Happy Festivus!
On behalf of the entire Ellington Racquet Club staff, I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa or whatever you may be celebrating this month.
We all appreciate the time you spend at the Club, and we hope you have some great days with those who are important to you,
I understand you may have been surprised by my announcement regarding ERC being listed for sale. My plan is to continue to run the club “as is” through the spring and to find a new owner/operator to take over next fall. I am proud of the facility I have brought you and the staff I have assisting you. It is just time for me to pursue other opportunities.
Holiday Specials
We currently have a few short-term holiday specials available for you. Our own Scott Barker is offering a 10% discount on any restringing work that you have him complete.
We are also offering discounted pricing on the “demo” tennis racquets we have displayed on our front wall. All these racquets are high quality racquets which happen to be a year old.
Finally, we are offering a special one-month membership and membership rate if you know someone back in the area for the holidays.
Coach Jedidah Xu
Ellington’s own Jedidah Xu will be teaching some tennis clinics for us while she’s home on break. For those that don’t know Jedidah, she was the Ellington High School Girl’s Tennis Team’s No. 1 singles player all four years she was at EHS and she is currently a sophomore at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont where she is playing singles and doubles on their girls’ tennis team.
Spring USTA Leagues
USTA-New England is currently accepting new teams for their spring leagues which will begin play around February 14th.
They are looking for teams for their Men’s 40 and over leagues and for their Mixed Doubles 18 and over leagues.
Commitment forms are due to the USTA by January 4th.
If you are interested in captaining a team based in ERC, please see us about home match court availability. If you are interested in playing on a team based at ERC, please let us know. For the Men’s league, we expect to have both 3.5 and 4.0 teams registered. For the mixed doubles team, we are looking for interested players to help us confirm the team(s) we offer.
Sunday Tennis Mixed Doubles
It’s “last call” for anyone interested in being part of our Sunday mixed doubles league taking part in Ellington Racquet Club. This is a different opportunity from the USTA-New England leagues. If you and a partner wish to join us, please let me know. If you’d like to join us and need a partner, let me know that too. Play will be 3:00 to 5:00.
A Pickleball Tournament
Pickleball players, our friends from UCONN Pickleball will be helping us conduct a DUPR-rated pickleball tournament at the beginning of February. The kids need to return from break and get settled before they can help us conduct the tournament. The tournament winner will be rewarded with a cash prize. Stay tuned for more details!
DUPR Ratings – And How to Get One
DUPR, or Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating, is a rating system for pickleball players. The DUPR rating system ranges from 2.0 for beginners to 8.0 for professionals. DUPR ratings are based on a player’s wins and losses, the rating of their opponents, and whether the game was rec. play or a tournament.
To get a DUPR rating, you'll need to:
Go to the DUPR site (or download the mydupr app) and sign-up for a DUPR account.
Play at least 5 rec games and enter them in your DUPR profile. Or play in DUPR tournaments or leagues.
DUPR will give you a provisional rating after a few games are entered.
Tennis Court Conduct Request
We have installed some additional court dividers between Courts 1, 2, 3, and 4 and we plan to extend the heavier blue curtain on Court 1 to prevent errant tennis balls from straying too far.
With all this, we still have one request of you while entering or leaving the tennis courts. PLEASE DO NOT ENTER THE COURTS WHILE PLAY IS ONGOING ON COURT 1.
WATCH TO SEE THE COURT 1 PLAYERS END A POINT BEFORE ENTERING THE COURTS.
WHEN LEAVING THE COURTS, PLEASE STAY BEHIND THE CURTAINS UNTIL PLAY IS STOPPED ON COURT 1.
Thanks! Let’s Keep in Touch!
That’s it for this month, but please keep in touch with any questions or suggestions you have. This is your club!
Tracy French
Ellington Racquet Club
e-mail: Tracy@ellingtonracquetclub.com
Phone: 860-962-9641
