For 11 local senior women, national tennis competition is a first: ‘Here we are’

When Marsha White’s tennis team qualified for next week’s USTA’s 65 & Over Invitational last fall, she began what she described as “research” on her 10 teammates.

First was a more-obvious question, one she admittedly surmised before asking: Had any seen national competition before?

“No,” they all said, one by one. But what they told her next surprised even White, a tennis veteran for over two decades.

“(We) started in our 50s and 60s, mostly,” she learned and told The News Tribune earlier this week. “A few (of us) started earlier, probably stopped and had kids, and then came back and started again later.

“A big thing to think about is… there are people that maybe haven’t started playing tennis and might be interested.”

Practicing out of the Galbraith Tennis Center in Tacoma, eleven local women aged 65 to 76 take to national competition in Surprise, Arizona, next month – all for the very first time.

“When I was in high school, the boys had a tennis team, but the girls didn’t,” White said. “The boys had soccer, but the girls didn’t. There was nothing for the girls.

“And so here we are in our 60s to 70s, and we’re able to be in a competitive situation at our level and go to something like this.”

The USTA League’s 65 & Over Invitational spans Feb. 3-5 at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex. “Team PNW” competes twice Friday, twice Saturday, and could appear as one of four groups in Sunday’s final rounds.

Of 17 regions, White’s team represents the “PNW,” making up Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.

Followed by co-captains Pat O’Donnell and Mary Souza are Kelly Compton, Jackie DeLeon, Kathy Heinz, Casey Hunter, Kathy Shouse, Cindy Skinner, Cassy Sparks, Barbara Van Sickle, and White.

Qualification for nationals included a victory in last September’s USTA sectional, hosted by a pair of local venues; Jupiter Tennis Center in Edgewood and Galbraith, where White and teammates won the tournament’s final match. The team of 11 at the 3.0 level swept the Salem, Oregon team in three sets to clinch a nationals berth last Sept. 18.

Team PNW possesses depth unseen by White in past years, deemed vital for the group’s run to a sectional title. Teammates of White consistently schedule exhibitions with those in the 55-and-over age group. Others joined a second league, the Pierce County League, to compete with those holding a 3.5 skill level, above Team PNW’s 3.0 level.

“They’re a little bit younger, so they’re a little bit faster and they hit a little bit harder,” White said of recent competition. “And we said, ‘hey, we need to do (this).’

“We just want to make sure that we are continuing to improve. We’re fortunate, because most everybody in our group is about the same level.”

Team PNW first meets the Missouri Valley, set for Friday, Feb. 3 at 8 a.m. MT.

The Galbraith Tennis Center will hang a banner inside its gymnasium honoring the team’s national feat.

Said White: “It’s a highly coveted accomplishment… that we can only dream of achieving.”