The APTA, in conjunction with talented and experienced tournament directors, is compiling a resource inventory to assist tournament directors. From small local events to National Championships, you will find documents that will provide a guideline for you and your volunteers. Many of these documents are now available at Tournament Support
The site includes documents such as: Tournament Director Handbook, How to Conduct a Draw, Draw Sheets in Detail, Rules of Platform Tennis, Standardized Warm-up.
Coming soon: Budgets, Timelines, Organizational Charts, On-Line Registration Information, Entry Form Template and Hut Commander Playbook.
Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 11, Issue 3, January, 2010
Last season was a nightmare for the platform tennis ball industry. Wilson was criticized for two reasons: their balls came out late and the ball wasn't as bright as their Viking competition. On the other hand, the Wilson ball's flocking held up much better in competition than Viking's and it seemed that there were fewer Wilson "wobblers" (balls that were not properly balanced) than Viking wobblers.
Players will also notice changes to both the Viking and Wilson balls this season.
Orlando Retirement Community to Build Six Platform Tennis Courts
The inaugural meeting for a Paddle Instructor Committee, or PIC, was held at the Villages in Orlando on Friday, Jan. 15, 2010. Anderson DaSilva, Manager of the Truman Recreation Center, hosted the meeting.
Village of Bonita resident, Joe Russo, Sr., volunteered to be the instructor. At the meeting, he discussed the following:
A. The new ground-level paddle court design used here
B. Demo of current play equipment
C. Sources of equipment
D. Membership in the APTA
E. Update of APTA Rules
F. A flyer on paddle in The Villages to be given to newcomers
Other discussions and activities included:
1. Outline of free teaching clinics, court play regulations and court times by Anderson
2. A 33 minute DVD on paddle (and ask for comments)
3. Question and answer period
4. Discuss next PIC meeting time and date
5. Enjoy[...]
Uihlein and Marino Team Up to Take Men's Title.....Delmonico and Main Win Women's Charities.........
It was a beautiful platform tennis day and the play was outstanding when the women took to the courts at the Chicago Charities.
The 2009 women's draw was missing many of the big-name players such as Lauren Zink, Cindy Prendergast, Laura Parsons and Susie Keane; however, the talent level was still exceptional compared to most other ranking tournaments.
Kerri Delmonico and Aila Main worked their way through the draw defeating Sally Cottingham and Liz Hayward in the quarter-finals and then Bobo Delaney and Tonia Mangan in the semi-finals on their way to the final.
http://youtu.be/HiPJbZWsHUA
Quarter Final Prop-Schneebeck & Doten-Schwartz.3rd set tie break - Prop-Schneebeck are up in the breaker 6-1. Ad-hoc commentary provided by energized viewers in the hut
Heather Prop and L[...]
John Horine
Age: 48
Family: Wife: Paige; Daughters: Devon, Amelia
Residence: Baltimore, MD
APTA President: 1998-2004
John Horine was the President of the American Platform Tennis Association from 1998 through 2004. His presidency will always be associated with improving communications between the APTA Board and its Members
During his tenure, John was responsible for contracting with Dollard Publishing to bring the APTA members Platform Tennis Magazine in 1999. He also was instrumental in getting the Board of Directors to create an official website The site, www.platformtennis.org has gone through a few revisions over the past few years, and has evolved to be a great source for current and archived news and information.
We sat down with John Horine to catch up on his thoughts on the new directions taken by the APTA.
Can you tell our readers what you have been doing on an[...]
John Embree has had a long and storied history in the world of racquet sports. Growing up in Chicago, he moved back to his home town in the Windy City to take a position with Wilson Sporting Goods. He remained there for 17 years, rising to the title of Vice President and General Manager of Wilson's global racquet sports. He subsequently left Wilson to become part owner of tennis apparel manufacturer Balle de Match.
"I went to Balle de Match because the owner needed marketing and sales help," Embree said. "I thought I could use my tennis connections to grow the business. Wended up tripling sales in three years." That firestorm of sales helped Embree get his next position, as he was tapped by Prince CEO George Napier in March of 2009.
"When I started with Prince, the economy was in a trend heading south and consumers stopped their spending," Embree said "Consumers are now changing th[...]
Juan Araya is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been playing platform tennis for four years and tennis since he was five years old. He was in the top five in Buenos Aires, and in the top 10 of Argentina, playing with people like Gaston Gaudio (#5 in the World), Guillermo Canas (#12), Mariano Puerta (Finalist of the French Open) and others.
In December 1991, he competed at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, reaching the quarter-finals and losing to Norman Magnus, former #2 of the ATP Tour. He also played every tournament in the COSAT circuit, reaching the semifinals of the Pascuas Bowl in Asuncion, Paraguay. At the age of 18, he played the South American professional tour, reaching several semifinals and quarterfinals.
Later, at the Universidad de Belgrano, he got his degree in Management Information Systems. While at UB, he worked for different companies as a software developer whi[...]
Although the platform tennis season is winding down, the full flame is still burning at the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame Museum. Another year has passed, and while progress has been slow, there continues to be good progress toward the realization of the dream of a "bricks and mortar" home for display of the memorabilia of the sport and a place to honor those elected to its Hall of Fame.
The Foundation's Chairman, Bob Brown, and Museum Curator, Jim McCready, have worked with museum consultant Ed Puches to develop a model of a display case featuring the 1970's decade. It is pictured below. Mr. Puches of Irvington, NY has developed projects at Harvard University and IBM. Eight similar display cases will be included in the museum to highlight other decades since the sport's invention in 1928. A great deal of the memorabilia has been collected, but more is still welcomed by the Committee. [...]
On January 13th, Helen Garrett and Mary Jane Parks, newcomers to the 70s, swept to victory by defeating Nancy Libby and Gail Reifsnyder in the finals of the 70+ Women's Nationals, 6-1, 6-0. Helen and Mary Jane have the habit of winning their 1st eligible age year. Congratulations.
Nancy Libby has the distinction of being in the finals four years in a row and five out of the last six.
The draw was the magic number of eight as required by the APTA. We had perfect weather and the entrants are a fit and fun group. We always look forward to the competition and sharing the day with our age group.
Source: Ann Brown, Tournament Chair, Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 11, Issue 4, March, 2010
http://vimeo.com/9191361
"The future of our sport is looking bright!" Those were the closing words that APTA Junior Nationals Tournament Director Michael Gillespie proclaimed after he draped the traditional medals around the necks of the last finalists and champions of the 2010 edition of this annual, day-long tournament.
Bright indeed. This year, 200 juniors participated in the annual junior championships, held on Saturday, January 30, in New Canaan, Connecticut, and hosted by members of the New Canaan Field Club. Teams traveled from as far away as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and even from Hinsdale and Highland Park, IL.
The weekend kicked off with the traditional Friday night "Welcome Party" for all participants. Each of the Field Club's four courts were set up with a different activity: Court 1 featured nationally-ranked players Mark Parsons and Brian O'Connor taking on chal[...]
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