Platform tennis players have it made.
What sport our size has four major manufacturers competing so heavily for the equipment market?
Since the mid 1990's, Viking and Wilson have been going head-to-head in the ball market.
Due to a heavy, individualized marketing effort by owner David Kjeldsen, Viking was able to secure a substantial market majority through the 1990's.
In April of 1999, Kjeldsen bought out Wilson's ball market share for an undisclosed figure and term limit. Since then, Wilson's former promotional Director John Embree began to focus on the paddle market, particularly in the Midwest and amongst women. Two years ago, Jim Burda replaced Embree to direct the platform tennis program. His duties included detailing paddle specification, testing equipment and then marketing to players and instructors across the northeastern states.
Burda's success was evident last [...]
Sandra Odenbach filed this report with PTM:
Shortly after Christmas I received an email from PTM Editor Wayne Dollard asking me to call him. I learned that he wanted to do a feature article on my husband Fritz that would run in the February issue of the magazine. He wanted it to be a surprise and would I be willing to write it.
I started to panic and shot off a quick email to Wayne asking him to be more specific on what he wanted in this article. All I got was "Five hundred words, I'll edit, I need it in two weeks." Yikes.
So, undercover I decided to go, determined to find out as much information about him as I could, getting help from his friends, picking his brain whenever possible and encouraging him to tell me all his paddle stories.
A die-hard Red Sox fan, Fritz Odenbach, or "Freddie" as many like to call him, grew up in a family of nine children in the town of Penfield,[...]
Chuck Vasoll reported on the development for PTM:
It's been six years since the Platform Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame Foundation was established with the mission of locating a site and creating a home for the sport's memorabilia and a place to recognize those who have been selected to receive the sport's highest honor, induction into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame. A major portion of that mission has now been accomplished. The site will be at the Centercourt Athletic Club (CAC) in Chatham, New Jersey.
The plan for a Hall of Fame Museum dedicated to the sport has been ongoing since 1965 when the first individuals who had major achievements in the sport were recognized with an "Honor Award."
In 1998 the "Honor Award" designation was changed to "The Platform Tennis Hall of Fame" and all prior Honor Award recipients were recognized as members of the Hall of Fame.
The Foundati[...]
The statistics: 36 volunteers, 4 APTA regions, 5 states, 8 championship teams, 15 clubs, 55 courts, and 2807 games played!
They came by car, plane and train. They drove themselves or arrived with parents and siblings in tow. They returned from college to renew old rivalries or tried competition for the first time. They arrived with hopes of a title, or just a fun day of paddle. More than 250 junior platform tennis enthusiasts participated in this year's Junior Nationals. All of them had a fun day of play. Sixteen of them went home with gold medals.
A few years ago we made a prediction that the future of platform tennis looked bright. Following this year's Junior Nationals we realize that it is not just bright, it is absolutely brilliant! For the second year in a row we saw an increase in the number of participants, with a record 256 juniors entered in the tournament this year. The [...]
Men's 45+, 55+ and 65+ Nationals:
After a ten year absence, the Senior Nationals returned to Chicago this March and 3 National Championships were claimed.
Starting what promises to be a record-breaking streak, Scott Mansager and Flip Goodspeed took their first 45's crown together without dropping a set. They beat always tough Scott Bondurant and Bill Fiedler in the finals after defeating Rob Pierce and Leo Power in a 2 1/2 hour 6-3, 6-3 semi. Bondo and Fiedler took down Todd Ward and Dan Mott in the other semi in a tough two-setter. Thirty teams played in the division and the competition was strong all weekend.
In the 55's, Jean Kempner and Jim McNitt defeated Hall of Famers Hank Irvine and Steve Baird 6-2, 6-3 in the final after Irvine and Baird had beaten Scott Estes and Jeff "Dr. Detroit" Hodges in a close and entertaining semi.
The 65's saw the team of Jim Bishop and Mike H[...]
On March 6th-9th , the sport of Platform Tennis will take it's grandest stage as the sport travels to Las Vegas to be a part of the ATP Tour's event called "The Tennis Channel Open". This will mark the first time the sport has been associated with another professional event at the same time! The likes of defending champion Lleyton Hewitt, Fernando Gonzalez, Marcos Baghdatis, and The Bryan Brothers will compete on one stage as Platform Tennis will be a part of a side event called "Tennispalooza".
0rganizers Jason Gray, Jean Kempner, and David Dodge (Premier Platform Tennis), along with the APTA, are proud to showcase the sport out west for the first time. The group has put together what they feel will be a unique one-of-a-kind, four-day event called "Platformpalooza". The festivities will take place in Summerlin, Nevada, at The Darling Memorial Tennis Center. Along with "Platformpalooz[...]
Mixed Nationals coverage and Rankings. Delmonico and Stulac win Mixed and Husband/Wife on same weekend
Back to TopKerri Delmonico and Mike Stulac win the Husband and Wife Nationals and Mixed Nationals on a single weekend
March 2nd, 2008, New Canaan, CT - Judging by the number of silver-plate platters they took home, you would think that newlyweds Kerri Delmonico and Mike Stulac of New York City registered at the New Canaan gift store "That Personal Touch."
Delmonico and Stulac, who were married this past year, pulled off a rare double feat, winning two National Platform Tennis Championships in a single weekend. On Friday, February 29th, they won their first National Husband-Wife Championship, defeating Tonia and Tim Mangan of Bayville, NY by a score of 6-1, 6-3. Two days later on March 2nd, they won their first National Mixed Doubles Open title, defeating three-time winner Cindy Prendergast of Wilmington, DE, and her partner, Rusty Wright, also in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
It was an exciting weekend of platform tennis in New Canaan as the three-day event drew 188 players from across the country, tra[...]
PTM surveyed the top 50 men and the top 50 women in platform tennis and asked about tournament competition. Forty-five players responded, giving an interesting view inside the minds of the best in the game.
Categories were: Most Offensive Overheads, Toughest Competitor, Best Hnads at Net, Best Sportmanship, Best Serve, Best Return of Serve, Least Unforced Errors.
Chuck Vasoll filed an update with PTM:
We are up and running. Our web site, that is. The address is platformtennishalloffame.org. We encourage you to visit the site which has: a video history of the sport, a snap shot biography of the Hall of Fame inductees, information about how you can help provide funds and memorabilia to the museum, a list and background of the Trustees of the Foundation, a photo gallery of progress in the construction at the Centercourt Athletic Club in Chatham, New Jersey, and other historic photos from the sport's archives. It is truly worth a few minutes of your time to view this very interesting presentation about our sport.
The Trustees are hard at work in many areas of the development of the museum. Chairman Robert Brown, President Richard Lombard, Treasurer Joseph Rogers and Curator James McCready met with a representative of a firm that designs the int[...]
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