Taos News

Over $3K raised for Taos Tigers Tennis

By JEANS PINEDA jpineda@taosnews.com

Taos Tennis at Quail Ridge Taos hosted a benefit for the Taos High School Tennis Team on Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 17 and 18). Saturday featured tournaments for men’s doubles and women’s doubles while Sunday had a single tournament for mixed doubles.

The cost to play was $40 for one day and $60 for both days. There were seven players who committed to a weekend full of competitive tennis. One of the men’s doubles teams traveled all the way from Alamosa to play in the tournament.

Before games started, Taos Tennis at Quail Ridge Taos Owner and Director Kurt Edelbrock thanked all the players for showing up and helping to raise funds for the Taos Tigers tennis program. Edelbrock mentioned that it makes a “great big difference in their lives.” Between the player fees and donations from local retailers, the benefit event raised over $3,000. They are currently still accepting donations for the high school team.

Each tournament was a round robin format, with each team playing a single match against one another to determine seeding from the total games won. Each match was played out to a total of six games with no ad scoring to quicken the pace of the games. At the end of the first round, the Alamosa team (Kevin/Benjamin) earned a bye in the second round. Team Kei/Benjamin eliminated team Jean/Will in the semifinals 6-3. The local Taos team (Kei/Benjamin) used an aggressive tactic of

having both players rush the net to great advantage. With their strong volleying technique they were able to beat the Alamosa team (Kevin/ Benjamin) in the championship round.

Team Tracy/Rianne won their championship match six-love against team Jamie/Ellen. After four hours of tennis, Edelbrock presented trophies and prizes to the top teams. Since the ladies had significantly larger numbers than the men in the tournament, the women had first pick of the many prizes available which included a scenic plane tour of Taos for two and a gift certificate to The Cellar Fine Wines Beers and Spirits.

Before handing out the prizes, Edelbrock took another moment to thank the players. “We really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Again, it makes a big difference to the kids, this adds an extra coach, this adds food at some of the events here and away. So we really appreciate you doing this.”

In the mixed doubles category, team Lurah/Read had a tough match against team Stacey/Jimbo, but Lurah/Read came out on top. After the tournament, the winning duo talked about having the right positive mindset and good communication with their doubles partner in order to make it through a tournament bracket. In response to the sports psychology talk, Edelbrock brought up the mental toughness training system, known as the “16 Second Cure,” created by performance psychologist Dr. Jim Loehr. It offers some of the same advice as in W. Timothy Gallwey’s “Inner Game of Tennis,” honing in on concepts dealing with the self and the frustrations that can arise in difficult games, but it focuses precisely on appropriate physical responses in the 16 seconds between playing out a point.

The next tennis tournament at Taos Tennis at Quail Ridge Taos will be the 40th Annual Aquí en Taos which runs from Thursday (Sept. 29) to Sunday (Oct. 2). To download a registration form, visit taostennis.com/ tennis/#tournaments.

SPORTS

en-us

2022-09-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://taosnews.pressreader.com/article/281754158185299

Santa Fe New Mexican