From ‘serving’ in Reading to serving with the USAF in Iraq. 

Former Reading tennis star writes home about his days on local courts, looking to support Reading Community  Tennis Court project       ~ by Jane Cerullo

~ by Jane Cerullo

 

FORMER READING tennis star Patrick Bolger, shown above (top row, fourth from the left) in a 1999 photo from the Reading Tennis Open and at right as a Senior Airman (E-4) in the United States Air Force, where he is currently assigned as a Ground Radar Systems Journeyman in Kirkuk, Iraq.   He has written a letter home, looking to help generate interest in the Reading Community Tennis Court  Project. 

In November, a two-part feature story by Chrissy Cerretani appeared in these pages.  The story described how The Friends of Reading Tennis, an RMHS tennis booster club, co-founded by Lorraine Salter and Kate Kaminer, formed a fourteen member task force:  The Friends of Reading Tennis Task Force (FRTTF).  This group of Reading residents came together with one goal in mind: to raise funds to build a new, state of the art outdoor tennis facility to be called “Reading Community Tennis Courts.”

 

As a member of the task force, I attended its most recent meeting.  One of the items on our agenda was a new brochure outlining our plans for the Reading Community Tennis Court project.  The brochure was critiqued and approved for release to the public.  As I reviewed the brochure, one of man pictures caught my eye.  It was a group photo of past Reading Tennis Open champions (the Open is a non-profit fundraiser for Reading’s high school tennis program and town recreational programs).  I recognized several players, and was amused to note that some currently have less hair, or no sideburns, or have grown from boys into men.  I chatted with Kate Kaminer, asking for identification of this player or that, and asked “where are they now?”  One boy Kate pointed out is Patrick Bolger, now a young man serving in the United States Air Force in Iraq.

 

I obtained Patrick's email address from his mother, Claire.  I wrote to Patrick of our effort to raise funds (and awareness) for a new outdoor tennis facility.  I asked him about his memories of playing tennis in Reading, and about here his life has taken him.  Here is his reply:

 

“Hi Jane, Thank you for including me in your pursuit for new and improved tennis courts.  It is certainly a mission that I am happy to help with any way I can.

 

I started playing tennis in elementary school (Barrows) with some close friends; I was hook right away.  I played at the Barrows courts on a leisurely level for a few years.  When middle school came around I asked my parents if I could get some lessons and play on a competitive team.  I got lessons in Woburn, Winchester, North Meadow (Billeria), Meadow Brook, and of course the Reading tennis courts over the course of the next seven or eight years.  When it came time for High School I decided to go to St. John’s Prep in Danvers.  I did not play for the school, but still played competitively with Winchester Indoor Lawn and Tennis.  I decided my sophomore year that I wanted to get back to RMHS and looked forward to playing tennis in the sprint with the team.  I made the Varsity team and played Winchester Indoor Lawn and Tennis. I decided my sophomore year that I wanted to get back to RMHS and looked forward to playing tennis in the sprint with the team.  I made the Varsity team and played doubles with Mike Walsh that year.  We had a very good season and ended up making the Middlesex all-star team together.  My junior year I moved up to play at the second singles position.  The tam was improving and things looked optimistic for our tennis program.  We made it to the semi-finals of the North Regionals, but lost to an Andover tam (that weren't particularly fond of).  Senior year was by far the best season we had as a team.  I made team captain that year, and played doubles with Scott Ritter, Scott and I rarely lost, and made Middlesex all-stars again.  My favorite memory in my tennis career was beating that same Andover team to push forward to the North Finals. Scott and I were playing a tough match; we had our backs against the wall and found ourselves down in the third set.  The other four matches were split 2-2 between our teams; making our match the tiebreaker.  We were playing at home on the high school courts.  Both teams and our fans were surrounding the court that we were playing on to see who would be victorious.  The baseball team had just finished their playoff game and the track team was winding up to one of their meets.  It seemed like everyone in town had just finished what they were doing, and decided to come check out the third set of our match.  I have never seen so many people supporting the tennis high school team.  They fired Scott and I up and willed us to a comeback victory; pushing us past the Andover team that had beaten us just a year prior.  We ended up losing the North Finals, but went further than any other RNS team had ever gone.  It was a great way to end my high school tennis days. 

 

I still played at those courts after high school and would like to play there when my time in service is completed.  I have played on those courts for many years and have seen their condition decline each year.  I remember after rainy days having to push the water off the courts to practice because of the enormous depressions in the courts.  I am sure they have gotten even worse. The cracks in them also seemed to get bigger every year.  It seems like a great time for these courts to finally be take care of.  I think it will help out our tennis community and draw more attention to the sport, a sport that has a larger community than most people realize, and a sport that can continue to grow if these courts were installed.

 

I played in the Reading Open Tournaments, as well, and always had a blast in them. I played both doubles and singles in the tournament for a number of years.  I did well in a few of them especially playing with Mike Shagueri and Matt Williams (both former members of the RMHS team).

 

As far as my time in the Air Force… I have served now as an enlisted member of the USAF for three and a half years now.  I am a senior Airman (E-4), and work as a Ground Radar Systems Journeyman.  As you know, I am currently in Kirkuk, Iraq and have been here for three months.  We are working hard here to ensure our radars stay running at all times.  All in all, things here are going well for us, some days busier than others.  We all know what we’re doing here is important to our fight, so there isn’t too much complaining when things get hectic.  It certainly makes us appreciate all that we have back home to which we are all looking forward to getting back.  My home station is Mountain Home AFB, Idaho.  It’s not my favorite place to be but certainly better than Iraq.  I have not yet seen anyone else from Reading during my time in the Air Force.  My enlistment is up this June and I will be heading back home to Massachusetts (and hopefully to some nicer tennis courts!)  I agree with you that tennis is a great, healthy outlet for anyone who gets involved with the sport.  It was definitely a stress reliever for me and I’m sure that it is for a number of others as well.  It would be nice to get more people attracted to the sport and for those playing it already to do so on some decent courts.

 

Thanks for involving me in your efforts!

 

Patrick Bolger”