Letters to the Editor
Tom Sherry loves tennis!
Chessler serves, Sherry volleys
An Open Letter to Stuart Brown & The Town of Mammoth Lakes:
This letter is to inform you and the Town of Mammoth Lakes that I will no longer be working for the Town as the Community Courts tennis professional.
I have truly enjoyed my 15 year run as the local pro, but I have been offered, and have accepted, a growing opportunity as the director of tennis at Snowcreek Athletic Club.
I wish to thank all the employees of the Town that have made the years of employment so enjoyable, Stephanie Daniel and John Connolly in particular. I hope that we can continue to work together to make sure tennis is a sport that remains a draw to both visitors and locals to our destination resort.
I also wish to thank the many tennis players who have participated in the Town of Mammoth Lakes Parks and Recreation tennis program for these past 15 years. It has been a great pleasure to teach and play with this fun-loving group of players who have joined us at the Community Courts. I hope I will see them again at Snowcreek.
The programs I developed and honed at the Community Courts will continue at Snowcreek Athletic Club in a similar format. Gail Lonne will join me as my Social Director and will be offering match making and the very popular Saturday Morning Socials beginning in May. The two tournaments, the Summer Solstice and the Labor Day Doubles, will now also be headquartered at Snowcreek. Gail and I hope that all our tennis players, visitors and locals, will join together to make this the best tennis summer ever.
Russ Chessler, Director of Tennis
Snowcreek Athletic Club
760.709.1737
Editor’s addendum: Tom Sherry, a U.S. Professional Tennis Assn. certified member, reached a contract agreement with the Town of Mammoth Lakes on Thursday to replace Chessler and run the Town Recreation Department’s tennis program.
For those of you who may not be familiar with Sherry, he played Prince Dauntless in Playhouse 395’s recent production of “Once Upon a Mattress.”
Sherry and his wife Kathy moved to the Eastern Sierra in 2008. Kathy Sherry is a project manager for Turner Construction, which is in charge of the Northern Inyo Hospital project. They have two children.
Tom Sherry grew up in northern New York in a small town along the St. Lawrence River. As there was no high school tennis team in his hometown, as a kid, he used to hit against a lit up wall at night.
He later walked onto a Div. III tennis team at Onandaga College in Syracuse, New York.
“I can teach a 10-year old with a good degree of body awareness and athleticism how to rock a tennis ball … I also enjoy teaching club-level players how to beat their friends,” Sherry said.
When he’s not teaching tennis, Sherry works as a national ski patroller.
He can be reached at 707.365.9361 or tennis@thomassherry.com
