Well, the weather gods smiled on SMTC one more time, so we had good weather. The morning session started off on really bad circumstances. Ron Elmer and Marguerite were able to collect twenty people to play in the morning and then someone called at 7:30 am Sunday to say they were sick and did not have any idea of a replacement, two people were very late…etc. Oh well, we finally got started and the morning contingent of the Native Americans beat the Pilgrims by a total of 169 to 152. The winning Native Americans in the morning session were: Ron Hall with 22 games; Joe Thigpen with 22 games; the highest lady was a non-member who graciously filled in, Audrey Cohen, who also had 22 games, then the next highest was Sue Moore with 20 games. Other team members were Brana Hall, Dan Bianco, Terry Bernardi, Gwendolyn Coleman, Gil Leib and Marguerite Jorgensen. The Pilgrims were: Joanie Rippner, Steven Decker, David King, Diane Bell, Carol McCright, Stan Wineberg, David Huntington, Stan Weinberg, Tom Boysen, Diane Brooks (who also had 22 games), and much, much thanks to Gordon Berman for filling in so we had an even number of people.

The afternoon session went much more smoothly with a field of twenty-four entries and the Pilgrims soundly trounced the Native Americans 256 to 168 (three people from the Native Americans did not turn in their score sheets..so it could have been a little closer..but would not have changed the ratio). The Pilgrims were well represented by: Mary Sunshine and Carol Katz who each had 27 games , closely followed by Jutta Ruehl who had 25 games; Ron Elmer had 29 games, followed by Bob McGuire with 26 games; Allison Starcher; Rob Baumann; Cyrus Namini; Claudio Tossolini; Eric Rabinowitz; Randy Chow; and Shirley McClaine. The Native American team consisted of: Jillian Mayer; Jim Castagnola; Carrie Gold; Jimmy Dale; Andre Charvet; Carmel Valencia (who also had 27 games); Millie Christie; Carol Reston; Frank Crezee; Bruce Janger; Gillian Cook and Dr. Luc de Shepper.

The high scoring people each session received a tennis motif key ring and the winning team received a $10 certificate from a grocery store to help with their turkey purchase. Most of the people donated this to the food drive which Randy Chow delivered and was approximately fifty pounds of food to a local food bank!

After the afternoon session some of the more hardy players went to El Cholo to either celebrate or 'lick their wounds' so a good time was had by all.

Thanks to Brana Hall for bringing the ice, the bananas and the energy bars and Ron Elmer for furnishing the water.

- Marguerite Jorgensen for Brana Hall

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Introducing a new board member (this time around) - Bill Nissley

The Board of Santa Monica Tennis Club this year, consists of Marguerite Jorgensen, President; Bruce Schelden, Vice-President/Treasurer; Eric Rabinowitz, Secretary; Brana Hall, Social Director; Ron Elmer, Interclub Director; Bill Nissley, Tournament Director and Diane Brooks, Membership Director. The bios of the two new board members are below.

Bill Nessley - Bio
I am a life long Santa Monica resident and long time member of SMTC. I was first a member when SMTC had a robust junior membership (I was 14). We played all the tournaments and there was a junior program. For twenty years from 1974 I served the club as treasurer and board member. I initiated the singles round robin which was a club activity until last year.

When I was on the board the club ran the USTA tournaments and I became the tournament director and still am...oh my..for 30plus years!

As a tennis pro in Santa Monica, I have always supported grass roots tennis as the bedrock of the sport and so to this day. I want to continue to participate as a 21st century board member now, to do whatever is needed most. Bill Nissley

(Note - Bill will become our tournament director - that's where he has the most experience and ability - Marguerite)

Diane Brooks - Bio

As a player in Northern California, Diane Brooks made an impact. A Sectional and national star, she gained recognition for both her competitiveness and for her sportsmanship.

Given her background it, is easy to understand why she evidenced these qualities. Norman Brooks, her father, taught her the game. The late Brooks a, playing administrative and tennis business legend in the area, was elected to the Northern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 1992.

After a distinguished career on the court, Diane spent more than 20 years as the Director of Tennis at The Las Vegas Country Club, and the Cheviot Hills Tennis facility, respectively. A long-time tennis activist locally, Diane received a USTA Southern California Service Award in 1994. She is currently serving as a USTA Tennis Service Representative focusing on northern Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.

Her goal is to help satisfy the needs a community may have in order to maintain the growth of tennis, which she does quite effectively. Diane is happy to be on the board of SMTC to help further SMTC's efforts for keep our club spirit alive and well.

(We feel that Diane's experience and knowledge will certainly aid the board and the club with its goals - Marguerite)

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Being president of SMTC and having my email address listed brings some interesting and different emails. Below is an example of 'different emails'. I am not endorsing or suggesting that you follow up on this unless you are interested. If you are, I could forward the rest of the email which lists the suggested itinerary - Marguerite

"Dear Sir/Madam
We are organizing camping periods in Turkey, for Europian tennis clubs and groups. Flights, accommodation, tennis courts and programs, excursion alternatives and any extra services that you may wish are included to these organisations. In this way, both you have your trainings and have possibilities for holiday and culture opportunities. As is known, Turkey is new developing in tennis sports and is very economic according to the other Europian countries. Also families of the sportsmen may join to the camping programs. If you are interested and want to learn more please write;

1. The city or town you live in
2. The city you want to come in Turkey for camping
3. Estimated number of sportsman and approximate date (month) of the camping time
4. The services you want to have during the camping period and mail to this address back.

We prepare a detailed program with pricing and make an offer to your group.

Or, if, you say that this subject has nothing to do with you, we kindly would ask you to forward us to the right address or person who may be interested about an organisation like this.

Thanks in advance,

Kind Regards

Hakan Derin
Istanbul&Mediterrenian Tennis Or"

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Article: Tennis Health Index

The Index is a new measure of the health of tennis that consists of six key elements and shows that the sport has increased 10.8 percent in the U.S. over the last five years. Published by the TIA and USTA, the Tennis Health Index includes four tennis participation surveys that use different methodologies, along with measures of tennis ball shipments and court activity.

The six measures that make up the Tennis Health Index are:

• USTA/TIA Tennis Participation Phone Survey, which shows that total tennis participation in 2007 exceeded 25 million, the highest since 1999.
• National Sporting Goods Association Mail Panel, which indicates that tennis has grown 28 percent since 2003.
• American Sports Data Mail Survey, which shows a 2 percent increase in tennis since 2003.
• Sports Participation Partnership Survey, which shows tennis has increased 16 percent from 2006 to 2007, with the total number of players reaching 16.9 million.
• TIA Ball Shipment Tracker, which shows a 15 percent increase in tennis ball shipments since 2003.
• TIA and USTA Court Activity Monitor, which reports a total of 137 million court-hours were booked and/or used in 2007.

Click Here to Download the Tennis Health Index

From: Growing Tennis.com 11/08

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Friday night socials will resume in March - be prepared!