Ladies team aces USTA match, needs sponsor

Needs new place to play by Dec. 3



HAVING A BALL—Purple Reign+, a team of local women tennis players age 55 years and older, ranked sixth in this year’s United States Tennis Association national championships.

HAVING A BALL—Purple Reign+, a team of local women tennis players age 55 years and older, ranked sixth in this year’s United States Tennis Association national championships.

A group of local women age 55 years and older ranked sixth in this year’s United States Tennis Association national championships.

The team, called Purple Reign+, competed in a tournament in Surprise, Ariz., from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2.

There are 13 women on the team. For the past year they’ve been training under Jordan Parzick, a tennis pro at Lindero Country Club in Agoura Hills.

The following eight team members entered the tournament as doubles players: Leanne Helfman, Beth Bloomfield and M.J. MacLeod of Thousand Oaks; Renae Saliano of Oak Park; Yvonne Sabato and Kym Brzeski of Westlake Village; Debbie Tuttle of Simi Valley; Lorraine Franklin of Van Nuys.

Helfman, 59, said she was thrilled to have won both matches on the first day.

“We’re little old ladies playing tennis,” she said. “We play good, but we’re not going to Wimbledon.”

But they did go to the nationals and ranked sixth out of 16 teams.

The women hadn’t qualified for the sectional tournament that led to the national tourney in Surprise, but they played as a wildcard team against two teams from Moorpark.

Helfman said they were surprised to win the sectionals and astonished that they finished the national tournament in sixth place.

But Purple Reign+ had already shown signs the team was ready for the big league of competitions. After competing every eight weeks in Ventura County sectionals, the group won a winter league tournament at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

Team captain Beth Bloomfield, 58, said Purple Reign+ has been the only team from Ventura County to qualify for nationals since 2011.

Bloomfield said her team had a strategy in achieving success.

“I think we were organized,” she said. “We thought about what we did and worked really hard. We went out every Thursday night for practice for up to a year.”

Helfman’s goal was to “hang in there” because she’d had knee surgery earlier in the year.

“Turns out we’re better than we thought,” she said.

But the Purple Reign+ players got some upsetting news during the tournament in Arizona. The team, which represented Westlake Village Inn Tennis Club, received an email from Westlake Inn informing them that the tennis courts there are being removed to make room for a parking lot.

“That’s the news we got after winning our first two matches,” Helfman said. “It’s like the Joni Mitchell song (“Big Yellow Taxi”). . . . They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

To compete in USTA, teams have to have a sponsor—a club, park or country club, Bloomfield said.

“Unless we find a place to play by Dec. 3, we won’t be able to play USTA next season,” she said.

In addition to losing their sponsor, Bloomfield said, USTA rules require that teams that have played in the nationals can no longer play together in association competitions. They must regroup with other similarly ranked players.

“We’re trying to find a way so we can stay as a team,” she said

Focusing on the team’s recent success rather than its uncertain future, Helfman said she had a fine time over the weekend above and beyond coming in sixth place.

The tournament hosted a costume party for 1,000 people on Nov. 1. Purple Reign+ came dressed as purple witches. Helfman said she was impressed by a man who came dressed as a tennis racket and a team that portrayed “tennis through the ages” with players dressed in the clothes that have been worn in the sport from past to present.

Each team was required to exchange little gifts, Helfman said, a tradition that promoted the spirit of sportsmanship.

The teams also had their own cheers. Purple Reign+’s cheer: “Young and sassy, kick your assy.”

“It’s the best sorority I ever joined,” Helfman said. “I’m a tennis nut, and I’m just having a ball.”


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