What do you call the sound that a professional serve makes, at the baseline of the world’s great tennis venues?
Is it the “thonk” of the racquet on the crisp, fresh ball? Is it the sudden puff of breath, from the effort and concentration of the player? Is it the silence of the crowd in the instant before the serve? It is all these things, of course. That serve might be the focal instant in the excitement of top-flight tennis, but as fans and players alike will tell you, it is only one of thousands among the many moments of excitement that are built into this sport of royalty.
Our nearby Sea Pines Racquet Club has been the scene of so many of these moments. The memories of them bring enthusiasts, new players, and lifelong fans alike to the Sea Pines Racquet Club for a taste of the magic that has taken place here for generations.
Courts of Champions
Three minutes down the lane from The Shops at Sea Pines Center, you’ll find the 20 courts of the Sea Pines Racquet Club. There is simply no counting the number of legends who have booked one of these courts for their workout, as they relished a visit to the heart of Hilton Head Island, or prepared for the trial of Center Court, back in the days when the Virginia Slims Tour “Original 9” made Hilton Head Island one of the stops on their pioneering women’s professional tennis circuit. Many of us can still recall the excitement, and take it from us, the thrill of being part of that is hard to describe.
Tennis players are not much given to mysticism – we’ll talk later about the kind of personality that the sport seems to attract and engender. Still, the Sea Pines Racquet Club and the community around it could easily be called haunted by greatness.
Peak Instruction
An enduring reminder of this greatness is Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Stan Smith, who heads the programs of instruction at the Sea Pines Racquet Club. Stan – who won the Grand Slam singles championship not once, but twice – teams with the staff of USPTA-certified pros at the Sea Pines Racquet Club to ensure that your desire to improve – and to enjoy your game more than ever – will be more than fulfilled.
Stan Smith and Billy Stearns partnered to offer their own brand of excellence at the Smith Stearns Tennis Academy right here in The Shops at Sea Pines Center.
Successful athletes tell us that the great coaches help you see what peak performance looks like. Then they make sure you experience how that feels. Then they help you make that experience repeatable at will. A sign of Stan’s and of the Smith Stearns Tennis Academy’s ability to impart this is that Stan is former Director of Coaching for the Unites States Tennis Association. Together, the Academy and the Sea Pines Racquet Club are ably equipped to put you on the path to enjoying tennis more fully than ever.
A Certain Kind of Person
“There are two kinds of people.” The words begin a thousand jokes, and at best maybe a handful of homespun proverbs. The truth is, when it comes to any two characteristics you can name, most of us are a combination. The ways such things are viewed nowadays, we live somewhere on a spectrum between any two poles of thinking, feeling, or behaving.
So, when people say that tennis players tend to be “Type A” personalities – because of the face-to-face competition the sport entails – they barely scratch the surface of the qualities that tennis both calls for and supports. We see the fascinating facets of people who love tennis every day at the Sea Pines Racquet Club, and they are not easy to summarize.
For example, a “typical” Type A person would not have the patience or the optimism to endure the length of time that a tennis match requires, the twists and turns of fortune, the back and forth as good shots change hands, the ups and downs of a person’s chances to win. Confidence can come to crisis, and the limits of one’s own control can distract anyone who can’t come up with the flexibility to ride out the course of a match.
Sea Pines Racquet Club Lessons for Living
For all these reasons, a chorus of personality strengths are nurtured by the sport, because the tennis demands them. A multidimensional appreciation for life is one of the benefits many find in the pleasures and demands of tennis. We see it all the time right here in our own neighborhood, at the Sea Pines Racquet Club.
Here again we count our neighbors – and our neighborhood – to be among the pleasures of The Shops at Sea Pines Center. Come join us and see.
