Board of Directors
From Your President, December 2009
It is quickly coming to the end of the year, and my first year as President has been very eventful. We made strides toward our mission of encouraging the growth of tennis in El Cerrito, but in retrospect it wasn't as much as I'd wanted. My main goal was to stimulate the younger population to pick up a racquet and try the game. But my goal fell short.
One of the Club's first accomplishments under my leadership was a $500 donation to support the El Cerrito High School's boys' and girls' tennis teams. Last year we donated $1000 to the Albany boys' tennis team, and happily they've been able to take off and support themselves this year with great team, community, and parent participation.
A small group of players headed by Jan Straus made a donation to the tennis component of the Portola Afterschool program. Many thanks to them! The Club also provided used racquets to the El Cerrrito Recreation Department for tennis programs.
As a member of the El Cerrito Park and Recreation Commission, I was in the rare position of communicating the tennis community needs directly to the Commission. A member of the community and many Club members wanted a freestanding backboard built where it would not interfere with playground activities or be within a court. I proposed the project of installing a permanent backboard in one of our parks (perhaps Cerrito Vista) on the list of projects for the East Bay Parks Bond money (Measure WW Park Bond Extension) passed by county voters last year. Each affected county in the East Bay Park district will receive a total of 1 million dollars to use for park and recreation projects within their respective cities. The El Cerrito city council approved a preliminary list of park projects in March, including the creation of a permanent backboard. However, the backboard is near the bottom of a long list of important projects, so funds for the backboard may not be available when the project is finally considered by the city.
The USTA league teams were busy all year. El Cerrito has continued to field 4 – 5 men's and women's teams during the many adult, senior, super senior, combo, and mixed seasons as well as 3 teams in the Bay Area Ladies League.
The club held a very successful July BBQ round robin tennis event with around 50 – 55 participants enjoying a great lunch of sausages, salad, hors d'oeuvres, various drinks, and great tennis.
An equally enjoyable event was held in September with about 42 participants competing at 3 different venues in our Mixed Doubles Tournament, won by Helen Bae and Jim Robinson in the 6.0 division and David Gerstel and Jan Wilkins in the 7.0 division.
The last (or first) event of the season is the Red Eye Drop-in on January 1, 2010, at the Arlington Park courts starting at 9:00 a.m. Hope to see you there!