On March 6th-9th , the sport of Platform Tennis will take it’s grandest stage as the sport travels to Las Vegas to be a part of the ATP Tour’s event called “The Tennis Channel Open”. This will mark the first time the sport has been associated with another professional event at the same time! The likes of defending champion Lleyton Hewitt, Fernando Gonzalez, Marcos Baghdatis, and The Bryan Brothers will compete on one stage as Platform Tennis will be a part of a side event called “Tennispalooza”.

0rganizers Jason Gray, Jean Kempner, and David Dodge (Premier Platform Tennis), along with the APTA, are proud to showcase the sport out west for the first time. The group has put together what they feel will be a unique one-of-a-kind, four-day event called “Platformpalooza”. The festivities will take place in Summerlin, Nevada, at The Darling Memorial Tennis Center. Along with “Platformpalooza”, spectators will also enjoy the Women’s USTA Pro Circuit Tournament, “Paddle Tennis” Championships, ITA Collegiate Tennis, USTA Jr. Tennis Tournament, Shotgun 21 Tournament, USTA Appreciation Day, Kids Day, Fabulous Las Vegas Night, High School Tennis Skills Challenge, and the Yellow & White Out benefiting the American Cancer Society & The Lance Armstrong Foundation.

“Platformpalooza” will consist of 4 days (Thurs-Sun) of various activities to bring awareness to the sport of platform tennis. The PPTA will be conducting daily (day/evening sessions) instructional clinics that will include some of the finest platform tennis instructors in the country. When clinics are not scheduled, fans will be treated to exciting exhibitions and an organized round robin tournament that will also feature some of the finest platform tennis player’s in the country. As a bonus for the round robin tournament, The Tennis Channel will attempt to provide a “Wild Card” team of ATP Touring Professionals to join the event and attract more exposure.

In addition to the on-court activities, volunteers from different regions of the country will be on hand to work an APTA booth and promote platform tennis throughout the entire facility. Spectators will be able to stop by the APTA booth to find out more about the sport, sign up for clinics, sign up for daily raffles, grab promotional materials (brochures, magazines, etc.), and check out the latest equipment.

As well as all the exciting activities that will be provided, the greatest exposure will come from guaranteed “LIVE” coverage that will be televised daily. This will be another first for the sport. As clinics are being conducted and matches being displayed the rest of the country will be able to watch with excitement, as the network will be viewing various segments of our activities each day.

When it’s all said and done, “Platformpalooza” will be the largest promotional platform tennis event in the history of the sport! To learn more about the event, please check out www.TennisChannelOpen.com and click on “Special Events” or go to www.PlatformTennis.org.

Sandra Odenbach filed this report with PTM:

Shortly after Christmas I received an email from PTM Editor Wayne Dollard asking me to call him. I learned that he wanted to do a feature article on my husband Fritz that would run in the February issue of the magazine. He wanted it to be a surprise and would I be willing to write it.

I started to panic and shot off a quick email to Wayne asking him to be more specific on what he wanted in this article. All I got was “Five hundred words, I’ll edit, I need it in two weeks.” Yikes.

So, undercover I decided to go, determined to find out as much information about him as I could, getting help from his friends, picking his brain whenever possible and encouraging him to tell me all his paddle stories.

A die-hard Red Sox fan, Fritz Odenbach, or “Freddie” as many like to call him, grew up in a family of nine children in the town of Penfield, New York.

As a young man, summers were spent sailing, playing tennis with his father and brothers, and working in the family quarry business. Winters were spent playing paddle.

Almost 30 years ago, Fritz and his brother Gardner built the first permanent, public paddle courts here in Rochester at Shadow Lake. Now there are twenty-eight courts at eleven neighboring clubs, Shadow Lake having the most with five (plus three temporary courts will be added at Shadow Lake to accommodate the Nationals, in March of this year).

Fritz didn’t start the platform tennis leagues in Rochester, but he was certainly a huge influence. Currently, there are over 700 men and women playing weekly in the Rochester Interclub Paddle League, a league that Fritz ran for over 15 years. The leagues are now run by John and Claudia Topping.

A tireless promoter of the game, Fritz has also run the Rochester Districts for 20 years and won it nine times with nine different partners. Fritz has won many more local tournaments over the years, including the Shadow Lake Tournament, usually with a different partner each time.

Always interested in bringing new faces to the game, Fritz will talk to anyone, anytime about the game and will play with any level player just to entice someone new into trying this sport that has brought him so much joy.

He has also served on the Board of the APTA for eight years and launched the Promotional Committee which put a press kit into effect and helped initiate junior paddle tournaments.

Twenty years ago Fritz took over the Ranking Committee and has served diligently ever since, only handing over the reins to Ray Crosta this year so he could concentrate on running the Nationals.

This will be the fourth Nationals that Fritz has chaired. Rochester was also the host of the 1988, 1996 and 2000 Nationals with Fritz at the helm and has the reputation for having the best party. Hopefully, we will be able to keep that tradition alive and strong again this year.

Fritz has had many partners over the years, some more successful than others, but I doubt you will find one person with something bad to say about Fritz as an athlete, competitor and gentleman.

Fritz’s longest standing partner was his cousin Rick Williams, who played with him for about seven years. After that came Martin Sturgess with whom he had a very successful number of years, winning many regional tournaments and playing President’s Cup. Mike Stulac and Fritz battled each other for years on the paddle courts. Fritz finally recruited him to play, winning several national ranking tournaments together and making it to the semi-finals of the Nationals in both 1999 and 2000. Unfortunately, Fritz was unable to make a real commitment to Mike as both of his kids were playing travel hockey during the winter months. As we all know, Mike went on to win the Nationals in 2005 with Bill Anderson and that brought Fritz great pride.

Last year, Fritz and I were lucky enough to make it to the finals of the Husband and Wife Nationals in Chicago and lost a tough three setter to Dan and Sarah Williams in snow, gale force winds and frigid temperatures. Fritz likes to joke that he’s a “mixed” player now. So I was thrilled when a couple of months ago Fritz and his partner Doug Jones won the Cleveland Tournament. It was the first National Ranking tournament that Fritz has won in many years and they did it in great style upsetting the number one, three and four seeds to claim the title. But I think one of Fritz’s greatest paddle achievements was winning the 45 Nationals with Rusty Wright in 2006 at the age of 50. It was an amazing three set match against Bill Fiedler and Scott Bondurant, won 7-5 in the third set. Senior players, I say, what are those?!

Just recently we received the news that Fritz was to be inducted into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame. To be inducted in his hometown in front of all his friends and family is truly an honor. It is an honor that has brought tears to my husband’s eyes. All his achievements and hard work really mean nothing to him. He has done everything for the love of this game. This game we call paddle tennis.

Ever the optimist, it is sometimes difficult for a mortal person like me to live up to the expectations of such a modest man. All he expects is to be treated the way he treats others, fairly and kindly. As a man, father, step-father, brother and husband I am in awe and so proud of him.

Fritz Odenbach was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008

The event was a Men’s and Women’s National Ranking Tournament

“Last year’s event was wonderful, but we want this year to be even better.” With those words, Dave Marvin, Co-Founder and CEO of Marvin and Palmer Associates, Inc., set the goal for the 2008 Philly Open.

The event will be hosted by the Overbrook Golf Club on the weekend of February 23rd and 24th and will be Chaired by Simon Peppiatt.

Philadelphia hospitality will welcome all visitors with open arms, plenty of food and drink and extra amenities, including on-site massage therapy, available all day Saturday.

Prize money will be increased to $5,000/team for the men’s and women’s winners and the top 10 men’s and women’s teams will end up in the money. [enlarge image to read more about the event and prize money]

Richard K. Hebard passed away on October 22, 2007, at the ago of 93. He was survived by his wife Lois, three sons, Richard, Douglas, and Donald, his daughters-in-law, and four grandchildren.

Dick Hebard was a member of Fox Meadow Tennis CLub, in Scarsdale, New York, where he excelled in both tennis and platform tennis.

During his playing era, he won more Platform Tennis National Championships than any other man at that time. He won eight National Men’s Championships, and was a finalist twice.

Hebard also won five National Mixed Doubles Championships, and was a finalist twice. He continued to play competitively into his senior years, winning the 50-and-over Men’s Nationals four times and the 60-and-over Nationals once. In all, Hebard won 18 National Platform Tennis Championships. He also served as President of Fox Meadow Tennis Club and the American Platform Tennis Association.

Hebard was also a very fine tennis player. At the age of 14, he won the National Boy’s Singles Championships. In both tennis and platform tennis, he was a relaxed, classic stylist, and he was highly respected by everyone, both partners and opponents.

Hebard was inducting into the Hall of Fame in 1965.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 9, Issue 3, January, 2008

0n October 6th & 7th Chicago not only hosted the Chicago Marathon and the Chicago Cubs, but the 3rd Annual Premier Cup made it’s way to the Saddle & Cycle Club in downtown Chicago.

After two successful years in Cincinnati at Four Bridges Country Club, Scott Mansager and Bill Fiedler offered to help run and organize this year’s Chicago event… and they put on one heck of a show for all to see.

The Premier Cup, the brainchild of Jason Gray and David Dodge, was started as a way to promote interest in platform tennis. This year’s event again brought eight of the top-ranked teams from the 2006-07 season together to compete for $5,000 in prize money put up by court builder Premier Platform Tennis.

This year’s event saw a different and unique format as all 8 teams played a single set round robin format throughout the day on Saturday to establish the top 4 teams. Those teams competed for the money rounds on Sunday. [enlarge image to read full coverage of event]

Laura Berendt-Parsons was born in Barrington, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, 30 years ago. Laura competed heavily in junior tennis.

Among others, Laura played against Annica Cooper in 10-and-under competition.

During childhood, Laura moved to Florida where she was ranked #1 in the state in 18- and-under tennis competition. She had a national ranking of #16.

Laura earned a tennis scholarship to the University of Texas. In her sophomore year, she reached the prestigious status of All-American.

After college, Laura hit the pro tour for two years. “I didn’t like being on the tour. I always felt alone,” she said.

“I started playing platform tennis a few years ago. Nate (Parsons) needed a tennis/platform tennis assistant at theGlenview Club in Chicago,” Laura said. She added, “I love the
social aspect of platform tennis much more than tennis ‘

Laura had only played in four tournaments before getting the “out-of-the-blue” call in October from her former 10-and-under junior rival Annica Cooper to play in the Chicago Charities tournament.

Annica Cooper was born in the Chicago suburb of Geneva, Illinois She was a tennis sensation, to say the least.

In her early years, Annica competed against Berendt at Chicago’s Midtown Club.

When Annica reached the 16’s, she proved that she was a force to be reckoned with. At 16, she won the Western Open and was ranked #8 nationally.

Selected on a full scholarship to play tennis at UCLA, Annica played #1 singles and won the PAC Singles Championship. In her best year, she was seeded #8 at the Division 1 National Championships.

After college, Annica went on the WTA Tennis Tour for two years where she had modest success.

Off the tour, Annica moved to New York and picked up platform tennis one year ago. She said, “I love tennis in the summer and I love platform tennis in the winter months.” She added, “I love outdoor sports. What better way to pass the winter than playing platform tennis.”

Annica plays in the New York league and has shown an interest to compete at a higher level. With her league partner nine months pregnant, Annica called her old tennis rival to play together in the Chicago Charities. She said, “I had no idea how good Laura is. We had so much fun playing the Charities, that winning was just a bonus”

In the 2007 Charities (November), the new team ran through the 8th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1 st-seeded teams. None of the veteran players could recall any past team completing this feat.

“I hope we play more tournaments together,” Annica said. She concluded, “We want to play the National Championships together this March in Rochester. To win the Nationals would be the ultimate! I think we have a good chance as long as we are healthy ‘

Laura and Annica said that they didn’t have any goals or expectations of how well they would do before going into the Chicago Charities. It was clear after speaking with these ladies that having a good time, competing, and meeting new friends is what they are all about.

There is no doubt that this pair can be a force in women’s platform tennis for many years to come. Look for this team to make an impact at the 2008 National Championships.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 9, Issue 2, December, 2007

With the lone exception of the National Championships, no other tournament packs the talent like the Chicago Charities. With few exceptions, the best of the best showed up for the 35th annual tournament benefiting the Northwestern Healthcare Kellogg Cancer Care Centers.

Women’s: On November 2nd, 52 Women’s teams kicked off the 2007 Chicago Charities. Six of the top eight teams from the 2006-07 season competed. Absent was the nation’s top team – Lauren Zink/Cindy Prendergast and the nation’s #6 team – Bobo Delaney and Tonia Mangan.

Last season’s #2 team of Sally Cottingham and Chris Sheldon took the #1 seed spot, while Delmonico/Main, Doten/Keane, Dardis/Shay, Prop/Schneebeck, Ohlmuller/Takach, Flynn/Tarzian and Henke/Lemieux rounded out the 2-8 seed spots. Tournament Director John Noble’s draw sheet ran as expected with all seeded teams reaching their anticipated finish with one exception and it was a major exception!

In the round-of-16, the 8th seeded team from Pittsburgh, Karen Henke and Nathalie Lemieux, ran into a freight train when they lost to Laura Berendt and Annica Cooper 6-0, 6-0. Cooper (New York City) had been playing the sport for just over a year when she called Berendt (Chicago), the assistant pro at the Glenview Club, looking to pair up. The two had been Chicago junior tennis rivals before eventually starring in college and eventually playing the pro circuit.

With all other seeds making their way into the quarterfinals, Berendt and Cooper ran into the top-seeded team (and #2 in the country), Sally Cottingham and Chris Sheldon.

After losing the first set 6-4, Berendt and Cooper stepped up their baseline ground-stroke attack. At the same time, they elected a net strategy rarely seen in the women’s game, with Berendt pounding low forehand overheads into the corners. The unseeded team won the remaining sets 6-2 and 6-4.

In the Saturday morning semi-finals, the 3rd seeded team, Mary Doten and Susie Keane felt little consolation with their drawplacement, knowing that they had to play the ladies that just defeated the #1 ranked team.

The two-hour match began at 11a.m. and was watched by 100+ spectators. Everyone got their money’s worth as the former national champions traded ground-strokes and volleys with the tournament’s upset team. In the end, Berendt and Cooper outlasted the veterans, Doten and Keane, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 paving the way for a final against the 2nd seeded team from New York, Aila Main and Kerrie Delmonico-Stulac. Main and Delmonico-Stulac made their way to the finals by winning back-to-back three-setters against the #7-seeded team of Flynn/Tarzian (6-2, 3-6, 6-3) in the quarters and #4-seeded Dardis/Shay (7-5, 3-6, 7-6) in the semis.

On one side of the net, the finals exhibited powerful backhand drives from Main and well-placed forehands from Delmonico-Stulac. On the other side, Berendt and Cooper stunned the seeded team with powerful forehands and backhands from every angle.

With the final score of 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 it was certainly one of the most offensively-oriented women’s finals ever played in the Chicago Charities. All who attended were privy to an amazing show of platform tennis.

Men’s: For those surprised how packed deep the women’s draw was, they must have been amazed to see that 14 of the top 15 men from the 2006-07 season competed in the 2007 Charities.

The seeded teams were: #1 Cochrane/Estes, #2 Caldwell/ Cordish, #3 Goodspeed/Mansager, #4 Bancila/Easterbrook, #5 Gambino/Ohlmuller, #6 Keevins/Uihlein, #7 Berka/Granger and #8 Bondurant/Johnson.

The round-of-16 had one upset, if you’ll call it that, when two Chicago teams met up; one, a pair of former national champions- Mike Marino and Bill Fiedler and two, the #8-seeded team of Scott Bondurant and Mark Johnson. Marino and Fiedler defeated the seeded team and then went on in the quarterfinals to defeat the #1 seeded Mike Cochrane (New York) and Scott Estes (Toledo) 6-2, 6-2.

The biggest surprise of the men’s draw occurred in the Saturday evening men’s quarter-finals when the #6 team Uihlein and Keevins defeated the #3 seeded Goodspeed/Mansager, 6-0, 6-0!

The semi-finals were set with Marino/Fiedler against Gambino/ Ohlmuller and Caldwell/Cordish against Uihlein/ Keevins. Gambino and Ohlmuller made it to the semi after a tight 6-2, 7-5 win in the quarters vs. Bancila/Easterbrook and a win against Heil/English in the 16’s. Caldwell/Cordish reached the semis, defeating Albrikes/Jonason in the 16s and Berka/Granger in the quarters.

A game of momentum and match-ups, the semis showcased the best players in the sport, with Caldwell and Cordish advancing over Keevins/Uihlein 6-1, 6-4; and, Gambino/Ohlmuller over Marino/Fiedler 6-3, 6-3.

A hundred spectators packed the Glenview club to witness a display of inhuman reflexes, power, consistency and chessmanship. After 90 minutes of battle, Caldwell and Cordish walked away with the Charities title, taking the finals 6-2, 6-3.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 9, Issue 2, December, 2007

Over the course of a season, platform tennis players get an opportunity to eye each other up for strengths and weaknesses and see signs of improvement among their competition.

In 2005, Schmitt and Rothschild ended the season #10 in the country. In 2006, they ended #6 in the country. This year they were seeded 2nd going into the National Championships, but ended the season as #4.

Some teams just keep getting better and it forces the question, “Why?” That’s the case with John Schmitt and Dan Rothschild, both of Garden City, New York.

Schmitt said the reason for the team’s break-out success this season was their ability to analyze their strengths and weaknesses objectively. [enlarge image to read full profiles]

On Saturday, December 16, 2006, the Long Island Platform Tennis Association (“LIPTA”) hosted its 4th Annual Viking Junior Tour tournament at the Garden City Country Club, the Cherry Valley Club and the Garden City Community Park. With Christmas only a week 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 and chairman 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, we had thirty-nine teams participating (78 kids), and countless parents and grandparents cheering. The level of paddle was extraordinary, the good sportsmanship was commendable, and the smiles were constant! John Cerga, Alex Bancila and Steve Bromley, the Directors of Racquet Sports at the Garden City Country Club, Cherry Valley Club and Port Washington Yacht Club, respectively, volunteered their time and helped make it a memorable day for the players. Additional thanks to Mike Sparacino for his behind-the-scenes work with the program and draw sheets, and to Gerard Smith (who struggled managing the four teams in the 10 and Under draw!), Ed Blatz and Lou Croce for their help throughout the day. We expect to have even more teams next year, so sign up early!

The Champions and Finalists were as follows:

10 & Under Champions:
Bobby Clarke (Garden City, NY) and Gerard Smith (Garden City, NY); Finalists: Mark De Santis (Garden City, NY) and Timothy Feyrer (Garden City, NY)

12 & Under Champions:
Tyler Kratky (Greenwich, CT) and C.J. Purse (Greenwich, CT); Finalists: Willie Brosnan (Garden City, NY) and Danny Sparacino (Garden City, NY)

14 & Under Champions:
Christopher Brosnan (Garden City, NY) and Patrick Brosnan (Garden City, NY); Finalists: Jack Mara (Garden City, NY) and Alex Morris (Garden City, NY)

18 & Under Champions:
Cole Barris (Scarsdale, NY) and Jay Schwab (Scarsdale, NY); Finalists: Chris Kelley (Wilton, CT) and Hallet Nichol (Wilton, CT)