Return of Super Sunday

Field of Dreams

Shortly after 10 a.m. on the first Sunday in August, a stiff north wind buffeted Mountainy Pond. Nevertheless, three double-ended rowboats pounded through the whitecaps from the South end of the lake: Herder, Sargent and Rappleye vessels, all identifiable by their respective camp colors. They all dipped their oars with determination in their quest to arrive in time for the opening act of the grand renaissance of Mountainy Pond Clubhouse Tennis.

After some well-intentioned gerrymandering, the doubles brackets were finally set for the 2017 Lacy Seabrook Memorial tennis tournament. Sixteen players representing eight camps and the club staff, all vied for the prestigious prize—one of Lacy Seabrook's original MPC tennis caps from days of yore.

Approximately 200 man-hours went into the reconstruction of the court, selfless acts from unsuspecting campers hiking by who volunteered to hack away at the relentless vegetation on the north sidelines. Willard Rappleye III's vision of bird netting to prevent errant shots from disappearing into the woods was fully realized; and young Abigail collected a full two bits for pocketing on-court pebbles; ten to a penny was the market value for those pesky micro-boulders.

Bill, Abigail and Mike Perfecting the Rectangle

The first match, between the Page camp (Sarah and Liam) versus the Herders (Nancy and Ned), before an overflow crowd on the newly constructed spectator bench, provided the lion's share of the drama. The Herders prevailed in the 22-20 overtime thriller in this adaptation of tennis that included no serving. Miraculously, the staple of Mountainy tennis circa A.D. 2000—the maddening erratic bounce—was no longer a factor. This was a game for baseliners and volleyers alike, as the teams thrived on the clay composite for three hours, as teams were systematically whittled away.

When the brick dust finally settled, Rex Lalire and Randall Seabrook were the last players standing, the champions of this woodsy tennis rebirth. Their commute was a casual walk through the woods to the Schillinger camp, where they donned Lacy Seabrook's half-century old official Mountainy Pond Tennis Club caps, fitting crowns for this long overdue event.

The formula for everlasting joy from this clay rectangle is simple: Play, Sweep, Repeat.

Unsung hero Ben getting it just right!

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Participants:
Plimpton Camp: Michiko
Sargent Camp: Hale
Russell Camp: Madi
Schullinger Camp: Randall
Nettleton Camp: Rex
Page Camp: Liam, Sarah
Miller Camp: Jared Mauch (Digital media mgr., Grounds waterer)
Rappleyes: Bill, Tim, Amy MacKay, Georgia, Anika, Layla, Karma (photojournalist)
Camp: Ben, Abigail (pebble manager) and exec. groundskeeper Mike Tardif

Clay clusters: Harbinger during the first warmup when Ned Herder blasted a ball 20 feet over the east end bird netting. The woods smiled as the ball hit a medium width pine tree deep in the forest and it miraculously kicked back onto the court... a gentle rain fell the night before the championship, tamping down the dust and prepping the court for a final roll...Michiko Plimpton brought a large contingent of Japanese spectators for her opening match against top-seeded Seabrook-Lalire, giving the tournament a global presence...College players from Trinity (Page camp) and Denison (Seabrook) helped pound the court into shape days before the official tournament...former ESPN broadcast star Bill Patrick, the third clay-digger in bug-infested June, sampled the court's infrastructure on his second swing, getting tangled in the bird netting like a scene out of spider man. No highlights available for SportsCenter, alas... Octogenarian Lee Herder blessed the return of the spectator bench, reminiscing about her tennis past from the newly sanded bench, but declined to enter the competition... Kudos to the camps of the tennis committee: Seabrook, Plimpton, and Nettleton, who covered the cost of new infrastructure. Keep any eye on this page for notices for the 2018 tournament!