These Women Love the Game of Tennis : Seniors: Area team to compete in National Senior Doubles League championships in Dallas.

It was during a more innocent era, before the age of oversized graphite racquets and rock ‘n’ roll tennis, that Sylvia Sollberger scoured the local Blue Chip Stamp redemption center in search of a simple teaching aid.

The year was 1970. Sollberger had patiently filled 2 1/2 books with stamps so she could acquire a small, wood Billie Jean King-model racquet that started her on an athletic journey.

“That first racquet was as big as a fly swatter,” she said. “I went out to hit a few balls with my son, who was learning how to play tennis in school. Before I knew it, I was into competitions.”

Twenty-one years later, Sollberger is still at it.

The 59-year-old preschool teacher from Altadena is preparing to lead a team of women from the San Gabriel Valley and Glendale areas to the National Senior Doubles League championships Oct. 31-Nov. 4 at Dallas.

Sollberger’s team, representing the San Gabriel Valley, won the Southern California 4.0 sectional championship last month at UCLA by defeating teams from San Diego, Orange County, West Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and Ventura.

“I guess you could call most of us tennis junkies,” said Sollberger, one of the team’s top players. “My husband said that if I’m not out playing tennis, I’m resting after tennis, or I’m talking on the telephone about tennis, or I’m arranging tennis matches, or I’m reading about tennis or watching tennis on television.”

This was the first year that the United States Tennis Assn. sponsored a senior doubles league exclusively for men and women 50 and older.

Annette Buck, director of adult and senior tennis for the Southern California Tennis Assn., said about 500 players throughout Southern California participated in senior leagues this year.

“It was a huge success,” Buck said. “It leads us to believe that there are a lot of seniors out there who enjoy playing against people their own age instead of some 21-year-old with younger legs.

“With the demographics in California, we expect the senior leagues to grow every year.”

Sollberger’s team includes members between age 50 and 67. All are public courts players. None started playing tennis before they were 30.

Helen McIntosh, for example, picked up a racquet for the first time 14 years ago at age 53, when, she said, “you should be starting to think about croqueting or something.”

McIntosh, a retired commercial pilot from Tujunga, was looking for a new exercise activity. She and her husband took a week of lessons in San Diego, then returned home and, “did drills and drills and more drills,” she said.

“It wasn’t easy, picking up the game at my age,” McIntosh said. “You just have to use a lot of diligence. Like anything else, it takes practice.”

Sollberger, who competed in the nationals as a singles player in 1987, is the captain of a team that also includes Lydia Dondich of Arcadia, Linda Powell of Pasadena, Nancy Thompson of Altadena, Marlene Schmidt of Eagle Rock, Naomi Brossus of Los Angeles and Sharon Harruff and Helen Pearson of Glendale. The women practice as a group twice a week at Pasadena City College or Caltech.

All players are rated by the United States Tennis Assn., and compete against similarly rated players during competition.

The San Gabriel Valley team won the sectional title at the 4.0 level, the equivalent of a B rating, according to Buck.

And while the senior league is geared toward recreational enthusiasts, the competition is as fierce as any open tournament.

“We walk out onto the court to win,” said Pearson, who began playing tennis at 40. “You have to be competitive or else you won’t last long against the better players.”

The San Gabriel Valley team, which will include three doubles teams and an alternate, will be playing at least two matches a day at the national tournament.

A few weeks ago, team members weathered 106-degree temperatures during two-hour practice sessions. The conditions, similar to those they expect to encounter in Dallas, fazed no one.

“We’re all pretty much the same,” Sollberger said. “We never give up.”

And while a national title is their goal, all of the players consider themselves fortunate to have the opportunity to go after it. Winning the sectional championship has already brought cheers and encouragement from family and friends.

“They think it’s smashing,” Dondich said. “When I told my son we won, he said, ‘Hey! That’s the way to go, Mom!’ ”