Premier Cup at Plainfield CC, NJ won by Cochrane and Estes

On October 11th & 12th, Region 1 and Plainfield Country Club (Edison, New Jersey) played host to the 4th Annual Premier Cup. An invitational event for the top eight Men’s
teams from the final year end standings.

This year, such as others, a few teams had scheduling conflicts which allowed teams just outside of the top 8 to grab the opportunity to spend the weekend playing against the best in the country.

Event coordinators David Dodge(Premier Platform Tennis) and Jason Gray decided to go east after Guy Moore (Director of Racquet Sports at Plainfield Country Club) put together a package that would be perfect for the event. Plainfield is located 30 minutes outside of NYC has a pristine tennis and platform facility and program featuring four platform courts situated beautifully around a platform hut that overlooks all courts.

Presenting sponsors Premier Platform Tennis along, with Wilson Racquet Sports, combined to showcase high-end quality courts and the latest platform apparel and technology. And for the first time, coordinators were able to provide APTA members real-time match results on the website thanks to Ann Sheedy (Executive Director of the APTA) who graciously worked with the tournament on behalf of the APTA for support both days.

The format for the event (which plays similar to the ATP Tour’s Master’s Cup) featured a two groups of four teams. Saturday consisted of round robin play within each group (three matches) determining who the top two teams from each group would be moving on to the semi-finals (also known as the “money rounds”). Four courts allowed all matches from both groups to be played two out of three sets simultaneously, and allowed the spectators to view a dazzling display of skill everywhere they looked.

The weather was ideal for players and spectators and was topped off by the generosity of the NJMPTA (New Jersey Men’s Platform Tennis Association) as they provided a “Beer Garden” featuring several kegs of beer by the courts for both days for all to enjoy. PCC and it’s staff did a wonderful job on Saturday by offering up a poolside BBQ open to players and spectators and then invited players, family and friends up to the clubhouse after play was completed for the day to unwind for a private cocktail party compliments of the club.

With the help of Guy Moore, an interview was secured with the Newark Star-Ledger (New Jersey’s largest newspaper) that ran on Friday before the start of the tournament. The article covered the event, the club and specifics about the sport’s growing popularity. Ann Sheedy provided many of the necessary details for the article about the sport as platform made the front page of the sports section.

Sunday provided another great day for platform and, once again, members and locals came out to watch the finest action around on that weekend and cheer on their favorites (mostly Guy Moore).

The semi’s provided some high-caliber teams along with high-caliber action. Emerging from the Green group were Mike Cochrane/Scott Estes and Mike Marino/Mike Stualc. The Purple group consisted of David Caldwell/Blake Cordish and the sleeper team of Brad Easterbrook/Jon Milbank

During the semi-finals, placement matches for Sth-8th place were also played. In the semi’s, Mike Cochrane and Scott Estes prevailed in an epic battle over David Caldwell and Blake Cordish 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 and the other semi had Mike Marino/Mike Stulac playing solid platform in route to winning over Brad Easterbrook/Jon Milbank 6-0, 6-2.

The finals set an exciting match-up between two teams that know each other quite well and typically find themselves in marathon battles. On this day, Mike Cochrane/Scott Estes proved to be the stronger team winning their first Premier Cup title in front of an enthusiastic and appreciative crowd.

Anthony Cosimano concluded, “As always, Premier Cup was a topnotch event. Surprisingly, in all my years of platform, I’ve never played at Plainfield. It’s one of the nicest facilities I’ve ever seen. Guy Moore and Jason Gray put together a flawless platform presentation, excellent competition & classy recognition of the sponsors and players alike. David Dodge goes out of his way year after year to support the Premier Cup both financially and with his presence. We thank him for keeping this tradition going. The Wilson ball played extremely well in the warm conditions, the flocking held well and I can’t remember any in the batch that were off balance.”

The Premier Cup was a great success on and off the court thanks to Plainfield Country Club, Guy Moore, Premier Platform Tennis, Jason Gray, Wilson Racquet Sports and Ann Sheedy for everything they did in their commitment to promoting the sport of platform and making this a quality organized event for players and spectators to enjoy!

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 10, Issue 2, December, 2008