As the hours ticked down to the latest Rolling Hills Courts Club Event, scheduled for Saturday morning the 3rd of February, the team responsible for putting on the show were increasingly worried by the dire weather forecast. With just over a week to go, the forecast was rain, rain and yet more rain. 

 

We knew we had a lot to lose. We had reserved Everard to coach the tennis players, Mario and David too, to coach the Pickleball players. We would be buying breakfast and offering soft drinks and cocktails, and we had also reserved a fabulous (and expensive) burger truck for lunch. We had a decision to make. We looked again at the forecast and saw a tiny window that said "partly sunny," on Saturday morning, in between passing showers and a big storm. 

 

Given all the preparations that had already taken place: David Brown and Alan Cherry had measured out and temporarily striped an additional 4 pickleball courts, Erich Stein had crafted three cocktails and the drinks had been bought, Tony Mian had breakfast ordered and Rowena Cherry had reserved the burger truck and paid which we would lose if we cancelled. More than all this, we had nearly 80 residents who had paid for the event and they wanted to PLAY! We decided to go ahead and make the best of whatever happened.

 

Thursday, two days before the event, we had a huge downpour.  The forecast was showing an ever smaller dry window and an ever larger storm approaching Rolling Hills. On Friday you could sense a storm was coming, but still no rain yet. Saturday morning dawned with a few streaks of sunlight and NO RAIN, we just might pull this off.........

 

At 7am on Saturday morning the team tasked with setting up the event were already hard at work, Lynee Deslierres had cleaned the tables and work surfaces,  Alya Lucas was decorating tables, Lou Altman and Alan Cherry were setting up the breakfast and drinks areas, Rowena Cherry was coordinating the coaches and the people from Approach Pickleball who were demoing and selling paddles. Gail Starinieri and Brenda Okuma were setting up the reception and signing in the early birds and giving out the tickets for lunch. 

 

It was a very cool start at 8:30 in the morning. However as the morning progressed, the energy and vitality of the players was obvious and they were soon rewarded with sunshine and warming temperatures. So much so, that by 11:00 people were taking off their layers and really enjoying the event. The beginners and novices on the pickleball court could be seen practicing their shots and getting a feel for the game. The tennis players were equally as exuberant as they played games designed to get everyone moving. Everard Groenewald could be heard exhorting players to "rotate!" Others were heading to the bar for a well deserved cocktail, custom made by Erich Stein or cookies and special oyster cracker mix that was made by Jessica Slaught. Everyone had a story to tell about "that shot they just made!"

 

At 11:30 sharp the burger truck started service and the players quickly found their way to the head of the line. With great food, a chilled beverage and amazingly, really warm sunny weather, the tables filled up and the level of conversation rose. Old friends met up again and new residents met other new residents and soon found themselves building relationships and planning games for the coming weeks. 

 

As the last people were getting their lunch, residents were filtering back onto the courts for one last game, to try out their newly learned skills. Everyone seemed intent on making the most of the wonderful sunshine with the knowledge that the mother of all storms was on the way and we would all be hunkered down for a few days. The event had attracted nearly 80 residents to learn and play tennis and pickleball. There were over 20 complete pickleball novices and beginners, nearly 30 advanced and intermediate pickleball players and over 15 tennis players. We also had social members who joined in the fun. 

 

At the end of the event as we were packing everything away, the conclusion we reached was that we had been incredibly LUCKY! 

 

If you are interested in finding out more about how to play tennis or pickleball, how to reserve a court or join the drop-in sessions for tennis or pickleball. Contact Alan Cherry, RH Courts Club President at (650) 868 3503 or at alanmcherry@gmail.com

 

Other contacts:

Everard Groenewald (Tennis coach) - 310 403 2564

David Brown (Pickleball coach) - 310 567 3570

Mario Franco (Pickleball coach) - 424 408 3293