SPORTS & FITNESS

PICKLEBALL AND TENNIS

FUZZY THOUGHTS by Maury Nunes, Ink-Stained Tennis Wretch As a tennis player have you ever wondered about that fuzz on the tennis ball? Believe it or not, the fuzz is an integral part of the game and without it tennis today would be, well, more like racquetball without walls. [An interesting thought?!?]

When tennis was first conceived, back in Renaissance times, various substances were used to make tennis balls; frequently leather bound, filled with, amnong other substances, sand, leaves, sawdust, animal hair, animal intestines (yuk), human hair and plain old dirt. It was not until somebody though of using rubber that the game began to take on its more modern form.

But those rubber balls were not uniform nor were they fuzz coated. Initially the balls were plain old India rubber with no coating. Later on they were cloth covered. And after that when the idea of air-filled balls came along for that truer bounce, some were cloth covered and some uncovered. That’s not much more than 100 years ago.

The cloth cover in the early part of the 20th Century was often melton, which is a somewhat heavy, dense wool, designed to be durable while cushioning the rubberized bounce from being too volatile. An improvement, but as time went on, not really keeping with other changes in the game’s equipment and surfaces.

Enter the fuzz. With the development of synthetic fabrics, often cheaper than that melton wool, they became an interesting alternative for coating the rubberized air-filled, pressurized sphere. Certain grades of nylon seemed superior for their durability and the fuzz concept seemed to work better than a smooth coating. Of course it did, a smooth tire does not grip the road like one with grooves; a fuzzy ball would be less prone to sliding, rather than bouncing.

Then in 1972, the International Tennis Federation adopted the fuzzy Optic Yellow ball (yes, that’s a particular shade of yellow) as the standard ball, rather than the white predecessors, because (get this) they showed up better on television.

So, in addition to improving the publicity and popularity of the sport through Tv viewership, the fuzzy ball also became the standard for folks like those playing here at Lake Arrowhead. Recently, we’ve seen some variations with more and less heavily fuzzed balls, which do bounce differently than the common denominator ball.

It turns out, too, that ITF has actually approved 4 grades of balls, designed to help newbies handle the game: Red balls are oversized and unpressurized (whether all red or half-red). Orange balls are normal size but unpressurized. Green balls are normal size but made with half-pressure. All of these bounce more slowly, due to the low pressure, than the professional’s, fully pressurized balls, but that bounce is still cushioned for trueness with that nylon fuzz. [We should take pride that we play well enough to take on the professionals, at least in balls.]

Consistency may be the hobgoblins of small minds, but in tennis a consistent bounce as a function of force with which the ball is hit, is a blessing. Thank the fuzz! MIXED DOUBLES Play year-round on Monday, Wednesday, Friday - weather permitting. 1:30pm during colder months (Nov through April) | 9:30am during the warmer months (May through October) Regulars will be notified via email when time changes. Format: 4 game sets, then teams break and new teams formed. Otherwise ITF Rules of Tennis apply. All players are welcome. Contact: Maury Nunes (770.720.5003 | man.apc@outlook. com) or just show up. Courts are reserved for this Doubles group.

WOMEN’S DAYTIME DOUBLES Organization begins upon advent of warmer weather and lasts through the early fall. The format for women’s tennis is regulation tennis, 2-3 full sets. The level of tennis played is B-5+ (ALTA) or 3.0-3.5 (USTA). It is played during the warmer months only (May/June through Oct. 1). Former ALTA or USTA newcomers are welcome. Contact: Jill Rose at roses43@ windstream.net or 770.720.8961

PRIVATE PLAY is always encouraged; to help, we provide a roster of the known players who live in Lake Arrowhead. This is kept within the tennis community and not shared outside Lake Arrowhead - contact Maury Nunes at 770.720.5003 or man.apc@outlook.com. To check to see if a court is available, you may contact Membership at membership@ lakearrowheadga.com or phone 770.721.7912.

PICKLEBALL Looking for a fun way to get some exercise? Join us on Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday afternoons at the Red Cloud Pickleball and Tennis Center or just come out a see what it is all about. For more information regarding Pickleball, contact Bill Hess at 770.704.6297 or B3779@ hotmail.com. We now have an active Novice group playing Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings. For more information contact Jim Winchester at 470.222.1634 or 0915jimbo@att.net.

ALTA TEAM PLAY is based out of BridgeMill as Lake Arrowhead is outside the ALTA boundaries. Call 770.720.9635 or email pat.perry@hmsgolf.com.