Mad River Tennis Club

Clay Court Tennis in Vermont's Mad River Valley

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2024 Season Wrap-up

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  • Triples during the 2024 season
    Triples during the 2024 season

As we approach the 2025 season, there are some fond memories from 2024 which we haven’t yet shared.

New net posts and nets were installed in 2024.

MRTC held a Women’s Exhibition and social potluck on Sunday afternoon/evening July 28. The event was organized by Lee Delfausse and refereed by Peter Delfausse. The four women, all 5.0 teaching professionals from Burlington who have played on numerous New England Cup teams, put on quite the entertaining show with great skill. Peter presented the winners with Wheaties cereal featuring Billie Jean King, sure to be a collector’s item.

Labor Day Tournament: Six teams competed in a round robin in beautiful weather on Sunday morning of Labor Day weekend. Competitors and members who came to watch the final enjoyed a potluck luncheon featuring numerous, delicious hand-crafted offerings. The 2024 champions were the Nagy team–Andy and his up-and-coming high school star, daughter Tess! Thanks to everyone who helped make this event an enjoyable success!

Three sessions of Triples were planned with potlucks at Levin’s, Delfausse’s and Goldman’s. Many clinics and lessons were held. Some members played in the VT Senior Games. A fun season was had by all!

Court Closure Sunday 11/3

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The weather this week looks good to get in a few last matches of outdoor tennis!

We’re going to close the courts on Sunday afternoon and would like some member help.

Please reply if you can help with closing, pulling up lines and removing nails (gloves and pliers helpful), packing and storing lines and nets. Some tasks have already been done. Woody will be leading this effort. We will get back to those who are available to help with the actual start time once we see the short-term weather forecast.

What a great season we had!

Darlene

2024 Tournament and Social Update

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Hello Tennis Friends,

The tournament and social will be Sunday, as Saturday’s forecast was not looking good. Play will be from 9am to 1pm followed by an afternoon social. Since we’ll likely be hungry for lunch, we’ll take a break in play and the two finalist teams will be given flexibility as to when they wish to start; estimated match time is 2:15pm. Stop by to cheer and bring a dish to share if inclined.

Dar and Woody

Labor Day Weekend 2024 Update

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Updated Friday 8/30.

Hi All,

If you are interested in entering a team for the tournament, please do so by end of Wednesday. Please refer to guidelines and email address to connect with both Woody and me in the original post, https://www.madrivertennis.com/labor-day-weekend-2024/.

We have six teams entered, so we’ll take a few more and keep it to one day, Saturday Sunday, due to poor forecast for Saturday.

We’ll be back in touch Thursday evening (or Friday) with team and scheduling details.

All members are welcome to the late afternoon championship match(es) and potluck social gathering. We hope to see you and celebrate tennis!

Dar and Woody

Labor Day Weekend 2024

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Updated Friday 8/30.

Hello Tennis Friends,

The Labor Day weekend social and tournament is becoming a tradition and we are beginning the planning for this year!

We will conduct a matrix round robin of predetermined doubles teams divided into flights of equivalent ability followed by a member social event. Tournament play may be spread over Saturday and Sunday as needed based on the number of entries and the weather forecast. Sunday or Monday will be a rain date. Labor Day weekend this year is August 31 through Sept. 2.

Doubles teams may be formed as mixed, womens, or parent/child and with an approximate combined average skill level not greater than NTRP 4.0 (not greater than total 8.0).

Two to four flights will be held based on number of entries, morning flight(s) from approximately 8:30am to noon and afternoon flight(s) from approximately 1:00pm to 4:30pm, adjusting times if necessary. Everyone will get to play the same number of games during the flights regardless of winning or losing. The winning teams from each flight will face off in Club Championship match(es) after each day’s flights.

Also after the tournament at ~5:30pm, all MRTC members and their families are invited to meet, socialize, and celebrate tennis at the club. MRTC will provide beer and soft drinks, but feel free to bring your preferred beverage as well. Please bring a potluck snack, appetizer, or dish to share during the tournament or afterward at the social. Let us know if you’d like to help out with setup and organization of paper goods.

PLEASE RESPOND BY Wednesday, August 28 to [email protected] with your intention to enter a team, and with the following information:

  • Team member names.
  • If you do not have a partner and would like us to match you up.
  • Estimated NTRP.
  • Your availability in at least two, preferably three or all, of the time slots Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon to allow us most flexibility in planning.

The sooner you respond, the better, as that will give us an indication of how many flights to prepare for and how much court time to reserve. We will also be watching the weather forecast. We will be back in touch with people on Friday, August 30 (or Thursday if possible) with scheduling. We may also update this post, so bookmark it and refer back periodically.

We hope this will be a great opportunity for fun competition and a fulfilling occasion for us to visit with each other and celebrate tennis!

Woody & Darlene

P.S. A couple related notes:

  • Comments/feedback welcome from previous participants.
  • We may be slow in responding to emails in the next couple weeks, thus the early planning.
  • In future years, we may periodically move the tournament to the weekend prior to Labor Day weekend to give people some Labor Day flexibility.

Tropical Storm Beryl

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Dear members,

I hope all of you have experienced minimal impact from the recent weather events. I grieve for our neighbors here and across Vermont and elsewhere who are suffering. 

Rain, heavy at times, continues to menace the Mad River Valley this evening and hopefully will not result in additional damage to our community and infrastructure. Mad River Tennis Club fared remarkably well mostly due to good luck and partly as a result of some proactive action some of us took along with our ongoing effort to prepare and maintain the courts as well as possible. 

At dawn today we discovered that Route 17 was severely damaged close to the club entrance. Thankfully the club’s driveway, which the Board was already planning to repair, was not terribly altered from the way it was before recent events. The courts, although they appeared undamaged from the sidelines, suffered from undermined lines in many places and sediment-buried lines in others. I was able to make repairs to most of these issues between rain showers this afternoon and early evening, but the surface is still very soft and vulnerable to damage from use by anyone who engages in starting, stopping, or turning as part of their tennis technique!

I am optimistic about the possibility that if Friday dawns and continues to be dry, warm, and best of all sunny, then the courts could be playable by the afternoon and coming weekend. 

Please be a conscientious partner in the club. Before you play at MRTC, make sure that any sudden and energetic starts, stops, and turns you make do not make a measurable indentation in the playing surface.  Perform this test around all the baselines, service lines and net of the court you plan to play on. Have a great match when conditions are favorable.  Make an effort to repair any noticeable damage, and, when you’re done please sweep the “whole court” – which means all the way to the fences or grass on all the ends and sides and between the courts. Evenly distributing and smoothing surface material in this way is valuable maintenance and not merely an aesthetic preference.  

Thank you for your consideration.

Woody Dugan
Volunteer Court Custodian

Membership Status 2024

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Thank you to all the members who have referred new tennis enthusiasts to our Club. In the last five years, membership has grown steadily, almost doubling. This year the net growth is roughly 10%. One aspect of our Club that we value and wish to maintain is the ease of making court reservations, so we approach growth cautiously and see how court usage plays out each year–thus the importance of signing in at the courts.

We are closed to new members for 2024. Feel free to introduce people to our Club as guests and encourage possible future memberships.

2023 Season Wrap-up

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  • First club workday mid-May following delivery of pallets of brick dust surface material.

The 2023 season at MRTC got off to an early start just before Memorial Weekend this year and continued through to early November, a total of more than five months open!

Play this season was fabulous despite more rain than usual. We’ve entertained the idea that the rain saturated the courts better than the sprinkler system ever has. A handful of surface rollings by Woody resulted in the rain draining off and the courts becoming playable again quickly.

Membership has increased by a few individuals and households each of the last few years. A second session of ladies doubles was added this year in place of one of the mens doubles weeknights. This session was geared toward faster play and improved convenience for working women. Mens doubles continued on Tuesdays, and the traditionally recreational womens doubles continued on Wednesday mornings.

Lee Delfausse was highly sought for lessons this year, and some doubles strategy clinics were requested by groups of women. Lee also led popular “triples” sessions once a month with potlucks after a few of them at the Delfausses, the Levins, and the Laskowskis. Lee and Dave Caterino arranged a fun exhibition match at MRTC with some of the tennis pros from Windridge Tennis displaying their skill.

A Labor Day weekend doubles tournament was again held, with 12 teams competing this year. The pictures explain the results.

If you recognize anything in the lost and found pic to the right, contact Darlene.

Court Closure Sunday 11/5

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The weekend weather is looking more promising each day, cross our fingers. We’re going to close the courts on Sunday morning and would like some member help.

Please reply if you can help with closing, pulling up lines and removing nails (gloves and pliers helpful), packing and storing lines and nets, and putting away remaining furniture. We are not going to worry about the leaves this year. Woody will be leading this effort Sunday morning at 9:30am.

What a great season we had!

Darlene