Kicking Off Season with Member-Associate Tournaments
By Hannah Fleckenstein, Head Tennis Professional

It’s November 1 and season is officially here! While we’ve enjoyed a fun summer at the Tennis & Games Center, our team is so excited to welcome you home with a few of our most unique events that we look forward to every year – the Member-Associate Tournaments.

Last week, we hosted the first with the 9th Annual Member-Associate Tennis Tournament. Sign-ups filled up fast for Members and Associates alike with 42 total players (and a waitlist almost half as long!), with each Member being paired with an Associate.

Each year this tournament is exciting, but in the days leading up to the tournament this year, we saw historical clinic attendance from both Members and Associates (we host Associate clinics in the evenings three days a week) as they fine-tuned their skills for the big event. Among the participating Associates were some familiar faces seen in our Member Fitness, Recreation, Maintenance, Port O’Call and Culinary departments. Others may be less familiar, hailing from departments such as Setup, Communications and Accounting. These Member-Associate tournaments provide the unique opportunity for Members to interact with Associates they may otherwise have never met.

The event kicked off at 4 p.m. on Thursday, October 24, yet players were eager and arrived early to warm up with their partners. The field was split into four different flights which spread out across our nine beautiful tennis courts. After 1.5 hours of intense round robin match play, four teams came out on top: Tyler Massey and Jesus Gonzalez of the Tennis & Games Center, Britta Garcia and Chris Nelson of Recreation, Charlotte Drinkwater and Henry Cunningham of Accounting, and Wally Hayward and Ryan Lawless of the Member Fitness Center.

After two riveting semi-final matches and some meticulous court attention by our Tennis & Games Maintenance team, the stage was set for a final showdown between Hayward & Lawless and Massey & Gonzalez. The umpire chair, Assistant Professional Jan Koupil, who has experience as a chair umpire on the European Professional Circuit, was ready for the task. The players took the court and the crowd locked in. The points were long and the score was tight, but when all was said and done, Wally Hayward & Ryan Lawless came out victorious and took home the hardware.

Each and every year, it’s impossible to tell who enjoys the Member-Associate Tennis Tournament more – the Members, Associates or myself! The energy leading up to and on the day of the event is unlike any other at the Tennis & Games Center… except maybe the Member-Associate Pickleball Tournament, which we are hosting on Tuesday, November 5! If you can believe it, we already have a waitlist for the tournament, but please come and cheer on your favorite Associates and Members beginning at 4 p.m.

Upcoming events at the Tennis & Games Center include:
• November 3, 2-5pm, Croquet Mixer Open Play Opening Day
• November 5, 4pm, Member-Associate Pickleball Tournament
• November 12, 3:30pm, Swing Into Season
• November 15, 8:30am, Fall Singles Golf Croquet Tournament
• November 23-24, Tennis Mixed Doubles Club Championships

Visit oceanreef.com/TennisGamesCenter for the up-to-date season schedule for clinics and tournaments or stop by the Tennis & Games Center for a physical copy.

Featured image: Forty-two players participated in the 9th annual Member-Associate Tennis Tournament.