Tennis season in full swing

Jen Walden

Tennis, anyone? Our 2018/2019 tennis season is now in full swing! (No pun intended). We kicked off the fall festivities with our “Welcome Back” picnic and in-house tournament on November 17. We munched on my favorite (fried chicken) with plates full of scrumptious salads and desserts, graciously donated by our generous members. Thank you, all! It’s always great to get together with our fellow friends and members for another season of fun and competition on the courts.

In addition to previous social tournaments played in November, we visited Trilogy on December 1. They whopped us 44-14, but we all had fun and were very well fed (more chicken for me!). We hosted Cottonwood in SunBird on December 15, and Springfield joined us in the competition. More fun and good food! Go SunBird! Also, on December 15, we co-hosted the annual Golf and Tennis Club’s Christmas Dinner and Dance. It is always the event of the holiday season, and it just gets better every year! We were greeted at the door by Mr. and Mrs. Claus, given a special gift and escorted to our tables by cute little elves. The food was great (thank you, Julie and crew!) and we danced the night away to “Still Cruisin’.” Many thanks to the Men’s Golf and the Tennis Club for your generous donations, and many kudos to Joyce Gerber (she has been organizing this event for 10 years!) and Jenifer Walden (yup, that’s me) for coordinating this fabulous event. We couldn’t have done it without the many volunteers, our eloquent MC Gary Whistler and the Santas and elves. Thank you all so much for your help and support. I can’t wait to see what Joyce will surprise us with next year! And, remember, everyone is always welcome to our Christmas Party!

Congratulations to the Sunchix (our SunBird VOS Ladies league 3.5 level players) for grabbing first place in the league standings so far this season. Keep up the good tennis! Go Sunchix!

At our December 4 meeting, we installed our new club officers for the 2019 season. Christine Terechenok is our new president, Brian Turner our vice president, Pam Tiffany our treasurer and Lillian Donley our secretary. Christine has been a member of the SunBird Tennis Club since 2002. During her membership, she has contributed her time to being luncheon coordinator, tournament director, Riggs Road league organizer and is currently the Captain of the VOS Sunchix team. Christine is also the current secretary for the Roadrunners Golf Club and the membership coordinator for the Irish Club. She is definitely a positive asset to our Tennis Club. If you are interested in joining a great group of fellow tennis enthusiasts, give Christine a call at 480-326-7346. We would love to have you join us ‘cuz we are all looking forward to a super year of fun tennis activities and good times.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 8, at 4:30 p.m. (because we have to be out by 6:00 p.m.) in the Lakeview Room. Remember to bring your dues for 2019 ($35 each for active members and $15 each for associate members). “You only live once, but you get to serve twice.” Let’s play!