We know there are a lot of great people playing recreational tennis in ALTA leagues; we just don’t always hear about them. So, it warms our hearts when members take the time to let us know about little acts of kindness that happen on court. And we love awarding those acts of kindness with sportsmanship awards. Here are few of the stories from the summer season:
Inverness Mixed Doubles A7
Captain Terri Hecker
Nominated by Chris Holden, captain, Indian Hills Country Club
The story: I would like to recognize Terri Hecker, the captain of the Inverness Mixed team and her whole team, for their amazing sportsmanship. I contacted Terri on a Monday to let her know that I couldn’t field a full lineup for our Saturday match and that we would most likely be defaulting Line 5. She immediately responded to me, completely rearranged her lineup, even suggested that her one female player would try to get a babysitter to accommodate my request to play a line early. By Tuesday evening, we were playing a line early, so my team could avoid the default on Saturday. Terri exemplified what a good ALTA captain is — willing to play tennis rather than win by default! We had a fun, pleasant match against their team, and their entire team couldn’t have been nicer!
Canterbury Mixed Doubles B8
Captains Walter and Paula Link
Nominated by Claire Christa, captain, Oakleigh
The story: I would like to nominate Canterbury for the good sportsmanship award. We played them in the first round of the summer mixed doubles playoffs. They were willing to work with us when we had so many issues going on, including funerals and other conflicts, and I had to keep changing my lineup at the last minute. They tried to work it out for us to keep our lineup as-is by offering to play a little early. We ended up not being able to do that, but that was such a nice gesture. They also were very nice and gracious the entire time we played them, even when we took the third point to win. They wished us good luck and seemed to genuinely mean it. That is rare these days! I am thankful to them for their kindness.
St Ives Senior Women B1
Captain Mary Broadbent
Nominated by Sherri Brown, captain Morning View
The story: I’d like to share a recent story about our senior team. We were scheduled to play St Ives in week 4, on Thursday evening, June 20, and their captain is Mary Broadbent. During that same week, I was trying to schedule our July 4th match early to be played June 25 against Sugar Mill, whose captain is Melissa Griffith. We were playing at home, and I was able to get four courts for both matches, and we all agreed to start warm-ups at 6:15 p.m. I got a text from Melissa saying one of her Line 4 girls couldn’t get there until 7:30 p.m. (I had wrongly assumed that she meant the June 20 match and didn’t realize the captain mix-up, so I told her no problem, and we’d just start playing when she arrived.
Then, I received a call from one of my Line 3 girls, saying she was going to be late as she was coming from work, so I texted Melissa (again wrong captain) and asked if that would be a problem and she said no problem. I said, “Great, I’ll see you soon!” I arrive at the courts and asked for Melissa. Their captain, Mary, said, “I’m the captain. There is no Melissa.” So, all this time I’m thinking both our Line 3’s and 4’s are starting later, but it was the wrong team and captain. I then explained my mix-up to Mary, and she was great! I then told her that one of my Line 3’s was going to be late and asked if she had a problem with it. She said no, and they’d be happy to wait. I was so stressed out when I realized what happened, and Mary was wonderful. It’s understanding captains like Mary that make me love the game of tennis!
