Growing up I really didn’t play much tennis, only 2 summers in the parks and recreation league when I was 11/12. I tried out for the team at Quincy University 8 years later on a chance encounter with the coach and found myself playing 4 seasons of Division II tennis. I went from a 2-12 record my freshman year to making All Conference in my senior year. After that I didn’t pick up a racket for 3 years until another chance encounter put me in front of a Gladiator flier at Potbelly in Naperville. Since then I have played 2 full seasons (would have been 3 but for a torn ACL). I really love the Gladiator league for two reasons. Flexibility of scheduling and the constant growing and changing competition. There is a place for players of all skill levels.
I got my first racket for my birthday in 8th grade and was going to go out for the High school tennis team, but 1976 was the year the IHSA decided to switch tennis to a spring sport for the guys. Baseball was my first sport at the time so tennis had to wait. After high school I went into the Air force and was assigned to a missile squadron. The schedule was nuts so I couldn’t get 18 guys together to play baseball or even 10 to play basketball. So one day four of us were sitting around watching Wimbledon on HBO and all decided to go to Wal-Mart and buy some tennis rackets and play. I hit with my friends for a couple of summers and decided when I got out in 1986 I would find a real club and learn how to play. So my official tennis career started 10 years later than I thought it would.
After getting out of the air force, I played in my first league, starting out 1-9 but finishing 9-1 to get to .500. I played on several traveling teams over the next 10 years and then started to play USTA team tennis. In 1999, I captained a Men’s 4.5 team to an Illinois state championship. In 2004, I was moved down to 4.0 after a poor season due to a shoulder injury and a USTA adjustment from the new computer rating system. Subsequently, I captained my USTA 4.0 team to nationals in Tucson in 2005, and in 2006 the team took 3rd place in Hawaii. I was moved back up to 4.5 and was playing well when a couple of bouts with plantar fasciitis and Surgery put me 30 pounds overweight and off my form. Kelly Pierce was nice enough to tell me about Gladiator Tennis and I thought it would be a great way to get back into shape. I made it my goal to try and get into the final weekend of the tournament, and to lose weight playing singles since I primarily play doubles in USTA. I was able to lose 25lbs and win the division, meeting both goals. I had the added benefit of meeting some good people along the w
Tracy started playing tennis six years ago when she signed up for a class in the fall with the Naperville Park District. She loved this introduction to tennis and decided to continue playing at the Naperville Tennis Club. After playing doubles for a year, she decided to begin playing singles to work on her ground strokes. She discovered Gladiator Tennis, and earned the best regular season record of all the women players in the league for the Gladiator of the Year award. Not bad for a rookie singles player
I started playing tennis at the age of 13 on green clay. In the beginning i always thought that tennis was so boring until i started watching the williams sisters play. After witnessing these two dismantle their opponents i wanted to play. Some major highlights of mine were developing a great 1st serve and competing in some satellite usta junior tournaments. I found out about gladiator tennis through the usta. I absolutely enjoy the league; i think the way it is formatted and organized is superb and i love the competition of it all. I can’t wait for the 2011 season to star
I have played tennis recreationally all of my life, but I took it up more seriously about 7 years ago, to get back into shape after my son was born. Since then I haven’t looked back and have become an unapologetic tennis fanatic, passionate about both playing and following the professional game. The most wonderful thing for me (in addition to the fun people you meet and the great exercise that it is) is that tennis is a true “sport for a lifetime”, and I love to see different generations in my family play it regularly together...from my 8 year old son, to my husband and me, to my father. I appreciated adding Gladiators to my tennis agenda this year. I was introduced to it by Alice Danilovich, another Gladiator and one of my best tennis friends, andfound it a great addition to my regular club and USTA leagues. I liked the opportunity to meet and play different players beyond the folks at my club. Furthermore, ANY additional opportunity to play singles is welcome! I can’t wait until next year’s Gladiator sessions.
I started playing tennis 3 years ago. I picked it up because I wanted to get active again and it was easier to coordinate than volleyball - my other sport. I started by taking lessons through a local park district and eventually joined their tennis club. I worked my way up from the Beginner class to the Advanced Intermediate class in just over a year. I started playing in leagues (singles and doubles) last summer. I currently play in 2 singles leagues in the spring/summer and 2 doubles leagues in the fall/winter (and will most likely add the Gladiator singles league in the winter). In addition to winning the Gladiator Men’s 3.5 division playoffs, I won several USTA tournaments at the 3.0 level before moving up to the 3.5 level this past March. The last two years, I have also participated in GLTA tournaments hosted here in Chicago and was finalist in Doubles last year and champion in doubles this year - both at the “C” (3.5) level. I found Gladiator tennis online and have enjoyed playing in it because it’s local (in the suburbs) and stress free in regards to scheduling. The other singles league that I play in is a ladder format and there’s sometimes a lot of work to getting matches scheduled - and most of the other players live/work in the city.
After my youngest son started preschool in 2006, I turned to tennis as a way to incorporate fitness back into a healthy life style. I started taking lessons and playing in a round robin group at Naperville Tennis Club (NTC). In the summer of 2007 I joined my neighborhood’s ladies team and became hooked with doubles tennis. I continued to work on my skills at NTC until the fall of 2009 when I joined Rush Copley. There I met team mate, Ilyse Jarman, who introduced me to Gladiator Tennis. I wanted to work on my one handed backhand and court coverage so I joined Gladiator Tennis for singles in the summer of 2010. I am happily married to John, and we have two beautiful boys, Tag (12) and Michael (9).
I started playing tennis in high school by just hitting around with friends. My Dad introduced me to tennis originally, and I learned some of the nuances of the game from my friend Eric. I continued playing tennis for fun throughout college to stay active and saw my skills improve. I played sporadically for the next few years before committing myself to playing more this fall. Tennis turned out to be a great way to stay active and fulfill the need for athletic competition. I heard about Gladiator through my friend, Eric, who thought it would be a fun way to improve and see some quality local competition. Gladiator was a great way to be introduced to other players in the area. I was able to improve my skills throughout the season, as I learned a lot from the different styles of all my opponents. The tournament was a fantastic experience, especially the test of playing two matches the final day. I am looking forward to continuing to improve my game and to test my skills at the 3.5 level next year!
