Superior's summer tennis season starts
Photo by Nick Ianniello Brian Labbe backhands the ball during a doubles match against Yim Sribenjakul and Michele Rienelt Wednesday afternoon. He and his partner Myranda Kuhl beat out Sribenjakul and Rienelt 7 to 4.
The first weekly tournament of the Superior Summer Tennis League got off to a big start this week with two days of beautiful weather and all ages tennis.
More than 25 players came out between Tuesday and Wednesday to compete for bragging rights.
The players are organized into five different teams of six people, and one team sits out of the competition each week. There are nearly 40 total players in the league.
The tournament consists of each team breaking off into three sets of doubles teams and playing 11 games. Then four team members play a singles match of seven games and the total games won per team are added up for the winner of the day.
This week, teams Team D defeated Team C with 32 to 23 games on Tuesday and Team B defeated Team A with 32 to 23 games on Wednesday.
“It went better than I could have expected,” said Superior High School Head Tennis Coach and event organizer Rick Berreth.
The tournament is very informal and players can be substituted in and out depending on need. Berreth said that the event is more about getting people out onto the tennis courts and having fun than anything else.
The teams are not divided up by age or sex. Berreth said that this tournament is a “true open doubles” event and anyone who wants to come out and play is welcome.
Berreth competes in tennis matches on his own time, so he said he will not be able to go to all of the tournaments, but he is confident that the event will be fine without his guidance. Berreth was not at the match Tuesday and he said that event went smoothly.
Leroy Godin has also been helping local tennis players get involved in the tournament.
“There’s a lot of adults that come down here, and have had a few lessons but they don’t know what their doing really,” Godin said.
He said it is a really fun event and a great opportunity to get better at the game. After the doubles matches were over Wednesday, Godin took some of the players that were not competing in singles matches to another tennis court to work on their game.
Berreth said that many of the high school and junior high tennis players are taking part in the event and that this has been a great way for them to stay sharp over the off season.
He also mentioned that some of his players plan to take part in tournaments elsewhere over the summer and that he is sure it will help their game when they come back next season.
Berreth said that for now there will be no prizes in the doubles league, but he plans to come up with some small prize for winners later in the summer. There is no cost to participate in the tournaments.
“We’re not making any money off of this thing in the first place,” Berreth said.
Berreth said that the prizes would have to be kept small because he has high school tennis players in the league. If the high school players accept prizes with a total worth over a preset amount they will be considered professional and not allowed to compete in high school tennis events.
Berreth said that he is unsure what the cut off is, but he will find out before he starts offering prizes at the tournament.
The tournament uses old tennis balls from previous high school tennis meets so they do not have to purchase their own.
Berreth said that he would be open to accepting another team into the league because it would provide them with an even number of players and they would not have to have one team sit out each week.
For more information on the tennis league, contact Berreth at 370-1140