HighFIVE: Linda Schutter

Veteran league player and captain Linda Schutter brings her experience to CVTA

As the 2026 league season concludes, Colorado celebrated another record-breaking year with more than 13,000 unique players and nearly 45,000 players overall. While we hear great stories of team celebrations and captains being honored, much of the reason why league tennis in Colorado is so popular and successful is due to the work that is done behind the scenes, which even long-time league players aren’t fully aware of. Let’s change that!

Meet Linda Schutter, the League Coordinator for the Centennial Valley Tennis Association (CVTA). Linda’s attention to detail, strong communication skills and dedication to growing league tennis are key factors that have led to CVTA’s strong league numbers this year, as they had close to 300 players and 72 teams, an 18% increase in teams from 2025.

While Linda is relatively new to the League Coordinator role, she is no stranger to tennis. Born and raised in New York City, her parents introduced her to the sport at a young age. In the late 1980s, Linda made her way out to Colorado to work for the Aspen Ski Company and never left. In 2001, she started playing league tennis and since then has played on approximately 100 teams! 

“League tennis has been such an important part of my life. I like that I can always improve both athletically and mentally. And I love the relationships that I have developed whether those are from joyful interactions with my teammates or opponents or helping and supporting my partners to get through matches when they get rattled by something.”

When the CVTA was looking for someone to fill the role of League Coordinator, Linda, who was a long time CVTA member, seemed like the perfect fit. “I had met many CVTA board members through my consistent tennis relationships over time, so I was thrilled to be offered the position,” she says. Since then, Linda has been the key person ensuring that all CVTA teams have smooth seasons, which involves managing logistics, maintaining clear and open lines of communication with team captains, scheduling court times, and more. 

“There is so much detail that goes into everything – I need to make sure that team number management and court scheduling is accurate, because consequences of mistakes with those can be messy! We play at three different court locations, each with their own reservation system, so that can be tricky. I also want to support the team captains, and I do this through informative communication throughout the season, providing them with resources to empower them to be able to find answers to all of their questions.”

Having been a captain herself for more than 29 league teams since 2018, Linda’s experience with that role has brought a lot of valuable knowledge to her role as the CVTA League Coordinator. “Playing both roles has made me better at each. I am sympathetic to the needs of our captains, and I also understand the importance of League Coordinators to the survival of tennis in our communities.” 

In a recent CVTA newsletter, Linda’s contributions were recognized as they wrote, “We are grateful for her dedication, organization, and commitment to the CVTA tennis community”.

Not only has Linda been a benefit to the CVTA, but the role has been a benefit to Linda. She says, “At this time in my life, having independent grown kids, this position affords me some authority that I am proud to learn from. It’s been a great experience with diplomacy and problem solving which I have really enjoyed.”

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