2009 Sectionals in Carmel – 4.0 Mens Team

The Winners! Orange Park's 4.0 Mens Team

Congratulations to the 4.0 mens team for winning the Sectional Championships for Orange Park!  They can now represent Northern California at Nationals!  Good luck to you guys! All 3 days of competition was hard fought and well deserved, all matches were won at 3-2!

See the team’s USTA Page

Comment from the captain:
“The field consisted of Orange Park, Washington Park, Mitchell Park and La Cantera. We knew that our toughest opponent(s) would be Mitchell Park on day 1, then Washington Park on day 3. It all came down to our lineups for all 3 days. There was a lot of decision-making in the background and we involved our players. But a joint decision on how we were to line up for all 3 days was the reason we are going to Nationals! We simply outguessed the other teams. This is the 3rd Orange Park team I have taken to Sectionals, but like they say, 3rd time’s the charm!!!”

2009 Districts in Napa – 4.0 Mens Team

Orange Park's 4.0 Mens Team

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Orange Park’s 4.0 Mens Team (captained by Robert Pacheco and co-captain Danny Reyes) for winning their District Championships this past weekend in Napa!!! Woo hoo!

They also had 3 rounds of playoffs just to make it to Districts, and once there, they proved tough to beat! Congratulations, team!

See the team’s USTA Page

2009 Districts in Napa – 3.5 Womens Team

2009 District Championships - Orange Park's 3.5 Womens Team

Congratulations to OP’s 3.5 Womens Team, who made it through 3 rounds of playoff matches to move on to the Districts Championships in Napa (Aug 14 to 16).  They made a great run of it but fell just short of the title…they came in 2nd place.  That is still quite an accomplishment!  Great job by Captain, Wendy Ashton and Co-Captain, Tammy Mason, for a terrific season. There’s always next year, ladies!

Proud to be clad in Orange

Click to view the team’s USTA Page

Senior Mens 3.5 Team at Districts (Elk Grove)

I am very sorry for posting this so late.  I forgot I took pictures!  These are some of the awesome guys of Orange Park’s 3.5 Senior Mens Team.  The District Championships were held in Elk Grove from April 17 to 19, 2009.  I came to watch them on Saturday only.  They came up just a tad short against a couple of tough teams but played well over all.

Jay

Ed

Bill

Greg

Mike

Collin & Mike

Link to score page.

It was a nice day to be out in the sun. You guys get ‘em next year!

Liz

So Sweet!

Whoopie!!!  Orange Park’s 7.0 Mixed Team (captained by George Rodrigues) won their first playoff match against a strong Westlake team yesterday at Westlake’s home courts no less!  The victory couldn’t have been sweeter.  Last time they played, Westlake swept 0-3.  Revenge is so much sweeter when you take it to your opponents during a playoff match!

Nettie and Simon had very tough opponents and couldn’t get pass the guy’s overheads. Stan and Claudia played very well against their 4.0 female and 3.0 guy. Even though it looked bad for OP at times, they came through!

Mike and Lee also played against a 4.0 female and 3.0 guy team, although many would insist the guy ain’t no 3.0!  Nevertheless, with the deciding match on their shoulders, they came through in the 3rd set for The Win! They played great in tough windy conditions (not to mention overlooking bad line calls). Lee kept it in play in the back court and Mike took care of business on the short balls. Way to go, team!

Many thanks to those who came out to cheer for Orange Park (Lucy, George, Wendy, Tammy, Liz, Ed, Ernesto, etc). I think the noise and support unnerved their opponents. Their cheers were weak!

OK, don’t get cocky now…you have one more playoff match to go! Good Luck OP!

Message from the USTA Team Activities Director

We have a lot of fun events set up for 2009. There are several USTA teams now formed for the Adult league starting in April 2009. You must be a member of SSFTC in order to play on any USTA team that plays out of Orange Park.

Please click on USTA Teams to view the teams participating out of Orange Park.

If you have questions about forming a USTA tennis team, please contact me at ben4ac@aol.com

See you on the tennis courts!

Ben Chew
USTA Team Activities Director

Senior Mens 3.5 Team – On to Districts!

Congratulations to Orange Park’s Senior 3.5 Mens Team! They just concluded a great season winning both playoff matches. In the second round of Playoffs, they beat a tough SFTC team on their turf 2-1! But it was so very close. Two matches went to tiebreakers with scores like 10-7 and 12-10!

Team Captain, Ben’s comments: George and I tried our best but ended up losing to two guys that served very well. We played in the No.1 spot, losing 6-2, 6-2. George and I felt demoralized. I was sitting up in the landing wondering if I blew this match. We were watching Greg and Mike not knowing what happened. They were sitting on the court a long time. We couldn’t tell by their body language whether they’d won or lost. When they finally came up to the landing, they told us they won a very close match. The scores were 5-7, 6-4, and 10-7! That gave us hope that we still had a chance to win the team match. But the nail-biting continued…

Last to finish at No.2 was Bill and Ed. The other team informed us that we had already lost the first set 5-7. So we had a MUST WIN situation on our hands! Bill and Ed pulled it out and won the second set 6-4. We all were watching and cheering as they played the Super Tiebreaker. Bill hit a shot down the line on Eric Morgenthaler for match point and then Abraham Yang put up a short lob for Ed to put the overhead away to win the match at 12-10!

Ed’s comment: I knew it was match point and I told myself NOT to screw it up but I had a brief second of fear that I might!

Congratulations to everyone on the Orange Park Senior team! They can hold their heads up high as they lived up to their name sake Orange Crush!

Next up – the District Championships, which will be held on April 17-19 at Laguna Creek Racquet Club, Elk Grove. If you’re able to go, do cheer the team on!

Link to score page.

Sectional Champs!

Meet your Sectional Champs of Northern California! It’s our little womens 3.5 team from Orange Park! Those little orange shoelaces really took them places! Next stop…Nationals in Vegas, baby!

SSFTC Policy for USTA Teams

The South San Francisco Tennis Club (SSFTC) will sponsor and support a maximum of four USTA teams within any season. A sponsor donation will be given to each team for the purchase of tennis balls or other uses.

If you wish to form a USTA team playing out of Orange Park, you must be a current member of the SSFTC and you must notify the USTA Team Activities Director (Ben Chew) at 415-554-2334 or you may email Ben at ben.chew@sfgov.org.

Team captains are responsible for ensuring that all memberships are current. Players should be current SSFTC members before adding themselves to the roster.

Membership Fee Schedule:

Annual renewal before January 31st – $20
Annual renewal after January 31st – $30
New members (Jan 1 to Jun 30) – $30
New members (Jul 1 to Dec 31) – $15

All players must be a SSFTC member by March 1 before they are allowed to join a SSFTC-sponsored USTA team.

a. Deadline for final team roster is March 1.
b. After March 1, a maximum of two players can be added to your roster.
c. Adding more than two players will require SSFTC Board approval.

All SSFTC members are invited to participate in all USTA teams.

All USTA team players will play a minimum of two matches.

SSF Park and Rec policy for court reservations for USTA Teams:

a. Courts may be reserved on Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm
b. Courts may be reserved Monday through Friday at 6pm
c. A maximum of four courts can be reserved. Leave Court 5 open for public use at all times.

Court reservations will be assigned by the USTA Team Activities Director. A permit must be filled out by each team captain and submitted to the USTA Team Activities Director for approval from SSF Park and Rec before notifying opponents.

SSFTC Fun or Play Days will be given priority over any USTA match. USTA matches on those days will be scheduled after the SSFTC event.

Court reservation notices (at least five) with the SSF permit number must be posted in designated areas at least 5 days prior to the match or event.

Questions? Contact Ben Chew at 650-224-7349 (cell).