Junior Nationals participation at all-time high

What activity can you do with kids in the middle of winter when its 15 degrees out?

Put them on the paddle courts of course! That is exactly what happened January 11, as 184 players took to the courts for the 2003 Junior National Championships hosted by the Beacon Hill Club in Summit, New Jersey.

Seven area clubs, 28 courts in all, saw non-stop action as a record number of players battled it out in hopes of winning a National Title. At day’s end, four teams left with championships medals and “Champion’s Chairs” while the other 88 teams left with the satisfaction of knowing they competed their best.

The winners in the 10-and-Under championship were Will Burchenal and Thomas Killian (Summit, NJ). They topped Ryan Hissey and Scotty “THRASH” Safford (West Chester,PA) 6-2, 6-3 in the finals.

Terry Keegan (Fairfield, CT) and Liam Bohannon (Westport, CT) won the 12- and-Under championship by beating Alex Christ (Rochester, NY) and Sean Welch (Pittsford, NY) in a roller coaster match by the scores of 4-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Eric D’Elia (Fairfield, CT) and Marc Powers (Stamford, CT) displayed plenty of skill and maturity in winning the 14- and-Under National title. They beat the team of Peter Hissey (West Chester, PA) and Tom McAvoy (Phoenixville, PA) 7- 6, 6-1 to take home the honors.

The 18-and-Under National Title went to Tyler Gaffney (Madison, NJ) and Diego Rodriguez (Kenneth Square, PA) for the second year in a row. They topped the team of Brandon Kuchta (Lloyd Harbor, NY) and Lauren Cash (Upper Saddle River, NJ) by the scores of 6-4, 6-1.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 4, Issue 4, March 2003

Fatal court explosion in NH

On January 5, 2003, a fatal propane gas explosion occurred on a platform tennis court at the Eastham Residential Community in Grantham, New Hampshire.

A suspected gas leak caused the explosion that killed 64- year-old James Owen (husband and father of one) and injured three others.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine Vol. 4, Issue 4, March 2003

Player Profiles: John Embree and David Kjeldsen

John Embree has been involved in sports, and more importantly – racquet sports, since he was a child. In college, John was a four-year letterman in both soccer and tennis. He was even voted MVP and senior athlete of the year.

In the early 70s, John went on various professional tennis tours, included in this was his participation in the 1976 Australian Open. John’s enthusiasm for tennis was recognized by the USTA when they hired him in 1980. John soon after developed and implemented the new USTA League Program. Today, John’s baby has 400,000 annual participants.

Wilson saw John’s potential and hired him soon after. He worked his way up to become the V.P. and G.M. for Wilson Racquet Sports. One day in 1994, Wilson’s President asked John if he knew of any new business ventures the company could get involved with. Citing service and quality-related problems from platform tennis’ primary manufacturer, Marcraft, John got Wilson involved in the paddle market with the plan to utilize their existing sales reps. Wilson’s initial paddles were the first full-graphite composites made. The paddles were superior to the previous paddles; however, the abundance of power coming from the paddles caused Wilson to switch from graphite to EVA foam in 1997. John chose to get involved in the ball market because the existing Vittert balls were too lively. Wilson bought out Vittert and softened the balls. With lack of consumer support and a small market not large enough to be divided, Wilson sold off the ball market to Viking in 2001.

John’s future commitment to platform tennis is as strong today as it was ten years ago. Aside from paddles, Wilson’s “Surround The Athlete” philosophy includes offering shoes, gloves, hats, bags, grips, etc. “I will continue to support platform tennis as long as I am at Wilson,” John stated. He added, “I am certainly committed to the future. This sport is less than 1/1,000 of Wilson’s racquet business; however, it is something I am passionate about.” As a result, Wilson’s paddle business has increased 20% per year since 1999. Wilson endorses the Performance Paddle Camps, Connecticut Classic, and Chicago Charities Events. As a player, John won the 1995 Illinois States and 1999 45+ Charities Open. John has been ranked nationally in the APTA’s top-ten list several times.

David Kjeldsen: There he was, the world’s biggest couch potato, out on the platform tennis court for the first time playing mixed doubles on a Friday night. Paddle in one hand, cigar in his mouth, a beer in the other hand. Who would have thought that thirteen years later David Kjeldsen would be the largest supplier of balls and paddles in the world?

Friday night platform outings got David’s interest piqued. He started playing platform every Saturday in his club’s morning round robins and then in a league. Through it all, he was using up balls as if they were free. At $15 per sleeve he knew there had to be a better way! He called Hedstrom Corporation, the manufacturer of the Vittert ball, and asked if he could purchase balls by the case. Sure enough, they shipped him an order. When his platform partner heard about his purchase, he asked if he wouldn’t mind getting him and his wife a few cases. When David phoned Hedstrom to order more balls, they informed him that he was now eligible for discount pricing. Shortly thereafter, David ordered a paddle for a friend. Marcraft, without hesitation, supplied David dealer pricing. By 1990, David was officially in the platform tennis business.

In February 1996, David formed Viking Athletics, Ltd., with the sole mission of supplying the highest quality platform tennis equipment available. David claims that at the 2002 APTA National Championships, over 80% of the players used Viking paddles.

Six years ago David introduced the Viking ball and in 2001 he monopolized the market when he bought out Wilson’s ball business. David doesn’t believe that his top accomplishment is his ball monopoly. He proudly recalls one weekend where he reached the finals of an APTA-sanctioned Men’s National Ranking Tournament. If you must know where and when, he’ll be happy to personally give you the details.

Today, Viking is involved in every aspect of the game, from manufacturing balls and paddles, to silk-screening and embroidering hats, shirts, team uniforms, etc., for tournaments, to custom imprinting balls and supplying free tournament draw sheets. Viking supplies everything but the refreshments…and David takes solace in the fact that his headquarters is in an old brewery.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 4, Issue 3, January, 2003

Take away the platform!

Dick Squires had some thoughts on how court construction should change to grow the game:

The November, 2002 edition of Platform Tennis Magazine was primarily concerned about where our lovely sport is going…or not going. We should all be concerned.

The premier tennis court in America was built less than 50 years before the first
paddle court. Why did that sport experience widespread, meteoric growth not only in this country, but around the world? The tennis court consumes four times the amount of land and it too was initially a recreational activity for the wealthy, yet, it took off like a Southern California forest fire. How come?

It is truly a mystery why a rather boorish game like racquetball could experience astronomical growth during the late 70’s. Even though participation eventually leveled off almost as fast as it grew in the ensuing years, there are millions still playing racquetball regularly today. And this sport was `invented’ 25 years after platform tennis!

As we all know, platform tennis is the best of the racquet/paddle and ball sports, including tennis. It is fun, healthy, social, easy-to-learn and difficult-to-master, offers exciting and extended rallies, has several built-in equalizers (single serve, small court, the screens), the equipment is relatively inexpensive, etc., blah, blah. Why then aren’t there 100,000 courts spread out across the States and a few million paddlers enjoying its proven, built-in pleasures?

Certainly one of the reasons is because, as Gary Horvath wrote in his fine article, “The Future of Platform Tennis,” it has been a well-kept secret. There is only a handful of Americans who have any knowledge about the sport, seen it played, and fewer who have actually been on a court. This wonderful game is given absolutely zero coverage or exposure in the media. No one is aggressively promoting it as an ideal athletic, recreational facility for colleges, resorts, upscale retirement communities, ski resorts, country clubs or any place that now has (frequently used) tennis courts.

What is desperately needed is a change in mind-set for those that play and govern the sport. Although its heritage is a pleasurable pastime played outdoors in the winter months installed at county clubs, in actuality platform tennis could and should be enjoyed anywhere and any time of the year.

Yes, one of its distinct attractions and advantages is that it can be played outdoors in cold weather, but its true appeal and benefits far transcend this traditional point of view held and espoused by insular purists. Such a theory is tantamount to the attitude of every tennis pioneer who believed real tennis had to be played outdoors and on grass. Thank God they didn’t win out.

A $50,000 aluminum court with a heated deck built on piers is a wonderful luxury and necessary for courts sited in chilly, snowy climates and hilly terrain, but for most of the geographical areas of the country such an expensive structure is total overkill and stifles the game’s expansion. Take the raised platform out of the court
and substitute a ground-level, hard playing surface perhaps made with a little latex mixed in with the final coat pitch it slightly for drainage, and add an easily-assembled and installed superstructure (the essence of the game) and voila, you’ve got all the court components necessary to play platform tennis. The snow gates would remain as leaf or debris gates. In the same area of one tennis court, three paddle courts could be laid out, including a club house for viewing and displaying paddle equipment and attire – no longer called a warming hut.

The individuals who love to play and those who administrate platform tennis have to stop “preaching to the choir” and start telling their friends at other clubs, their town’s rec. directors, community developers in the neighborhood, architects, resort owners, and university athletic directors that platform tennis represents the ideal athletic pastime for fitness and healthy competition 12 months a year. Continuing to be a well-kept secret and building courts in the air is a sure-fire way to precipitate the ultimate and sad demise of this great game that offers so much for everybody.

Not-so-incidentally, that other game, paddle tennis, played without the wires, has two governing bodies overseeing two different versions (East and West Coast), the United States Paddle Tennis Association and the American Paddle Tennis League. Our APTA could be renamed the American Paddle Tennis Association without infringing or even having to change it’s logo!

It took the USTA almost 100 years to drop the “L” (for Lawn) from it’s acronym. Someone finally discovered that 99% of the tennis courts were clay, hard, or composition. Grass was too expensive to lay down and maintain. Hello? Hopefully, in the near future there will be as few raised platform tennis courts under construction as there are new grass tennis courts being installed today. Then we will know for sure that our sport is on its way to realizing the widespread popularity it deserves.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 4, Issue 3, January, 2003

Dick Squires – Mr. Platform Tennis, the great promoter of the game (1931-2003)

Dick Squires (a.k.a. Mr. Platform Tennis) passed away on November 12, 2003 after a long battle with emphysema.

The following is an excerpt from the article Dick Squires… Gone, but not Forgotten that appeared in Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 5 Issue 3

A National Champion in tennis and squash, Dick tried his luck in platform tennis. Squires brought flair and color to the game. He wore pink sweaters, a paddle glove and hit shots from behind his back in the fifth set of tournament finals matches.

He is also familiar to more than two generations of paddle enthusiasts as the author of “How to Play Platform Tennis,” the definitive book on our sport. Another bestseller to his credit is “The Other Racquet Sports,” covering every racquet and paddle sport from court tennis to pickle-ball.

His writing was not limited to sports, however. “One Moment At A Time, A Love Story,” dedicated to his wife ‘Doc,’ is an autobiography and a moving love story.

In the paddle community, Squires was known as a court builder; national champion; endorser of clothing, balls, paddles and gloves; instructional film maker, and as an enthusiastic promoter of platform tennis. Squires was also instrumental in popularizing the game as CBS Sports televised two of his tournaments on its “Sports Spectacular” show. Over the next decade, he became a swashbuckling promoter who helped take the game on a growth spurt never seen before or after.He was a three-decade, three-time national champion (1966, 1977, and 1983), the 51st member of the APTA Hall of Fame, and by far the most avid promoter of platform tennis over the sport’s 75-year history. [read complete article at left]

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

National Championship results and coverage of Men’s and Women’s Nationals

2003

One hundred and eleven men’s teams negotiated their way to Philadelphia to compete for the prestigious, year-end, National Platform Tennis Championships, March 8th and 9th. When the dust cleared on Sunday afternoon, the defending National Champions, Scott Mansager and Flip Goodspeed had been upset in the semifinals by Mike Stulac and Bill Anderson. Stulac and Anderson were then defeated by David Ohlmuller and Chris Gambino in two hard-fought sets in the finals. For Ohlmuller and Gambino, the victory was especially sweet as they recaptured the National Championship from two years ago.

“We had a great year, capped off by an amazing Nationals,” said David Ohlmuller. “The tournament was first class all the way. The atmosphere made it feel like the US Open,” exclaimed the three-time National Champ.

With Mother Nature cooperating and providing partly sunny skies and temperatures in the 40’s, the tournament played out according to seed, with seven of the top eight seeds reaching the quarterfinal round and the top four seeds reaching the semis. Stulac/Anderson, playing their first season together, finished a tremendously successful year. They defeated Rusty Wright and Chris Cochrane in the round of 16, Jim Kaufman and John Milbank in the quarters and the defending champs, Mansager/Goodspeed in a tight two set match in the semi’s, 6- 3, 7-6 (2).

The road to the final for Ohlmuller and Gambino was equally difficult as they defeated John Schmitt and Mike Cochrane (the two fisted whirling dervish from NY) in the quarterfinals and Scott Estes and Scott Mackesy in the semi’s.

The finals was a test of patience as momentum swung back and forth in the first set, shifting to the ultimate winners when Gambino held serve at 3-3, in a 20 minute service game, that lead to a 6-3 first set victory. In the second set, the break points and momentum stayed with Ohlmuller and Gambino, as their confidence grew. Unforced errors were practically nonexistent as the champs played a near flawless second set.

David Kjeldsen, owner of Viking Athletics stated, “As both a friend and employer, watching David play tournaments for 23 years and never have I seen him as focused as he has been over the past 12 months. This season, David and Chris won, among others, the Nationals, the Chicago Charities, the Sound Shore Invitational, and Short Hills. In 30 matches, they were undefeated. In fact, they only dropped one set all season(Hough/Uihlein in the Chicago Semi-finals)! I doubt that anyone will ever duplicate that record.”

Just as the Men’s Nationals had their excitement, the women had their own. It would have been hard to imagine an unseeded team breaking the normally very consistent ranks of the women’s tour; however, the unseeded Chicago team of Mary Doten and Susie Keane did just that.

On March 7, 2003, 128 women came out to compete for the right to be called the best in the country. With the absence of the two strongest women’s ad-court players (and 2002 National Finalists) Sue Aery and Lauren Zink, the Women’s Nationals was ripe for the picking.

The top seeds were led by (1) Bobo Delaney & Tonia Mangan, (2) Kerri Delmonico & Shelley Morse, (3) Sally Cottingham & Chris Sheldon, and (4) Hilary Debbs & Patty Hogan. They all advanced to the quarterfinals where Mary Doten & Susie Keane defeated the 3rd-seeded Cottingham and Sheldon (five-months pregnant). In the previous round, Doten and Keane upset the 5thseeded team of Robin Fulton and Cindy Prendergast.

Advancing to the first semi-final, Delaney & Mangan matched up against Debbs & Hogan. In the other, Doten & Keane played Delmonico & Morse. In two fantastic, crowd-packed performances, Debbs & Hogan and Doten & Keane were victorious. The finals were set.

After knocking off the 5th, 3rd, and 2nd seeds, did Doten and Keane have the experience to triumph in the finals against veteran 1999 National Open Champion Patty Hogan and her partner Hilary Debbs? For Keane, a former 27th world-ranked women’s tennis star, this was only her third platform tennis tournament. Her mental toughness was certainly not to be questioned.

8alancing a powerful offense with a consistent defense, Doten and Keane pulled away with a straight set victory and earned the right to be called The Best of 2003.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 4, Issue 5, May 2003