- Website: Harbourtownracquetclub.com TENNIS PRO: Mike See, BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Ed Hall, Rich Lamke, Barbara Powell, Doreen Hyet, Dan Frey, Kathy Rioux (publisher) Thankfully we are heading into cooler weather and some great tennis, not to mention USTA Combo League tennis! Come out and support our teams. See the club calendar for dates of the Home matches for the 6.5, 7.5 and 8.5 teams. Our ice machine unexpectedly broke down in July and it took a while to get the correct part and get it back up and running. Members were relieved to hear Ed Hall declare, "The ice man cometh!", only to be disappointed when he did not have the right part and we had to wait another 2 weeks. We are now playing tennis to the tunes of the ice machine happily churning out ice cubes again! Dinner Out - Tuesday, September 1st at 6pm, at Mushashi Restaurant. Contact Larry or Connie Whitney to make reservations. As of August 29, there are 8 members signed up. On October 10th one of our members, Pat Engeman, who is a musician, will be playing with his band at Attitudes. Plan to come out. More information will be included in October's newsletter. For your convenience, your monthly dues may be paid through your bank's bill pay service. If you pay your monthly dues by mail, checks should be made payable to HTRC and sent to: P.O. Box 15001, New Bern, NC 28562.
Our website update is in progress, and we are off to a good start. The website can now be viewed on any type of device. The newsletter as well as our calendar and upcoming events can be viewed by all who visit the site. As always, the membership roster and other club documents are in the Members Section and requires a User Name and Password. Thanks again to Steve Groninga of Visual Reflections. Our Annual Membership Meeting will be on October 19th, 6:00 p.m. at River Bend Town Hall. All members are encouraged to attend. Our Treasurer, Rich Lamke, has served his 3-year tenure. Rich is a CPA. and his expertise in managing our club finances has been exemplary, not to mention frugal, but friendly! Rich's dedication and service to our club is very much appreciated. Rich is willing to serve on a year by year basis until we find a new Treasurer. As you can see in this picture, we clearly have a drainage problem! This picture was taken after a mid-day rain on August 19th. With a good drainage system, there would have been no standing water! Thanks to Mike See and his expertise for providing great courts to play on. The City of River Bend was out this past week doing work along Marina Drive which will hopefully improve some of our drainage problems. Ed Hall and a few of the men will be installing pavers under the Gazebo of Court 1 to help deal with the mud in that area. Other efforts are ongoing.
Claire O'Laughlin 3303 Tack House Road New Bern, NC 28560 Home # 252-649-1425 Cell # 252-649-4230 Email: momwow2@yahoo.com Claire is from Bay City, Michigan and moved to New Bern with her husband, Ron, 1-1/2 years ago. Claire says, "We have two daughters. One lives in San Diego and the other lives here with her husband and 5 boys. We moved here so that the grandchildren could have the experience and remembrance of having grandparents down the street. In my productive life, I worked as an administrative assistant and bookkeeper at a Historical Society and Art Studio. My favorite past time besides tennis is being with my 4 1/2 year old and 11 year old grandsons. My husband plays at golf but is having a difficult time tolerating the heat and humidity. Last week it was 64 in Michigan. That sounds pretty cool to me now!" Claire is a friend of Kathy's from Newcomers. They have played together for over a year. We are glad to have Claire in the club and also as a member of our USTA Ladies 6.5 Combo Team. Jerry Harwood 1004 Harbour Pointe Drive New Bern, NC 28560 Home # 252-288-5585 Cell# 404-625-5596 Email: jmhmth@suddenlink.net Lisa Rosindale 7151 Windward Drive New Bern, NC 28560 Cell # 252-626-5085 l lisaros2447@gmail.com Perhaps we will have more to share about Jerry and Lisa next month! New Member Incentives are being offered! Any club member that brings in a new member, gets free dues for one month!
MIKE S COURT REPORT Monday Clinic: 4:30 for Juniors, 5:30 for Adults. Cost $10.00. Call if weather is questionable. This includes first-rate instruction and drills, for both new and experienced players. Bring a friend out to play and brush up on your tennis strokes and strategies! Win more tennis games! Private Lessons: $40.00 per hour. Call to schedule. USTA Leagues: USTA Women's Combo Leagues 6.5, 7.5 and 8.5 have begun. The Team HOME matches are listed with the September Calendar. If you are new to USTA competition, be sure to review the "Rules of Tennis" at http://www.usta.com/adult-tennis/usta-league/resources. I want all our ladies to have a good time and support their partners. And the most important thing to keep in mind during matches is that our club have a good reputation. TENNIS TIP OF THE MONTH When playing good doubles, backing up to play defensive is just as important as moving in and forming a wall.
Three Balls In A Can by Dan Frey The professional tennis players have a rule that says they have 25 seconds from the end of a point to put the ball in play again by serving the next point. This rule is intended to keep the flow and momentum of the particular game. Focus and concentration are improved by having fewer distractions. This concept of minimizing distractions can improve each player's game. One major distraction is interrupting the "flow" of the game to retrieve tennis balls. This could include tennis balls from their own court as well as adjoining courts. For example: 1. We play with 3 balls so the game can flow. We don't have to stop play to chase the 3rd ball if the server already has 2 balls. It just takes time and energy to always be chasing the 3rd ball. 2. If a ball from an adjoining court rolls behind us and rests against our fence, we don't have to interrupt our play and retrieve their ball for them immediately. They still should have 2 balls to continue playing. If our server is ready to serve, or is between serves, just allow the other court's ball to "settle" and then continue with the serve. Then, when our point is finished, promptly retrieve and return their ball to them. In this manner, play can continue with a minimum of distractions and interruptions. We will all play more tennis, expend less energy, and have better concentration and focus on our own game! We welcome submissions or anecdotes from members to include in the newsletter. to Kathy Rioux or Dan Frey by the 25th of the month. Please send
Saturday September 12, 2015 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. U.S. Open Scrambles at HTRC Cost: $15 members / $20 nonmembers ~ $10 lunch only 12:00 Lunch: Cold-Cuts, Beer, Wine, Soda, Dessert ESPN: Women's Finals / Men's Double Finals Harbour Town Racquet Club 3 Marina Road / P.O. Box 15001, River Bend, NC 28562 Contact Mike See to sign up: 252-636-5652 Note: Deadline to sign up is September 10th at 12:00 Noon
TURKEY DOUBLES The HTRC Club Championships are coming this fall. This tourney, aka, the Turkey Doubles is so named because we play it right before Thanksgiving. Seems like maybe we are thankful for all our loyal members, and want to provide them an opportunity to compete for the club championship? November 7 & 8, 14 & 15, 2015. The mixed Doubles is currently scheduled for the second weekend with an alternate date of December 5-6, if our Ladies' USTA Teams go to the State Tournament in Wilmington. Pick your doubles partners now and get ready for the HTRC Club Championships. Club pro, Mike See, is our tournament director. The following are the Club Champions for 2014. These champions are posted on the championship plaque in the clubhouse. Ladies A: Ladies B: Men's A: Men's B: Mixed A: Mixed B: Doreen Hyet / Jean Herscovici Irma Becker / Pamela Morris Bob Roberts / Tom Watkins Tomas Serra / Peter Whittlesby Bob Roberts / Carol Brown Tomas Serra / Doris Galbraith Now is the time to start planning. Team up with another member and get your entry submitted. The deadline for entries is November 3, 2015. There will be an entry fee to be determined and posted by October 1st. Balls and commemorative tourney T-shirts will be provided by the club. We want to see your name on the Turkey Doubles trophy!!!! Sign up in the pro shop with your T-shirt size, your partner's name, and the events you want to enter. Mike will match you with a partner if you would like. A-Level will be 3.5 and above ratings. B-Level will be 3.0 and below. For those winners last year, you cannot play with the same partner this year! Let's have some fun with the Turkey Doubles!! We want to see some new names on the clubhouse plaque!
Travel Groups: We have the opportunity to play with area clubs every other month or so, including lunch out. Dates are currently pending. Contact Bob Murphy if you are interested in participating. Thursday Evening, 5:30-7:30: Open play organized by Bob Murphy. All are welcome. Contact Bob if you want to be added to his Email list. mgmrob@suddenlink.net Sunday Afternoon Tennis Drop-In, 2:30-5:00. Will begin in October. No sign up will be necessary. This will be a Drop In with a 4 game doubles format where each player serves and then after the 4th game, switch around with different doubles partners so that each plays with a different partner. If there is an odd number, it is not a long wait to rotate in. Or if players wish to play singles, they may. Brad Humphreys 11 Ken Ralph 13 Tommaso Serra 13 Terry Shoup 21 Catrina Carcich 24 John Doughty 27 Gail Zarrello 27 Pamela Morris 29 Barbara Powell 30 If we missed your birthday, pleases notify Kathy so we can add you to our cub birthday list.