With the beginning of a new year an old year comes to an end.  To finish off last year, myself and two peers from Professional Tennis Management spent two weeks in sunny Florida to accomplish an annual winter break tradition here at Ferris State:  the Saddlebrook internship. 

The Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Fla., is world-renowned for its tennis and golf programs as well as its five-star restaurants.  The experience was definitely an interesting one and has helped to shape my future in the tennis industry.  Myself and my peers spent most of our time on court, teaching lessons and helping with some of the academy and camp students staying at the resort.  We were able to hit with some great young players as well as see some of the tour players out and about on the courts.

When we first arrived, we were given a tour of the resort, which is huge.  A large lake in the middle of the resort is the divider between "Lakeside" and the "Walking Village."  Both areas have courts.  The walking village has 24 courts including green clay, red clay, and grass courts.  Lakeside has 14 courts, six  green clay and eight U.S. Open hard court surface.  Lakeside is also home to the gym, a volleyball court, and one of the swimming pools.  The "pros only" gym is located on this side of the resort, and it is not uncommon to see tour players practicing on court. John Isner's last day there training was our first day on the job so we missed seeing him practice, but Victoria Azarenka came to hit during our time there.  The Walking Village is home to the main courts as well as the golf and tennis pro shops and four restaurants.  I highly recommend the filet from the Tropics.  I'm not a big golfer, but the golf courses were simply amazing.  The landscapes and scenery flowed nicely, and the grass was well maintained. 

My experience in the industry so far has been with country clubs.  I've worked with small numbers of members who are regulars. There's almost a routine to it.  Not so in a resort setting: The guests and our assigned courts would change almost every day, sometimes even shift-to-shift.  Now that I've experienced the difference, I think I prefer the country club atmosphere where things are a little less different day-to-day.

All of the guests and employees were wonderful.  Someone was always there to help us whenever we needed it.  I can easily say that Howard Moore, the director of tennis at Saddlebrook, is one of the hardest working people I've ever seen.  He was always there wide awake and ready to go.  He was always there hours before any lessons started and always there well after the lessons ended.  We got to work on court with Howard, Larry Peterson, Alvaro Betancur, and Nona Wagh.  These pros, as well as the rest of the teaching staff at Saddlebrook, were very knowledgeable and helpful.  We took lots of notes, learned lots of new drills, and got an overall tennis experience that cannot be beat.