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Vermont Tennis Vacations
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Here's what others have had to say about Stratton Mountain Resort and Cliff Drysdale Tennis at Stratton.
"We are a group of 10 women who have been attending tennis camps at various locations for many years. Last year (2009) we attended the program at Stratton Mountain which is now run by by Cliff Drysdale. We happened to go on "Legends Weekend" and Cliff himself was there to instruct and join in. Cliff and his staff are exceptional instructors, highly motivated and willing to accommodate your group in any way possible. We will be heading back again this year for sure!"—D.P., Adv. Int., February 2010
"Stratton resort was a very enjoyable place to visit. The accomodations were quite nice and the food and activities on offer were varied and pretty good. I would highly recommend a visit to stratton. It's a beautiful place!
My husband and I attended two mixed doubles tennis weekends at the Broadmoor this year, one for Valentine's Day and one in October. We plan to return next Valentine's Day. The instruction is phenomenal. They keep you moving while providing lots of tips. They mix drills, skills and game to keep us interested and make it fun while learning. We also were videotaped with the dart fish system and all learned we weren't quite as bad as we thought! They were able to provide lots of tips. The Broadmoor itself is fabulous. The beds are extra comfy and we enjoyed the hot tub each day after 3 hours of tennis lessons (9 hours total during the weekend). Our favorite restaurant was the Tavern for their exceptional steaks and service. The Broadmoor has a fully stocked tennis pro shop and gives all camp members a 20% discount. We loaded up on the latest fashions. They also demo racquets and the pros will help you choose ones the fit your playing style and ability. We loved the camp and plan to continue attending. The camps are small - only 8 players with 2 pros, so there is lots of individual attention. They also varied some mixed instruction, some all men/all women, and rotated pros between groups so you received feedback from different pros who explained things just a little differently which really helped. We brought several of our team members to fill the camp. That made it even more special, as we all knew each other! I would highly recommend it to all levels of players. Several of my friends have attended all women weekend camps and loved that as well. Karen, the tennis director, is also fabulous. She will arrange things to make sure your weekend is spectactulor and really acted on all the feedback we provided to make our next day and next stay even better than the last!
Both of my kids attended the Stratton tennis Camp (Cliff Drysdale) for 4 days this past summer. They enjoyed the camp very much. The instructors organized lots of fun games and there was some good tennis. Though as a weakness my 11 yr. old was disappointed that there wasn't more tennis training (they attended camp the previous year and there as more training then)"—S.W., Adv. Int., October 2009
"It was an amazing program. I had not played tennis in seven years and with Drysdale Tennis I got back on the court and played 2-3 times a week with private lessons, clinics and Cardio Tennis. They run a solid program with great pros."—A.A., Int., October 2009
"Excellent, friendly tennis program."—K.E., Adv., October 2009
"the ratio of pros to participants allowed for individual attention in a group setting. The pros were personable and engaging. High energy drills kept the class lively. Meeting Cliff was great."—M.S., Int., October 2009
"Scott...you were so amazing. thank you for a wonderful week..."—L.P., Adv. Int., October 2009
"The tennis program at Stratton Mountain was excellent. I atended this camp with 8 other woman from my tennis team. The drills and activities were very good and the pros were all talented and enthusiastic about the game. I came home with some new pointers and ideas about how to improve my game. These were ideas that were easy to incorporate into my current game. It was a pleasure that we hope to repeat next summer."—S.S., Adv. Int., October 2009
""—D.S., Int., October 2009
"I was pleasantly surprised with my one night 2 day stay at Stratton. My morning intensive sessions were right on target. Hard work but a positive fun session. I am a 70 year old player and will return next year with my wife. The price, instruction and drills exceeded my expectations."—W.S., Adv., October 2009
"This was my daughters first year at a week long Tennis Camp. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Just the right mix of instruction, court time, fun and swimming. My only suggestion is to provide parents with an outline of what the children worked on at camp and suggestions for continued practice."—R.P., Beg., October 2009
"Hi there! My daughter Emma attended the Stratton Tennis camp for the week of August 10-17 this summer and she had a blast!! The disappointing part was that she had signed up for the sleep-over camp and that was canceled due to lack of enrollment. However, she (and my 2 of my other children) had attended the tennis camp that had been offered previously (I believe the Kelley Gunterman program) which had been a horror from lack of enthusiasm to lack of organization, programming and supervision. Your program was FABULOUS-organized, fun, safe.
The only complaint my daughter had was that being a beginner (at 11) she was placed in a group where the kids were 8 and she did not prefer to be with such younger kids. Otherwise., Emma had a GREAT time and we are interested in looking to sign up for next summer!! Thanks again for a wonderful time, Jen Weinstein"—J.W., September 2009
"My daughters are still talking about how much they loved Cliff Drysdale Tennis camp in Stratton, VT. The pros and counselors were terrific! The kids played a lot of tennis and also enjoyed activities such as swimming, soccer and pizza parties. Our family enjoyed the adult tennis clinic as well as the tennis day camp this past summer, and will look into the sleepaway camp for next summer for the kids."—C.M., Adv., September 2009
At 6'5", Scott Colebourne is not someone you'd want to face across the net—unless, of course, he's feeding balls in one of the sessions of the Cliff 
Drysdale Tennis school, which set up shop at Stratton in May 2009. His imposing height aside, Colebourne is a mild-
mannered, personable New Zealander brought in not only to run school from September to May but also remain with a smaller staff over the winter and continue to offer tennis options by taking advantage of the two indoor courts.
"I've tried to do a lot to get out locals out," he told me, referring not only to those who live in the area but also to the second home/condominium owners. "I want to make it a fun and family-like program and look out for people. You've got to find out what a person wants and then work from there to try and deliver it." This is neither a run-you-into-the-ground camp nor one that imposes a rigid methodology. Colebourne says he wants campers to go away thinking, "I learned some tennis but I also had fun. I'm not here to break down anybody's strokes."
With 15 courts—two of them indoors—this is one of the largest tennis facilities in New England and one of the most complete four-season resorts. In summer, the grassy slopes of 3,936-foot Stratton Mountain, the tallest peak in southern Vermont, funnel down to an Alpine-inspired village, whose shops, restaurants, and lodges line a single cobblestone street open only to pedestrian traffic. At the far end, that street passes beneath an archway topped by a clock tower and ends in an open plaza, site of the base lodge, the Family Fun Zone (see Children's Programs), and the gondola to the top of the mountain. The gondola passes over slopes covered with grass and carries not skiers but sightseers, mountain bikers, trail runners, and hikers. Add 27 holes of golf, horseback riding, children's programs, a lake for water sports, numerous hiking trails, and summer music festivals, and you have the most dimension-rich summer resort in all of Vermont.
Pro Shop: 802-297-4230
Stratton has a long if episodic association with tennis. The John Newcombe organization ran tennis camps there in the 1970s and '80s and during that period it was the site of a Grand Masters tournament. 
Later, Andre Agassi first burst into national consciousness in 1987 when as a qualifier he reached the semifinals of the former Volvo International Tennis Champ-
ionships, which was held at Stratton from 1985-89 (the event moved to New Haven when local property owners refused to allow the construction of a permanent tennis stadium), and Stratton briefly hosted the Acura U.S. Women's Hardcourts Championships. In the 1984, it further enhanced its tennis credentials by building an impressive sports center with indoor courts, two racquetball courts, a complete fitness area, massage rooms, an indoor lap pool, and a fully equipped tennis and fitness shop. And now, of course, they've brought in the Cliff Drysdale organization.
Tennis Staff. Scott Colebourne directs the school. A ranked junior in his native New Zealand and former All American at Vincennes University in Indiana, he has laid out basic midweek and weekend options, with the flexibility to tailor either to suit individual campers or groups. On weekdays, sessions consist of a 2½-hour morning camp focusing on live-ball drills, strategy, and tactics. Those wanting more can add afternoon lessons, match play, or group instruction. On weekends, their Getaway packages begin with a Friday event mixer, followed on Saturdays by a full day of work on groundstrokes, serves, and volleys culminating in a tournament. The weekend concludes with a Sunday morning doubles clinic. Colebourne and his staff also run a summer junior tennis camp.
My last visit inadvertently coincided with a Legends weekend featuring Cliff Drysdale, so my experience may not be entirely typical of a normal camp and I left a noon of the first day. The Friday evening round-robin was a great way to get introduced to players (and, no doubt, gave staff a chance to examine levels). Saturday morning a few of us did a Cardio workout before the camp itself began. The next 2½ hours consisted of a quick introduction by Drysdale on the forehand followed by a series of drills built around groundstrokes mainly. Every 20 minutes or so the pros would change, moving to the next court, and a new drill would begin. The pros interjected tips—Drysdale, for example, counseled me to keep my elbow in tighter on my backhand—but the emphasis seemed to skew toward hitting a lot of balls. As I say, I don't know whether that's typical so I hope those of you who do attend a regular session will report back about your experience.
The camp aside, Colebourne has put in place a mix of other weekly tennis activities, including Cardio tennis and Friday evening mixers, tailor-made group/team clinics, videoanalysis, and of course private lessons.
Junior Camps. These are available as midweek (Mon.-Fri.) or weekend day camps for 5 to 15-year-olds or as a Sun.-Fri. overnight camp for ages 10-15. The midweek and overnight camps follow a similar format of on-court work from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. with snack and lunch breaks and culminating on Friday with a team competition and pizza party/barbecue. Overnight campers (who stay and eat at the nearby Inn at Stratton Mountain) have more tennis late afternoons and supervised activities like hikes, campfires, games. (For dates and prices of the overnight camps, see The Drysdale Tennis School at Stratton). Weekend camps run four hours/day of instruction, matches, and team games with a brief break for snacks.
Courts & Fees. The 15 outdoor courts—8 clay and 7 hard—are laid out mostly in pairs in a grassy plot just behind and below the sports center. None have water and few have shade. The Sports Center itself houses two newly resurfaced indoor courts as well as a snack bar. Court fees: none for those on tennis school packages; otherwise, $20/day for use of the Sports Center, including in the outdoor courts.
Golf Courses. Stratton has 27 holes of golf designed by Geoffrey Cornish, who named each nine for its features: Mountain, Lake, and Forest. There is also a well-regarded 22-acre golf school.
Fitness Center. A feature that dramatically enhances the tennis complex at Stratton is its Sports Center. It contains an indoor lap pool, whirlpool, two workout rooms—one in a windowed rooms on the main floor with 10 or so stations of Paramount and Trotter Nautilus equipment and some free weights, the other upstairs with an array of cardiovascular machines and a few Cybex stations. There is also am aerobics studio, two racquetball courts, tanning beds, and several massage rooms. The full-service pro shop sells both tennis and fitness clothing and equipment.
And ... In addition to everything else, Stratton has a skate park (with inline skate and skateboard rentals), a climbing wall, mountain-bike rentals, gondola rides to the top of 3,936-foot Stratton Mountain, fly fishing on the Battenkill River, paintball battles, and canoe and kayak rentals.
During the summer, Stratton runs a daily camp for children ages 5-12. It operates from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. from late June into early September. There are different themes, depending on the week chosen, and it includes the option of adding on golf or tennis. There is a fee, but that is waived for parents attending full-day sessions of the golf or tennis schools. There is also a daycamp for children under the age of five years.
There are two lodges at Stratton—the 125-room Stratton Mountain Inn and the Liftline Lodge, both of which have outdoor swimming pools—and a broad selection of rental condominiums. Individually owned and furnished, these vary in size and quality. Among the newer and most convenient is Long Trail House, just across the access road from the village. This four-story building contains 75 very handsomely decorated studios, 1- and 2-bedroom units, all with fireplaces, full kitchens, convertible sofas, decks or patios, and its own outdoor swimming pool and whirlpools. Every floor has a washer dryer and there is a two-story-high lobby with a stone fireplace. Coffee and muffins are laid out for guests each morning and there is a concierge to book dinner reservations, ski lessons, massage appointments, or whatever other services guests need. Also attractive is Founder's Lodge, whose 1-to-3-bedroom units have underground parking, fully equipped kitchens, high-speed Internet access, and washer-dryers. The building also has a sauna and modest fitness center.
Only a few restaurants in and near the village at Stratton operate during the summer; however, there are numerous additional choices along Hwy. 30 at the base of the access road.
July 9-11, 2010: Legends Weekend with Cliff Drysdale
Phone: 802-297-4236
Special weekend tennis clinic headlined by 1972 U.S. Open doubles champion Cliff Drysdale and his staff.
July 16-18,, 2010: Legends Weekend with Cliff Drysdale
Phone: 802-297-4236
Special weekend tennis clinic headlined by 1972 U.S. Open doubles champion Cliff Drysdale and his staff.
If you're looking for a tennis school in a resort setting, with options for families, also check out:
Stratton Mountain Resort
Stratton offers everything from lodge rooms and studios with Murphy beds to four-bedroom condos. The newest and most appealing units are the studios and one- and two-bedroom units in Long Trail House, which opened in 1999. The rates below include tax and service. If you book a tennis package, you'll get the shoulder-season rate even in peak season.
Cliff Drysdale Tennis at Stratton
Multi-day instruction packages quoted below include unlimited court time, complimentary day passes to the Stratton Sports Center, and 20% discounts on pro shop apparel and massages.
Weekends, May-Sept. 2010
Instruction Only: $250
Midweek: June 14-Sept. 24, 2010
Instruction Only: 2-day, $160; 3-day: $200; 5-day: $325
Seasons. The outdoor tennis season runs from early May to mid October.
Travel Instructions. By Air: Although there is a regional airport in Rutland, Vermont, the nearest major airport is Albany, New York, 81 miles to the southwest. By Car: Stratton is 139 miles from Boston, 295 miles from New York City, and 210 miles from Montreal. The resort is four miles from Bondville, which is on Rt. 30.
General Tourist Information. Visit the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing web site or contact them at 6 Baldwin Street, Drawer 33, Montpelier, VT 05633-1301; Phone 800-VERMONT (800-837-6668).