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Saturday Stories - Play All Day in Atlanta

05/31/08 | Kathy Drewien | Category: Atlanta Relocation

Play. All day. Everyday. In Atlanta.

tennis racket and tennis balls

Atlanta has a moderate climate. And, we play tennis outdoors all year round.

I started playing tennis a few years after my daughter was born. At the time I was a member of an athletic club that offered lessons and organized league matches.

The only requirement to join a team was a nominal fee, a racket, and a pair of tennis shoes.

Photo Credit: aloshbennett

Tennis Leagues

The Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association (ALTA) is unquestionably the largest grass-roots tennis league in the world. Their membership of social tennis players exceeds 100,000 players.

ALTA tennis leagues are organized for doubles matches. There are ALTA teams for women, men, junior girls, junior boys, senior men, senior women, and mixed doubles. There are wheelchair leagues and up/down leagues.

“When I moved here 10 years ago because my husband was transferred, I didn’t play tennis. But when I looked around I could not see any neighbors. Everybody who didn’t work during the day was off playing tennis. So I learned. Now I probably play eight to 12 hours a week; it keeps you young.”

The organization of all the teams and players is mind boggling - an enormous volunteer effort by captains, scorekeepers, and coordinators.

Whether we play tennis in our subdivisions, county parks, tennis clubs, or sports facilities, ALTA coordinates weekly competition with other teams of comparable ability within the Atlanta metro area, and keeps track of everyone’s results.

Let’s Win a Bag Tag

The home team provides two courts, refreshments that range from beer-and-doughnut feasts among the men’s leagues to sumptuous cook-offs during mixed and ladies doubles, and a fresh can of tennis balls. The goal of each team is to make it to the playoffs, which happen at the end of each seven-week season; and receive the coveted embossed bag tags, which accumulate like so many scalps on the equipment bags of frequent winners.

“You can walk onto the court and be intimidated when you hear your opponent’s bag tags jangling; bag tags are what you’re working for, they carry a lot of clout, but in the meantime everybody’s having a lot of fun out there, plus meeting people you’d not otherwise meet.”

Over the years I have played on several different teams. I left the athletic club to play tennis in my subdivision. I moved from that team to play with my friends from work. Today, I play tennis here.

I have served as Captain for more seasons than I can count. Scorekeeper is the easiest volunteer position.

Something I enjoyed most was being Team Mom for my daughter’s junior team.

Maybe we can get Jessica to tell the story about me making her play with a broken wrist. Well, we were in first place for the bag tag; every point was critical!

Read Comments

Posted by Jessica on 05.31.08 10:53 pm

I didn’t mind playing with a broken arm. In fact, I have never felt more intimidating than the day I won my match wearing a sling. I couldn’t even hold my arm up with out the support of a sling on another arm. Because of this, I could barely serve. I think those 15 year old girls were a little nervous. And they should have been. I was tough.