Drive down Rodeo Road, right by the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex, and you will see several people, no matter the time of day or night, chasing down little yellow tennis balls that are traveling at extremely high velocities, and slicing the balls right back at their opponent.
The games are fun, they are competitive, and tennis is a sport that is keeping a lot of African Americans in Los Angeles in great physical condition. One such person is 60-year-old “Stock Tec,” who picked up the nickname while trading on the stock market.
Stock Tec attended Dorsey High School before going to college at UCLA, and he has been playing tennis since he was 23 years old. He used to play in United States Tennis Association tournaments—maintaining a National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) rating of 4.0—but now he just likes to dominate people in his age group, and see if he still has it against the younger generation of players.
“I’m pretty quick on my feet, and even at this age I still have a relative amount of quickness compared to others my age,” Stock Tec said. “I’m 60 now, but I don’t really match the profile of most of my contemporaries, because a lot of people that I know; they couldn’t even get out here and play. My whole thing with tennis was to have something that I could continue to exercise with.”
Stock Tec picked the perfect place to get in his exercise. The Williams sisters fine-tuned their games on these same courts when they were playing in the youth divisions, and the Rancho Cienega Tennis Club has won national championships. But what he really loves about the courts is that they are public and anybody can show up and play for free.
“What’s nice about the club is that you can always get a game out here,” Stock Tec said. “Seven days a week.”
Even though a lot of the players on the court are older, and many of them are retired, they are still very skilled, and they use the sport as a way to stay healthy.
The best players show up around 5 p.m., and tend to draw a crowd of spectators who want to watch some good matches. For beginners, there are instructors who can teach just about anybody the skills of the game, regardless of age.
For anybody who is interested in getting in a good workout while having fun, tennis could be the right sport, and the courts at Rancho Cienega Sports Complex are the perfect place to play.
