Sometime in the winter of 2021-2022, Denny Nahnsen (at the time the co-chair of the CSA Tennis Committee), heard that Steve Shreiner was in South Florida, where Steve and Wanda had spent many winters in the past. Denny and his wife Margie were spending a few months at The Landings, a tennis and golf club near Fort Myers, where Steve and Wanda had owned a condo. Denny called Steve and set up a meeting for coffee on the deck at the tennis office (Denny has not had a cup of coffee in 50 years, so it was obviously a set-up). 

They met and exchanged small talk, and then Denny asked Steve if he might be interested in coming back to the CSA to pilot the tennis program. Steve had left his pro job at the Crystal Downs Country Club and Denny thought that perhaps he could lure Steve back to his roots. Covid and its aftermath had left its mark on the CSA and its programs, just as it had affected the lives of countless people. Let’s just say that things were in disarray. 

Just recently, Steve told me, “Denny made me an offer I couldn't refuse.” Newly minted Managing Director Amy Somero embraced the concept. We approached the board with a sizable budget and, well, the rest is modern history. Steve assembled a team which included Jen Gerling, a Traverse City tennis player whom Steve calls “the best female tennis player in Traverse City.” The supporting staff fell in line, and we began the 2022 season with great expectations and a wave of enthusiasm. The results did not disappoint. 

Make no mistake about it, teaching and coaching are a grind. Adults first at 8:30am, then a procession of youngsters leading up to adjournment at noon. Five days a week. Adjusting and modulating your approach, from barking at latecomers to adult lessons, to, in a perhaps more gentle fashion, letting kids know what is expected of them. Nine weeks. The assembled staff responded and made the season a huge hit. 

Well-attended tournaments, and, holy cow, pickleball, crashed the CSA gates in an apparent attempt to steal all of the tennis courts. The old guard tennis players negotiated the striping of the Crystal Lake courts, but held off the paddle-carrying horde to prevent them from storming the Woods courts. Even Steve Shreiner embraced the newcomers. Eventually, so did I. 

2023 saw the upper Woods courts resurfaced at a serious price. The Budget Committee and the Board of Trustees came up with the dough to get it done, with the proviso that we might be coming back in 2024 for the lower courts. We did, and they found the funding. 

In 2024 Steve took one step back, buying some time to spend with his family. He and Jen handled three days a week, and Polly Mauer and Dave Tull, both previous directors, came forward to co-host the other two days of the week. It was a knock-out combination, with all four individuals bringing their own unique styles to the role of instructor. 

A backstory. Steve ran the CSA program for five years back in the 1980’s. Hundreds of CSA kids can attest to the fact that his bark was perhaps even louder back then.

Another. Steve evidently lost his mind sometime later during the 1980’s and went to work at Crystal Downs. He never relinquished his CSA ties, however, and each year assembled tournaments between CSAers and Downies on the clay courts. Of course, the CSA won most of those contests.

And one more. A review of the Benzie County Sheriff’s Department log from back in the 1960’s revealed that one Stephen Shreiner was detained many times for hanging around tennis courts in the vicinity, trying to hustle unsuspecting tourists into playing tennis for money. He was, however, never convicted.

OK, I made that previous paragraph up. But it was actually probably true, just never recorded.

Polly and Tom Mauer hosted a party for the tennis folks a couple of weeks ago. It was wonderful, time well spent, but Steve was sitting on a secret. The following day he announced his retirement (#2) from the CSA tennis program. 

The program he helped rejuvenate is perhaps even stronger than ever, with Jen and Polly and Dave all indicating that they will be back in 2025. We need a new body or two to make the team that much better, and the CSA staff is working on posting positions for next year. 

On a personal note, the first tennis lesson I ever attended at the CSA was in 2022 when Steve returned to jump-start the program. As a kid I was far more interested in birds and fishing than I was in tennis. As a teen, I was far more interested in fishing and, well, girls and the teen room we had. I describe my tennis game as, “ugly but enthusiastic.” But I have learned a few things these past three years…don’t swing the racket when volleying…don’t get caught in the death zone, three steps inside the baseline…don’t be late for lessons…and, hitting to the middle solves the riddle. 

Thanks again Steve, from all of us.