From the President – April 2022

Hi everyone, there are so many changes coming and improvements in the works that I’m so excited to share with you.

Some of you old-timers like myself might be a little saddened at first to hear that we are changing the name of the Reno Tennis Club.  Established in 1923, we’ve been a mainstay of tennis in Reno for a long, long while.  It will soon be known as Washoe Tennis Club.  I was, as many of you may be, not totally in favor of the change, but the more I listened and thought about it, the more it made sense.  Some of the reasons:  When someone asks, “Where should we play?”  People say, “Let’s play at Washoe.”  The USTA website refers to us as the Washoe courts. The sign at the entrance says Washoe Tennis Center.  Washoe County has suggested we change because of the confusion of the other courts using the Reno name:  South Reno Tennis Club, Reno Tennis Center (RTC).  I think everyone wanted to ride our coattails since we are the best courts in town!  So, like it or not, the name change is in the process. 

I know that everyone will be overjoyed to see our new website, washoetennis.org, with way more information and functions!  This includes:

• A Courts page that now includes an embedded Google Calendar that shows court reservations for USTA, bump doubles, and tournaments, even showing which courts are reserved.
• Events pages showing annual schedule, signup information, format, etc.:
  • Bump Doubles
  • Washoe Tennis Ladder
  • USTA Washoe (shows all current Washoe-based teams)
• Articles in various categories from past newsletters. 
  • Note there is a “subscribe” field on the right column of the page if you want to be notified whenever a new article is posted. 
• The Membership page now offers an online form people can use with their credit card to apply for or renew membership.  (The old options – PDF form, Zelle/check – are still available.)
• The website is also responsive, meaning the layout changes depending on the device.  On a desktop or laptop, you’ll see three columns, while on a smartphone, you’ll only see one single-scrolling column.

More awesome changes are coming your way, including webcams showing real-time images of courts 1-4.  Courts 5-6 will have to be for another day as the expense for that increases significantly.  Once the cameras are installed, everyone is going to love being able to look at the website to see if there is rain or snow on the courts!

Additionally, new nets and windscreens are going up to replace the old ones.  Courts 1 & 2 are scheduled to be resurfaced this year.  A new Cabana will be installed between Court 3 & 4.  Other changes are to come as well, but we’ll wait to unveil those as they materialize.  Yes, we did have to raise the membership dues slightly, but this is inevitable once in a while as costs increase to maintain the excellence of our courts.  The USTA leagues are in full swing, the Bump Doubles is a hit and enjoyed by many, and the Ladder is a huge success.  All told, RTC, er, I mean, WTC is going to be more awesome than ever.  I for one can hardly wait.