What started out five years ago as a handful of pros teaching platform tennis has grown into a record 115 certified pros in 18 different states.

Illinois leads the way with 34 certified pros.

The numbers are a reflection of the growth of the game and the acknowledgement that teaching platform tennis is a viable profession that can help club professionals establish themselves in year-round teaching positions.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol.6, Issue 5, April, 2005

When longtime platform tennis player and friend Dan McCormick introduced Kern Delmonico to platform tennis eight years ago, she had no idea of the sport’s addicting nature. Coming from a family with two brothers and one sister Kern grew up in a competitive environment. She explained, “In platform tennis, I enjoy the team aspect, but in the end it’s all about the competition!”” Kern had a few consistent partners and would achieve a consistent top five ranking year by year. I feel that I have stepped up a level this past year,” Kern commented. She added, “Aside from reading the player tips and strategy in Platform Tennis Magazine, I think the biggest factor to my success is that my boyfriend Mike (Stulac) is rubbing off on me.” Mike (the 2005 Men’s Open Champion) and Kern have been dating for the past two years. In addition to platform, Kern is an accomplished tennis player. She discussed the differences she sees between the two sports. “Platform tennis requires patience! About 90 percent of platform points are lost outright as opposed to tennis where you can hit a winning forehand and quickly end the point.” She added, “Be humble and listen to experienced paddle players… You can’t expect to immediately be number 1 in the country lust because you have experienced tremendous success in tennis. Paddle demands patience’

Aila Main grew up playing highly competitive tennis in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. As a junior she played the Fed Cup for Croatia. After moving to the states, Aila graduated from Princeton University and Hastings Law and moved to New York City. Three years ago, Kerrie and Aila met at lunch through a mutual friend. Having become best of friends, they laugh as they recall their first impression dislike of each other. Kerrie recalled, “We began playing together at Town Tennis for the next couple of years before we decided to become partners.” Although Aila was an instant success on the court, she credits friends for her rapid improvement. “I have been lucky enough to play with people who are a lot better than me, who have been willing to give me advice, and there is no faster way to learn.” When asked about the carry-over from tennis Aila explained, “I am still relatively new to platform tennis, so I am still working out the strategic similarities and differences From tennis. The obvious major difference is the way the points set up. The instinct to try to put the ball away is very strong for most tennis players, and you have to forget that in platform. It really feels like more of a chess match sometimes the move that wins or loses the point happened three or four shots prior” She added, “This game is a great sport for tennis players of all levels. I would recommend that tennis pros and avid players find a fun group of people and just get out there and play!” She concluded, “Personally, I play because I love the people, I love being outside in winter, and I enjoy the competition. Paddle seems to attract a singularly terrific group of people, and I feel very fortunate to be involved in the sport.”

When asked about the future, Kerrie answered, “I would love to win another national championship but if I do nothing more than just compete well that’s good enough for me.” Aila concurred, “My goal is simply to play the game as long as I can. I just love it.”

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 6, Issue 5, April, 2005

Maura Judkis provided a summary of efforts to grow junior paddle over the past decades

One of Whitney Snyder’s most poignant memories from his childhood in Sewickley, Penn., is the slow scratch of a shovel being dragged across a snow-covered aluminum floor. While his weeks were filled with middle school, his weekends were devoted to platform tennis. Instead of waking up early on wintry Saturday mornings for cartoons, Snyder would go to the paddle courts at 7 a.m. and hear the scraping shovel that signified the beginning of his early morning group lesson.

The 1970s generated junior paddle leagues across the country. Both Snyder and his friend Bill Hallett recalled their junior paddle days as being sponsored by enthusiastic parents who were willing to teach the game and send their children to the Junior Nationals by the bus load. “There really weren’t pros teaching the game,” said Hallett, who recalled playing at the local YMCA. “Most of us were just introduced to it by our parents. Even I taught clinics to younger kids when I was in high school”

“The parents really do get credit for organizing it,” said Snyder, who described the paddle craze as “very contagious,” and a typical part of an after school routine. “Since girls and boys played together, it broke the ice socially for those awkward teenage years,’ he said.

Junior paddle in the 1970’s provided not only a social activity, but also a forum for real competition. Both players recalled bus rides to tournaments in Detroit, Indianapolis, and Cleveland, among others. The Junior Nationals were even held in Pittsburgh once during their high school years.

However, transitions in paddle corresponded with transitions in the young players’ lives. As kids graduated and moved away to college, programs began to diminish, and disappeared altogether by the 1980s in Pittsburgh. Nationals, too, became a memory when Hank Irvine, longtime organizer of the Junior Nationals, resigned. Paddle for juniors entered a latency period, and interested kids were left with nowhere to turn but a few lessons with parents on whatever court time they could spare.

Even though kids were interested, there was no official means for play until the Viking Cup Parent-Child tournament, sponsored by David Kjeldsen and Robin Fulton. The tournament, held in 1996, began the rebirth of a dormant Junior Nationals. Following the tournament, Fulton revived nationals for a few years, before resigning her position to Patty Hogan.

Junior Nationals would not be the only program Patty Hogan would have built from next to nothing. Hogan’s junior paddle organization at the Beacon Hill Country Club in Summit, NJ, began with only three kids, but soon grew to 80.

On Saturday, December 11, 2004, the Long Island Platform Tennis Association hosted its 2nd Annual Viking Junior Tour tournament at the Garden City Country Club and Cherry Valley Club. Among the four age divisions, 28 teams participating (56 kids!), with countless parents and grandparents cheering. The level of paddle was extraordinary, the good sportsmanship was commendable and the smiles were constant!

John Cerga and Alex Bancila, the Directors of Racquet Sports at the Garden City Country Club and Cherry Valley Club, respectively, volunteered their time and helped make it a memorable day for the players. We expect to have even more teams next year, so sign up early! The Champions and Finalists were as follows:

10 & Under
Winners: Jack Stiuso and Dylan Neville
Finalists’ Hunter Robinson and Timmy Schnier

12 & Under
Winners: Liam Neville and Warren Trunz
Finalists: Jack Mara and Zachary Morris

14 & Under
Winners: Bryan Kallenberg and Matthew Kallenberg
Finalists: Steve Chmil and Dillon Talcott

18 & Under
Winners: Christopher Souther and Jay Schwab
Finalists: Paige Brown and Alyson McArdle

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 6, Issue 4, February, 2005

Wayne Dollard reported for PTM from Chicago:

A refreshing 2004-05 season was on display in Chicago from November 5-7 for the annual Charities tournament. The best players in the game, including 214 men and women, competed in this season’s extravaganza. New pairings, veteran teams, and reunited legends captured off a weekend of unparalled platform tennis.

2004 Chicago Women’s Charities: What would you like to see when going to watch a major platform tennis championship? Power, finesse, excitement? You might also like to see new teams rising to greater heights and veteran teams returning to show a younger generation that they’re not ready to go away any time soon. This year’s Chicago Charities provided all of these things plus much more.

The ladies of platform tennis kicked off the weekend on Friday, November 5th. The absences of Lauren Zink, Shelley Morse, Patty Hogan, Sarah Krieger, and Robin Fulton were
felt, but the Chicago spectators had plenty to cheer about with hometown favorites dominating the draw. Mary Doten, Sally Cottingham, Chris Sheldon, Leslie Hough, and Kelly
Rudolph held up their end of the bargain and advanced to the quarter-finals. Doten and Keane (Grosse Pointe, Michigan), current National Champions and second-seeded team, were stopped short of their goal of capturing the title when they ran up against the third-seeded team of Bobo Delaney and Tonia Mangan in the semi-finals.

However, the story of the tournament was not the loss of one team to another, but rather the re-addition of Sue Aery and Gerri Viant to the Charities. Aery retired from platform tennis in 2002 to pursue a chiropractic education. Returning to the 2004 Nationals in Cleveland this past March, the unseeded Aery/Viant reached the finals before losing to Doten/Keane 6-3,6-4.

At the Charities, Aery and Viant defeated Cottingham and Sheldon (three sets) in the quarter-finals and the #1 seeds-Hilary Debbs/Cindy Prendergast (6-2,6-4) in the semi-finals. The finals proved to be a challenge, but Aery/Viant took the title 6-4,6-4 over Delaney/Mangan.

2004 Chicago Men’s Charities: The men’s draw was packed tight with most of the eastern teams making the trip to the Midwest. There may have been a lack of upsets and emotional letdowns, but there was an abundance of excitement and unbridled enthusiasm in the air.

All of the top eight seeds advanced to the quarter-finals, including the top three ranked teams in the country, Chris Gambino/David Ohlmuller, Scott Mansager/Flip Goodspeed, Scott Estes/Scott Mackesy. Chicago talent was strong in the men’s draw with four seeded players Scott Bondurant, David Keevens, Mike Rahaley, and Bill
Fiedler.

The match of the tournament was, without a doubt, the semi-final battle between newcomers David Caldwell/Blake Cordish and current National Champions Flip Goodspeed/Scott Mansager. The two-hour, three-set knock-down, drag-out fight left Goodspeed/Mansager bruised for their finals rematch with the APTAs #1- ranked doubles team Ohlmuller/Gambino.

Mansager dominated the first set with powerful returns that kept the top-seeded team off balance. Goodspeed played flawlessly both at the net and in the back-court. At the same time, Gambino/Ohlmuller did not play anywhere near to their potential.

The second and third sets looked more like a rematch of last year’s Charities final where Gambino and Ohlmuller defeated Goodspeed and Mansager 6-2,6-4, This time around the last two sets went 6-2,6-3.

With another Charities win under their belt, Gambino and Ohlmuller have set themselves up early in the year once again as the team to beat. At the same time, on the women’s tour, Sue Aery and Gerri Viant have told the field that they’re back and that their goal is to recapture the National Championship.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 6, Issue 3, December, 2004

PTM Editor Wayne Dollard reported:

PTM recently had the opportunity to sit down with Baltimore’s up-and-coming paddle sensations Blake Cordish (age 33) and David Caldwell (age 30) and asked about their remarkable history with tennis and their seamless transition to platform tennis.

Blake Cordish was born in Baltimore and played tennis at an early age. As a junior, he was ranked in the top 100 in the United States in singles and the top ten in doubles before going on to play for the varsity team at Princeton.

David Caldwell was raised in Danville, Virginia. As a junior, David was ranked #1 in the country. At the University of North Carolina, he improved and was a three-time All-American. By the late 1990’s, David was playing the top pros in the world at the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open. He was ranked in the top 150 on the ATP Tennis Tour.

David and Blake have been long-time friends. “From the age of ten, I grew up playing doubles on the junior tennis circuit with Blake’s younger brother, Reed,” David explained. He added, “Reed and I have remained close friends, in fact, after college Reed and I traveled together on the professional tennis tour. The Cordish family has always been an extended family for me.”

When David retired from the tennis tour, Blake hired David at his real estate development corporation, “The Cordish Company,” with divisions in retail, office, hospitality/gaming as well as operating divisions focused on restaurants/clubs, live music and film. David enthusiastically stated, “Real estate development appeals to my competitive instincts and in many ways is an intellectual extension of my sports background.'”

One of Blake’s mentors, David Iglehart, was a highly ranked national platform player (with his brother) and raved about the game. At his encouragement, Blake played platform tennis for the first time four years ago in the Baltimore League. Blake recalled, “I was always aware of the game growing up but never played. I instantly fell in love with platform tennis and the following fall, I introduced David to it. We played our first tournament in the fall of 2001. Naturally, we took a beating the first year or two. Needless to say, we played our share of back-draw matches but found the tournament competition invaluable. Our low point the first year was losing in a fifth round back-draw match of Nationals in a third set breaker to a guy who was cramping and alternatively chucking Red Bull beer on change-overs. It was both a humbling and soul-searching experience!” Blake added, “One of the major differences from conventional tennis is how much more quickly the momentum changes in platform tennis. In tennis, there is so much more time between points and change-overs to control tempo and momentum. As a result, platform places an increased emphasis on mental intensity. In addition, there is a huge mental difference with the realization in platform tennis that the point is almost basically never over. In terms of similarities, doubles tennis and platform tennis are both intellectually challenging in terms of strategy and positioning and require excellent communication between partners. As a result, in both sports it is a huge advantage to be close friends with your partner and have that level of trust.”

David expanded on Blake’s analysis, “One of the major differences I see between the sports is the flow and shot patterns within the points. Platform requires reprogramming your tennis brain in terms of how you approach the development of a point and how you react to the ball. Learning platform for us has been fascinating because, without formal training, in many ways it was trial and error. On a most basic level, the great similarity between the sports and the thing Blake and I enjoy most about both sports is that they represent competition in its purest sense. No coaches, no subs, both sports require competitors to just lay it on the line.”

David and Blake offered PTM a few recommendations for tennis pros or those new to the game. David explained, “My main piece of advice is to be mindful of the basics of paddle, but not at the expense of changing your core strengths. The game is certainly evolving and a major strength in tennis can more than likely be adapted to fit paddle and ultimately add a new dimension to the game.” Blake agreed, “Players with a tennis background should recognize they have a major advantage as they approach platform tennis and should build on those strengths. Many of the core fundamentals of the modern era of tennis such as semi-western forwards and extreme kick serves are all directly applicable to platform tennis.”

PTM asked David Caldwell what avenues their team has taken to better learn the sport? He responded, ‘We do read Platform Tennis Magazine, but in one sense we made a conscious effort early on to develop our game through competition and let our backgrounds in tennis be the driving force in the learning process. The theory is to not restrict the learning process with pre-conceived ideas about how to play. One great thing about sports is that they always evolve and the challenge is to figure out new ways to play and maintain an edge on the competition. The more talented tennis players we can get into the game the better. Platform tennis is clearly evolving and I am convinced that those with a tennis background will play a major role in the development of new shots and strategies on the platform tennis court.

As active APTA members, playing as many as six to ten sanctioned tournaments per season, David and Blake offered potential rule changes for the APTA to consider moving into the future. ‘We believe that lobs that land in the court and bounce over the wall should be in. We also feel that adding a second serve could be an interesting concept and change the basic dynamic of the sport.”

Regarding competitive play, Blake concluded, “We personally feel that tournament competition has been the key to our improvement. Every tournament we get to see new balls and we learn new things on the court. Our ultimate goal is to win a National Championship. We feel like we are still improving and we want to see how far we can go.”

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol 6., Issue 3, December 2004

Susie Keane was born in Detroit, MI, 39 years ago. Growing up, she had a natural talent for tennis. Susie made the pro tennis circuit in 1980 after being ranked the #1 junior girl tennis player in the world (PTM mistakenly said “the #1 girls’ 15-and-under player in the world”)¹. She competed on the tour until 1988, earning a ranking as high as #27 in the world.

Enjoying her tennis retirement by raising her three children, Susie was coaxed into a paddle game three years ago when her husband’s partner (her brother) failed to show up for a Saturday morning game. “My first game was very frustrating, but I liked it,” she recalls. “Playing that first match got me interested and when my friend Nancy Maxwell called me to play in a follow-up game I was excited. Nancy had been trying to get me out there for years,” she added.

Susie moved to Chicago shortly after that first game. She explained, “The Chicago girls were a great inspiration to me. I was fortunate to start off with such a supportive group.” In Chicago, Susie partnered with Mary Doten after Mary’s long-time partner Julia Sierks ended the 2002- 03 season early due to a family illness. She explained, “Mary is a great partner for me because we compliment each other’s games well. I love playing with Nancy Maxwell as well.” Susie also credited Ray Murphy and Jeff (Dr. Detroit) Hodges as great inspirations to her game.

All year long, Susie keeps an active agenda. She does yoga once a week and plays tennis in the summer. “I eat well all of the time and try not to push my physical limits. The important thing is to be healthy and fresh. I’ve seen too many injuries in tennis when people over-train. In the season, I’ll play paddle three times per week, but I switch back to tennis with the change to spring. I have to say that the tennis court does seem to be getting bigger and bigger these days,” she noted.

Susie accredited that tennis has made her a quickly-accomplished paddle player because “the racquet skills transfer.” She added, “To get better, I need to play more – experiment more. I need to mix up the overheads and add drop shots like the men do. If they can do it, it motivates me to try to add that dimension to the women’s game.” She added, “I also want to work on blitzing the net from the baseline. People who watch me think that I have a tough return of serve, but the fact is that it is effective because my partner blitzes the net and puts away the first volley. I would like to do the same for her.”

When asked her feelings about winning the APTA Women’s Open Nationals for the second consecutive year she said, “The first year, Mary and I weren’t expecting anything. Nobody knew us and we had the element of surprise. This year, we felt that we worked through our early seasonal losses and that we were a better team than we were last season. We also felt that many teams were gunning for us. This season’s Nationals victory was more satisfying than last season’s because we had to play harder. It was really awesome getting to play Sue and Gerri in the finals. You can’t ask for more than that.” Susie concluded, “We are truly out there just to have a good time… Winning is a bonus. We’ll be back next year, but our goal is still just to have a good time.”

Source: Wayne Dollard, Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 5, Issue 5, April, 2004

Note 1: Correction made in 2014 after induction of Keane into Hall of Fame (personal communication from Keane)

On April 11, following Davis Cup coverage, The Battle @ Beckett appeared on The Tennis Channel. The Battle @ Becket was the largest media event in platform tennis history, covered by five television stations, including ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX, and numerous magazines and newspapers. The event featured the Jensen Brothers (1993 French Open Champions) and 2003 National Champions Chris Gambino, and David Ohlmuller.

The event took place at Beckett Ridge Country Club (West Chester, OH)and was the first time professionals from the ATP tennis tour and platform tennis circuit faced off against each other on a paddle court. Luke and Murphy had been ranked as high as #4 in the world ATP rankings.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 5, Issue 5, April, 2004

Dollard Publishing Company (DPC), the publisher of PTM, was awarded a significant contract for publishing another magazine and this prompted DPC to seek additional publishing and design help which, in turn, lead to an update to the design of PTM.

Wayne Dollard, PTM editor, wrote in From the Editor…:

“Why did we make the change now rather than at the beginning of next season? After seeing the preliminary designs, we simply couldn’t wait! My chief designer wanted to end the season on a high note and get everyone excited for next season. We agreed. We have also offered a new masthead and cover theme to kick off the new style. I hope you like it.”

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 5, Issue 5, April, 2004

PTM carried an article by Tom Dow on how to sell the idea of building more public courts and facilities. The article was written to provide the basis of a presentation that could be made by those wanting to expand the game in their area to potential supporters such as their local municipality, YMCA, foundation, and/or local “paddle angel.” The article was supported by various case studies of successful programs.

[please enlarge images to read the full report]

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 5, Issue 3, January, 2004