By Bob Kohmescher, Special Programs Vice President
As many of you know, March began with a lot of rain. Despite pleas of “rain, rain, go away,” the Women’s Doubles Mixer on March 9 was rained out. Sixty-four women received the cancellation notice late Sunday morning of the scheduled event. For the Men’s Doubles Mixer on March 10, there was an 80-percent chance of rain. Saturday evening, the chance dropped to 60 percent, but the men were not to be denied! Under cloudy skies, 62 men took the courts in spite of the weather predictions (we had two, last-minute player drop outs). We experienced only a brief drizzle all afternoon.
We had a great diversity of players on the courts, including an Emmy award winner (not for tennis!) and a newspaper reporter. We had brothers, fathers and sons, seniors, those in their physical peak years, and a wide variety of players. If you had come out to watch this tournament and interviewed the players, you could have spent hours hearing their interesting stories.
The players competed at either the A, B, or C level. They were matched against players at their own flight within each level, e.g., a B3 player played against other mid B players. Each doubles team played three rounds of six no-ad games. Awards were given to the two top doubles teams at each level. The A level was the only level with a tie, requiring a play-off.
If you’d like to play in an ALTA-sponsored mixer on August 11, registration for the Summer Mixed Doubles Mixer begins on June 19.
