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Port St. Lucie, Florida
Two things distinguish Club Med-Sandpiper from most of its
sister properties: its superb and extensive children's programs for kids
as young as 4 months and its optional ATP Tour tennis camps. That combination,
when coupled with spacious rooms, makes it the best Club Med option for families
who also care about tennis.
Set alongside the Port St. Lucie River, 45 miles north of
the West Palm Beach airport, this expansive club covers some 1,000 acres,
taking in a 19-court tennis complex, two golf courses, four swimming pools,
a circus tent, inline skate park, a marina, a sprawling restaurant, a theater,
and a bar. The Club dates to the late 1980s, when it moved into the premises
formerly occupied by the Sandpiper Bay Resort Hotel. That explains why the
accommodations are much larger than is typical of Club Med. Then extensive
renovations carried out in 1999 significantly upgraded the rooms even further
by adding new furnishings and televisions, so that it really does offer the
comfort typical of a resort hotel (minus room service).
About the same time, it become one of only three Club Meds
in the North American Zone to offer optional three-hour-a-day tennis camps
under the direction of the ATP Tour. Ordinarily, tennis at Club Med consists
of free hour-long clinics designed either to teach the basics to beginners
or focus on a particular stroke or theme for intermediate-advanced players.
Sandpiper offers those, too; however, anyone serious about his tennis is
better off opting for the ATP Tour package (which costs an extra $150 for
the three-day program). Its reigns in class sizes to a maximum student:pro
ratio of 6:1, and the instruction is directed by someone from the ATP Tour,
who also trains the pros who help him teach. "We want to lure tennis
players to Club Med rather than just get those who are here to come out to
play," says Mark Cook, the ATP Tour supervisor who heads the program.
"We divide players by level and so can really break down the strokes
for beginners and offer advanced players (which at Sandpiper means an NTRP
rating of 3.5 or higher) more fun, creative things to work on."
Like all Club Meds with courts, Sandpiper also offers several
afternoons of social tennis tournaments, consisting of singles, mixed doubles,
and a random partner event called "Doubles Surprise."
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