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Pilgrims and Indians

11-17-2004

New Canaan, CT Last year, in an effort to "Grow the Game" in New Canaan, we ran a small round-robin tournament on Thanksgiving weekend...we called it "Pilgrims and Indians." The idea is this: Indians are the experienced veteran paddle players and the Pilgrims are the novices...mostly tennis and squash players that have never played paddle. We throw the names of all the Pilgrims into a hat and the Indians pick a partner to play with...always pairing up a seasoned paddle player with a novice. view more about this event

To promote the event, we shamelessly stole a story off the Internet and modified it to fit our theme. (In the story, FYI, Mead Park is where our town public tennis courts are; the Racquet Club refers to the indoor tennis club here in New Canaan.)

If you are looking for an introduction to Platform Tennis contact:
New Canaan Platform Tennis Advisory Group
P.O. Box 301
New Canaan, CT 06840
E-mail: ncplatformtns@optonline.net

The Story of Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims who came to Waveny were originally members of the Puritan tennis sect. They had earlier fled their home of Mead Park and ventured first to the Racquet Club seeking refuge from the approaching winter. There, they experienced acceptance, but eventually became disenchanted with the indoor way of life, thinking it ungodly.

Seeking a better life, these tennis separatists embarked on a new journey—a pilgrimage into a new, but not wholly unfamiliar looking, territory. This new land was much smaller than their native land; the ground was very coarse and was surrounded by 12-foot high sturdy wire fence. Thankfully, many of the laws and conventions were similar to their homeland and the Pilgrims’ skills, many of which had been honed since childhood, were applicable in the new land.

The Pilgrims first set ground at Waveny on November 25th, 2004. Their first attempts at survival in the new surroundings were devastating. Initially, it was feared that not all of the Pilgrims would endure in the new land. However, with patient guidance from the Indians, they adapted for the winter, celebrating with a splendid cornucopia, bountiful with ale.