Tennis has a rich history in our county that extends back to before the turn of the century. In 1896 the Ojai Valley Tennis Club challenged the Ventura Tennis Club to a tournament, which turned into a popular local event. The next year, the Ojai Tennis Club sponsored an inter-county competition, teaming with Ventura to challenge Santa Barbara. Later on Ventura joined with both the Ojai and Santa Barbara teams to challenge Los Angeles and Pasadena.
The modern incarnation of our club arose from the ashes in 1981. Rico Acosta, along with co-founders Don Garcia and Mini Whitt, started what was then known as the Island View Tennis Club. In 1989, Camino Real Park was expanded from 6 courts to 8 courts. A few years later, in the early 1990s, an option for clay courts was fielded. However, the club and courts would have had to become a “semi-private” operation. In the end, it was decided to keep the courts as part of the public facilities at the park, in part, to keep club fees low.
Although clay courts didn’t become a reality, many other changes have occurred over the intervening years. For example, our quarterly VTC newsletter evolved from a black & white, one-page letter to an multi-page, full-color spread. And, naturally, we have also established our presence here on the web to help better keep you, our members, informed of what's what.