Marina City Club La Jolla Tennis Trip 2013

This year eighteen men and women players, along with spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, golfers, and beachcombers made the trek to the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club weekend.  Players arrived on Friday afternoon and engaged in some unorganized, free tennis, or took walks on the beach in the balmy sunshine.  That night, folks ventured out to various restaurants either in downtown La Jolla, or within walking distance of the tennis club.  I recommend the Sushi during the 20% off happy hour!

After sleeping in on Saturday, everyone hit the courts at 1pm for our men’s and women’s interclub with La Jolla.  The La Jolla players brought their A-games.  We played two out of three sets with third sets decided by a 10-point super-tiebreaker.  Many of the matches went the distance and everyone enjoyed wonderful tennis, although the temperature had dropped into the 60’s and the wind picked up considerably from Friday.  In the end, the doubles went to La Jolla 11 sets to 5 sets.

On Saturday night, before dinner, the Mcc faithful gathered on the beach with, you guessed it, snacks, beer, and wine, and talked about how great the atmosphere in La Jolla is as well as the good times we’d had on court throughout the first half of 2013.  We then enjoyed a delicious dinner at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Restaurant, sitting on their patio by the pool with heaters keeping the whole gang cozy.  There was plenty of wine, beer, and good conversation that aided in digestion of gnocchi, chicken, a large steak, or bass.

On Sunday morning at 10am, the Marina City Club again took to the courts, this time for a mixed doubles face-off and one women’s doubles match.  The wind was less of a factor this time, but the outstanding effort of our players produced a couple wins!  However, in the end, La Jolla’s skills proved too much on this day.  Larry and Barb ran into some very tough customers, as did Nancy and I.  Linda and Maureen pulled out a tough match in straight sets, and the team of Mindy and Hank lost a heartbreaking 12-10 in the third set after over two hours.  Wendy and Larry fought hard, as did Lorri and Tony.  All in all, we had good matches and met very nice people and players from our sister club to the south.  I hope that everyone keeps this great trip in mind for next May and don’t forget to sign up for our Desert Trip that takes place November 1-3.  We will not be staying at a particular location out there as so many members have their own homes and condos, but we will set up two interclubs and a dinner.  See you on the courts!

UCLA Tennis to Host NCAA Regionals

Gene’s Tennis Tip of the Month: May 2013

The tip of the month is amongst the most clichéd expression in tennis:  get your first serve in!  Getting the first serve in accomplishes two things.  First, it takes the pressure off you, especially on big points.  I like to pretend that the tennis gods have changed the rules of tennis to say that I only get one serve.  This way, I get my first serve in so there is NO CHANCE OF A DOUBLE FAULT.  Second, when you get your first serve in, you keep your opponent from knowing ahead of time whether the serve will be hard or soft (second serves are mostly softer), thereby discouraging your opponent from having an offensive mindset.  Keeping your opponent from knowing they can attack makes a huge difference in whether you are in trouble from the outset, or on more even ground.  So, hit a ¾ pace first serve to your opponent’s weaker side on big points to take the pressure off yourself and put it back where it belongs…on the other side of the net!

MCC’s Spring Junior Tennis Playday

Our second junior tennis event of 2013 was a huge success!  Mcc had 24 kids, ages 4-11, playing tennis on 36’ courts set up on courts 5 & 6 and the paddle tennis courts on Saturday April 20, 2013.  Kids came out and immediately begin playing tennis.  They played games to 7 points and played 3 games per round.  There were four rounds.  The kids with the most total games won wristbands from TGA, a non-profit organization that has teamed with us and the USTA to spread the great game of tennis on the grassroots level in the United States.  The idea of a playday is to immediately get kids playing tennis instead of standing around learning stroke-production.  This creates a sense of excitement and accomplishment.  Most importantly, the kids have fun!  Parents stayed to keep score, encourage sportsmanship, and help call the lines.

                All kids received an Islands gift certificate for a free kids meal at Islands Restaurant.  The event lasted about 2 hours.  Please let your friends and family know that the next Junior Tennis Day here at the Marina City Club is on Saturday August 10^th from 1:30-3:30pm.  This will be a “tennis festival.”  At the festival, kids play different games and learn various skills that help develop the game of tennis in a fun environment.

Junior Tennis Playday Saturday April 20th at Marina City Club

We are having our 2nd JUNIOR PLAY DAY of the year on Saturday April 20th 1:30-3:30pm on Courts 5 & 6 & on the Paddle Tennis Courts (please note, paddle tennis courts will be taken during those hours). The cost is $5 per child and the age range is 5-12 years old. Please bring your children, their friends, grandchildren, any kids you know to come by and get exposed to MCC’s junior play days.

USC vs. UCLA Men’s Tennis Team Match

USC vs. UCLA Men’s Tennis Team Match

Friday April 19^th 3:00 PM

Doubles Start at 3:00 PM

Followed by Singles at

UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center on Campus

(Near Pauley Pavilion, park in lot 4)

Free Admission to match, Parking will cost.

All interested parents and students are invited to watch college tennis at its best.

UCLA is currently 16-1 on the year, 2-0 in conference play, and ranked #2 in the country in the ITA Tennis polls. The USC men opened the season slotted as the No. 2 team in the nation after the Trojans made history with four consecutive NCAA team championships. The Trojans have since flip-flopped between No. 2 and No. 3 for the past few weeks, currently ranked No. 3 in the latest ITA national team poll (released April 2).

For further information go to http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/040213aaa.html, and http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/m-tennis/

Tennis Tip of the Month: April 2013

Close to Close / Deep to Deep

This month’s tip is paraphrased from the wonderful doubles manual, Tennis Doubles:  Winning Strategies for All Levels by Greg Lappin.

                Close to close means that you are “close” when all three major factors:  balance, contact point, and court position are in your favor, you should hit your shot at the closer player to force an error.  Deep to deep means, when at least one of the three factors mentioned above are not in your favor, you should hit to the deeper opponent.  For example, you may have good balance and your contact point is waist-high, however, you are well behind the baseline, so your court position is not optimal.  In this example you would hit to the opponent who is farther from the net because it will be tough to force an error or hit it by her without taking undue risk.

                This simple rule will enforce percentage tennis.  It can be applied in all doubles situations.  Even with both players at the net, you would hit to the “deeper” player if you are out of position by lobbing the weaker opponent or at least making the weaker player hit a solid volley.