We commemorated four decades of competitive tennis in high fashion at our memorable 40th Anniversary Dinner at the Stamford Yacht Club last September. During that celebratory event, we rekindled our rich legacy by reconnecting with family members of Reddin (Founder), Negele (Past President), Bounty (one of the original 39 members), and von Kohorn (past Member whose son is a current member). Each family member shared memories of their dads’ involvement with the GOBs.
In addition, we reinforced the new dimension of our mission in community related activities by teaming with Grassroots Tennis & Education in supporting challenged youths. We highlighted that commitment during the event which was witnessed by the wife and son (Ann and Ben Goldblatt) of the Founder of Grassroots (Art Goldblatt, a former GOBs member of Shore & Country). If you’re interested in learning more about our 40th Anniversary season and viewing images of the Dinner, go to the ‘GOBs Today’ tab on our website (www.gobs-tennis.com) and scroll down to the 40th Anniversary Season item.
We now kick-off our fifth decade with new vigor, building on a solid base, welcoming a formidable group of new members and expanding our involvement in community activities. As we launch this season stronger than ever, I want to share a number of points to keep in mind for our 2024 season. These points are organized across the following six areas:
- Play Date Management
- Membership
- Tournament Play
- Community
- Social
- Organization (including Leadership Transition Plan)
I. Play Date Management
The combination of effective pre-planning and hands-on management of each unique play date directly influences the member on-court experience. In the spirit of providing our members the best play date possible, we have implemented several significant changes over the last four years (e.g., the Play Date Sign-up Tool, a two 90-minute Block System, the Pre-Scheduling/Pairings Process, and the use of various Playing Formats). However, in order for these changes to realize their full potential, we need all members to get familiar with play date formats, tools, process, and what’s expected to make it all a success. Here are some key points relating to Play Date Management:
- Schedule—Our schedule this year reflects a fixed M-W-F format. The season’s Schedule is now posted to our website and is ready to accept sign-ups. Our early play dates are Monday, April 22 at Bailiwick Club followed by Wednesday, April 24 at Belle Haven Club, and Friday, April 26 at New Canaan Field Club
- Play Date Sign-up—any member planning to attend a play date is requested to use the Registration/Sign-up tool in the ‘Operating Tools’ tab. To refresh everyone, go to the ‘Operating Tools’ tab of the Members Section and scroll down to the first item, Schedule/Play Date Sign-up. All you have to do is press on the club’s name on a given date and the Registration/Sign-up form will pop-up. Complete it and press the ‘Register’ button. You should receive an email confirmation. If you do not, the sign-up did not execute correctly. You should try again. If the difficulty persists, contact either Dick Paterniti or me. Any member who signs-up after 12PM the day before the play date or is a ‘walk-on’ for a play date, is invited to attend Block 2 of the session for an ad-hoc pairing by the Host Captain (refer to the fifth bullet in this section for a new policy regarding cut-off time for sign-ups).
- Change of Plans—if you signed-up for a play date and your schedule later prevents you from attending, you can unregister from the play date by going back to the Schedule and clicking on the host Club’s name of the play date. At the top of the screen that pops-up the words ‘Edit Registration’ are displayed. Click on that instruction and a second screen will appear. Go down to the very bottom of the screen and you will see the words ‘Unregister from the event’. Click on those words and a message should come up that indicates ‘You have been unregistered’. If your plans do change, it is very important that you use the unregistered feature so that the pairings process is not compromised. It is also worth noting that you will receive email confirmations on both registering for and unregistering from an event.
- Pairings Management Process—Dick and I will be handing-over the reins of pairing each foursome across all the play dates to a three-person team this season comprised of Ray Boller, Mike Boscaino, and Rob Steeves. They will be responsible for the pairings, collaborating with the Host Captains, and communicating the final pairings of each play date to those members who signed-up. We will refer to this very capable team as the Pairings Coordinators.
- New Policy: Play Date Sign-up Cut-off—since we now have nearly 100% compliance with the use of the Sign-up tool, we will be instituting a new policy this year to shutdown sign-ups at NOON the day before the play date. This will allow the Pairings Coordinators to do their work earlier in the day and avoid disrupting their evenings and personal commitments.
- Play Date Cancellation Notice Policy—we aim to contact all members at least an hour before start time to communicate delays/cancellations due to weather conditions.
II. Membership
- Class of 2024—we have admitted 16 new members for the 2024 season, which reflect our continuing commitment to reinvigorating the group with new and younger talent. Photos of the individuals comprising our Class of 2024 have been posted to our website. Click on this link to directly access their photos: https://gobs-tennis.com/gobs-class-of-2024/
III. Tournament Play
- GOBs Member Tourney—we will hold our 4th Annual Alex Kelso Reddin Member Tourney for both Singles and Doubles, with ‘A’ and ‘B’ Skill Levels brackets.
- New Offering: Member-Guest Tournament—we will select two play dates in September to hold our first Member-Guest Doubles Tournament for both ‘A’ and ‘B’ Skill Levels. This tournament will serve as a great recruiting tool for us!
IV. Community
- GOBs & Grassroots 2nd Annual Arthur J. Goldblatt Tennis Tournament—we will follow-up last year’s successful launch of this doubles tournament at Tokeneke Club in which we paired a GOBs member with a Grassroots youngster. A date in August will be announced.
- New Offering: Mentorship/Coaching Program with Grassroots—we established a program just a few weeks ago in which GOBs members will share court time with Grassroots youngsters, ages of 10-14. The intent is to use this time to forge relationships with the youngsters and help them with character development.
V. Social
- Summer Social Event—One of the hallmarks of the GOBs is the camaraderie that is enjoyed between members both on and off-the-court. Beyond this season’s full complement of play dates, we have booked a Cocktail Reception on Thursday, June 20 at Country Club of New Canaan (CCNC) starting at 5PM, which will provide a relaxed outlet for social engagement. The event will include cocktails (cash bar) and hors d’oeuvres. Dinner plans will be left to each member but if anyone wishes to stay for dinner at CCNC, a reservation should be made a week before the event. The cost will approximate $35 per person, and $65 per couple. We will send out a second announcement about the event by May 10, at which time anyone planning to attend should submit their payment to our Treasurer, Bob Conologue. We encourage you to come and really get to know your fellow members.
- Apparel—our GOBs Retail Store can be accessed by clicking this link (https://shop.tsandmore.com/gobs/shop/home), which enables you to purchase a GOBs embroidered cap or shirt.
VI. Organization
- Annual Dues—we increased the number of electronic payments from last year’s 10% of members to about 30% this season. We will continue to focus on increasing this percentage, as it helps to significantly reduce the workload of cash collections and the number of trips to the Bank. We can and will do better next season!
- Leadership Transition Plan—Managing the current version of the GOBs continues beyond the spring/summer months. The in-season’s primary activities start in late April and go through early October and focus on our core activity of Play Date Management, along with the GOBs Tourney, the Grassroots event, and our Spring/Summer Social. During the off-season (November through March), a number of significant initiatives occur that help position a successful launch to a new season. A representative sample of these initiatives are the Membership Drive, Annual Dues Collection, GOBs Retail Store, Captain Confirmation of Schedule, Tools Enhancements, Roster Updating, Social Event Planning, Website Development & Maintenance, and Play Date Planning.
The combination of these initiatives consumes time and effort, and I am very grateful to the members of our Executive Committee for their unselfish devotion to the GOBs, especially during the transformation journey encompassing the last four seasons. This season we will see a transition of all the current members of the Executive Committee except for me. As they transition to other pursuits, I would be remiss not to highlight their contributions and our indebtedness to each of them.
Peter Carnes—Peter has been our Director of Membership for the last four years. He has led our Membership Drives, which are credited with admitting approximately 50 new members during this period. His efforts have been pivotal to our upgrading our talent pool and revitalizing our group. I sincerely thank Peter for all his efforts on our behalf as he passes the reins to Ray Boller. Ray has shadowed Peter for the last few months, and we expect a seamless transition to occur in the near future.
Jim Kelly—Jim has been our Director of Programs. He has been responsible for planning our social events, coordinating our Grassroots Tournament, assisting me with the GOBs Tourney, interacting with our apparel vendor for the GOBs Retail Store, and being on point for several of last season’s 40th anniversary promotion activities. His efforts have elevated the visibility of the GOBs both in the market and at our 17 clubs. Again, a big thank you to Jim for all his efforts. His role will be assumed by Robin Hogen who Jim will work with during the season to facilitate a successful handoff.
Fred Baker—Fred was our Treasurer for about three years up to September 30 of last year. He brought us into the digital payment age and was instrumental in launching the Annual Dues payment process in February so we would have this tedious task behind us by Opening Day. A genuine thank you to Fred for all his time and effort. The Treasurer role was assumed by Bob Conologue in December who collaborated with me in developing a Cash Budget and navigated us through the 2024 dues payment process. In his short time as Treasurer, he has already proven to be a valued and productive member of the Executive Committee.
Dick Paterniti—Dick has been my right-hand for the last four years. We have essentially built a completely new infrastructure (e.g. website with rich content), rebranded (e.g., new logo), conceived the Membership Drive(s), rethought the play date process (e.g., pre-scheduled pairings, the two Block System, and skill level designations), implemented new tools (e.g., Sign-up Form, Captain Input Form to post participants, and On-line Retail Store), introduced new offerings (e.g., GOBs Tourney, Grassroots event), and expanded our charter (e.g., community focus and giving back). The amount of change is staggering but through it all Dick’s can-do attitude and tireless efforts made it a genuine delight to work with him.
Dick’s primary operating role has been leading the Play Date Management function, which has spanned the pairings formation process for each of the 70+ play dates across the course of the season. This task will be transitioned to the three-person team, the composition of which was previously mentioned, beginning right at the start of the 2024 season. Dick has prepped the team over the last several months and both Dick and I will oversee the function as the new team takes-on this important task. Dick’s other duties will be assumed by both Robin Hogen and me. A big ‘Bravo’ for his extraordinary efforts on behalf of the GOBs! Dick will remain with the GOBs Leadership Team in an Advisory Executive capacity after this season, as he will continue to be tapped for his assistance on an ad-hoc basis.
I wish all my transitioning Executive Committee members the very best and look forward to facing the future with their successors. I hope for a successful Opening Day launch and to making 2024 our best season yet. Let the games begin!
Don’t forget to begin signing-up for play dates!
Best,
Jim