The North Shore Towers Tennis Association held its first open meeting of the season on Wednesday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the VIP Room.
The tennis players started the meeting off with a champagne toast for the 2009 summer season.
While introducing new tennis pro Rick Bates, association president Annalies Karp said that on some Wednesday evenings Bates will play games at the Towers’ tennis courts with his own team. She encouraged tennis members to watch the matches. Information on them will be posted on the tennis bulletin board.
“It’s like going to the U.S. Open,” she said of watching the matches.
Bates opened his remarks by thanking the tennis community for making him feel very welcome in his new position. He then explained how he first got involved with the sport as a child.
“It’s such a tremendous game,” said Bates, who still actively plays in tournaments and remains friends with people he met during childhood tournaments.
This season, Bates said there will be many returning staff members as well as some new ones.
“We’ll have a really nice staff this year,” he said.
Bates said that tennis is a sport that will keep a person young and healthy. He said that the important thing is to just keep moving.
This year, the Towers has a ladies’ and men’s team that plays in inter-league tournaments with other clubs. Questions were raised over the ladies’ team playing matches on some Friday mornings beginning at 10 a.m., which makes three of the five tennis courts unavailable to members. Karp said that they have been working on switching some of the dates so that not as many matches will be held at the Towers.
Karp announced that the USTA juniors tournaments will once again return to North Shore Towers in July. She said that tennis members are more than welcome to come and watch the matches.
It was announced that, during July and August, tennis member can bring up to four guests to play for free after 11 a.m. on Wednesdays. The guests will also be able to use the pool and gym facilities.
Country Club Manager Mary Anne Langone explained that this is a great way to feature North Shore Towers and expose it to more people.
New Tennis Association members were also introduced during the meeting.
The suggestion was made at the meeting that more notice should be given of events. Langone said that she is compiling an e-mail list, since there is no longer a phone tree system. She also said that e-mailing has worked well with sponsored members.
Langone also explained that that mandatory membership is required of those who purchase and rent at the Towers. As a way to give new resident a “taste” of the facilities, she said those who purchase get a free year of golf and tennis and those who rent get six free rounds of golf or tennis.
There was also discussion of possibly allowing former tennis members to pay a fee so that they could still attend events.
