How does a luxury country club community build its racquet sports program? In the case of Tesoro Club in Port St. Sluice, FL., it hires Brad Leu – one of the Southeast’s more respected directors of racquet sports and tennis instructors, as its Director of Racquets.
“I heard from someone at Quail Valley (in Vero Beach, FL.) that Tesoro was looking for someone with experience to build its program,’’ said Leu, who in 2020 retired after 28 years as Director of Tennis at Sea Oaks Beach and Tennis Club in Vero Beach, and moved with Raleigh , N.C., where he was sports director at Brier Creek Country Club.
Leu and his wife eventually moved to Orlando and back to Vero Beach, which opened up the opportunity at Tesoro Club, whose Swim & Racquet Club features nine Har-Tru tennis courts, 11 pickleball courts, men’s and women’s locker rooms, and pro shop, grill and junior Olympic sized pool.
Tesoro Club, which also features an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course, as well as a Tom Watson-designed course that’s awaiting renovation, the past several years has been resurrected as a premier luxury community along Florida’s Treasure Coast. Leu’s goal is to stimulate the Club’s racquet sports programs to be more than just another add-on amenity.
“It’s a start-up,’’ said Leu, a former Florida President for the United States Professional Tennis Association. “We’re not going to walk in the door and have 100 people come just because it’s a nice facility. So, we’re building from within. We’re taking each member and each person who lives here. We’ve kind of compacted the schedule a little bit. We have events going on; we have two ladies teams; we have a number of pickleball days; and a number of different clinics.
“We’re building it one person at a time. As people move in, we’ve created eight new pickleball players since I’ve been here. It’s going to take time. We need more players. Tennis players need more tennis players to become successful. That’s where we are staying with our teams and a few clinics.
“Being seasonal, people are just starting to come back for tennis and starting to play pickleball. They’re coming to me and asking, ‘What do you have for me?’ We want to be able to provide them with the answers.’’
Feature Photo: Brad Leu (Tesoro Club)