On October 11 - 15, 2012
several of our Senior Jammers aka Racquetheads along with their teammates
traveled to Indian Wells CA to compete in the 2012 USTA 3.5 Senior National
Championships. The weekend in Indian
Wells was one of the first times ever for the girls and the most memorable
experience for the team.
The team left Springfield MO on
Thursday, October 11 for a 9:20 AM flight to Forth Worth/Dallas TX and connects
a flight there to Palm Springs CA. All
the team members were eager and excited about our trip. The plane trip went smoothly and we got to
Palm Springs with no problem. We landed
at Palm Springs Municipal Airport around 1:40 PM. Coach/Co-Captain Huong has already made
arrangement for a team practice at 3:00 pm at the Indian Wells Tennis
Garden. No chance of goofing off for the
team, have to get in our last practice before the first match on Friday.
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At the Springfield Airport |
The Indian Wells Tennis Garden
was AMAZING! The only thing the team
could say when we walked into the tennis center was ‘WOW’…’OMG’. This tennis facility in Indian Wells, CA, in
the Coachella Valley, it is the home of the Indian Wells masters tournament,
a.k.a. the BNP Paribas open (previously the Pacific Life Open), a joint event
of the ATP World Tour and the WTA tour which constitutes the fifth largest
tournament in the world. The $77 million
facility was built in March 2000, and was designed by Rossetti Associates Architects. It includes a 16,100-seat stadium court. WOW!
The stadium court is the second largest tennis-specific stadium in the
world. WOW! The largest stadium court would be the one in
New York, the Arthur Ashe Stadium. That
one has a 22,547-seat stadium court. Beside the stadium court at the Indian Wells
Tennis Garden, there are also 24 hard courts that are match courts and practice
courts. Yes, this is where the pros
play. The Racquetheads had a hard time
concentrating during the practice session, since there are beautiful mountains
in the background. WOW!
The team manages to practice
for about 2 hours before we had to head to the Miramonte Resort & Spa,
where the team would be staying while they are playing. While the team were busy checking into their
rooms. Kelly and I had to go to the Team
Captain’s Registration and Captain’s Meeting.
Nothing really new at the meeting, it was the same stuff we hear at the
Captain’s Meeting at Sectionals. By the
time the meeting was over, it was time for the Players’ party.
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Nancy & Albie - Practice Session
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Teresa & Carol - Practice Session
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Kelly & Beth - Practice Session
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Lisa - Practice Session
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Mary Ann & Julie - Practice Session
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Miramonte Resort & Spa
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It was a great Players’ party,
much better than the one we had at Sectionals.
Great foods, music, dancing, and door prizes give away. Kelly managed to win a Penn USTA back pack as
well as Nancy. It was at the players’
party that Nancy finally found her husband’s picture. During our get together at Nancy’s house, the
week before we left for Indian Wells; Beth manage to borrowed a picture of
Nancy’s husband and have taken it with her to Indian Wells. For days, Nancy has no idea what could have
happened to her husband’s picture that was on her mantel at home. While we were at the players’ party, Beth
took the picture that were all wrapped up in a nice box, and talked to the DJ
and asked him if he would call Nancy’s number so she could come up to claim her
prize. When she does, he would hand her
the box. It was great, in front of a
whole group of people; Nancy opened the box and found her husband’s
picture. The things we do to our teammates.
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Albie, Nancy, Mary Ann - Players Party
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Nancy, Mary Ann, Lisa - Players Party
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Beth, Carol, Teresa - Players Party
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Huong, Kelly, Teresa - Players Party
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Nancy is about to find a big surprise!
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| Nancy finally found her husband! |
Friday morning came; our first
match for the day was at 9:00 AM against the Texas Section, a team from Fort
Worth-RTC Driver. We all were very eager
to play our first match at Nationals.
Lisa Powell teamed up with Julie Skinner to play against their
opponents, Deena Nutt and Linda Gilson.
Lisa and Julie did great together; it was a very tight first set. They had to go to a set tie break. I can tell Lisa’s arm was hurting her close
toward the end of the set. Both Lisa and
Julie fought hard, but couldn’t win that set tie break. I thought they could come back on the second
set. It wasn’t their day, Lisa and Julie
lost the match with the scores 7-6, 6-3.
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Lisa & Julie - Match against Texas
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Lisa - Texas match
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Lisa & Julie - Texas match
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Julie - Texas match
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Our second doubles team of
Teresa Emerson and Nancy Winters were playing against Texas’ players Marilyn
Trevathan and Gina Tallent. Teresa and
Nancy lost in the first set 2-6, they fought hard and come back to win the
second set 6-3. In the match tie-break,
all the players played hard, points by points.
It wasn’t our day; we lost 8-10 in the match tie-break. Yes, two lousy points.
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Teresa - Texas match
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Nancy & Teresa - Texas match
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Nancy - Texas match
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Nancy & Teresa
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Captain of the Racquetheads,
Kelly Kramer, teamed up with Beth Wilson for our third doubles. They played against Gayle Hale and Susie
Gilinsky. Kelly and Beth had a great
match. They took the first match win for
the team in two straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
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Kelly & Beth - Texas match
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Beth - Texas match
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Kelly - Texas match
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It was a hard lost for Teresa
and Nancy, if they would have won the match tie-break; we could have won our
first match as a team. It could have
gone either way, why couldn’t it have gone our way?
Our second match for the day
was at 2:00 PM against the Intermountain Section, a team from Idaho-Senioritas. Yes, the potatoes people. Since their lost in the morning was a little
bit hard to swallow. Teresa and Nancy
were ready for the second match of the day.
They teamed up once again to go against the Idaho’s doubles team of Lori
Ewing and Ramona Hildebran. They didn’t
have any problem at all in the first set; they dominate the Idaho’s team with
the score of 6-1. On the second set, it
wasn’t that easy, but they hung in there to win it at 6-4. Our second match win for the day.
Kelly Kramer teamed up this
time with Carol Rollins to play against Kara Hoge and Rochelle Cullum. They played a great match but couldn’t come
up with a win. Kelly and Carol lost in
straight sets 7-5, 6-3.
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Carol & Kelly - Idaho match
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Kelly going for a lob.
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Carol going for a winner.
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Julie Skinner and Mary Ann Daum
teamed up for our third doubles. It was
a tough afternoon for the girls. Nothing
seems to be working for them. The shots
that they usually make weren’t there for them.
They also lost in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
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Mary Ann - Idaho match
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Mary Ann & Julie - Idaho match
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Two matches down for the day,
the girls were ready for a drink at the pool.
Wish they could have won the matches, but they didn’t. We just have to move on.
Saturday morning come, another
match day for the Racquetheads. The
match wasn’t until 10:30 AM against the New England Section, a team from
Maine-Shades of Gray/Robidoux. Such an
interesting team name, don’t you think?
I should have asked the captain of the team if they got their team name
from the famous book, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’.
Hmmm, interesting indeed.
For this match, Beth Wilson
teamed up with Mary Ann Daum to play against Cindi Howard and Anne Gibson. Mary Ann played much better in this match,
she made some incredible shots. But it
wasn’t our day again, Mary Ann and Beth lost in two sets with the scores of 6-3,
6-4.
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Beth - New England match
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Mary Ann - New England match
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Beth & Marcy Ann - New England match
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Mary Ann - New England match
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Beth - New England match
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Carol Rollins and Julie Skinner
played together against the doubles team of Tacy Ridlon and Melissa Hale. Carol and Julie played well together and
won the first set 6-4. They were ahead
on the second set 4-1. I thought for
sure they would win the match. But their
opponents fought back and won 5 games in a row to win the second set 6-4. Carol and Julie couldn’t seem to
recover. They lost in the match tie
break 10-7 to the Idaho’s team.
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Julie - New England match
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Carol & Julie - New England match
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Carol & Julie - New England match
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Julie - New England match
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Julie & Carol - New England match
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Julie - New England match
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Our 77-year old teammate, Albie
Nacke, teamed up with Nancy Winters for our 3rd doubles. They played against the doubles team of Kathy
Hughes and Sue Loustaunau. Albie and
Nancy started out great; they won the first 3 games. Again, I thought we would win this match for
sure. For the next game, it went to the
Maine’s team. Then Albie and Nancy won
the next game and the score was at 4-1.
The match got tougher and tougher after that. Albie played great, Nancy was yelling for her
to go get all the shots that were going her way and Albie were getting to all
the shots. They played well
together. But the odds weren’t in their
favor. Albie and Nancy ended up losing
in two straight sets 7-5, 6-3.
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Albie - New England match
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Nancy - New England match
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Albie - New England match
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Nancy & Albie - New England match
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Nancy & Albie - New England match
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The team didn’t make it to the
Finals, but they didn’t get blown away on the courts. It was the team first National
Championships. There will be more
Nationals in these players future, I will guarantee that. I love the quote that Teresa got from Lisa
Fernandez, the star pitcher for the US Olympic softball team.
“The team with the best athletes doesn’t usually win. It’s the team with the athletes who play best
together.”
That’s what the Racquetheads
are all about. There will never be
another team like the Racquetheads; we are one of a kind. We are friends on and off the courts. We will always have each other back. We are the dream team.
This last week, all of us had a
chance to do something that many people don’t have a chance to do. We were at the place where the pros
played. The team had a chance to step
out into the stadium court at Indian Wells. Now how cool is that? (Yes, I went and lay in the middle of the
court. ) We got a chance to tour the
stadium, see where the pros hang out before their matches. It was an awesome 5 days we had
together. No, we didn’t make it to the
Finals, but the team had the best time ever.
The team played the best tennis and saw a lot of great tennis. We’ve made some new friends, players from
Idaho and North Da-Ko-Ta. Who can ever forget George Anich, a nice
gentleman who gave us the tour of the stadium, and who was nice enough to let
us see the stadium court up close. Thank
you George!
Years from now, we will still
be talking about the first time we ever played at Indian Wells-where the pros
play. WOW! So in the year 2016, when I will turn 50, we
all will make a trip back to Indian Wells to play in the Senior Cup. But between now and then, we hope to make it to
Indian Wells once again for another USTA National Championships.
OUR PHOTO GALLERY:
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| Stadium Court |
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| Yes - that's me in the middle of center court |
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| 1-2-3-Jump |
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| Again |
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Our Friend - George Anich
Tournament Director - BNP Paribas Open Senior Cup |
- Our Last Morning Before Heading Home -
- Last Look At Indian Wells -
RACQUETHEADS - THE DREAM TEAM
"There Will Never Be Another Team Like This"
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Front: Huong Doan / Lisa Powell / Carol Rollins / Albie Nacke
Back: Beth Wilson / Mary Ann Daum / Nancy Winters / Kelly Kramer / Teresa Emerson / Julie Skinner
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| Coaches & Captains - Huong & Kelly |
WE'RE JUST SAYIN...
