I was about to welcome my son, Cameron, to the world. Fall, 2018. One of my dear pals and frequent tennis partner, Tim Braun, turned to me and said (summarizing) “you treat us like family, and the team as one of your kids.”
Around the same time I went and had lunch with Burt Morrow, another longtime friend on the team, who was one of the first persons I told about becoming a dad. He was super supportive and excited to welcome a new nephew.
Tim’s comment hit my heart, as did Burt’s happy reaction, so all the warnings about new parents with existing friends “not getting” the “having kids” thing turned out to be essentially bollocks.
Cam would come to watch our ALTA match at Dekalb Tennis Center in the spring of 2019—to meet all his new “tennis uncles.” And Cam himself is showing incredible ability at tennis too.
New tennis center, who dis
From that point on, we bounced around from Dekalb Tennis Center to Sharon Lester Tennis Center at Piedmont Park (where I recruited a later partner Daniel “Big D” McGarry)—and then we landed at ITA (now ITP) where we are now. Moving to ITP turned out in our favor, as our teammate Ron McBay had passed away suddenly, and a bunch of players either moved out of town or to other teams. And that was on top of losing Chris “Crusty” Haddle in 2016 to a rare form of cancer.
Anyways, by moving to ITP we were also now being coached by the one and only Dak Perry, formerly at ACN, who ended up recommending some guys to join our team. Folks who—whether they like it or not, ha—are family for life. Eddie “EZ Money” Zhang, Alex “AZ” Zachos and Soumon Rudra all came to us via connections made at the newly reborn HITT Atlanta (which I used to call “Skank Atlanta,” for reasons that would be obvious to guys and gals who played there before it was remade).
From that point, we added new players Nik and Binoy, in addition to Pete and Michael—all as recommendations from the fine, upstanding gents we met at ITP.
‘Hooligans’ as catch-all
True, not everybody who joined our existing team gelled. About 10 years ago, much of our ALTA team was made up mostly of gay guys connected to or members of Atlanta Team Tennis Association (ATTA)—one of the largest and best-organized LGBTQ+ tennis groups in the country. With the aforementioned, resulting changes the makeup of our team changed, and we added in some fantastic guys where personal connections and cutting up were the commonalities that mattered. And that’s how our team name “Will’s Hooligans” was born.
Without going into too many details, for the Fall 2025 season we got bumped up to ALTA’s A-8 division and, despite high hopes, ended the season in last place. But for real, it didn’t fucking matter, because the bonds and bridges built—even if some of our amazing guys maybe didn’t know they were traversing back-and-forth on a bridge—were the overall point here.
Yes, I’m your captain and yes, I get acute agita from time to time. But “Upper West Side” Will (as AZ called me once; trust and believe that’s tombstone material) doesn’t give a crap because it’s just immensely fun being a part of this accidentally on-purpose, sociological and personality-driven experiment known as Will’s ITP Hooligans.
You all matter to me, and you’re all family. See you in Spring 2026 if not before. 🎾
Will Pollock
is a perpetually cranky New York City refugee based in Midtown Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist, media analyst, researcher and author of three books (award-winning Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), and his first children’s book, Gentle with Gertie. Will is also regular contributor to TrumpFile.org, documenting the “life and crimes” of Donald Trump.
Obsessed with good storytelling and journalistic excellence, Will uses snark, humor and reason to distill dumb shit and make it fun. He’s a seeker/maker of non-consensus news, and helps you cure crankies by finding the nut in every story.
As for-profit media continues to fail us, it’s more important than ever to find reliable sources. Authentic storytelling exists—you just have to look for it. On this blog you’ll get ideas, not ideology. Sass with class. Reporting with rapport. Evidence with a touch of evil. You get the idea.
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