You have a big group of players who want to compete, but no teams to play against. So what do you do?

 

That’s exactly the issue players faced at Northwood Racquet Club, when USTA League Tennis captain and USTA volunteer Marie Johns McCall continued to field interest in 3.0 men’s tennis. 

 

“There weren’t any other teams to play locally,” said Johns McCall. “So we got all the guys together, split them in half, and started playing.”

 

Johns McCall, and experienced player and captain, volunteered to serve as a non-playing captain. She recruited Steve Farnesi (left in the photo) and Troy Tomlinson (right), and along with friend Darla Antonis, began training the duo as captains.

 

Fast forward a few months, and the Accassins and Hit Men are in the midst of a friendly, yet quite competitive, rivalry. Group emails, team gatherings and even some friendly trash talk is becoming more and more prevalent. 

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“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Farnesi, who has played tennis for years but is experiencing captaining for the first time. “Some of the players have been playing for a while, others are pretty new to the sport. But you can tell that a lot of the guys were really good, or are going to be really good soon. It’s a great group.”

 

The next step for Farnesi and Tomlinson is growing participation in the area so they have a few more teams to play. In addition, though, they’re discussing combining efforts for a 3.5 team — making for even more playing opportunities. Faresi also credited Area League Coordinator Sue Pettit for getting social play going in the area, and helping to build interest.

 

“I’ve been playing for probably 15 years or so,” Faresi said. “What I see with these guys is that they really, really want to win. They’re so competitive, but it’s also about being social and just having a good time. Overall it’s just nice to see the interest starting to build up in the area.”