Palo Alto Tennis Club

Dear PATC Member:

Even though it is often cold and sometimes raining this time of year, many of us are still finding time for tennis. Growing up in the Chicago area, I never thought of playing tennis on an outdoor court in the winter. But in lovely Palo Alto we play tennis all year round.

Tennis players like us lucky enough to live here have a lot to be thankful for.

As the new President of PATC I first want to thank all of our members for being part of our club. We hope PATC is meeting your tennis needs. The new PATC Board is planning an exciting schedule of events for 2008. We will be offering seven club tournaments plus the New Member Social. Two of the tournaments will again be our very popular Memorial Day and Labor Day tennis + dinner events at Stanford. We hope members who haven’t played at Stanford do so this year since we have such a great time meeting new people and socializing while playing tennis and sitting together for dinner in a lovely setting under the oak trees. Our five club tournaments at Rinconada and Cubberly also offer a great way to meet new people while playing tennis and sitting together for lunch. All tournaments this year will allow individual entries so you don’t need to have a partner to sign up.

In addition to tournaments PATC will be offering singles and doubles ladder play, USTA sponsored teams, social play and our very popular Drop-In tennis every third Sunday. Of course we will end the year with our no cost annual party allowing a member and their guest an evening of great food, great wine and great socializing. Beginning this year, PATC members will have an exclusive one month period to sign up for our tournaments and will be given a $10 discount on the entry fee. Also, this year we will be offering immediate on-line sign up and payment for tournaments by simply clicking on a link in the email sent to all members announcing each tournament. No more filling out paper forms and sending paper checks. In less than five minutes you will be signed up, paid and confirmed.

And yes, this is also a reminder that it is time to renew your PATC membership. You will need to renew your membership by February 15 in order to have your name in the PATC membership directory. Remember that it is now possible to complete the renewal process totally online on our Website. Just go to paloaltotennis.com and follow the instructions under "membership" or "Join the Club." If you decide to use the online system (and we are encouraging you to do so) feel free to put the paper copy of your membership application in your tennis bag and share it with a friend who is not yet a PATC member. We are always looking for new members! If you prefer to renew via US mail, simply complete the enclosed form and send it with a check for the proper amount to our Membership Director at the address listed on the application. Either way, please be sure we have an accurate and legible email contact for you.

Why is it so important to give us your email contact and make sure email from paloaltotennis gets through your spam filter?

Our exclusive sign up period for tournaments is announced via email to you and you can sign up and be confirmed immediately by replying to this email. Many members tell us that getting an email reminder is the best way to be aware of upcoming club tournaments and events.

It is very expensive for the club to publish and mail paper copies of the monthly club newsletter NetNotes. Instead, we will email you each month to remind you to go to our website to view the latest NetNotes in full color. To offset the cost of mailing paper copies, this year it will cost members $10 extra to receive NetNotes in the mail each month.

Finally, I encourage our members that would like the experience of being on a Board of Directors to contact me. We are currently looking for one additional Board member this year and will have additional openings next year. This is a great experience. I would like to personally thank all of the 2007 PATC Board members for their dedication and hard work in supporting our club. I welcome aboard our new members for 2008: Sandra Neuwelt, Yoko Tanaka, Suzanne Tiendas and Judy Webb.

One final note: One of our favorite members and past Board member Ditter Peschcke-Koedt passed away on December 6, 2007. Many of you knew Ditter well and we really appreciate the enthusiasm she bought to our club. A memorial service will be held at the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Interpretive Center at 6PM on January 27^th. It is so great to have club members like Ditter who love tennis and participate in so many of our club activities.

Sincerely,

Rich Barry

PATC President

2008 President's Letter