Total Tennis Camp
slide showJohn and I went to Total tennis on a 2 days tennis camp.We have been to Total tennis few time before for USTA league,but never been to any of camp; there are 2days, one night,weekend, mid weekend, full week camp.Total tennis is located in Saugerties which was chosento be 1 of the top 10 cool small towns in US. It’s one hour drive from our house.I cannot find any other place hosting the Adult tennis campyear around in NorthEast.I heard that an Australian couple that lives in Japan come toTotal Tennis very often.I’m sure that they looked for other places and cannot findany better deal. (Even though the husband is an airline pilotendowed with free airfares, they are willing to travel such longdistance to be here for tennis.)Over the Martin Luther King's Day weekend, there were 40 people, but our camp started on a Monday and there were only 5 people including John and me. (There were 4 people canceled because of the bad weather.)There were 3 solo travelers.That was the 10th time for Kathy, 5th time for Jan and 2nd time for Shavaun.We had 2 courts and 2 coaches.It’s paid to be an experienced camper, Kathy and Jan picked the younger coach and moved to next court immediately at the first tennis lesson.We were left with the older coach on a court with 3 players.You are paying the same fee, you would want to be on the court with less players.Anyway, our coach was okay, but he gets tired toward end of lessons; we got 30 minutes less in lesson time.(Well still, it was away better then 40 people on 5 courts.)Over these two days we are supposed to get 8 hours group lessons plus 1/2 private lesson; we had 7 1/2 hours lesson on our court and John got 20 minutes, I had 25 minutes private lesson.The younger coach had a hard time calling my name.He called me “Osako”.John: “it’s not Osaka”I said: “He might call me Tokyo, tomorrow!”Our coach:”Yokohama”” Beijing” ”Shanghai”....(Most Americans hardly know Japanese city names.)Second day, two coaches calling my name loudly so many times, I am sure that they won’t forget my name for a long time.As for the main lodge where we stayed, it was simple and room was very basic.There is neither TV nor phone in the guest room.Our room (#2)’s bathtub was kid’s size, 2/3 of regular tub.Kathy’s room (#1) didn’t have a tub, and the shower was so small, she hardly could move around inside the shower area.She said that some room has a shower head so low, you have to bend your body to wash.Walls are so thin, you can hear the voice and sound outside of your room very well.I woke up at 4:50AM by snow removal noise.You can hear people talking downstairs or outside, it was impossible to take a nap in the afternoon following tennis lessons and before wine and cheese time.I will prepare the earplugs next time.There was no individual temperature control panel in our room.The first night was too cold, we asked the front desk to raise the temperature up and the second night was too hot!!!It seems hard to manage the temperature in the lodge.Our room had a balcony leading to back yard.While I was taking the pictures of views, a cat sneaked in to our room and jumped onto my bed.I think this cat lives in the vacant rooms.Cafeteria style food was excellent and hanging out with other tennis lovers was fun.I even ate dessert each meal, despite of all the exercises that we got, I gain 4+ pounds in 3 days.(I wish what I gained was muscle, not fat.)The workers at the site eat in the cafeteria, also.There was one thing I didn’t like, there was a woman who was hogging up all her favorite vegetables, and the cook didn’t take any more vegetable out.You have to be in Cafeteria BEFORE she gets her food!!!There was a bar in the livingroom, and we enjoyed wine and cheese before dinner.We watched TV, which is the only one in main lodge, in the basement.We saw Agnieszka Radwanska's racquet flew off the handle at Australian Open.She must have smashed her racquet onto the court extremely hardand/or Date’s serve was so strong that the racquet exploded.It was a surprising moment for everyone watching the game.Late spring to fall, the player can play more tennis after the lessons.Extra few hours of Mixer would be nice.However, on rain days, if you are one of the unlucky ones, you would find yourself amongst 80 players on 5 indoor courts.Because the reservations become full early, it would be difficult to make reservation if one were to wait to see the 10 day weather forecast.I think fall/winter indoor season might be better deal than rainy spring/summer.I will recommend this camp to the people love to improve their tennis and can endure college dormitory style accommodation.