In 2012, Radley Run Country Club in West Chester, Pennsylvania, invested in two paddle courts. An unfortunate "hundred year" flood had washed away the tennis courts, and as the club worked on its reconstruction, it wisely included platform tennis courts. Two short years later, Radley Run has three men's and women's paddle teams each and a junior program bursting at the seams with over 70 active players.
How did our club attract over seventy children each week? Here are a few key components………[Click image to read more]
Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 Issue 2, 2014
The men's ranking system has been revised for this season. In addition, the APTA has added Live Scoring to more tournaments, so rankings are now updated more frequently.
Men's Doubles National Rankings will be published online after Chicago, Hinsdale, Cincinnati, Short Hills, and Nationals.
To receive an official end-of-the-year ranking, a team must play 3 events together, with one of those events outside of their home region. Nationals is considered an out-of-region event no matter its location and is the only NRT with this designation.
NRT points for a specific tournament exist for 12 months and are replaced by the following year's event.
Removal of any earned NRT points due to rules infractions or punishment for player behavior will be enforced as instructed by the APTA Players Committee.
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Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 [...]
The format for the President's Cup has been in flux ever since it started back in the 1970s (Men) and 1980s (Women). There was yet another tweak to the popular Tournament in 2014.
WOMEN'S RULE CHANGES
Region VIII has been eliminated. This changes the match play format back to a seven-team round robin, where matches are best of two sets to four games.
No one ranked individually in the top 16 may play in the President's Cup.
There are new line-up and points system regulations. Please see below for the full explanation.
MEN'S RULE CHANGES
If a player is invited to play for his home region, he is not eligible to play for Region VIII.
Line-ups and subs will not have to be submitted prior to the event. A list of participants is still required. The designation of players as "subs" or "Court 1" will no longer be necessary in advance of the event.
Captain's will exchange line-[...]
Moving Region VI Onwards and Upwards
Did you know that all of the platform tennis courts in California are in Ross, part of Marin County, about 20 miles from San Francisco? There are three at Lagunitas Country Club, where our volunteer of the month Cam Lanphier plays, as well one public court in town and a couple of private courts. That is it! In the largest state, the other paddle tennis is better known, but our sport is alive and well in Ross and continues to attract high-level players.
Cam Lanphier grew up in Pelham, New York, where she fooled around with platform tennis as a teenager when courts were added at her club. She didn't really start playing seriously until she moved to Ross in 1988………..
[Click on image below to read full article]
Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 issue 2, 2014
Two long-time proponents of the game received the APTA's highest award this year for their impressive involvement in the sport of platform tennis.
Both Duane Hayden and Joe Russo were completely surprised when they were given their awards and were feted in their communities.
They both have been active in the game of platform tennis for decades and have served the sport in very diverse ways. Avid players each, they continue to be ambassadors for the paddle world in different regions.
[Click on images in the sidebar to read full article]
Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 Issue 2, 2014
In 1970, with no previous umpiring experience, I climbed into a chair to oversee a club championship match at Fox Meadow Tennis Club. After the first set, I was nearly frozen and climbed down.
In 1971, I secured the services of Jack Stahr, a renowned tennis umpire, to do the APTA Men's Finals at FMTC. He later suggested that I get involved in tennis umpiring, obviously not based on my platform tennis performance.
Experienced Tennis Umpires Wanted
I still remember umpiring a match for Mary Carillo, age 16, at Orienta Beach Club in Mamaroneck, New York. Gradually, I worked myself up to become part of the Men's International Professional Umpires Group and did chairs for John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert, and many others at the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, Tokyo, and more……….
[Click on the image below to read more of Molloy's experiences}
Source:Platform Tennis Magazine, [...]
Wired into the Game - by Nindy Pike
I first met Ken Packert at the 2012 Nationals at Huntington Country Club on Long Island. I didn't know where to set up shop in the limited space. A man stringing up wire on the beams above told me to clear a spot at the table below his ladder. The but was filled with cables. Some were wrapped on the ceiling beams, some were trailing down like sausages in a charcuterie. It looked complicated………
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Catching up with and to Patty Hogan is always fun. When I spoke with her, she was driving to Canoe Brook in Summit, New Jersey. She runs the Junior Paddle Academy with host pro Drew Broderick and Dave Broderick, a very successful junior platform tennis program. She had spent the past weekend helping set up the Beacon Hill Junior Open, a Ranking event, also in Summit. "Just this past weekend, with junior events in Beacon Hill, Philadelphia, Essex, and Cleveland, we had way over 220 kids playing paddle in an APTA event," Hogan enthused……….
[Click on image below to read the full article]
Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 16 Issue 3, Jan./Feb. 2015
He's Back!
Years of Service on the APTA Board: First year of current term; 1981-1985 Region I President; 1985-1988 Executive Director
Family: Wife Myra
Years Playing: 45
How did you get started playing platform tennis? As a teenager, I was introduced to the game at the Innis Arden Golf Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, by Don White (a previous APTA President). Other people who influenced me were George Schmid, a Senior National champion, who was somewhat of a father image. He helped me learn the classic game. He was from the wood paddle era and believed in defensive strategy. I worked with Bob Callaway in the late 1970s and early 1980s, teaching paddle at Callaway's Paddle Tennis Center and with Doug Russell, at The Manhattan PTC and the Apple PTC, so obviously those men are very significant to me…….
[Click image below to read the full article]
Source: Platform Tenn[...]
Interim President Bill O'Bien explains the rational for the decision.
"Rob is stepping down from the Presidency for all the right reasons. He has been working to start up a company in the court building business and his efforts are starting to take shape. He saw that being in the court building business while also being President of the APTA could later be perceived as a conflict of interest and so he asked to step down to avoid any potential shadow being cast onto the APTA. One of the really wonderful aspects of this game is the classy way in which most everyone associated with the sport conducts themselves and this is just one more example of that behavior."
O'Brien went on to thank Rob for his service to the APTA and the game.
"First of all, I want to thank Rob Coster for his service to our game. The energy he brought to Eastern Connecticut, as a player and a force for growth[...]
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