New England Junior Boy’s Open

On Saturday, December 10th the New England Junior Open was held at The New Canaan Field Club. It was one of the first ranking event of the junior paddle season. Seventy four children participated, representing four states in the general area.

10-and-underWinners:
Peter Simonds and Daniel Adajian both of Southport and Fairfield defeated Reed Schultz & Jack Jeffrey of New Canaan 8-1 in a pro set.

12-and-under
Patrick Newton and Carter Lovejoy from New Canaan, played a tough fought match against CJ Purse of Greenwich and Parker Connolly of Wilton. They were victorious after an exciting three setter (1-6, 6-1, 6-3).

14- and-under
Jason Ottomano and Nick Newhouse from Weston, CT pulled out a third set tie-break beating the Safford brothers from Philadelphia.

18-and-under
Terry Keegan from Fairfield and Liam Bohonnon of Westport, defeated Jay Schwab and Cole Barris of Scarsdale 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

The juniors received “got paddle?” long sleeve shirts, printed by former national champion Cindy Prendergast.

Mike Gillespie, tournament director said there has been a very impressive increase of juniors playing in the area. He attributes one reason for this growth is that more pros are teaching paddle. The Professional Platform Tennis Association (PPTA) tests and certifies pros and over the past three years, certification has tripled. Gillespie said “People are improving and having more fun in the process”. Gillespie has been running the New England Junior Open for years and in just one year the event has grown by an additional 25 kids competing. Gillespie has a bit of experience himself, having competed and won the 18-andunder Nationals in 79 & 80. He went on to become a finalist in the 92, 94 and 02 Men’s open Nationals.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 7, Issue 4, February, 2006