Mike Stulac
Age: 40
Residence: Manhattan, New York
Family: Kerri Delmonico
Profession: Global Loans Product Controller at JP Morgan Chase
Achievements in tennis/platform tennis: Winner of the Canadian Nationals more than 10 times; Winner US Nationals twice; Winner of the 18-and-under Junior Nationals; Winner Mixed Nationals; Winner of Husband and Wife Nationals two times; Winner in Chicago, numerous regional tournaments
Hobbies off the courts: Golf
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The following clubs were fortunate to receive grant money from the APTA to help fund new or refurbished courts in the 2012-2013 paddle season. Here are some details of their programs. From the rocky coast of Maine to the peachy state of Georgia, our game is growing!
Windward Lake Club, Alpharetta, GA
Two refurbished courts were installed. The grand opening event in December had a turnout of almost 100 players. They held a beginner instructional class in the morning and an intermediate/advanced class in the afternoon. In between classes, there was a women's exhibition with Sue Aery, Agata Cioroch, Lisa Teer and Sharon LeRoux and a men's exhibition by Jay Bailey, Peter Lauer, Scott Kaufman and Graham McNerney. Peachtree Paddle League will now include Windward in their functions and organized league play. In addition, the club will offer recreational play on Monday, Wednesday and Friday[...]
In keeping with the stated mission of the APTA to help grow the great sport of Platform Tennis, the Board of Directors of the APTA has recently approved seven different financial grants / loans to help organizers begin or accelerate their efforts to promote local paddle. Projects approved at the APTA Annual Meeting in May spanned from Kansas to Massachusetts to South Carolina. They will all further a quest of the APTA Growth Committee, to open up paddle beyond the traditional private country club strongholds.
Peter Lauer, Chair of the Growth Committee, remarked of the overall effort and the various projects approved: “We are delighted by the growing interest in the grant program and in particular the enthusiasm, energy and professionalism of the local champions who seek the APTA’s help in their efforts. They are the key to success and, in many ways, we are making a bet on the peo[...]
The 7th Annual "Super Bowl of Platform Tennis" was held October 14-16 in Columbus, Ohio, at the Scioto Country Club. Columbus hosted some of very best men’s teams in the country, who showcased their incredible talents for all to enjoy. Teams from cities and states such as Chicago, New Jersey, Cincinnati, and Richmond, competed for the only paddle purse as well as bragging rights. Columbus’ own Denny English’s and Brian Heil’s fans helped fill the home team’s warming hut.
At the same club where Jack Nicklaus learned how to play golf, beginners were encouraged to pick up the game of platform tennis. Kicking off the weekend’s festivities was a free clinic conducted by the APTA. All ages and levels were invited to learn the game and its intricacies and were taught by an enthusiastic group of pros. This is a relatively new feature of tournaments nationwide and is one way that t[...]
Paddle is her balance. Just back from a weekend on Long Beach Island, and having spent two weeks skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho, it was pure luck to find Helen Garrett with some time to talk. No moss grows on Garrett, the perennial senior tournament winner, with 16 APTA Senior Championships and eight "silvers," as she puts it. She plays both women's and mixed tournaments, enjoying the differences of each game. And she very much enjoyed the team concept of the President's Cup. Garrett played in the very first one in 1986, and was on the Region III team for several years.
Garrett and long-time partner Sandy Simmers won the Women's 70+ Nationals in Scarsdale, New York, this past December. Both players are from the Washington, DC area, and Garrett really enjoys the time they spend together, whether in the car traveling to tournaments or on the court. "Neither of us has a big forehand or big [...]
Rich Green
Age: 47
Residence: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Profession: Hedge Fund Reporting and Analytics
Achievements in Tennis/Platform Tennis: The most memorable tennis achievements were more than 20 years apart. Winning both team and individual 1984 New England Championships and being awarded the tournament’s Individual Sportsmanship honor while playing for the University of Vermont tops the list. Twenty something years later winning the 2007 North Carolina State 40s was quite unexpected after a frustrating year of hitting forehands into the ground and fence from changing continental to semi-western grip and swing.
Bringing paddle to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 2007 is certainly my greatest paddle achievement. Playing achievements came mainly winning several tournaments in 2003/2004, each with a different partner: Short Hills B, West Hartford B, Long Island B, and the [...]
You two recently paired up as a team. How did you find each other and was it an instant gelling?
Warner: “Mark was my junior tennis coach during my high school years. A few years after attending SIUE, Mark and I began corresponding again and soon began to practice on the paddle court. It wasn’t until this year that we seriously discussed pairing up. We are good friends off the court, and we were curious to see how our strengths would complement each other on the court.”
What about each of your styles of play do you think make your team strong?
Warner: “Through the use of spin on both serves and overheads, we try to keep our opponents neutralized from attacking from the backcourt; as a righty/lefty combo, we find sometimes we can create more pressure on the net team with our forehand drives and blitzes from the middle of the court.”
Where do you see yourselves having[...]
Close to 100 players took part in seven hours of clinics over the course of two days hosted at the Kingsway Platform Tennis Club in Toronto, Canada. Juan Arraya was joined by Mark Fischl, Brian O’Connor and Newfoundlander Mark Parsons, along with Toronto’s own Paul Stulac on the Kingsway courts and led a series of clinics and exhibition matches on a challenging weather weekend.
Adults and juniors who had never picked up a paddle took part along with seasoned level 1 players.Beginners, intermediates and advanced players had only one negative comment about the clinics – WE WANT MORE! [enlarge image to read more]
Some days you win, some days you lose, and some days... it’s hot – at least by paddle standards. Nevertheless, over 60 players braved the 88-degree temperatures on Saturday, October 8 to participate in an APTA-sponsored clinic and exhibition on the brand new Homestead Country Club courts. Homestead Country Club is located in Prairie Village, Kansas (about 10 blocks from Kansas City), and has about 300 members, many of them active tennis players on Homestead’s 16 hard courts. This summer, with great help and support from the APTA and its grant program, Homestead recently built two new platform tennis courts and began offering an economical seasonal platform tennis membership.
To launch the inaugural season, several pros came in for a Wilson-sponsored APTA/PPTA clinic and exhibition.
The Kansas City paddle community was excited to welcome Nathan LeFevre, Mark Fischl, Sebastian [...]
The Chicago Charities tournament has become second only to the Nationals for paddle treasure.
Good work and good play go hand in hand every year at the Chicago Charities tournament, where the proceeds benefit a charity chosen by the CC committee. Glen View Club of Golf, Illinois, hosted the highly-touted tournament, known for its quality of play.
Teams came from all over—including California, Canada, and Connecticut—to vie for the Charities cup and to support a great cause, The House of Peace Shelter. And no good deed goes undone—everyone received favors of warm picnic blankets and paddle DVDs for their participation.
Hall of Famers and former national champions dotted the draw sheet for both the men's and women's events. The women played on Friday and Saturday morning of a golden weekend. The worst element the women had to deal with was bright sunshine. With a field embar[...]
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