The Lapsed Player Initiative

[silentkman]

I co-captained half a season in Virginia, and I got a little tired of this:

"Oh, wow. I left my wallet at home. Can anyone lend me $11?"

"I only have a $50 bill. Can anyone break it?"

"Dang it! I used my last check. Can I pay you the next time I see you?"

"Wait, Darlene was supposed to cover my share because I paid for her last week. Did she leave already?"

"Aw, crap. My kids have been in my wallet again. There's an ATM on the corner. Can you follow me up there?"

I can relate, I captained a NOVA about a decade ago. The reason why I stopped playing.

Some teams were getting DIV 1 college players to play at the 4.5 level(before the Dynmaic tennis rating)

Collecting money was an absolute pain in the @SS.

Tennis is not a team sport, its an individual sport (excluding doubles of course).


I would much rather play an USTA tournament in my age group.

 

[TennisDawg]

Myself, I haven't played a USTA event in over 5 years. I recently discovered the game of Pickle Ball. Initially it was a game mainly seniors play. I went to a public court the other day to hit the tennis backboard. I noticed 6 pickle ball courts with 24 people playing and around a dozen people watching. It was reminiscent of the tennis boom of the 1970s. Instead of a boring evening hitting the backboard I challenged for the court and immediately played a few hours of pickle ball. Tennis skills are a big help so I'm probably going to start playing more pickle ball then tennis, now. Although tennis is my first love (pardon the pun), I found pickle ball was easier to learn and more accessible to the public. It could be people are going to other sports.