State tournaments a NOGTA staple

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November 3, 2011

By Marty Kirkland martykirkland@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Thu Nov 03, 2011, 11:23 PM EDT

— The first weekend of November means a few things in Dalton: falling leaves, cooler temperatures, the kickoff of the holiday shopping season downtown and state tennis competition.

For the sixth straight year, the North Georgia Tennis Association will help host the USTA Southern Doubles Combo Georgia State Championships. Nearly 700 players will be in town for the tournament, which will feature matches at Dalton Golf and Country Club, Dalton High School, Edwards Park and Lakeshore Park. Action will start each day at 8 a.m. and go into the evening.

“It’s a great thing for our community,” said Deb Wells, the tournament’s director and NOGTA’s local league coordinator. “Anytime you can bring 683 people into town to stay at our hotels, eat at our restaurants and shop in our stores, that’s a great thing. And if you’re a tennis player, it’s so exciting because you get to see some really great tennis from players all over the state.

“It’s just a lot of fun. The players have a great time, and so do the spectators.”

Winners advance to next year’s Southern Section Championships, and 14 NOGTA teams are among those in the running this weekend as Dalton hosts state tournaments for adult men’s and women’s 5.5, 7.5 and 9.5, as well as senior men’s and women’s 6.5 and 8.5.

USTA players are given a number designation based on their level of play, and in combo competition, a doubles team is made up of two players whose combined rating adds up to the division level’s number. A match is made up of three doubles contests.

“We have some really strong (local) teams,” Wells said. “We’re expecting to win at several different levels.”

Although cities and associations are typically asked to alternate which weekends they host USTA state tournaments — Peachtree City hosted other levels of state play in September and Rome will host more next weekend — NOGTA and Dalton have been able to hold on to what is considered a key weekend from an economic impact standpoint, Wells said. The first weekend in November is also holiday open house time for downtown merchants.

“A lot of the players shop downtown,” Wells said.

As for the tournament, Wells is looking forward to what she expects will be the smoothest run yet for NOGTA, which recently learned its bids for 2012 and 2013 tournaments were also a success. But the reason Wells, the tournament director for the fifth year in a row, anticipates a good weekend is because of the cooperation of several people and agencies, including some 70 volunteers from within NOGTA.

“The volunteers are very important to our success,” said Wells, who was recently named the USTA’s Southern Section and Georgia Local League Coordinator of the Year for 2011. “Another nice thing is the collaboration between the city and the county rec departments. It’s been so nice to have the county work with us, as well as the city. Michel Bates is the director of tennis for Dalton Parks and Recreation Department, and she takes care of the facilities, which are amazing. People are impressed by them and they like to come back here and that’s one of the big reasons why.

“It speaks well of the city of Dalton and Dalton Parks and Recreation and Whitfield County Parks and Recreation.”

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State tournaments a NOGTA staple

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