On Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday, Jan. 28, the Village of Wellington hosted a very unique tennis event: an International Tennis Club match between a team representing the Bahamas and a team representing the United States. The match was held at the new Wellington Tennis Center. International Club matches are very prestigious, so it was quite a coup for Wellington to be chosen as the host site.
International Club matches include competition in men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. The tennis is always competitive, and everyone wants to win. The main focus, however, is on promoting friendship, goodwill and sportsmanship. This particular match met all those goals. Congratulations to our friends from the Bahamas for their well-deserved victory.
Participants from both teams enjoyed playing at our beautiful facility. Normally, these matches are played at exclusive, private clubs. The players were all impressed with our courts and the overall atmosphere at the tennis center. Many of the competitors have played at some of the most prestigious clubs around the world, so you can imagine how nice it was to hear them say that our “club” rates as high in their minds as any of the other clubs at which they have played. High praise, indeed!
A hearty thanks go out to Assistant Village Manager Jim Barnes and Director of Tennis Tommy Cheatham, for their efforts in helping to bring this event to Wellington. We also want to thank Michael Stone and the folks at the Winter Equestrian Festival, as well as Patty Miele at White Horse Catering, for hosting both teams for a wonderful evening of dinner and horse jumping on Saturday night. We are most appreciative of all the support we received.
It really was pretty incredible that the Village of Wellington was able to host this event. This is a very prestigious program that operates around the world. It’s not often that our community has the opportunity to welcome international competitive tennis players to our little piece of paradise; members of the Wellington Village Council were sadly missed. We understand that they have very busy schedules and have many demands on their time, especially during equestrian season. Perhaps next time, if council members can’t attend such an event, just sending a representative or two would go a long way toward creating some goodwill. Just think of the great photo opportunities…
Liz and Dick Stockton, Wellington
