Courtney Lindl is the President of the Board of the Golden Gate Tennis Club. The mission of the club “is to promote and stimulate tennis activities, primarily in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, and to contribute in any reasonable manner possible to the advancement of the game of tennis in general.” A membership organization, the club hosts a few free “club days” each year, support of youth tennis and maintenance of courts, and exclusive use of court rollers to the members.
In her non-tennis life, Courtney is the choir teacher at A.P. Giannini Middle School -- a public school in the Sunset. Originally from a suburb of Chicago, Courtney moved to SF about ten years ago “for a boy, now husband.” They have two kids ages 1 and 3.5 (she's big on that 1/2 year recognition). Her older child already loves the courts although "she's more into chasing balls over hitting them."
1. How long have you been involved with the GGTC and what motivated you to take a leadership position on the board?
I joined GGTC right when I moved to 94117. I hadn't played since high school but I always loved the sport. I saw that Golden Gate had a tournament and I signed up. I played Nina Pasquale in the finals (she won) and she let me know about team tennis. I've been playing exclusively at GGP ever since. PS we are still looking for a volunteer to bring back that tournament!!!
Honestly I joined the board because the president at the time, Dave Mariottini, said they needed volunteers. I was happy to help and ran membership for a few years before volunteering for president.
2. How did you first get interested in tennis?
My dad was an excellent player so our whole family casually played throughout my life. He's 70 and I still can't beat him. I wanted to play a sport in high school so I joined the team and that's when I started playing seriously.
3. How do you spend your time when not on the court?
Well I'm a mom so that takes up most of my time. But I love to cook and jam out on my piano while singing tunes at the top of my lungs. Recently I've taken up knitting which has been a blast to learn.
4. How do you think the GGPTC renovation will impact tennis in SF?
Well it'll be nice to have a meeting spot that doesn't kick out our awesome ping pong community! I'm most excited for the community space. The best part of playing out of the park is that money doesn't limit accessibility to the community. Other clubs are quite expensive. It'll be nice to have a social space to go along with the strong community.
5. What would people be surprised to know about you?
Haha! I was a guest on Oprah back in the day! I was the student opinion about parents leaving kids home alone...