APTA Volunteer of the Month – Joan O’Connor

How do you get platform tennis going in an area where there is so little opportunity? You make the most of every opportunity! The Albany, New York, area is not quite known as a platform tennis hot spot. But since Joan O’Connor entered the game there, things have at least gotten warmer.

If you play in Region I or Region II, you probably have met Joan O’Connor by now. She has been “bitten by the bug” and has a blast traveling from tournament to tournament with a band of like-minded women—to name a few, Kathy Kulig, Tracy Welling, Sharon Edwards and Leslie Haskins. The group is somewhat geographically challenged. They hail from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the Albany area, so obviously league partnerships are out of the question. But they meet up at events as often as possible and have attended some of the renowned platform tennis camps in Nantucket and Telluride together.

One of their “must do” tournaments is the Schuyler Meadows Women’s B Tournament, in Loudonville, outside of Albany. This is O’Connor’s tournament, the one she has been running for six years now. The opportunity presented itself to her, and she made the most of it….[click image to read more]

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 15, Issue 1 Sept./Oct. 2013