Tennis Newsletter - January 2008

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you back to another season of great tennis, a completely new slate of fun social events, tournaments and a wonderful venue to meet and get to know friendly people of all ages at our beautiful facility.

If you are not a member yet and are thinking of joining then allow us to take a moment to personally "Thank you"  in advance for your interest in our club.

Your timing is wonderful! With a cabana style clubhouse & 4 beautifully lighted hard courts, and lots of warm & friendly people who love tennis we feel this is the place to be!

Best Wishes!!!! ........Your 2008 Board

Message From the Chair

Although it may be hard to duplicate the success and enjoyment experienced at the Club in 2007, your new Board of Directors are dedicated to making it even better in 2008.

This season expect to find a diverse collection of tennis programs for adults, juniors and families. Our weekly Spring and Summer planned activities include Morning Drop-In, Round Robins, Ladies Day, Mens Night, 1st Friday Night Social Mixers, and a Monthly Weekend Challenge program for advanced players. All of these programs will be free to our members.

This years calendar of events is being packed with inter-club matches, tennis parties and tournaments.

Special 2008 TCTA Sponsored Clinics for every age and ability are going to be offered during the year at NO COST to the membership.

Also members will be able to enjoy a new "Fast Tennis" match play format for intermediate and advanced players. We also plan to offer for the first time ever an intensive Summer Tennis Camp for our serious Juniors.

Our new 2008 monthly newsletter "Centre Court" was planned for launch mid-January and we hit our target! We hope you’ll enjoy taking a moment each month and reading a little about your club and getting to know fellow members a little better in 2008. We openly invite your comments and input.

Our new 2008 monthly Member-Guest Round Robin is a new event and would be a great time to introduce your friends to TCTA and our tennis program for 2008.

As you can see TCTA is having a "Total Make Over" in 2008 to provide a greater value and create a more exciting club for our membership.

I have assembled a most talented Board of Directors to be on our team in 2008 and we all are very excited to be able to create a new look and feel for the TCTA tennis program serving our members.

Please mark your calendars and come out to our Opening Tennis Day 2008 for a Free Round Robin play day and celebrate with us! There will be complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beverages (wine, beer, soda) served and substantial discounts on selected pro shop items.

We will also raffle off a new tennis racket! So mark your calendars for Saturday, March 1 from 1pm-4pm. Come and see all of the good things we’ve got planned for 2008.

This season promises to be our best yet!

Cheers!

Jesse A. Dunagan
President
Tega Cay Tennis Association

New Member SpotLight

We would like to welcome Walter and Leslie Fournet to the TCTA family. Many of you already know these two warm, friendly and positive thinking people. The Fournets come to us from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and have been off and on residents of Tega Cay since 1987. They are the very proud parents of two beautiful twins daughters who are seniors this year and scouting out new places to improve their games on the collegiate level. When they are not looking for a game on the courts you might find them all relaxing at home with family and friends and taking care of their dog Jazz and their two adorable kitty cats. Please give a warm welcome to the Fournets if you meet up with them on the courts.

Digi-Know????

According to Gerard G Adler, MD, and Leader of the Aurora Sports Medicine Institute, as well as being an avid tennis player, "tennis elbow is localized pain over the bony prominence called the lateral epicondylitis."

It is a common "tendinitis" that affects participants of racquet sports. It also affects people who perform repetitive wrist extension (wrist bent away from palm) and forearm rotation.

So what Is the Cause?

Any sort of repetitive stress on the muscles connected to the lateral epicondyle can cause tennis elbow. Too much stress on these muscles can lead to microtearing, causing pain that is usually centralized in the muscles' origin in the outer elbow.

Alternative treatments include acupuncture, splinting and various types of herbal remedy for tennis elbow.

Could Your Tennis Equipment be the Problem?

If it's not your technique, chances are that your equipment is the problem. The more "yes's" you give to the questions in the following checklist, the greater the chances that your equipment is to blame. ....Do you? . . . use a racquet with a very small - or very large - grip?

• . . . use a racquet that's exceptionally stiff?
• . . . have your racquets strung exceptionally tightly?
• . . . use strings that are hard and unforgiving?
• . . . use a racquet with a small sweet spot?
• . . . forget to use a vibration dampener?

If you answered "yes" to some of the above questions, it's likely that you could derive tremendous benefit from a change in equipment.

Traditional treatment of tennis elbow includes modification of exercise, use of over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, ice treatment and total rest.