Intermountain Senior Sectional Championships

Hi everyone...the following came through in an email from USTA and I decided to post it on our blog.

This year's Intermountain Senior Sectional Championships will again be held in beautiful Steamboat Springs, Colorado at the newly renovated Tennis Center. The event will be June 12, 13 & 14.

Click here to register.
Bring a player who's never played and get a free can of Wilson US Open tennis Balls. Lodging Partners with discounts are listed on the tournament website.

Registration deadline is June 5, 2009 (not May, 27 as listed in CTA Book). Draws and Times will be posted on TennisLink, Tour ID#: 257207509. If you would like to play doubles but do not have a partner, write need partner in applicable line on registration and click division desired. This year, players may register for up to 3 divisions (no 2 MXD). Matches will not begin prior to 8:00 AM, 6/12. Come see us in the 'Boat.

Coordinator for May

Jenny L. has been our coordinator for the month of May, and what a great job she's done. She's had her hands full because so many HEB players have turned out each week - sometimes 16 players or more. To organize fair play, she uses a pack of playing cards. Each players takes a card and, depending on the suit goes to a specific court with three others players. After about 40 minutes of play, cards are again selected and the process begins again.

Thank you Jenny!

HEB Court Repair Update

Over the past several years, HEB has done patchwork resurfacing of our tennis courts pretty much twice a year, and the results have been dismal. The courts look good for a brief period and then deteriorate rapidly, with bubbles, and irregularities. Management decided that enough was enough and hired a hydrologist to check out why this was happening, and ground water seepage was determined to be at blame. The question to be answered was where this water was coming from, landscape maintenance activities (best case) or underground water source (worst case). It has been studied and appears to be from landscape activities, so a fix should be pretty straight forward. Next step: install a french drain around the courts to divert water and then fix the courts.

By Friday of this week a second set of tests will be done on the courts to make sure that there isn't any significant water build up between the surface and the concrete pad below. So far it all looks good. If the next test comes back OK, then the bad areas on the courts will be patched (concrete) so the courts will be safe and playable for this season, and a real resurface will be done in the fall (probably October). This will allow us to play this season and have great courts next summer.

One other note: we have received an OK to put in a viewing area outside court 1.
This will include a flagstone pad and a couple of benches. The windscreen (lower
section) will be removed and bushes will be trimmed or removed so that folks can sit and watch play on courts one and two. This will be in the area between court one and the putting green. Completion date (at least this is what I have been told): Mid May.

Chuck Strauss, Co-President.

Tennis in May

Sixteen ladies turned up for the first scheduled tennis of the year on Monday, May 4th. It was a glorious morning and everyone was pleased to put winter behind and look towards summer.

There are sign up sheets for the Monday and Thursday tennis at the gazebo next to the courts. Jan R. will be hosting the Monday tennis sessions throughout the year, but Thursday tennis will have a different coordinator each month (we still need two volunteers!) Once again, check out the bulletin board at the gazebo for more information.

Summer Kickoff Mixer and BBQ

It's that time of year again for our annual Summer Kickoff Tennis Mixer and BBQ. The Mixer is scheduled for Sunday, May 31st, with tennis from 1:00 - 4:00pm. It's a little earlier in the day this year, so maybe we can avoid the late afternoon winds and rains. We will have a BBQ on the Patio at the Club House immediately following the tennis (BBQ from 4:00 - 6:00pm).

Everyone of all levels is welcome. We will have Mens Doubles, Womens Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. This is always a fun, social event and a good way to kick off tennis at HEB. Non tennis playing spouses/significant others are welcome to attend the tennis as spectators and to attend the BBQ.

The tennis is free and the BBQ is $12/person. You just pay for the BBQ that day. The menu will be: BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Chicken Breast Sandwiches, cole slaw, iced tea & lemonade. There will be a cash bar available.

Please sign up on the "indoor" tennis bulletin board in the hallway behind the pro shop. We hope to see many of you there again this year.

Ron & Gail Hedy
Social Committee

USTA Leagues

Even though our "Super Senior" teams have yet to start their matches, we already need to think about forming our "Senior" teams. Teams need to be formed by June 12th and matches start the week of July 20th.

Sign up sheets are on the outside "gazebo" bulletin board. There is not a big hurry in signing up, but the next time you're near the tennis courts, you might want to get your name on the list.

Good luck to all the Super Senior teams next week for their first matches.

Gail Hedy