Wired into the Game - by Nindy Pike
I first met Ken Packert at the 2012 Nationals at Huntington Country Club on Long Island. I didn't know where to set up shop in the limited space. A man stringing up wire on the beams above told me to clear a spot at the table below his ladder. The but was filled with cables. Some were wrapped on the ceiling beams, some were trailing down like sausages in a charcuterie. It looked complicated………
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Catching up with and to Patty Hogan is always fun. When I spoke with her, she was driving to Canoe Brook in Summit, New Jersey. She runs the Junior Paddle Academy with host pro Drew Broderick and Dave Broderick, a very successful junior platform tennis program. She had spent the past weekend helping set up the Beacon Hill Junior Open, a Ranking event, also in Summit. "Just this past weekend, with junior events in Beacon Hill, Philadelphia, Essex, and Cleveland, we had way over 220 kids playing paddle in an APTA event," Hogan enthused……….
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Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 Issue 3, Jan./Feb. 2015
He's Back!
Years of Service on the APTA Board: First year of current term; 1981-1985 Region I President; 1985-1988 Executive Director
Family: Wife Myra
Years Playing: 45
How did you get started playing platform tennis? As a teenager, I was introduced to the game at the Innis Arden Golf Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, by Don White (a previous APTA President). Other people who influenced me were George Schmid, a Senior National champion, who was somewhat of a father image. He helped me learn the classic game. He was from the wood paddle era and believed in defensive strategy. I worked with Bob Callaway in the late 1970s and early 1980s, teaching paddle at Callaway's Paddle Tennis Center and with Doug Russell, at The Manhattan PTC and the Apple PTC, so obviously those men are very significant to me…….
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Source: Platform Tenn[...]
Interim President Bill O'Bien explains the rational for the decision.
"Rob is stepping down from the Presidency for all the right reasons. He has been working to start up a company in the court building business and his efforts are starting to take shape. He saw that being in the court building business while also being President of the APTA could later be perceived as a conflict of interest and so he asked to step down to avoid any potential shadow being cast onto the APTA. One of the really wonderful aspects of this game is the classy way in which most everyone associated with the sport conducts themselves and this is just one more example of that behavior."
O'Brien went on to thank Rob for his service to the APTA and the game.
"First of all, I want to thank Rob Coster for his service to our game. The energy he brought to Eastern Connecticut, as a player and a force for growth[...]
The candidates for the Board were: Scott Bondurant, Patty Hogan, Sara Lanthier, Mark Parsons and Justin "J" Stanley.
SCOTT BONDURANT (Nominated for President) Scott is not a newcomer to the APTA Board. He served as a Vice President from 2003 to 2009. More recently he has been Chair of the Men's Players Committee and President of Region V. He is amazed by the growth of the game in recent years and looks forward to doing what he can to keep it going…..
[Click on images below to read full profiles of the candidates]
Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 Issue 4 March/April 2015
Aila Main
Residence:New York City
Occupation:Interior Designer
Years of Service on the APTA Board: 6 (Women's Players Committee (WPC) and Women's Ranking Committee (WRC) for longer)
Family: Daughter Sophie 11, dog Sam 6
Years Playing: 15
How did you get started playing platform tennis? When I was first married, we moved to Princeton, New Jersey, and they had a paddle team there, which my tennis partners suggested I join. Having just moved East from California, I loved the opportunity to be outside in the winter…..
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From the northern climes of Toronto, Ontario, to the central south of Charlotte, North Carolina, the APTA Viking Clinics and Exhibitions traveled to eight cities with over 400 participants and 500 fans marveling at the exhibitions.
The geography covered and the exposure offered is exactly why the APTA invests so much time and capital into this program. The events continue to draw crowds to public-access courts and reach new players in areas where there is plenty of room for growth…….
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Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 Issue 4 March/April 2015
Steve Faber, a mathematics teacher at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois, and the GBS Paddle Club sponsor (along with Anne Blair and Rosie McManamon), filed this report:
Last year, the APTA generously donated four paddles to our program at Glenbrook South. What has happened over the past 14 months since is extraordinary. Our two founding members, Michael O'Connor and Kaden Ignelzi, will be graduating this year, but I'm excited about the future of junior paddle in Glenview. We have had an overwhelmingly positive response from our high schoolers and from the entire community of Glenview…..
[Click image below to read the full article]<br.
Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 Issue 4 March/April 2015
MEN'S ROUND OF 16
Johan du Randt and Mark Parsons versus Hall-of-Farner David Ohlmuller and Mark Johnson may have been the quintessential platform tennis match: amazing shots, patience and aggression, wonderful sportsmanship, and obvious enjoyment of the game. In the first game, there was a team overrule on a service call and du Randt was given another serve. After the first two games, the reigning champions had the match easily in hand! but both teams were pulling off shots to impress. Ohlmuller, coming out of semi-retirement of five years to play Nationals, showed moments of brilliance off the screens. As the match got away from the local pros, there was much more heckling and laughing, like a spring social……….[Click images below to read full article]
Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 Issue 5, April-May 2015
Fritz Odenbach
Residence: Rochester, NY
Occupation: Senior VP Sales at The Dolomite Group
Years of Service to the APTA Board: 15 yesra; Currently ending six-year term as Vice president
Family: Wife Sandra, daughter Mandy 928), son Fritz Jr. (25), stepdaughter Whit (21) and stepson Robby (18)
Years Playing: 42 years
How did you get started playing platform tennis? I started playing when I was 17. My dad would bring my two brothers and myself out to Oak Hill CC to play with his buddies in a Saturday morning round robin. We would dress in corduroys, cheap Fred Perry sneakers, turtlenecks, and of course a sweet-looking ski sweater.I was hooked from that point on!………….. [Click image below to read full article]
Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 Issue 5, April-May 2015
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