SUPER SENIORS GET TO FINALS
ABQ seniors team taking tennis skills to the national level
Much to their surprise, over-65 tennis team from Albuquerque gets a shot at national championship.
Ayear ago, Vinne Taibbi weighed 300 pounds. Taibbi, a retired electrical contractor originally from Long Island, N.Y., played football in high school but became attracted to tennis in Albuquerque through the Sierra Vista Tennis Courts.
Encouraged by Sierra Vista pro Joe Felice, Taibbi began joining pickup doubles several days a week. Meanwhile, he started eating healthy foods.
“I just grew to love the game,” he said.
Last September, Felice signed up Taibbi and other senior men from Sierra Vista to form a 65-and-older team. Felice would be their coach and easily their best player. (He played college tennis at Penn State).
To Felice’s amazement, his Sierra Vista team captured its age group at the USTA’s Northern New Mexico League Championships, which took place in Albuquerque.
That victory qualified the Sierra Vista men to compete in the USTA Southwest Sectionals in December, in Surprise, Ariz. The team managed to come out on top there, helped by wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 teams from Phoenix. Improbably, the Albuquerque gang would now compete in the National Invitational Championships.
In January, the New Mexico crew returned to Surprise, Ariz., where seventeen teams took part. The Sierra Vista men played a lot of close matches but ultimately fell to the Pacific Northwest and Florida in round-robin play. They did, however, defeat a tough Intermountain squad in a thriller.
“Playing in a national championship was an unbelievable experience,” said Taibbi, who now weighs an almost slender 219 pounds. “The level of competition was much higher than I anticipated. Having fans watching every match was incredible. Each day, 300-400 spectators showed up.”
“I am really proud of the guys,” said Felice, who coached the team and participated in matches.