Kathy Kortus and Ron Bouchard The Desert Gems 7.0 women’s 65 and older team won the league and will go to sectionals Dec. 3 through 5. Since SaddleBrooke restricted court use to members only, the team was lucky to be able to use the Oro Valley courts as home base. The team played a total of…
Paulette Kasperski Last January through March, SaddleBrooke residents, Fran Meckler and Carol Kula of the SaddleBrooke Tennis Club, arranged drop-in sessions of pop tennis on Sunday afternoons. Many people showed up to play for the first time—some as total beginners and others as former tennis and pickleball players. When the drop-in sessions ended, Stuart Watkins…
Jim Abrahamson, Captain The SaddleBrooke USTA tennis team won a tough eight-match series against a team from Green Valley. This earned them the right to represent Southern Arizona at USTA sectionals next December. A match consists of three doubles courts. The team got off to a rocky start and did not win a single court…
Pop Tennis Shuffle Ginny Wolfe On March 17, when most people drank green beer and ate bangers and mash, 40 SaddleBrooke Tennis Club Poppers played in the St. Patrick’s Day Shuffle. With a mixture of men and women dressed in creative green attire and of various skill levels, the game of Pop Tennis is popping…
Stuart Watkins Fran Meckler is the Coordinator of the POP Tennis program at the SaddleBrooke Tennis Center and she invited me to give this sport a try. I agreed. It is a slower sport than tennis and uses a shorter court. The paddle is smaller and the ball is like a tennis ball with less…
Carol Kula Pop Tennis is now in its second year in SaddleBrooke and has already grown to over 110 members in the SaddleBrooke Tennis Club (STC). Groups are forming for pop players throughout the week and organized play opportunities are there through the STC as well. In the era of COVID precautions, inter-club social events…
Dani Arbuckle; Abridged by Ron Bouchard Doubles tennis is an enjoyable way to pass the afternoon with friends, but it’s also more than just a social activity. Doubles tennis is a great way to keep fit. In a two-hour session, you can expect to burn a significant number of calories. Exactly how many you burn…
Jerry Fay A big thank you to the SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association (SBPA) and the SaddleBrooke Tennis Club for their generosity. Over the holidays they increased their donations, and now more than 1,000 pairs of gently used tennis shoes have been donated to the homeless since the program started in 2018. Currently the program is focusing…
Christine Reding and Joan Ebbeson There’s been a buzz around SaddleBrooke about pop tennis. What is it? Pop tennis is the revitalization of a 100-year-old sport which is increasingly being popularized due to a shorter court, underhand serve, and a pop racquet. The racquet is often called a paddle, which is a derivative carbon fiber and…
Walter Fritz The men’s United States Tennis Association (USTA) 65 and over team won the last match of the season against Green Valley.