Tennis, everyone? Pittsfield pro nets big award

By Anthony Fyden12:00AM / Wednesday, February 18, 2004Print Story | Email Story

David Bell (Photo By Anthony Fyden)

PITTSFIELD â€” In 1988, David Bell found himself staring out the window of the Aetna Casualty & Life building in Hartford, Conn., where heâ€™d worked for three years, dreaming not of actuarial tables and claims adjustment but of clay courts, taut nets and smooth backhand drives. Bell made a choice then about his career, and he chose tennis. After more than 10 years, itâ€™s clear that it was a good call â€” not only for him but also for hundreds of young tennis players in the Berkshire region. This past week, The United States Tennis Association honored Bell with the 2003 USA Team Tennis Youth Volunteer of the Year Award. The recognition was bestowed at an awards banquet held during the associationâ€™s annual Community Tennis Development Workshop before 450 community tennis leaders at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. â€œAs the tennis club manager and head pro at Berkshire West Athletic Club, Mr. Bell is able to indulge his passion for kids learning to play tennis,â€ stated a news release from the association. â€œHe is being honored specifically for his work with the 14-team USA Team Tennis/Berkshire County League and the USA Team Tennis Western Massachusetts State Tournament with 18 teams and more than 150 players. Asked why he made his career change, Bell joked, â€œI didnâ€™t want to have a real job any more.â€ But his efforts to introduce tennis to young people have had a serious impact on the local scene and on countless kids. Bell called the award â€œa great honor,â€ adding that it reflects on the entire local tennis community. â€œThere are a tremendous number of tennis programs throughout the country,â€ he said. â€œBut in Berkshire County, we have an emphasis on team tennis, as opposed to individual tennis.â€ In addition to his work at Berkshire West, where he oversees a program with four tennis pros, and his leadership role with the Berkshire County League, Bell and his wife, Jeannie, founded and manage a tennis program through the Pittsfield Parks Department. The couple has been running the program since 1991. Each season, 150 to 175 children participate. Bell said he believes it is important to give children an opportunity to swing a racket and run around a court. He fired off a litany of reasons: â€œIt improves your grades, it keeps more kids keep away from drugs, it increases your concentration skills,â€ he said. â€œIt really gives you better focus. Itâ€™s a win-win all around.â€ He suggested that children who play tennis are doing something healthy and fun â€” and are avoiding a lot of potential trouble while theyâ€™re on the court. In addition, he said, tennis is â€œa lifetime sport,â€ one that people can enjoy as kids, and, if in decent health, as senior citizens. Bell doesnâ€™t knock team sports such as soccer or football, which offer many of the same benefits, but he said tennis is more long lasting. â€œYou donâ€št see too many 40-year-olds out there playing football,â€ he observed. He said he believes the earlier children get out on the court, the more quickly theyâ€™ll adapt to the game, and the more firmly the skills will be imbedded. He should know: He started playing tennis at 3 years old, when his father took him to a facility in Providence, R.I. He said he loved the game from the start and is still passionate about it. The U.S. Tennis Association award credited Bell with championing team tennis over many years. â€œAlthough David has coordinated the league since 1989, it was not until 2001 that he was able to convert the league into the USTA Team Tennis format,â€ the news release stated. â€œAfter many years of ending the season with a picnic lunch for the players, the summer season now culminates in an end-of-year USA Team Tennis WMA State Championship at Forest Park in Springfield.â€ Bell maintains a busy, year-round schedule of teaching tennis at Berkshire West, hosting tennis camps, coordinating the Berkshire USTA Team Tennis effort, leading local tennis camps and helping his wife run the cityâ€™s Parks Department tennis program. He said he had no regrets whatsoever about his decision to leave the insurance business. In fact, he met his wife not long after he moved to the Berkshires and began teaching tennis. She took her first lesson at the club with him, and their relationship blossomed. Berkshire West offers team tennis opportunities for children throughout the year. The next session will begin on March 15. Information: 499-4600.

Stockbridge Grange Community Dinner

03:12PM / Tuesday, February 03, 2026

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — The Stockbridge Grange is holding a community dinner on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, featuring spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and bread with dessert choices of chocolate cream or lemon meringue pie.

Dinner is $17.00 per person, take out only with 12-1:30 pm pick up at the Stockbridge Grange Hall at 51 Church Street, Stockbridge. Orders may be made by calling 413-243-1298 or 413-443-4352.

Inclement weather postpones the meal for a week.