The old good tennis

Being a mom is a never ending job. There’s always homework to go over, dishes in the sink, laundry to fold, dinner to cook, shopping for shoes (again!), PTA meetings, bills to pay… Wouldn’t you just love to go on a vacation where you don’t have to worry about where to go for dinner and what activities to organize for the kids each day? and what about having a little private time without the kids?

If this is what you’re looking for, “All-Inclusive” resort is your answer.

Club Med (short for Club Méditerranée) is operated by a French corporation and offers all-inclusive vacation resorts in many parts of the world, usually in highly exotic locations. There are over 80 Club Med resorts around the world, with each resort offering an extensive list of services and activities in one single package.

These “All inclusive” packages include lodging, meals, soft drinks, use of facilities, a wide variety of sports activities, games, and shows. Alcoholic drinks are bought with bids which are purchased separately, although some locations now include alcohol and snacks in their package.

Many resorts feature outdoor buffet dining, daytime sports and activities, and evening shows performed by the Club Med staff which are called “GOs” (short for “Gracious Organizers”), and usually invite the participation of the guests, which are called “GMs” (short for “Gracious Members”), while the resort is known as a “village”. A unique feature of Club Med is the socializing of the GOs with the GMs, all playing, dining, drinking and dancing together day and night.

There are many villages that provide facilities for children of different ages, which are supervised by trained staff. Children are divided into age group clubs – “Baby”, “Petit”, “Mini”, and “Junior’s”.

Mini Club Med™ (4-10 years):

Mini Club Med™ is for kids ages 4 – 10 years old, and activities are included in the package for no additional cost:

Kids activities that include arts and crafts, soccer, sailing, in-line skating, games, “mini scientist” and other fun activities;

Clubhouse surrounded by an outdoor “funscape” area with toys, dollhouses, trains and slides;

Some resorts offer special activities (also included in the package) such as Mini Tennis, Flying trapeze, tennis, soccer, sailing, in-line skating, games, arts & crafts, mini scientist, and even Circus school where kids can learn juggling, walking the tightrope, jumping on the trampoline, swinging on the trapeze and clowning around in the circus workshops.

Juniors’ Club Med (11 to 17 years olds)

“Club Med Passworld™” – an exclusive new zone just for kids and teens 11 to 17 years old, where they can enjoy many different activities, all included in the package price:

Performing Arts : Hip-hop, theater, shows, singing, musical instruments, sound mixing, magic, musicals, African dance;

Acting and Film: video, theatre, direction, editing;

Creative Activities: Jewelry, makeup, craft work, fashion, Brazilian bracelets, graffiti art;

Sports – flying trapeze, roller blading, climbing, bungy bounce, sailing, water skiing, windsurfing, beach volley, beach soccer;

Adventure and Discovery: Excursions, hiking, picnics;

Evening activities – “movie night” on the beach, “disco night”, “beach party”, “disco-roller”;

Baby Club Med™ (4-23 months) Care is provided 9:00am to 5:30pm for babies 4 – 23 months old, for an additional charge. The children are divided into two groups: not yet walking and walking up to 23 months.

Petit Club Med™ (2-3 years) Care is provided for toddlers (2 – 3 years old), for an additional charge.

For more details and photo gallery please visit the Kids Vacations section of our web site: http://www.cool-kids-places.com/kids-vacations-clubmed.html.

highest tennis court added by junaid

Any city which wishes to be up there with the most attractive in the world, needs to be able to call on some sort of a sports scene. It is no coincidence that three of the four major Grand Slam tennis events are held in arguably the world’s three most enduring tourist hot spots, with the US Open hosted in New York, the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris and the legendary Wimbledon championships a major part of London’s sporting and cultural calendar. A key element of Dubai’s sporting calendar is the Dubai Tennis Championships, played at the Aviation Club Tennis Center in the city and a major part of the warm-up schedule for players planning their assault on the new season in the aftermath of the first Grand Slam event of the year, Melbourne’s Australian Open.

The Dubai Tennis Championships are played on hard courts outdoors, much like two of the Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian and US Opens, and offers prize money far beyond any of the major tournaments, with the men’s singles winner earning more than US$2,200,000 and the women’s singles winner taking home slightly less – a clean two million dollars for the winning woman. Currently the reigning men’s singles champion is Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, while the women’s singles title is held by the USA’s Venus Williams. In recent years, however, the men’s tournament has traditionally been dominated by Swiss legend Roger Federer who, like the now-retired Belgian Justine Henin, has been triumphant four times between 2003 and 2007.

The tournament is a popular one among players, with the members of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) voting it the best venue in the world for three consecutive years. The Aviation Club Tennis Center has been the home of the tournament since its inauguration in 1993, when it was founded as a men’s singles tournament, adding a women’s singles tournament eight years later. The Aviation Club features arguably Dubai’s best pub – certainly its best in the view of readers and writers of “What’s On” magazine – the Irish Village. The stadium court itself has 5,000 seats and is known simply as the Dubai Tennis Stadium. A versatile arena, when it is not I use for tennis the stadium is a popular concert venue having played home to acts such as Sting, Coolio and Bally Sagoo as well as boxing bouts.

The winner of the Dubai Tennis Championships can usually be expected to have a fine season ahead of them, with the record Grand Slam-winning Federer having experienced great success here and, in 2009, players such as Djokovic and Williams experiencing excellent runs, with Djokovic considered by many to be the most likely long-term challenge to World Number One Rafael Nadal. Venus Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion and winner of many other Grand Slams, can pick and choose which tournaments she plays in these days, and routinely chooses to play in Dubai. The hard courts at the Aviation Club are reminiscent of many of the venues on the tour, with precious few choosing to host their tournaments on grass or clay courts, despite the latter’s association with hot weather, something Dubai knows all about.