When Marcia White’s tennis team qualified for next week’s USTA’s 65 & Over Invitational last fall, she began describing her ten teammates as “research.”
A more obvious question at first, she admits to guessing before asking: Have you seen the national convention before?
“No,” they all said one by one. But what they said next to her surprised even White, a tennis veteran of more than 20 years.
“[We]started mostly in our 50s and 60s,” she learned, telling The News Tribune earlier this week. and then came back and started again later.
“The big thing to think about is … there are people who probably just started playing tennis and might be interested.”
Eleven local women between the ages of 65 and 76 who practice outside the Galbraith Tennis Center in Tacoma will participate in a national competition next month in Surprise, Arizona.
“When I was in high school, the boys had a tennis team, but the girls didn’t,” White said. “Boys played soccer, girls didn’t. Girls had nothing.
“And here we are in our 60s and 70s and we’re in a competitive position at our level and we can go to this stuff.”
The USTA League’s 65 & Over Invitational will take place February 3-5 at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex. ‘Team PNW’ will have two appearances on Friday and two on Saturday, and may qualify as one of four groups at the final round on Sunday.
White’s team represents the PNW, which comprises Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska, among 17 regions.
Co-captains Pat O’Donnell and Mary Sousa were followed by Kelly Compton, Jackie DeLeon, Kathy Heinz, Casey Hunter, Kathy Schawth, Cindy Skinner, Kathy Sparks, Barbara Van Sickle and White. Continue.
including national qualification Victory in the USTA section last September, Hosted by a pair of local venues. Jupiter Tennis Center in Edgewood and Galbraith, where White and teammates won the final match of the tournament. His 11-man team at level 3.0 qualified for the Nationals on Sept. 18 last year when he beat a team in Salem, Oregon in three sets.
Team PNW has a depth White has not seen in the last few years and is considered vital for the group to win the section title. White’s teammates always have him scheduled for the 55+ group exhibition. Some players even joined a second league, Pierce County his league, to compete against players with a 3.5 skill level above Team PNW’s 3.0 level.
“They’re a little bit younger, so they can hit a little faster and a little harder,” White said of the recent competition. there is”.
“We just want to make sure we keep improving. Luckily most people in our group are about the same level.”
Team PNW First Meet in the Missouri Valley set for 8:00 AM MT on Friday, February 3rd.
The Galbraith Tennis Center will hang banners throughout the gymnasium honoring the team’s national achievements.
Mr White said:
