I was handing out informational fliers at the Atlantic Foodmart recently.  I was there as a member of The Friends of Reading Tennis Task Force (FRTTF).  Our goal is to work with the Town of Reading to reconstruct the Reading Community Tennis courts at the Birch Meadow Recreational Complex.

I gave a flier to Dot Corindia, a familiar and friendly face I recognized from tennis round robins at Meadow Brook Golf Club.  Dot’s family is a wonderful example of a multi-generational, tennis playing family.  Their

experience with tennis lends conviction to the message FRTTF wants to convey to the residents of Reading: that tennis is a run, recreational, athletic sport for all ages.

Dot is a “Reading girl”.  She played tennis for Reading Memorial High School in the 1930s.  In those days, if you were proficient in a subject, educators moved you along, so she graduated from RMHS in 1939 at the age of sixteen!  She graduated from Boston University, and married an Army man.  She went on to teach in the Reading school system, and have five children.  She had little free time, so it was not till she was in her fifties that she picked up her racquet again.

For many years she played at Meadow Brook Golf Club while her husband golfed, and some of her children swam in the pool  She credits tennis with introducing her to many women of very different backgrounds.  She said tennis can be “a great leveler”, and that “tennis can release the competitiveness and teach you to be a graceful winner and loser”.

When her youngest child, Nancy, went to college, Dot played with friends on the Reading public courts.  When Nancy came home for the summer, mother and daughter played singles together to improve their game.  At first, Dot found she could beat her daughter, but not for long!  Nancy became a terrific player.  She married and passed her love for tennis on to her three daughters.  The eldest, Rachel, was Team Captain for Masconomet her senior year.  This year, her sister Brittany has that honor.  Their youngest sister, Evelyn is in fifth grade and taking tennis lessons.  She has a dynasty to live up to!

Tennis is often portrayed as an elitist sport.  My response is that it will be if we do not provide access to free public courts, and only those who can afford a private club membership can play.  Last year, Billie Jean King was honored at the U.S. Open.  She spoke about learning to play on public courts and how grateful and fortunate she was to have had that opportunity.