Stuart Watkins Both Barry and Betty Emmons are new to SaddleBrooke and POP Tennis. This interview reveals a lot about them and about the sport. Barry had played some tennis and racquetball before moving to SaddleBrooke. Betty had never played any sports, although she was a cheerleader in high school, which qualifies as a sport,…
Linda Foy What a great feeling, being able to get together in larger groups. Starting at 9 a.m., we filled all the courts with both tennis and POP tennis players. After two hours of play in humid conditions that many of us have not experienced since leaving our home states, everyone was ready to snack and…
Debbie McGeehan May 29 was our first post-COVID-19 event on the tennis patio. It certainly was a memorable night when SaddleBrooke Tennis Club (STC) members and their spouses showed off their dancing moves to the music of Chuck Moses. Craig and Benith MacPherson did not waste any time getting on the dance floor when Chuck started…
Stuart Watkins Mike Dunbar, Fran Meckler, Douglas Wolf, Maureen (Mo) Olinsky, Carol Kula, and Stuart Watkins met to discuss the future of POP Tennis in SaddleBrooke and to discuss future programs and concerns. Douglas Wolf, president of the SaddleBrooke Tennis Club, and Fran Mickler, liaison and chair of the POP Tennis committee, led the meeting.…
Debbie McGeehan Our tennis club members, along with all SaddleBrooke residents, are fortunate to have some of the best tennis courts in Arizona! Maintaining beautiful amenities is a reflection on our entire community. Unfortunately, one court has been out of service for almost two years and remains locked, and our other four tennis courts at MountainView…
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…