The Women's Players Committee... What is that you ask? I didn't know we had one of those, you say. Well, you do. The Women's Players Committee is comprised of several female representatives from around the country. Currently serving are yours truly, Ma Main, along with Sally Cottingham, Charlotte Gilet, Christi Hays, Sandra Odenbach, and Cindy Prendergast. The Committee has a few purposes.
One of the Committee's goals is to pass along any observations, ideas and, recognizing our sport can always improve, criticisms players may have. Another is to give recommendations on how to handle any issues that may come up during the course of the year. While most issues that arise are tournament related, they can also be about etiquette, rules or protocol.
It is also the Players Committee's role to present any suggested material changes of the status quo to the APTA Board. For example, should[...]
Courtia is currently the Director of Tennis and Platform Tennis at the Hartford Golf Club where she has grown the platform tennis programs in particular over the past six years. She is partial to her Senior Racquets group of over a dozen men who show up with paddle or tennis racquet in hand three times a week throughout the year ready to play either sport! With an average age of 79, how great is that? She was pleased to be tapped to go The Villages and work with over 100 seniors in that stellar Orlando community.
Courtia learned how to be a teaching pro from some of the best. Bob Callaway gave her guidance at the Reilly Platform camps in Jackson Hole, Patty Hogan was her PPTA Coach and she started her teaching career teaching juniors with Marie Minnick. Her sister, the one and only Hall of Famer
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It was almost as if God smiled on New Canaan, Ct., for the 2011 APTA Junior National Tournament. Falling between record-breaking snowfall leading up to the event, and the threat of severe winter storms immediately following the day's play, it would seem that a window of clear skies and cleared roads would be unlikely for the weekend.
But, as cars pulled in, bumper to snow bank, to Waveny Lodge, to unload young players from as far away as Chicago and Pittsburgh, it became as clear as the skies above that some serious platform tennis was about to be played.
The Junior Nationals, organized by Steve Caccam, Hooey Wilks, Tish Tregellas, Amy Burger, and Thea Ross took among others, took place in one day at 12 locations around New Canaan, all within a 15-mile radius of Waveny, and included 224 players. Finals were brought back to central Waveny Lodge to play i[...]
Tim Mangan
Residence: 112 Bayville Ave. Bayville, New York 11709
Years of Service: APTA Board of Directors - 2nd term, LIPTA VP - 6 years, Director of Racquet Sports at Nassau Country Club - 31 years
Family: Wife - Tonia, 3 children Brooke 17 years old, Jack 14 years old, Caroline 10. Wife Tonia plays with my sister, BoBo Mangan Delaney, my mother Nancy Mangan a Hall of Fame inductee, and my uncle John Mangan who is also in Hall of Fame.
How long have you been playing platform tennis? I've been playing for 40 years. I started playing competitive paddle at the age of 16, and I am now 56.
Have you ever won any major tournaments? No, I have not, but I've been nationally ranked for 25 years in the Open, Ranked top 10 in 45+,50+,55+, Husband/Wife top 4, Mixed 50+ ranked 2, and was a 5-time runner up in Husband/Wife.
What do you feel is your contribution to the APTA Board? Creati[...]
"The 2010-11 season has quickly come upon us. This year the PPTA will continue to offer top level instruction videos, clinics and platform tips. The organization this past year added many new PPTA instructors. If you are looking to improve your game there are local PPTA pros in your area. To find your local Professional go to
Being charged with putting on the biggest tournament of the season is no small thing, and, in the case of the 2011 Chicago Nationals it was an outright miracle of organization and coordination.
John Noble, Matt Garavaglia and Shannon Vinson, coordinators of the event, had to arrange for 84 courts of play at 22 sites all within a 25-minute radius of Chicago's North Shore Corridor for 452 competitors.
The trio had to coordinate everything from ensuring the bleachers were delivered and installed on time, to putting together the program and merchandising for the event. Thankfully, there were 175 volunteers who were organized by Walter and Ann Fyk.
"They are a wonderful couple and they organized it by day, by club, by time slot. They ran with it," Vinson said. "We needed many volunteers to execute the weekend. The level of excitement for the event to return to Chicago was high[...]
Residence: Northfield, Illinois
Years of Service on the APTA Board: 2
Family: Three adult children: Amanda (27, married), Megan (26), and George (23)
Years Playing: 15 years
Have you ever won any major tournaments? Only in my mind. I'm there to be first-round cannon fodder and get the pullovers. I did win a first round match in the Nationals once and a back, backdraw in the Mixed Nationals several years ago.
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Whenever there's a national tournament to be played, you can usually count on Bobo Delaney's name somewhere in the winner's circle. This year, she took National titles for the Women's 40+, 50+ and Open Mixed.
Despite tying the record for five Mixed Nationals titles and a lifetime of winning that began with her first Junior Nationals in 1976, Delaney said she still gets nervous when she walks into the wires for tournament play.
"You definitely still get nervous. Some days are better than others. I've competed my whole life in other sports, and I used to get more nervous when I was younger. There's the pressure to win, then the pressure of being a Mangan, with the family being good in the sport," she said. "I've gotten better at controlling that. The nerves are still there, but by playing a lot and competing, you just get better at managing it -controlling it. There's always pressure[...]
A team competition starts the ball rolling at Nationals
You may have seen the designation PCQnext to the name of many tournaments on the APTA tournament schedule and wondered what it meant. PCQ means President's Cup Qualifier.
So what is President's Cup? It is a region versus region tournament that takes place the day before the Nationals. The APTA divides the country into seven regions and each region sends a men's team and a women's team to the competition. This year there will be an 8th team, the Independent team, which will consist of players who did not qualify for their regional team.
Spots on each team are earned through season-long competition. Each region has its own rules regarding qualifications. Some require participation in three tournaments, some only two. Points are awarded on the basis of how a team or an individual does in a PCQ designated tournament. Many playe[...]
Dear Platform Tennis Community,
On behalf of my wife, Nancy, and the entire McAvoy family, thank you very much for all your support over the past four months.
Since my Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma diagnosis in November last year, the outpouring of love and positive energy has been inspiring. As I have told several friends,
I never felt alone during all of my treatments, including my 17-day stay at the spa in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The doctors there had never seen someone respond to treatment and recover from treatment more quickly than me and when I returned home on March 10th, I began my recovery process to get back into the game - which is still ongoing but feels great!
Given my ongoing recovery, I am pleased to be able to step back in to "active duty" with the APTA, effective Friday, April 1st. [enlarge image to read the full letter]
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