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[...]
On Saturday, December 13, 2008, the Long Island Platform Tennis Association ("LIPTA") hosted its 6th Annual Viking Junior Tour tournament at the Garden City Country Club, the Cherry Valley Club and the Garden City Community Park.
With Christmas less than two weeks away, the children received a surprise early morning visit from that jolly old Nordic man with rosy cheeks and a little round belly - that's right, David Kjeldsen, founder of Viking Athletics, was there to provide his support, wearing his trademark "horns"! LIPTA is grateful to Viking Athletics for its sponsorship of the Viking Junior Tour, and for providing the children with a memorable platform tennis experience (and great favors).
Among the four age divisions, thirty-two (32) teams participated, and countless parents and grandparents cheered. The level of paddle was extraordinary, the good sportsmanship was commendable[...]
Fred Gumbinner, Chair of the Players Committee filed the report in PTM
As most of us are aware, foot faulting has become a pervasive problem in the game of platform tennis - both at the social level and at the competitive tournament level. It has been exacerbated by the fact that there is often resentment or even outrage when a player calls a foot fault violation.The one enforcing the rule as opposed to the perpetrator is sometimes labeled the "bad guy."This phenomenon does not occur when one calls a dearly out ball out; yet it does with respect to foot fault violations, even though both instances constitute a loss of point under the rules of the game.
There is no need to discuss the policies against foot faulting as there is almost universal concurrence that players should not foot fault. Various ideas have been suggested and debated as to how to effectively enforce the foot fault[...]
As most of you are aware, this is the first season of the Roving Foot Fault Judge. I have not received an update on the experiences in other regions, but I will report on the first tournament where we used RFJs in a Region III PCQ Tournament. We did it at the Mid-Atlantic Championships, held at the Chevy Chase Club (and Columbia Country Club) in Washington, DC.
The bottom line is that it was a great success. [enlarge image to read for report]
FAULT - Roving Foot Fault Judges. Where were they at the first large APTA tournament of the season? I watched over 15 hours of matches at the Chicago Charities, and I didn't hear one foot-fault called - although I saw a lot. I thought the new APTA rule was roving foot fault judges were to be used at all national ranking tournaments. Maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time when I was watching? Funny, I didn't see any at the Sound Shore Invitational either. Surely I will see them next weekend in the APTA Presidents back yard for the Long Island Invitational.
ACE - Peachtree Paddle, Atlanta, Georgia. Gotta love any platform group that gives out great car window decals to their members. The three-color design really stands out. Contact them and maybe you too can get one.
ACE - Videographers. With the technology available today, there is a lot of great information regarding p[...]
Our sport is growing, and growing quickly. This is evidenced by the number of websites devoted to league play and area play across the country. While I am sure I am missing quite a few, below is list of sites that I recently compiled. (If you know of others, please let me know.)
Clearly some of the sites are updated almost daily. Sadly, others haven't been updated in over a year. Some are hokey; some are professional to the max. Some are purely data driven; others are all about the story. But the bottom line is they seem to work for the groups they serve.
If you have a half hour or so, spend some time visiting each of the sites. You may get ideas to share with your league webmaster to make your site better.
Please let me know your favorite. Mine is the Western Pennsylvania Platform Tennis Association. [enlarge image to read more]
I've had a lot of discussions over the past couple of seasons with a number of players about the lob "bounce out" loss of point rule. I think this rule should definitely be changed for the following reasons:
1. Lobbing effectively in platform tennis requires a lot of skill in a 22 feet deep court (note: a tennis service box is 21 feet deep). Any lob hit high/deep enough to bounce
out of the court would give the net team enough time to get under the ball and decide whether or not to play it out of the air. It is difficult to get your opponent much behind the service line with low trajectory lobs even if they would land deep untouched and the good overhead hitters handle the high/medium depth lobs pretty well. A higher trajectory lob would come down steeper and if hit deep enough would force the overhead hitter to take an additional step back thus creating more potential offensive oppo[...]
Scott Bondurant
Age: 49
Residence: Chicago, Ill.
Family: Wife: Susan; Daughters: Brooke, 13; Cara, 11
Occupation: Asset Management
Hobbies: Tennis, Golf, Travel
Do you have an awareness of the fact that you're playing guys that could be 30 years your junior?
I'd be lying to say that it isn't fun to be able to compete with players that are a lot younger. It's still fun to be out there playing in the open division. The other thing is platform is very conducive to continuing to be able to play, to compete at older ages simply because it's a smaller court and it's all doubles. If you can find a partner that can cover a large part of the court, you can hang in there.
Do you prepare differently mentally than you have in the past?
Not really. I would just say that I probably don't get as nervous about matches as I used to. I just go out there and take them as they come.
Has y[...]
The APTA Service Award was created in 2009 to honor the spirit of volunteerism that has been so important to the health of our sport. Candidates for the Award will exemplify volunteer service according to three criteria:
1. Volunteerism without any expectation of a personal gain pure giving versus doing something that might advance their business or standing in the community.
2. Efforts that are transformative efforts that create new potential or bring substantive change to the sport on a National or Regional basis.
3. Efforts that have a sustained impact on our sport over a period of years.
Source: Paul Wiggan, Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 11, Issue 4, March, 2010
2009 APTA Service Award goes to past President, Mark Fischl
Back to TopMark Fisch and APTA Executive Director Ann Sheedy
As he completed his term, the APTA board surprised Mark by recognizing his devotion to the sport and numerous achievements as its leader by making Mark the first recipient of a new APTA Service Award.
Mark Fischl served as President of the APTA from 2004 through 2009, a period of rapid growth for our sport. Though Mark hails from a region steeped in the sport's traditions, his emphasis on gender balance and geographic diversity has meant nationwide impact.
Mark devoted countless hours to the APTA. He continues to be involved in many ways even after his term ended. He is active in the Players' Committee, with participation in exhibitions, and he led the effort to rescue the platform tennis program in Huntington, New York. His genuine enthusiasm continues to be highly contagious.
When asked about his tenure, Mark shared that he takes great pride in the effectiveness of fellow boar[...]
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