Meet the APTA Junior Nationals finalist who plays with great integrity......
One serve. The wires. Playing lets. These are among the most commonly cited features that distinguish platform tennis from similar games. However, as anyone who has played our sport for even just a couple of seasons knows, there is another element that makes platform tennis special—something that is rarely found in many sports today, but is, oh, so essential. It's what I like to call the "Spirit of the Game."
Some say it's simply good sportsmanship. Yes, that's part of it. Others say it's nothing more than etiquette and good manners. Agreed, but there's still more to it than that. While platform tennis is a keenly competitive sport, by tradition, good sportsmanship, integrity, and respect for your partner and opponents are key elements of the sport.
At the 2013 Junior Nationals, New Jersey fifth-grade[...]
Zink and Prendergast Win Their Third Women's Open Team Title
Last year, Lauren Zink and Cindy Prendergast plowed through the APTA National Championships, in Chicago, without dropping a set. Concluding her victory speech in 2011,
Prendergast said, "Lauren and I look forward to next year and trying to repeat." And repeat they did.
On March 15th, 80 women's teams, from coast to coast, came out to compete in the 2012 APTA National Championships on Long Island. For the seventh time in the past eight seasons, Zink and Prendergast found themselves battling in the finals for the National Championship.
All of the 16 women's seeded teams reached the round-of-16. Seven of those top eight reached the quarterfinals; newcomers Ana Brzova and Viktoria Stoklasova took out the veteran eighth-seeds Bobo Delaney and Tonia Mangan. The ladies were playing with emotion as Bobo's mother (an[...]
Shorts and T-shirts were what they were wearing on the courts for the 2012 Junior Nationals. That's because unseasonable warm weather shot the mercury into the mid-50s by midday, but that warmth was short lived, giving way to the cold breezes whipping in from the waves of Franklin Lake. And by nightfall, the gas lamp's ignitions were crackling the flames into life for the spectators who preferred to watch outside of the Indian Trail Club.
What they were watching was the culmination of a long, hard-fought day of paddle through several age brackets. The younger ones finished up earlier in the day, leaving the Boys 18s finals to continue long into the evening.
The participants were Tyler Kratky and CJ Purse of Greenwich, CT, against William Brosnan of Garden City, NJ, and Scott Safford of Malvern, PA.
The match was about endurance, and height, as Brosnan/Safford towered over Kr[...]
Steve was introduced to platform tennis in 2003 by four friends in New Canaan, Connecticut and learned to play on the town's public courts in Waveny Park. Once beyond the frustration of getting only one serve, he learned to embrace the many unique characteristics of the game, most of all the wonderful camaraderie. That first winter, he became truly obsessed with the game and collected email addresses and telephone numbers of anyone with whom he could arrange a friendly game. This core group eventually grew into what is now the New Canaan Men Paddle League, Inc., a league he formed with a couple of friends in 2004 and today numbers over 250 current players.
Steve was fortunate to have benefited from early tutelage and inspiration from Dave and Marina Ohlmuller, David Kjeldsen, Marjorie Hodson, and especially Mike Gillespie, from whom he learned the joy of teaching this wonderful game. [...]
Katie Bliss
Age: 56
Family: Husband of 29 years, Mark, 2 children - Son, Taylor (age 24) and Daughter, Genie (22) both post-college.
Residence: Maplewood, NJ
Profession: I'm the owner and proprietor of Bliss-Full Gardening Services, a design, installation and maintenance firm with clients throughout Essex County, NJ. Timing is perfect for paddle players! Winters off!
Achievements in Tennis/Platform Tennis: I'm the former president of the New Jersey Women's State Platform Tennis League, a league of over 800 women. It's a 14-week season that plays from mid-October to mid-February. I spent 11 years on the NJWPTL board, holding various positions. I've also been the Tournament Chair of the Short Hills Club Platform Tennis Invitational and served on the Tournament Committee for over 10 years. I am nationally ranked #4 Husband/Wife 50+ for 2011.
Hobbies off the courts: Gardening, sewing[...]
Viking has recently announced plans to introduce a new ball which will extend the normal platform tennis playing season worldwide into a year-round sport. The new Viking Low Bounce platform tennis balls are set to arrive in March 2012, just as the platform season usually comes to an end.
Platform tennis is a sport played primarily in the northeastern and midwestern United States. Due to the solid rubber core construction of a normal platform ball, which produces a lively bounce during the cold winter months, this same ball becomes too fast and hard to control when the weather gets warm or in high-altitude conditions. Viking has just announced the introduction of a new formula that combines the current construction of the Extra Duty ball with the feel and performance athletes expect from a normal platform tennis ball.
Viking has been the Official Ball of all American Platform Tennis[...]
As a team, how did you find each other and was it an instant match?
Keri: Sue and I are both from Long Island and we played against, and with, each other often for practice before we decided to team up. I think we were a good match from the start because of our different playing styles. I tend to be more aggressive, and Sue has the ability to keep us in the points, set me up and also bring some offense when the opportunity presents itself.
Sue: Keri and I met through playing in the local women's platform league. She plays for Nassau Country Club, and I play out of the Garden City Community Park. We have mutual paddle playing friends and we played socially on many occasions. When her partner became injured, she called me to fill in as her partner in a tournament. We had moderate success and began to play a few more events together. Her partner never recovered and we decided to conti[...]
On Friday, March 16, 2012, the Huntington Country Club in Long Island, New York, was the place to be as APTA President ,Tim McAvoy received the APTA's highest honor for his outstanding efforts on and off the court. Introductions began with Nationals Co-chairman, Duane Hayden (along with Tim Mangan) welcoming the crowd and introducing APTA Hall of Fame Member and keynote speaker Steve Baird. In attendance were hundreds of players, friends and family members traveling to Long Island to show their respect and appreciation for Tim.
The transcript of the induction speech delivered by Steve Baird introducing the 78th recipient is shown in its entirety below.
Where do you start when talking about Tim McAvoy's contributions to the game? Well you start with his mom, Lucie Bel McAvoy, who was a pioneer of the game in the greater Philadelphia area and a Hall of Fame member (inducted here 20 [...]
It began with lunch. Two friends at Hajime-Sushi in Harrison, New York, were talking about one of their favorite sports. Nothing unusual in that, right? But then one of them floated the idea of starting a website for like-minded enthusiasts. The other looked up from his Tolcu-Jo and said, "Let's do it." PaddlePlayer.com was born.
That was nearly a year ago. Since then, PaddlePlayer.com has become a great website to visit for all things platform tennis.
It features articles written by the sport's most knowledgeable players and followers, video tips from pros, and full coverage of all major paddle tournaments and events— all with the goal of promoting the sport and helping players at all levels improve their game. Some of the most recognizable names in the sport—Mark Parsons, Alex Bancila, Drew Broderick and Johan du Randt— share their knowledge, tips, and opinions through inst[...]
Congratulations to the 2012 Men and Women of Chicago and the Midwest. The victories marked a repeat of the 2011 President's Cup, in Chicago, where the Region V men and women swept the competition. The victory this year in Long Island represented the Region V men's third straight title — as they were also victorious in the 2010 Philadelphia President's Cup.
The President's Cup was established in 1978. In the first few years, the event was held separately from the APTA Men's and Women's Nationals. Since 1982, the competition has been held at the site of the Nationals the day before the start of the tournaments.
To qualify for the President's Cup, players earn points for every win they receive in APTA sanctioned tournaments throughout the season. The top point-earners are awarded the privilege to play for their region. Only the top 8-ranked doubles teams are banned from competing.
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