SCTA Newsletter 2023-02
Solano Tennis Community:
The rain continues to challenge our court time but life goes on.
SCTA Annual Membership Meeting (AMM). The SCTA hosted its second AMM on Saturday afternoon, January 21st, at the Crossroads Christian Church in Vacaville.
· Four director positions were filled:
o Ken Wildung, three-year term
o Don Clyde, three-year term.
o Lisa Tong, two-year term
o Ed Manelia, two-year term.
· By-Laws Amendment 2022-1, the Pickleball Amendment, was approved.
o The intent of this initiative is to capture the positive synergy resulting from the two communities coming together as a single voice, while not jeopardizing the SCTA’s 501c(3) tax exempt status with the IRS.
o The Vacaville Pickleball community had proposed in November that the SCTA integrate them as a separate division as allowed by our by-laws. A joint working group in December recommended amending specific bylaw articles to create a Pickleball Division and to register the Fictitious Business Name (FBN) “Northern Solano County Racquet Association” to reflect the broader focus.
o The amendment creates a Pickleball Division, with its own leadership structure, membership, and financial accounts under the SCTA umbrella. The SCTA will exercise oversight by having a non-voting Pickleball liaison board member report at its meetings and by having the SCTA Treasurer maintain the financial records for the entire SCTA, including the new Pickleball Division.
o The amendment was previously approved by the Board at its December 14, 2022, meeting, contingent upon ongoing due diligence to protect our tax-exempt status.
· We are an organization of volunteers. As such, we are only as successful as the folks who step forward and how much they are able to contribute. Numerous individuals were recognized at the AMM for their contributions to the sport of tennis and to the organization.
o Caitlin O’Halloran, for energizing and amplifying the voice of tennis to the City of Dixon leadership.
o Brett Stephens, for taking on responsibility for our website and IT support.
o Tim Tieu, for coordinating our USTA League court requirements between the team captains and the City and for hosting the recreational round-robins at year end.
o Lisa Manio, for stepping forward to establish SCTA Youth Programs.
o Diana Flores, for reaching out, as head of the local Pickleball community, to work with the local tennis community moving forward and for carrying our message to the city leadership that each community is looking for a multi-court home base.
· Retiring Directors were recognized:
o Mary Johnsen, 2021 director.
o Paul McGuire, 2022 director.
o Susan Foft, 2021-2022 director and treasurer.
· Phil Cello and Rafael Rovira were recognized for bringing the Fairfield Pro Challenger to the area in 2015 and for making it an annual event. Raf then recognized January Alzouhbi for her work in organizing the many volunteers at the 2022 tournament and presented Certificates of Appreciation/gift cards to those volunteers.
· Team tennis does not happen without team captains. 30 members who captained SCTA sponsored teams in 2022 were identified and presented with SCTA Team Captain shirts.
· New this year were two exciting Raffle prizes, available to members in attendance.
o Tranquil Couples Escape spa package at the 36 Oaks Country Retreat
§ Courtesy of Linda Tipton
§ Winner: Don Clyde
o Five-night stay at the Tahoe Ridge Resort
§ Courtesy of Ken Wildung
§ Winner: Michael Friedman
· Learning:
o Since our by-laws require that all successive AMMs be held in the same month as the first annual meeting, our next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, January 20, 2024.
o After two AMMs, we have learned that, with annual memberships being calendar year, there is not much time to renew/rebuild membership before an AMM in January. Also, holding the meeting on a Saturday afternoon, at a time when all our league matches are played on weekends, makes attendance difficult for players.
o Your board will be evaluating alternative meeting times and dates before our 2024 meeting and identifying a way to make a change happen.
SCTA Officers for 2022
The newly constituted Board of Directors met immediately after the AMM to elect the corporate officers for the 2023 year. Your officers going forward are:
· President: Tony Mras
· Vice President: Ken Wildung
· Secretary: Terry Christophel
· Treasurer: Lisa Tong
SCTA Membership Requirements for League Play
· The SCTA is organized as a membership organization. As part of our mission, we enable tennis opportunities for our members. SCTA membership for league players was encouraged from the beginning, but not required, as our focus was on making tennis possible.
· In the 2023 Budget approved at our September 2022 meeting, the board agreed to increase annual dues to enable us to do more than simply cover court usage fees and insurance costs.
· The new fee of $40 for 2023 adult members was announced in our October 4th Newsletter and uploaded to the website shortly thereafter.
· At our December 2022 meeting, your board codified the requirement that all players rostered on an SCTA-sponsored team be SCTA members.
· That requirement was communicated as a request, not necessarily a requirement, in our December 30th newsletter.
· We have since reached out to all team captains to ensure that they are aware of the requirement. They should encourage current team members to join and should not register a team in the upcoming leagues if they do not have enough players who are SCTA members or who are willing to join.
USTA League Play
· 2022 Leagues. We are finally getting closure on the 2022 Combo league seasons.
o Our Men’s 7.5 team, captained by Rommel Bautista, won its first-round playoff match against NVTA/Vintage on November 19th and was scheduled to play its second-round match against Vallejo/Amador on December 4th. When that match was rained out, USTA NorCal used a blind draw to award the league championship to the Vallejo/Amador team.
o The USTA/NorCal Sectional Championships were originally scheduled for January 13-15. Rain that weekend forced postponement to February 3-5.
o Our Ladies 7.5B team, captained by Laura Manelia, playing in the Sectionals at Johnson Ranch, lost to Olympic on Friday, February 3rd, and beat Carmel Valley and Clovis TC on Saturday. Olympic finished flight competition undefeated, winning eight of the nine individual matches played. The one match they lost was to our ladies.
o Our Ladies 6.5 team, captained by Cynthia Oanes, was scheduled for Sectional play at Broadstone. When rain cancelled all play on Friday, NorCal revised the competition to two matches per team and the play format to truncated sets. Unfortunately, our ladies team lost their matches against Palo Alto/Rinconada and Walnut Creek on Saturday.
· 2023 Leagues. We currently have 14 teams playing USTA league tennis.
o Three Mixed 18 & Over teams.
o Ten Adult 40 & Over teams.
o One Men’s 65 & Over team.
o With our limited court availability, we knew that it would be tough finding court time to allow all these teams to play. The recent rains, though needed and welcome, have presented us with a real challenge in getting make-up and regular matches played before season end. Standby for updates.
o Captains have until February 21st to register teams for the upcoming 18+ and 55+ seasons. 55+ play starts March 20th; 18+ play starts April 10th. SCTA membership is required to play on these teams.
Youth Programs.
· A generous donation from Yolanda Irigon has made it possible for us to support youth tennis in our local area. Lisa Manio has volunteered to take the lead in making those programs a reality.
· We want to complement, not compete against, on-going programs in the community.
· Lisa is currently building a plan to have a positive impact in all three communities – Vacaville, Fairfield, and Dixon, and will present that plan to the Board of Directors at its next meeting on Wednesday, March 1st.
Mixed Doubles Clinic.
Solano Tennis is offering a mixed doubles clinic this Friday night, February 10th, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM on the Three Oaks courts in Vacaville. Cost is $40. Contact Aaron or Duncan to see if slots are still available.
In-Shape Racquet Social.
In-Shape Browns Valley is offering a racquet sport social Saturday morning, February 11th, from 9:00 AM to noon. Pick up matches in tennis, pickleball, and racquetball. Open to In-Shape members only through the In-Shape application.
SCTA Membership
As of today, February 6, 2023, the SCTA has 139 2023 members – 135 Adult and 4 Youth. Membership is available only through the website.
Family Support
We lost one of our own on January 24th when Mike Price passed away.
Mike was very active in USTA league tennis, playing on numerous teams representing NVTA/Vintage, Silverado, Bay Area SF TC, and the San Francisco TC. He is part of the NorCal Hawks family, as he was a member of our 2019 Senior Cup team at Indian Wells.
If you would like to send a card, do so to his wife Gaetan Karr at 119 Towpath Drive, Napa, CA 94558.
If you want to call or email Gaetan, text or email me and I will share her contact info with you.
Tony Mras
President, SCTA