Dear fellow PTC members,
 
We are well into our first week of club closure, and so many of you have sent me questions that I wanted to give you all an update of where we are today.
 
Some of the questions I received include: 

• playing against a backboard is still ok, can we play against the wall on court 4?
• playing singles should be safe, especially if no balls are exchanged with other courts and/or latex gloves are worn?
• can I play with members in my own household?

We discussed all the suggestions during our virtual board meeting on Tuesday night and the board came to the conclusion that we need to keep the club closed for now mainly due to the following 3 reasons:
 
1. We are part of a community and need to follow the San Mateo County Health Department guidelines. Kate Belding specifically asked whether private tennis clubs were allowed to stay open at the virtual city council meeting on Tuesday night and I called the SM Health department Corona Hot line at 211 and the answer from both was a resounding "NO".
 
2. Because we are not considered an essential business, our staff is not allowed to work. This means that we cannot maintain a clean environment and wipe down door handles, etc. In addition, we found that without a manager on site, some members continue to use areas that have not been cleaned properly and are therefore not safe.
 
3. This is a public relations issue -- we've already had one neighbor react negatively to people playing last weekend and we need to set an example that we are part of a larger whole and will follow guidelines along with our neighbors. All other clubs in the area are closed and all public courts have been closed also.
 
Of course we will open as soon as we can!
 
In the meantime, a couple of options for some of you who miss being out on the courts:
From Coach Pablo: If you have a private tennis court at your house or neighborhood, I will be available to go to your place and and run private lessons for you and your family members. I've been doing research to keep these classes safe for everyone – contact me if you want a complete list of ways I’m keeping lessons safe during this extraordinary time.  Contact me at (669)236-1277 or info@coachpabloalvarado.com
From Board member Reynold Harbin: for those of us missing the larger tennis community, UTR is putting on a new and free live webinar series for the month of April, where you can talk with some of the biggest names in the tennis industry.  Connect live with the current top U.S. players like Sam Querrey and Alison Riske, legendary coaches Nick Bollettieri, Ivan Lendl and Jez Green, and hopefully a few more will be added with experts in sports conditioning, sports psychology and tennis parenting.  UTR will publish the list of webinars you can register this weekend at https://www.myutr.com/education
In the meantime, let me know if you want to share any member news or stories with fellow members. I'd like to send out these short, informal eblasts weekly while we're shut down to keep our PTC tennis community connected. Erica Reilly 650.302.2822 or ereilly94010@gmail.com
 
Your PTC Board,
Erica, David, Brian, Jackie, Kate, Gene, Reynold and… Lona!