Paddle hits Holland with Gloria Dillenbeck’s help

The spring edition of Paddle Talk carried this story.

“If the Dutch haven’t heard of platform tennis yet, then they soon will, or so at least hopes Cees Cuppens of Bellfires BV in Holland. Recently he visited the U.S.A. and met with Gloria Dillenbeck of the APTA to discuss his plans for marketing courts in Europe. The Dutch are already tennis-mad, inspired by the success of their national tennis heroes, Betty Stove and Tom Okker. And the tennis twosome just happened to be paddle freaks, too.

Bellfires BV makes fireplaces, but recently decided to expand the business. They have chosen to go into the leisure industry, ironically one of the few areas that have benefited from current adverse economic conditions. The path that has led Mr. Nico de Wal, President of Bellfires, and Cees Cuppens to see the potential of platform tennis was determined by conditions specific to a tiny country inhabited by 15 million people. Cuppens explains that the shortage of land in Holland is so severe that each community boasts a recreation director, whose job is solely to determine how recreational land can be used in the most productive way. There are, for instance, no golf courses at all in Holland. Bellfires are convinced platform tennis must catch on with both the powers that be and the population once they learn about a sport that gives so much enjoyment and takes such a small space. Indeed, Cuppens has already attracted support and interest in his preliminary discussions with Dutch municipalities.”

Source: Paddle Talk, No. 1

Executive Director Gloria Dillenbeck recalled the event:

“One day a gentleman from Holland called the APTA office to ask me about our game. He wanted to visit the US to see the game played and to talk to a court builder. As it happened we had readied a court for play at Forest Hills next to the stadium for a televised exhibition. He flew over to see that match which was umpired by Howard Cosell. Half way through the match a strong gust of air blew Cosell’s toupe off his head and floated slowly to the platform deck. The crowd fell silent. I was ‘on air’ commenting for TV and was dumb-struck but Howard never lost his cool and play went on. After watching the match Nico de Wal agreed to build two courts and he invited me to bring sixteen ranking players to Eindhoven to stay for a week as guests of Bellfires and introduce some of the top tennis players in Holland to the game.”

At the end of the week Gloria knew enough Dutch to thank everyone for their hospitality at the closing dinner celebrations.

Source: Gloria Dillenbeck Dodd, Hall of Fame remarks after receiving her award