Tennis makes a comeback in Petaluma

Petaluma Tennis Association helps revive area tennis.|

Tennis has always flickered on the Petaluma sports scene, but in the past six months it has flamed into a major factor in the community’s growing active sports collage.

According to Chris Horne, all it took was some organization.

The Petaluma Tennis Association has been around for a number of years, but at the start of this year, it had dwindled to just about 20 members and almost all of them part of a determined women’s group.

Horne, with help from a small group of avid players, launched a membership drive in February and, as of this month, the membership is approaching 250 members.

Horne said there are two major factors for the super sonic growth of the PTA.

One is that a large number of Petaluma tennis players were looking for organization and a place to play. The Petaluma Tennis Association offered both. It was just a matter of getting the word out.

The other major reason is the closing of the Petaluma Valley Athletic Club, which left a large contingent of tennis players without courts or a home.

Working with several tennis supporters in the community, Horne, who was coaching the boys team at Petaluma High School at time, began putting together leagues and helping improve facilities.

This spring the Petaluma Tennis Association hosted a United States Tennis Association league for eight women’s teams, with 20 players on each team. A combination league was formed and any number of special tournaments and instructional camps for young players were held throughout the year.

A major tournament will be held Labor Day, Sept. 4, at Casa Grande High School. The tournament will be a fundraising event for the association’s biggest project yet, the $24,000 refurbishing of the tennis courts at Leghorns Park.

The tournament, open to the general public as well as PTA members, will be in round-robin format with divisions for women, men and mixed doubles. Entry fee is $10 for PTA members and $15 for nonmembers.

No pre-registration is required, but players are requested to show up at least 15 minutes prior to the start of play, which is 8:30 a.m. for women, 10 a.m. for men and 11:30 a.m. for mixed teams.

The event will include a raffle and is planned as a potluck. Participants are requested to bring a dish to share.

The resurfacing of the Leghorns Park courts is the latest and biggest project yet undertaken by the PTA, but is not the first and only contribution to the community made by the association.

Already the PTA has replaced nets at Leghorns Parks and Casa Grande and Petaluma high schools, provided scoreboards for the Casa Grande courts and donated $500 to each high school for the purchase of tennis balls.

Horne has been the driving force behind the Petaluma Tennis Association, but he says he has had a lot of help.

“We have some pretty strong committees,” he said. “They are doing a great job. We want to provide the tennis players in the community a first-rate place to play so they don’t have to go out of town.”

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