Recapping the 2023 Ladies Retreats
We've wrapped up another season of our signature Ladies Retreats - one of the longest running events in CDT history. Dating back to the early 2000's, the Ladies Retreat started small in Miami, and grew steadily to become a very popular camp offering. We now host retreats in California, Florida, and the Bahamas.
What makes the Ladies Retreat such a unique and special event is the amount of time our players and staff spend on and off the court together. From 5 hours on the tennis court, to group dinners, trivia games, and award ceremonies, these weeks are so much fun and bring out the some of our favorite memories of the year. What brings everything together is the team competition, where players are drafted to a team, practice with that team, and compete in coached matchplay each day.
Every year is unique, and there were many things that made 2023 special. Here's three of the on-court highlights...
-Third set tiebreaks: over the three Florida retreats, we had 21(!) matches go to a third set tiebreak. While we might not have official stats on every match over the last two decades, this felt like a record, with a lot of dramatic finishes and great crowd support from teammates and fellow campers.
-Slice of Heaven: we had many campers utilize the slice backhand AND slice forehand to great effect in 2023, with variety being a big coaching focus from our team. Whether it's an approach shot, return of serve, or defensive shot, the slice has become one of the most important shots of the Ladies Retreats!
-Accents from all over: we do pride ourselves on having a great team of pros who host these retreats, and this year we had an especially fun team who brought their own unique accents (literally and figuratively) to the retreats. Coaches in 2023 hailed from: Slovenia, Haiti, Romania, Greece, New Zealand, United Kingdom, the Bahamas, France, and the United States.
Now the news I'm sure you've all been waiting for....who won!
Amelia Island: Ball Busters captained by Rob Wright and Jay Smith
Miami Week 1: Alley Cats captained by Mel Segota and Michael Clark
Miami Week 2: Hot Swingers captained by Joey Hanf and Emile Le Terrier As we head into 2024, we've got a lot of great news in store as we prepare to announce our full schedule. More details will be shared soon, but here's a little hint: more retreats than ever before, a new resort offering, and new dates in the spring! Whether you're an alumni camper, or somebody reading this who has never been, make sure the Ladies Retreat is on your 2024 bucket list!
