CCC announced summer programming and staff and longtime tennis pro was not on the list.
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Chilmark Community Center Goes in New Tennis Direction

Katrina Liu
Wednesday, June 12, 2024 - 4:10pm

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The Chilmark Community Center announced its summer programming and staff on Tuesday, with long-time tennis pro Eddie Stahl notably not on the list.

The rehiring of Eddie Stahl was a flash point in a tense town meeting in April. A LinkedIn hiring post for a new tennis pro has been posted for a few months.

In a written statement to the Gazette, the Chilmark Community Center stated that the decision to not rehire Mr. Stahl was based on the recommendation of the center’s hiring committee and “the concurrence of the center’s board.”

“[The hiring decisions] were not easy and many considerations go into making a decision of change,” the statement read. “We are confident that the community will be best served by these talented leaders. We recognize and appreciate the considerable contribution to the Chilmark community and its tennis program that Eddie Stahl has made. We gratefully acknowledge his service and dedication to the community.”

Jay Grossman, a founder of the Friends and Associates of Chilmark Tennis group, which pushed for the rehiring of Mr. Stahl, said the decision was a loss for the community.

“Eddie has been the true heart and soul of the Chilmark Community Center for the past 27 years,” Mr. Grossman told the Gazette. “He’s dedicated his life to thousands of community members of all walks of life, and especially kids, to welcome them to the sport and most of all, to have fun and develop life skills. It’s a true loss to the community for the decision not to have him back for a 28th summer.”

The hiring decision comes as part of a long-standing controversy at the Chilmark Community Center.

A citizen’s petition was put forward at town meeting in April by the Friends and Associates of Chilmark Tennis, where they proposed creating a new town tennis program. The proposal was then withdrawn on town meeting floor, and as a compromise an amendment was offered to create a Chilmark Community Center Committee to review the relationship between the town and the Chilmark Town Affairs Council, which oversees the center. The Chilmark Community Center Committee held its first meeting last Thursday.

Chilmark Community Center

Tennis

Comments (14)

Julie, West Tisbury

This community center seems out of touch with its community. Why are they ignoring their tennis constituents? Are there tennis players on the Community Center board or hiring committee? The tennis community spoke loud and clear that they wanted Eddie Stahl to continue on, that he was the heart and soul of the program. The young tennis counselors seems to have grown up playing with Eddie, learning tennis and life skills in the program, and support him wholeheartedly. Why is this board silencing the tennis community and changing direction on a program that is so successful? It seems like something that they should be bolstering and protecting instead of tearing apart? It makes no sense.

June 12, 2024 - 6:57pm

Allison Simon, Chilmark

The board of CTAC is about to learn that Eddie Stahl’s life work of community building through the medium of recreation has had an impact that won’t be forgotten, nor easily dismissed. I’m devastated and disturbed by the actions of a small group of people who’ve seized power and projected their personal issues onto an entire community. CTAC is supposed to be representing the people who support it, yet they refuse to acknowledge what’s been clearly stated by their stakeholders again and again. The fact that the town had near-unanimous support in investigating this long-standing, otherwise cordial relationship is evidence of a problem that needs to be solved. I look forward to the findings of this Moderator’s Committee. In the meantime, I, for one, won’t be joining the community center tennis program this summer.

June 13, 2024 - 8:31am

Annie Cook

I have no skin in this particular game, except to say that there should be minutes available of the meeting that led to this decision. That is where the committee involved would presumably be accountable to Chilmark residents and other stakeholders in the summer Tennis program. On the face of it, the decision appears to be personal instead of professional, and I am assuming it goes back to what sounded to me like an awkward imposition of "diversity awareness" training by people from outside the community who brought their own personalized sensitivities - and sense of moral superiority vis-a-vis the folks they were brought in to "educate"- with them. The lack of transparency about that dynamic is something I find perplexing. From news reports, Mr. Stahl offended a diversity awareness trainer, and that eventually led to his rejection for a continuing role in the Tennis program. Whether that interpersonal conflict was justifiable as a rationale to "de-hire" him is what I'm wondering. This decision - again, simply from the perspective of a non-Tennis participant originally from Chilmark - seems like it's going to perpetuate conflict instead of setting things back into balance. Divisiveness is often the result of multiple parties - not just one - operating out of negative judgment, intolerance, and superiority. It doesn't seem like this issue has been fully addressed in all of its permutations. Just sayin'.

June 13, 2024 - 2:54pm

Serenella Sferza, Cambridge and Chilmark

The community CTAC has in mind comes alive in July , dies i. August and is centered on its director & friends and relatives. The one built by Eddie- reaches far deeper and will outlast the blow. Long live to CTAC -after the current leadership is gone!

June 13, 2024 - 4:43pm

Mollie Doyle, Chilmark

It is such a shame that, despite community outcry, our Select People have given the keys to an entity that clearly has no interest in what the community needs or values. After decades of being a conduit between the summer and winter communities, the recent CTAC leadership is dead set on wrecking this magical melting pot. But it is really our elected leadership that has failed and continues to fail us by not acting on the community's behalf to push CTAC toward better, more transparent governance. Hopefully this new committee will be brave and work to right the sinking ship.

June 13, 2024 - 5:14pm

Jonathan Schoenberg, Aquinnah

Eddie will be very missed and clearly this was not in the interest of a large group of people who are actually participating in the tennis program and whose POV was clearly not taken into account.

June 14, 2024 - 10:56pm

Patricia Bacon, Chilmark

Anyone who is lucky enough to know Eddie Stahl knows what a loss this is for the Chilmark community. His love for tennis is infectious and he has given lessons & clinics to kids and adults for over 25 yrs ( and many, many times without payment!). He loves tennis, he loves teaching, he loves his community. Hopefully the Chilmark Select Board can now see what an asset they have lost and recognize the " tennis issue" is really a Chilmark community issue.

June 15, 2024 - 10:21am

Lucas, Chilmark

It is frankly stunning to me that CTAC has so blatantly flouted the will of the people of Chilmark. Eddie Stahl is a friend, mentor, and teacher to all who know him, and the blunderings of CTAC’s bovine bureaucracy will never change that. CTAC’s decision is as dumb as it is despotic, and everyone on that board should hang their head in shame. The committee needs to be replaced and democracy needs to be restored and respected.

June 16, 2024 - 6:46pm

Mark Gimbel, Chilmark

Eddie Stahl has been the heart and soul of Chilmark for decades. It is unfathomable and unfortunate that CTAC does not understand what he has brought to the tennis community and Chilmark. It is time for new leadership at CTAC and a new regime for running the tennis program.

June 16, 2024 - 7:59pm

Dede Welles, Chilmark

Eddie has been a role model and a friend to everyone who has grown up playing tennis at the CCC. He’s gone above and beyond for the kids and adults that are part of the CCC tennis community. CTAC is being myopic in trying to transition tennis away from Eddie. They are not serving their community and should be held accountable.

June 16, 2024 - 8:03pm

Betsy Burnett, Chilmark

For over 25 years Eddie Stahl has knit together seasonal residents, year round residents, expert tennis players and beginners in a tennis community that is inclusive, supportive and kind. He has been a mentor to Vineyard youth teaching them sportsmanship and leadership and given back to the island community in countless ways. He is the heartbeat of the Chilmark Community Center and over 100 tennis community members, island youth and CCC camper parents expressed support of Eddie to CTAC, but for reasons never disclosed CTAC ignored its constituency and replaced Eddie with someone from its-land. I too look forward to the findings of the Moderator's Committee with respect to the governance and operations of CTAC.

June 17, 2024 - 7:21am

Nick, Mv

Over the years, I’ve watched Eddie spread an immense amount of joy through his tennis program. I’ve been an observer on the sidelines but have had a pretty good view for how Eddie runs his clinics through my wife and two kids. Eddie has fostered an extremely tight sense of community through his all inclusive, multi age, multi abilities clinics. This is the very essence of a community center. This sense of community is in jeopardy. We now have a community divided. Eddie has brought the community together and CTAC has now accomplished the opposite. Something is obviously very broken within their leadership. To simply dismiss a highly positive, active and giving member of our community with little to no explanation or even common courtesy is shameful. Eddie is a father of two wonderful kids with a very specialized profession. This island has few opportunities for a tennis pro. We also have a housing crisis on this island and the last thing we need is to import another tennis pro. This appears to be a personality clash and in fact, it seems more like some sort of vendetta. The oversight committee needs to recommend replacing the leadership at CTAC with someone who is far less divisive and with someone who considers the entire community. The community center is not a private country club for three months out of the year. It should serve the needs of everyone and should certainly consider the people who play tennis while it’s 30 degrees and windy. This controversy has accomplished the exact opposite of what a community centers mission statement should be. It has divided the community into two camps. It has also galvanized the community members who love and adore Eddie into a very strong and passionate group who have the purest intentions, to bring the community together and to continue with the joy and happiness that Eddie has given so freely for over 25 years.

June 18, 2024 - 8:24am

Aubrey Stimola Ryan, West Tisbury

I have to say, I am confused. My understanding of CTAC’s role—as posted on the CCC website—is that their board members “are selected based on their commitment to the recreational, social and cultural needs of the Chillmark community center, the town of Chillmark and the island of Martha is Vineyard, and building a diverse, inclusive and equitable community organization.” The decision not to rehire Mr. Stahl seems very much out of sync with that statement given the sizable island-wide year-round and seasonal tennis community’s unequivocal and repeatedly voiced desire to keep Mr. Stahl on in his current role, and Mr. Stahl’s unwavering commitment to this job. Has CTAC provided a clear answer to the community about why they went in a different direction with regard to their tennis pro hire despite the wishes of the community it serves? I have not heard it. And are they not obligated to do so when their mandate is to serve the community? Was Mr. Stahl given a reason for not being rehired? Unfortunately, this decision seems only to have fractured the very community for which CTAC is supposed to advocate. Some transparency on the part of CTAC on the matter would be much appreciated given the huge impact of their decision.

June 18, 2024 - 8:37am

Ben Lilienthal, Chilmark

I resigned from the CTAC Board over this issue. It continues to amaze me that the Board came to this conclusion and continues to support it despite such overwhleming feedback from the community.

July 8, 2024 - 7:17am

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