Employee, tennis player wins Southern
title
by Chelsea FuttermanPublic Relations
Charleston league tennis players are getting the national spotlight due, in part, to MUSC’s Elisabeth Pickelsimer, assistant research professor in the Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology.
Elisabeth
Pickelsimer, third from right, with her team.At 63, Pickelsimer is not only an accomplished epidemiologist, but she is an avid and very competitive tennis player. She and her 3.5 ladies’ team recently traveled to Mobile, Ala., to play in the United States Tennis Association (USTA) League Southern Sectional tournament and brought home two championship titles—one for her adult team (19 years and older)—the Farmfield’s Fabulous Five; and another for her senior team (50 years and older)—the Playrights.
In fact, Pickelsimer’s adult team won the 3.5 Sectional championship on July 24, and five days later her senior 3.5 team won its title. Two other women, Megan Zwerner, wife of Peter Zwerner, M.D., an MUSC assistant professor in the division of cardiology, and Maxine Cooke from Pediatric Dentistry, also played on both winning teams.
This is the first time any women have won two sectional titles in the same year, according to Bob Peiffer, MUSC administrative manager in the Institute of Psychiatry and league coordinator for the Low Country Tennis Association (LCTA).
The USTA League Southern Sectional Championship is the world’s largest tennis tournament with more than 2,000 players and approximately 200 teams from nine different southern states. All teams participating in the Southern Sectional tournament have won their respective divisions at their state level. Competition is fierce. Winning on two different teams, against these odds, is truly remarkable.
The USTA rates teams according to experience and skill level. Pickelsimer’s teams play in the middle level, 3.5. Nationally, the largest number of people play at this level.
After winning the sectional tournament, Pickelsimer and her senior team were interviewed by the Tennis Channel, an internationally broadcast cable channel that also is available locally through Comcast. The segment is scheduled to run in mid-August, Pickelsimer said.
Pickelsimer is captain of her senior team and co-captain of her adult team. She didn’t come through the youth tennis ranks or even play in college. Like many recreational adult tennis players, she began playing tennis later, when she was 33.
“I did not know how to play when I first started,” said Pickelsimer. She was an athlete in her younger days, having played basketball from junior high school through college, and later coached the girls’ basketball team at her high school. She was named SC Coach of the Year in 1967 for her contributions to youth basketball.
Hand-eye coordination developed in most any sport can better prepare a person for tennis. “It is easier to take up tennis if you have an athletic background,” Pickelsimer said.
Pickelsimer, who plays on up to nine different teams a year, practices on average one or two times a week at the Charleston Tennis Center. “It depends on the time of year. Sometimes I practice more, sometimes less,” Pickelsimer said. She and her teammates currently take lessons from Diane Fishburne, a former world’s No. 1 womens 45-age group player and currently is world’s No. 1 women’s 50s player.
Pickelsimer has had to overcome a few obstacles to get where she is today. Last year, she tore her meniscus and had to have surgery. “I had problems with the outside of my knee for about two years and couldn’t move on the court, yet no one could diagnose what was wrong,” Pickelsimer recalled.
Eventually, David Geier, M.D., MUSC orthopaedic surgeon and director of MUSC Sports Medicine, diagnosed her with iliotibial band syndrome, which is what caused her meniscus to tear.
“I had surgery on a Thursday last year. That Friday, my adult team was leaving for the state tournament and I went with them,” Pickelsimer said. The dedicated co-captain went to watch this time, not to play. Yet two months after her surgery, Pickelsimer was back on the court. To make her knee stronger, she currently works with Annie Cruzan, a human services specialist, at MUSC’s Wellness Center.
Pickelsimer’s favorite thing about playing tennis is meeting people from all over. “I live alone, so tennis is a social outlet for me,” Pickelsimer said. “I meet people and we go to events together. It is an active hobby.”
Pickelsimer will be attending the USTA League National Championship Oct. 5-7 in Las Vegas with her adult team, and then again Oct. 19-21 in Tucson, Ariz., with her senior team.
Friday, Aug. 10, 2007
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