Tennis New Year Resolutions

It's that time of year again - New Year resolutions. After a year when tennis was more important than ever, it's a perfect time to reflect on the last year and set your intentions for 2022.

Want to improve your skills? Bump up your rating? Go to Nationals? There are so many different tennis goals you can work toward in 2022, so we turned to some of our captains and players in Adult Leagues to hear how they are reflecting on their lessons learned as 2021 comes to a close and what tennis goals and resolutions they have set for themselves heading into the new year.

We hope some of these goals will even inspire you to pick one of these up or create your own. No matter what you do, we wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you back on the courts in 2022!

Chris Abate

Abate has been a regular fixture in Adult Leagues for 20 years, competing in Mixed 10.0, Adult 18+ 4.5, Adult 40+ 4.5 and 5.0, Adult 55+ 4.5, and Combo 9.5. He has also served as a captain 22 times.

Lesson Learned: How lucky we are that our sport was the first sport back after the pandemic.

New Year Resolution: Take a team to Nationals.

Julie Blaha

Blaha has been a continuous presence in Adult Leagues for over two decades competing in everything from Women's Adult 18+ 4.0 and Adult 40+ and 55+ leagues to Mixed 8.0 18+, 40+, 55+ and Mixed 9.0 18+ and 40+. In addition to her play, she has captained 39 times.

Lesson Learned: I attended several clinics and learned to improve my court positioning and adjust my strategy. For example, coming in after a lob to a more aggressive position versus staying at the baseline is one area I learned.

New Year Resolution: I want to work on improving my shot placement. I tend to hit shots right back to the player, but I want to focus on using a drop shot or short, wide-angle on my returns.

Craig De Namur

De Namur has been a long-time participant in Adult Leagues since 1994. Competing in almost every men’s and mixed league throughout his tenure, he also has 56 times of being a captain under his belt.

Lesson Learned: Practice pays off. A lot of people like to practice, while others don’t, but it shows when you do and a lot of people got better. I have a feeling a lot of people got bumped up to the next level. Also, we are seeing a lot of new self-rated players in the sport.

New Year Resolution: Play tennis as much as I can and maintain my game. I also feel there are always areas to improve for every player, so I will continue to work toward improving any weaker spots in my game.

Gay Finch

Finch has been a committed Adult Leagues player who participated in 89 leauges, captaining teams for over 26 years, and even winning a National title along the way. She currently competes in the Adult 65+ and 70+ leagues.

Lesson Learned: I learned there was a big tennis boom during COVID and that families were desperate to have their children be in an outdoor activity since they were spending most of their day zoom learning by themselves. The parents were careful to keep their kids in pods but asked if I would teach them.

I was being very careful and taught on a private court using COVID safety standards. The children seemed to be very appreciative of just being outside and learning a new sport.

New Year Resolution: Continue promoting tennis in numerous ways. I have recently got a lot of children started in tennis and still work with children 6-18 years old. I have got some of them into leagues, orange and yellow ball, which I have been hosting at Aptos High school and I'm hoping to continue the leagues. Also, I am doing a middle school program starting in February where we go to Monterey and play the schools there. I have been wanting to have a mom’s lesson program and have had several requests from the parents to play, so this way they can get out there with their children and practice in between lessons! I am also working with the JV & Varsity girls and boys between seasons. There really aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things I would like to do in tennis! I just love seeing the excitement in the kids when they love the game and get their parents out on the court to play with them too!

Mark Grip

Grip has been playing Adult Leagues for 12 years, competing in men's Adult 18+ through 55+, as well as Mixed and Combo leagues. During his time, Grip has been a co-captain 15 times and a captain 36 times, taking teams to sectionals 9 times during his leadership.

Lesson Learned: I learned an even deeper appreciation of tennis as a relatively “safe” sport. I missed the opportunity for organized group tennis activities early in the COVID-19 lockdown.

New Year Resolution: I have too many improvements in my game to mention. For starters, improve watching the ball, my serve, and improving playing the deuce side in doubles.

Elaine Hackenkamp

Hackenkamp has been an active Adult Leagues participant since 1998. She competes in Women’s Adult 3.5, Mixed 7.0 and 8.0, and Combo leagues, and she has captained 53 teams throughout her impressive journey.

Lesson Learned: Don't stop playing! And make sure your group is vaccinated.

New Year Resolution: This year I plan to improve and have my rating adjusted back up to a 3.5.

Edith Jackson

Jackson brings 11 years of play and captaining to Adult Leagues. She has led 19 teams as a captain over her participation and has played in numerous leagues, including women’s Adult 18+, 40+, 65+, and Combo leagues 6.6 and 7.5.

Lesson Learned: Tennis can withstand the challenges of a pandemic!

New Year Resolution: Be present and don’t dwell on the past screw-ups or problems. You are here to serve. No fault. Love. Fight dementia and stay on the ball.

Harold Knutson

Knutson has been an active player in Adult Leagues for 23 years. Serving both as a captain and co-captain 10 times each, and earning captain of the year in 2014, he has been a committed player competing in the men’s Adult 55+ 4.0, Adult 65+ 4.0., 8.0. and 9.0, as well as the Adult 70+ 4.0 and 8.0.

Lesson Learned: Tennis lessons I observed or learned in this past year (within the bounds of social distancing) were practicing good breathing rhythms, better footwork in initiating shot-making, and better court positioning for doubles play.

New Year Resolution: My tennis New Years' resolutions for 2022 are 1. Age-based: Tennis is a sport for life. I am 82 years young so I want to pace myself physically and mentally to stay active in the tennis community;

2. Competition-based: To continue to share my years of experience as a league captain for my club friends with a winning attitude and strive for and play at Sectional and National Championships Berkeley Tennis Clubs.