Dreams do come true, as is exemplified by Margie Campbell who along with her husband Bill grew Sacramento’s Spare Time Clubs from one location in 1973 to 10 this past year. Margie’s relentless attention to Spare Time combined with her selfless community service has made it possible for thousands of players in Northern California to enjoy the game of tennis.
The tennis bug bit Margie when she was nine years old at Sacramento’s Arden Hills tennis club, “My parents put a tennis racquet in my hand and I took to it like a duck to water!” she explains.
“Having been able to play tennis has defined my life in many ways,” says Margie, who was a regular on the juniors tournament circuit and ranked 2nd in Girls 14 and under. “At the time we played tournaments just for fun, there was no scholarship or thinking about turning pro – you just went out on the court because you loved it.” Even so, Margie was thrilled to have the chance to play, “In that day there weren’t a lot of opportunities for women to compete in sports, but I was lucky because I did have that chance – a lot of women my age were not able to do that until they were grown.”
That love of the sport is what led to the opening of the first Spare Time Club with her husband, whom she happened to have met on a tennis court while playing mixed-doubles, “The idea of the clubs came from Bill’s Masters thesis. We both had a passion to develop junior players so we wanted to establish clubs that had enough courts to do that.” At their first club, Rio Del Oro, eight of the 19 courts were designated for juniors.
Because of Margie’s dedication to reaching juniors in the community, her organization holds numerous novice tournaments and leagues designed to help juniors advance their game. Outreach programs are available for kids that show potential to succeed and talented juniors from the community are able to train at Spare Time with experienced pros. Spare Time is also involved with Quick-Start and Tennis in the Schools and each club engages in community outreach through the local high schools, “We love it all and think it’s important,” says Margie.
Juniors are just the start; both Margie and Bill have taught tennis at Sacramento’s Parks and Rec and coached for several schools in the area, including Sacramento State University, where Bill is currently the volunteer Tennis Director. In addition, Spare Time Clubs hosts numerous NorCal sanctioned tournaments and leagues, of which Margie fully participates, playing on one league team and serving as captain on another. The organization also participates in the USTA’s Tennis Across America program, as Margie says, “We drew from all over the community and offered free lessons and brought people back into tennis.”
Margie, who is also a former NorCal president, says humbly, “Any award or honor that I receive is something I have to thank a lot of people for, I just represent a lot of people who work a long time to make tennis happen.”
Her modest manner is no surprise to her husband Bill, as he explains, “Margie always tackles her responsibilities in a quiet dignified resourceful and creative way. She loves to undertake the most challenging projects and bring them to a successful conclusion, without concern about who gets the credit. We have loved being married for 40 years, raising our children and being business partners.”
“It’s an honor to be part of the tennis community and to be a contributing member of the community that accomplishes and does things,” says Margie. “You have to have USTA support to do things well; the excellence that they bring is undeniable and we’d like to thank them for their generosity.”