Time Hop

HAPPY FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY TO LEISURE WORLD!

By Patricia Von Trapp

We, The Leisure World Tennis Club, weren’t there in the beginning, but we are sure glad we hopped on board just a few years later.

Have you heard of the Rossmoor Racket Club? That was the original name of the now Leisure World Tennis Club created in February 1975. The first meeting was on March 19, 1975, with six people attending. Golf was the name of the game in Arizona and Leisure World so tennis and LW eventually combined to build some tennis courts. Tennis players went to Golden Hills, local school courts or Gene Autry to play before two courts were constructed about two years later. (Currently courts 11 and 12).

In one of the histories of the tennis club, it mentions that if the women wanted to use both courts, they needed to give the men at least one day’s notice! Great piece of information.

The first ball machine, Little Prince was purchased for $250.00! Yes, that decimal is in the right place.

Dues were instituted in 1978 at $1.00 per year. In 1978 there were 23 members and by 1981 there were a total of 41 members. With membership increasing, tennis players needed more courts to fulfill the needs of the residents who again had to leave the park to play tennis at alternate sites.

Proposals were made in early 1983 to change the name to the Leisure World Tennis Club and in 1984 to create more courts.

The new courts opened in February 1988 and dues were up to $12.00 per year with a new member initiation fee. The club wanted to attract more members. Two avenues were initiated; increase competition and increase social activities. LW excelled at both. There is one quote in the archives, “Happiness is being a Leisure World Tennis player”. Tennis expanded the calendar to allow for outside competition, a long-held culture in the East Valley. Teams we compete with now were also around in the 80’s, oh so many years ago, looking for the same competition as LW. Tower Point, Sunland Village, Sun Lakes, and more were available for frequent, weekly play during the November through March calendar we follow today. LW fielded men’s and women’s teams to compete against other parks. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any results! The club also wanted to pursue attracting members for social functions.

The social aspect of attracting new members was also a wild success. The club held Dixie Land Jazz concerts in April, trips to ride the boats in Canyon and Saguaro Lakes, bus or plane rides to Las Vegas, bake sales, pancake breakfasts and the semi-formal Tennis Ball. Membership grew to 174 in 1993. The membership worked together to make tennis an enjoyable sport and enhance the joy to live in LW.

Court Reserve was still may years away. To sign up for a court one had to physically be at the sign-up board, down by the courts exactly one week prior to the day and hour you wanted to play.

One player could not sign up for another; at least one player (of the two some or foursome) had to be present. Plus, if two players want the same date and time, you could spin a racket or flip a coin and the winner got the court! Gotta love it!

The mid 90’s was a time for growing and maturing for LW Tennis. Another ball machine was needed and was purchased for $1029.00. The club applied for and was accepted into the East Valley Senior Tennis League, commonly referred to today as EVST of which LW is still a member club. The League consisted of 16 clubs. Initially, LW had 25 players participating in the EVSTL. We had enough to field two teams at the 3.0 level but had to “farm out” the 4.0 players to combine with other clubs for competition. By the year 2000 there were 73 players. Here’s an interesting story; in order to host East Valley competitions every week, there needed to be four courts dedicated to League play. There were only six courts and four were dedicated to a potluck. The Tennis Club was also focused on increasing membership so hosted “potluck” play six mornings a week. Potluck is where anyone of any ability can come and play…AKA as paddles up. The Leisure World teams had to go to the Hohokum tennis facility in Mesa to rent facilities for the year to participate in the East Valley competition.

Happy 50th Anniversary!