Dear Members,

My sincerest thank you to all LATC members for their support during the period of time I have been president. Your enthusiasm and encouragement of work done by the board is greatly appreciated. Most of my goals during the past two years have been met:

• To reduce the cost of printing/postage of newsletters in favor of electronic receipt. At present, approximately 1/3 of the membership has opted for electronic newsletter. The 2009 membership renewal form has check boxes for receipt by mail or email and I hope more will request electronic receipt for easy reading and printout, if desired.
• The LATC By-Laws dictate an annual meeting which was held the last two years in conjunction with dinners in April, both of which were very successful, probably the social highlight of the year for our club.
• In addition to being sent as an insert in a newsletter, membership rosters are now sent as an email attachment as an easy desktop link for access to members’ contact information. In the future, I hope that members will opt to have rosters sent only electronically, another printing/mailing cost savings (and easy reference).
• LATC has provided tennis balls for Interclub groups the last two years which benefits members and also to keep fees charged to players competitive with other clubs.
• The All-Interclubs Play Day has been held the last two years, which was very successful and enjoyed by all. LATC paid court fees and provided tennis balls for this event and I hope will continued in the future.

I want to thank the current Board members for their support and hard work in keeping LATC a viable tennis club. Mary Ann Weingartner has been incredibly organized and detail-oriented in her management of Membership; Doris Lehr is a dedicated treasurer who keeps us in the black; Pat Frischmann has worn several hats well, as Secretary, as liaison to the City in keeping abreast of tennis issues, and as Interclub 3.0 captain; Vice President Bill Powell is always willing to help where needed; Frank Smyth deserves tremendous kudos for his management of Tournaments for the past eight years, a post now open for a new board member; Marijke Vallaeys steadfastly and enthusiastically produces the Newsletter and maintains the Website, and is always willing to pick up needs for the club; the Singles and Mixed Doubles Ladders continue to be active under Tom Gregory’s management; Bob Pearl hopes to get the Men’s Doubles Ladder up and going in 2009; Jack Bates continues to run the successful TFC; Sherry Barba has headed up an ever-growing Monday Drop-In tennis group; and Lynn Hunton is always enthusiastic getting the newsletter out to all on time, and for being the source of our tournament and other tennis needs of tables, chairs and, of course, his traveling porta-potty! Jean Hassoun and Marilyn Taketa continue as advisers in their fields of expertise, for which we are grateful.

In 2009 LATC will be operated from an E-Board with Tom Gregory as E-President for a term of three months, which will then be rotated to another E-President. More to come in January about the 2009 operation of LATC.

Happy Holidays to all,
Beth Watt