In This Issue:

Annual Hello Tournament - Jan 31 Singles Round Robin Tournament Sad Story Welcome New Members Update Your Member Info Reminder - Renew for 2010

Meet New Board Members Open Meeting Recap Victory at Mulholland USTA News Turkey Shoot Recap Members Page

2010 Hello Tournament

*** DATE CHANGED - Now Sunday, January 31

This year the event will include a member/guest option to recruit new members. The date is January 31, 2010. There will be a morning session 9:00 am start and an afternoon session to start play at 12:30 pm.

The format will be a mixed doubles round robin for 3.5 and 4.0/4.5. It is important that all members who enter commit to playing in the event. Round robins do not work very well if there is a hole in the draw.

The celebration will happen at our closest thing to an SMTC watering hole that we have, that is, El Cholo for dinner and awards - trophies, of course. This is scheduled to start when all the matches are played - 5:30 pm.

If you know somebody that you think would enjoy the club as much as you do, invite him or her to come as a guest. The guest would pay the same as members do. We will maintain the same price as last year - just $35 per person including the dinner!

Send entries to: Bill Nissley, 1122 Chelsea, Santa Monica, CA 90403 - or his email: whnissley@hotmail.com - phone 310-850-9407.

Click here for the entry form.

- Marguerite

Back To Top

SINGLES ROUND ROBIN

For all members who want more singles competition.

SMTC is, once again, offering the Singles Round Robin Tournament for the low price of $10 per participant.

Players enter according to level--3.5, 4.0, 4.5 and open for both men and women. All players will receive information regarding scheduling. The matches will be arranged by the players at their convenience, but there will be assignments regarding responsibility for making the call, or contact and the new can of tennis balls, Wilson, Penn or Dunlop.

The start date will be the first week of March and will go through the spring. Players must report match scores at the end of the season to Bill via email (whnissley@hotmail.com). Trophies will be awarded to 1st and 2nd place finishers in each division. Matches may not occur during club open play time on Sundays.

Send entry form to Bill Nissley, 1122 Chelsea, Santa Monica, CA 90403 - phone 310/850-9407 - entry fee $10

Click here for the entry form.

Back To Top

SAD STORY

The 81st Anniversary Tournament was played July 22nd -- Marguerite went to El Cholo's to wind down and she left the folder with all of the money and the results in the seat of her car with the valet attendant. She never noticed that she did not have the folder and with all of the other events, it was not until our capable treasurer, Bruce Schelden, reminded her that he did not have the profit and loss from this tournament. I will replace the cash, but if any of you wrote checks and they were cashed, I would appreciate having a copy of the check showing the signature. If any of these checks were not cashed, would you please replace them! The entry fee was $25 and we had a morning division and an afternoon division. Please email: Marg10s@earthlink.net.

Thank you - Marguerite

Back To Top

Welcome New Members

• Avery, Lisa   310-908-5714   3.0   F
• Ephrim, Russell   845-628-4709   3.0    M
• Goodman, Andrea   3l0-463-9066   4.0    F
• McKennett, David   323-935-3060   3.0    M
• Meyer, Roxy   310-580-5726   3.0    F
• Meyer, Stephanie   320-508-5726   3.5   F

This makes a total of 26 new/returning members since 10/1/09!

Back To Top

Help -- Update your Member Info

People are always moving, changing email addresses, etc., so would you please check your listing in the web membership page and let me know if there are errors...or if you have made changes.

Thanks - Marguerite: marg10s@earthlink.net

Back To Top

REMINDER: Dues for 2010

The grace period for the membership dues in Santa Monica Tennis Club is over January 31st, so please renew your membership at the same low rate for the last three years - $65 per year; there is now a family membership of $130 (two adults) which includes one minor child (under 18); each additional child would be $15 more; a child (10 to 18) may join alone for $30, but they would have to have a director be responsible for them and Bill Nissley is the director responsible at this time.

The new roster will be published February 1st and if you have not paid your dues, you will not be included and your name will be on the Wall of Shame posted by Court #1.

If you refer someone who joins you receive a $5 certificate...however, if you refer five new members, you will receive one year's membership free!

Click here for the membership renewal form.

Click here for the new FAMILY APPLICATION form.

Back To Top

Meet Your New Board Members - Elsa Atayan and Joel Hoffman

The Board of SMTC is very pleased to add the two newest directors and following is a short bio on Elsa and Joel which shows their capabilities and what they will bring to the board.

Elsa Atayan - Trip Director
She was born in Beirut, raised in Paris, France from the age of 7 until she moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and has been here ever since. She has a B.A. degree in Political Science/International Relations - California State University, Northridge. Elsa is fluent in French, Armenian and some Arabic languages.

She has worked in the travel industry for 14 years - heavy corporate travel management for Clinical Oncology organizations, conventions, and entertainment travel. Over the years, she has also put together group ski trips to Cortina, Italy; Aspen, CO; and Innsbruck, Austria.

She is also currently working for Travelstore, Inc., a company that has been around for over 30 years in travel management and destination specialists. Elsa is also on their ESOP board (employee owned stock ownership program).

Elsa joined SMTC in 2008 and Tennis has become her #1 hobby ever since! (Elsa has steadily improved her game and is constantly working on being better.

We are sure that you will agree that she is more than capable of arranging trips for SMTC - she will have the assistance of Ron Elmer for the tennis portion of the trips.

Joel Hoffman - Social Director
He has been playing tennis for approximately a year and half now. He just joined the USTA and is looking forward to working with Diane Brooks to join the Santa Monica Tennis Club league. Joel just started playing doubles tournaments with his wife and he loves it. Joel greatly enjoys being part of the Santa Monica Tennis Club and he is looking forward to getting more involved. Joel said he is looking forward to joining the board. He has some ideas on how to help run some of the social events and bring new members to the club. (Joel and his wife, Carrel, helped with the Friday night socials for three Friday nights in 2009, so they certainly have experience with that aspect of the directorship. Joel, the first night he assisted said "these are so much fun we should do this twice a month"...when we eventually started playing and Joel saw the problems, he quickly said "once a month is plenty". -mj)

In his professional life, he is the founder/owner of a finance company which has been in business since 1987. He is also a real estate investor/equity lender.

It is nice to have new enthusiastic board members join the board and bring their new ideas.

Marguerite Jorgensen

Back To Top

RECAP: OPEN MEETING DECEMBER 6, 2009

The meeting was for the purpose of members to express their desires to see what changes should be made to Santa Monica Tennis Club. There were four general members who attended, Gordon Berman; David King; Harris Levey and Allison Starcher. Mr. Levey has had an ardent interest in seeing that we go back to printing and mailing out the newsletter (even though he has always received a printed copy of the newsletter himself because he does not have a printer); he also wants to have the printed handbook added back to the items produced by SMTC. President Jorgensen, who has had considerable experience with the mailing of the newsletters, etc. agreed to pose the question to the rest of the general membership and so the following was what was requested:

1. A request was made to have newsletters mailed. It was decided that the next published newsletter would contain this question for consideration by the entire club membership. It means that if someone cannot, and will not, read the newsletter on line, would they benefit more by having a printed copy delivered to their choice of delivery address.
2. The newsletter will also contain a question for the membership as to whether it would choose to have a ratings clinic scheduled through USTA to determine the level of their play. USTA has gone to a self-rating method of determination and some player's rate themselves above/below their technical ability.
3. In addition, a survey will be undertaken of the membership as to which members, if any, would like to have a printed Handbook mailed to their chosen address. The membership is constantly changing phone numbers, addresses, etc. so if one was printed, the book would have one update per year.

Please email your comments to Marguerite Jorgensen, President: marg10s@earthlink.net

Also please indicate if you would be willing to pay additional dues for these supplements. All of this information requested, with the exception of the rating clinic, is already on the web page.

David attended to show his support for the board and to offer this assistance in managing some of the events. Gordon, a long-time member who is still working full-time, wanted to see what they were like.

Allison attended to show her support for the club and volunteer that she always played when needed.

Editorial comment: (strictly my personal opinion)
Personally, I printed up extra copies of the newsletter and took them to Sunday Open Play and only one person took a copy. I feel that in the age of conservation we would be taking a step backward by producing the printed copies that hardly anyone reads anyway! Sometimes, I feel that newsletter is a big waste of my time and effort to produce bi-monthly if no-one bothers to read it. Any one is more than welcome to write articles…or for that matter...write the entire newsletter! It should not be up to one person to make this effort when it seems as though the efforts are ignored…or just complained about. - Marguerite Jorgensen

Back To Top

RECAP: MULHOLLAND INTERCLUB - December 6, 2009

SMTC Victorious!

Mulholland had a change of personnel - Heidi is no longer there and we were invited to come up with six fellows and six gals and see what we could do against them as they had 'walked all over us' last spring in Santa Monica. Well, we extracted our revenge in great style. The men's doubles teams of Brian Page/Ron Elmer won 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3 and Randy Chow/Eric Rabinowitz won 3-6, 7-6 and 10-7; the ladies doubles team of Floresita Arcari/Katherine Spetner won 6-0, 6-1; the team of Alex Lawson/Marguerite Jorgensen nearly won 7-5, 6-7 (1) and the third set 6-1; (they brought in a ringer). The mixed doubles teams of Phoebe Neil/Fitzroy Samoth won 6-0 ad 6-1 and Cassie Fisbeck/Mike Schmidt won easily also with scores of 6-1 and 6-3. There was some sets of mix and match Mulholland and SMTC for those who want to participate. Mulholland furnished sandwiches and margaritas to finish off the day. I am sure they will want another re-match.

Back To Top

USTA News: SMTC FIELDS USTA TEAMS

4 TEAMS COMPETE IN FALL DOUBLES LEAGUE

42 SMTC members band together, forming 2 Men's and 2 Women's Doubles teams competed in the USTA's 2009 Adult Fall Tennis League. Special thanks and heartfelt appreciation to our hard working, thoughtful Team Captains Richard Williamson (4.0 Men's), Stephen Knight & Marvin Krakow (3.5 Men's), Yoko Takasumi & Akiko Iida-Klein (3.0 Women's), and Diane Brooks (3.5 Women's)

Team results varied. The overall consensus is that in order to improve future league standings, team players need more practice playing together with the same doubles partner as opposed to playing with different partners each match.

USTA Spring League Registration

USTA's 2010 Spring Adult Team Tennis registrations are now under way. The season runs from late March thru mid June. Spring is the biggest Team Tennis season of the year. Men's and Women's teams register in separate levels of play, from 3.0 - 4.5. The format is comprised of 2 singles and 3 doubles matches once a week (Saturday or Sunday) To play and represent the Santa Monica Tennis Club in the 2010 USTA spring season, please email Diane Brooks at dianebrooks@charter.net with your contact information. In general, fees are: Current USTA membership ($40.00 a year), USTA Roster Fee ($21.00), Santa Monica Home Court Fee (approx. $16. - $20.)

ARE YOU IN?

- Diane Brooks

Let's support the USTA by being part of this big picture!

Back To Top

Recap: TURKEY SHOOT TOURNAMENT

After a false start - it was originally organized to be held November 15th and everything was organized with the exception of the court reservations which Marguerite forgot to make as she was so busy recruiting! So, on November 22nd, we started again, with 48 players (or so we thought)...there were some cancellations at 5 o'clock on Saturday prior to Sunday, illnesses at the very last minute - like 6 a.m. on the morning we were to start. Well, with the help of my friends from the valley, a husband of my office staff, friends of friends and Marguerite playing two shifts (someone who had signed up had a spat with their significant other and did not show up), we managed to have twenty-four people in the morning and twenty-four people in the afternoon! The morning team of the Pilgrims were soundly trounced by the Native Americans by the sum of 227 games to 258 games. The high scorers in the morning for the ladies were Gisel Nachtigal and Alex Lawson, each with 24 games and the men's high scorer was David King with 27 games. The afternoon session was a real 'squeaker' with the Pilgrims outscoring the Native Americans by 5 games! High scorer for the ladies was our own Linda Chan who had 31 games as well as Floresita Arcari and the high scorer for the men was Ron Elmer with 30 games! Each winning team member for both sessions received a $10 gift certificate from a local grocery store and fourteen people donated their certificate to the Westside Food Bank. We also collected 75 pounds of food which was donated to the Westside Food Bank - thanks to Randy Chow who delivered the food to them. We did received some emails from the visitors saying they enjoyed seeing us again (Cece Walsh...who is always welcome).

Naturally we journeyed to El Cholo to visit some more! Thanks everyone for participating!

The best part of the day was that this was the last social event of 2009! Now we can just enjoy Sunday Open Play.

- Ron Elmer/Marguerite Jorgensen

Back To Top

Member's Page

Members' Page Well, here's a new one - Marguerite Jorgensen fell in her office on Saturday 12th and "traumatized" her rib so she will be off the courts for at least another couple of weeks. It was on the upper part of her chest so the only thing is that she cannot use her right arm except to lift a single sheet of paper.

Joe Thigpen has an injury in his foot and is away for a couple of weeks or so.

In the future: Interclub with Mountain Gate; Simi Valley; Malibu tennis club and Rich Rollin's club in Point Hueneme - so save some time for these later in the year.

Back To Top