Hall of Fame Museum – a site is finally picked

Chuck Vasoll reported on the development for PTM:

It’s been six years since the Platform Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame Foundation was established with the mission of locating a site and creating a home for the sport’s memorabilia and a place to recognize those who have been selected to receive the sport’s highest honor, induction into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame. A major portion of that mission has now been accomplished. The site will be at the Centercourt Athletic Club (CAC) in Chatham, New Jersey.

The plan for a Hall of Fame Museum dedicated to the sport has been ongoing since 1965 when the first individuals who had major achievements in the sport were recognized with an “Honor Award.”

In 1998 the “Honor Award” designation was changed to “The Platform Tennis Hall of Fame” and all prior Honor Award recipients were recognized as members of the Hall of Fame.

The Foundation was formed in 2002 as a separate entity from the ruling body of the sport, the American Platform Tennis Association (APTA), and applied for and received tax-exempt status in 2004. This enabled contributions to its efforts to be deductible on the donor’s income tax returns.

The Foundation’s Board of Trustees then turned its sights to finding a location for a Hall of Fame building. There were several locations considered in the process of this search, most notably at the Fox Meadow Tennis Club in Scarsdale, NY. It is known as the “Home of Platform Tennis” and seemed like the logical place because the inventors of the game, Fessenden Blanchard and James Cogswell, Jr. were members and the first club court was installed there in 1931.

Although Fox Meadow Tennis Club seemed like a natural location, the terms of the project were unable to be agreed upon between the Club’s Board and the Foundation’s Trustees.

As the search continued and other sites were considered, in a casual conversation, Jim McCready, a former Executive Director of the APTA and a racquets pro in New Jersey, suggested to Robert Brown, Foundation Chairman, that the Foundation should contact Clay Bibbee, of CAC, a partner and its General Manager.

The CAC was undergoing a major renovation of its facilities under new ownership and its plans included four platform tennis courts and an aggressive platform tennis program.

Brown contacted Bibbee and discussions began in February 2008. Foundation President Rich Lombard and Treasurer Jo Rogers visited the site with Brown and they reported back positively to the Board of Trustees of the Foundation.

After four months of negotiation, an agreement was drawn up and signed by both parties on June 20, 2008.

Brown indicated that approximately 500 square feet on the second floor of the Centercourt clubhouse would be used to honor Hall of Fame inductees and to display memorabilia of the sport.

Foundation President Richard Lombard said that the location of the Hall of Fame at CAC was an ideal setting in view of its central location, attractive building, and sizeable athletic base.

CAC partner and Managing Director, Clay Bibbee, said, “We are delighted to have the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame at CAC, and we’re looking forward to a mutually beneficial, long term relationship with the Foundation.”

Although a lot of work remains to be accomplished before the Museum and Hall of Fame can be opened to the public, a specific site is now assured. Throughout the discussions, the CAC has been very enthusiastic about the prospect of having the Hall of Fame on their site.

The Museum will capture the history of the sport, the spirit of today’s play and the passion people have for the game past and present.Included will be the 73 past and present members of The Hall of Fame and 26 categories of National Championships.

The history and increasing vibrancy of the sport will be featured in a series of videos starting with the early days of the game with commentary from Molly (Blanchard) Ware and Do (Cogswell) Deland, (daughters of the founders, Fessenden Blanchard and James Cogswell), historic matches, current day play, commentary from present day junior players and a spirited look back from a group of players currently over 80 years old.

There will be additional videos developed on an ongoing basis to keep the Museum current. It will be an exciting place to visit with multiple viewing decks and a large reception area. The Museum will also feature historical displays of equipment and prized photographs. To ensure an on-going vitality, the Museum will continually update all aspects of the displays and feature the latest happenings of the wonderful sport of platform tennis.

Now, the top priority on the Foundation’s agenda is a fundraising program, to fund the initial investments in the project, to provide an endowment for future operating expenses, and the collection of memorabilia from the sport’s participants and Hall of Fame inductees.

These efforts are expected to take 12 to 18 months to accomplish. In the meantime, the CAC has agreed to conduct several tournaments for the APTA in the 2008-09 season. The most important of these events will be the Senior Men’s National Championship for ages 45+, 55+ and 65+ in February 2009.

The Foundation is also in the process of constructing a web site where progress on the project can be viewed as it is updated. The address is platformtennishalloffame.org. The web site is planned to be fully opened in September.

In addition to Robert Brown, Richard Lombard and Joseph Rogers, other members of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees are David Childs, Alice Duff, Tim McAvoy, Howard Patterson, Charles Updike and Charles Vasoll.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 10, Issue 1, September, 2008

Junior’s rule!

The 2008-09 paddle season is here and the future of our sport is very promising. Junior paddle is on the rise with a record number of sanctioned tournaments (16) scheduled for this season.

The season kick off tourney is on October 25 in Cleveland and the 2009 Nationals in Long Island on January 31st.

Players of all levels are encouraged to sign up and will receive a tournament favor. Consider getting your child involved in tournaments. If they do not have a partner, contact the tournament director. They often get similar requests. It will be a positive learning experience. [enlarge image to read more]

APTA Board Meeting

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The new APTA website – overview and ideas to consider:
Paul Wiggin gave a detailed report on the new website and led a general discussion. The site has gotten off to a great start and will continue to grow in size, quality and contribution. He suggested that the general mission of the website is to support the APTA Mission.
1) The APTA wants the site to be the repository for things such as the rules of the game and the history of the game.
2) The APTA wants the site to support the “grow the sport” and “increase player enthusiasm” parts of the APTA Mission. News items and instructional videos will help support this aim.
3) The site’s cost is approximately $7,000 to create and about $1,500 per year in ongoing costs. This provider does not give the APTA a perfect platform, but for the price is reasonable.
4) The APTA now has the ability to process credit card transactions for a “$3.00 fee per transaction plus a credit card fee of 2.95% plus $.25 (a decrease from previous years).
5) Paul described various proposals to enhance the website in coming years.

Fund Raising:
Todd Ward gave a presentation and led the discussion. He mentioned a couple of different avenues to consider, specifically:

Endowments: The APTA needs to raise consciousness among members about how easy it is to set up an endowment to the APTA. Every issue of Platform Tennis Magazine should have an advertisement in it promoting donations and endowments and the APTA could publish the names of people who donate as a way to thank them and as a way to encourage others to do so.
1) Paul Wiggin can find someone to write the language for these advertisements.
2) Tina Kelly will write the PTM articles re: bequests, etc.

Corporate Giving: The “packet” to sell our sport to corporate sponsors needs to be updated. Tina will work on this. Also, Mike Cochrane and Todd Ward will get price quotes for a marketing and fundraising video.

Tennis Palooza:
Jason Gray gave a detailed report on the very successful Tennis Palooza event in Las Vegas, thanking the APTA, Premier Platform Tennis, Viking Athletics and all the volunteers. He reported that our court and booth were staffed and crowded from Thursday through Sunday. There were clinics, giveaways and lots of traffic.The Tennis Channel will consider a tape delay broadcast of our Nationals finals which would be a wonderful opportunity for us. Sally Cottingham reported that the APTA spent $9,400 on this project and the PPTA put in $10,000 (raised through the raffle). Also, Premier donated time and cost for the superstructure and Viking donated products.

Budget:
Sally Cottingham reported that the APTA is in a very solid cash position with $278,000. For the Fiscal Year ending on March 31, 2007, the APTA income was $228,151, down from $279,096 in Fiscal Year 06-07. This $50,000 drop in income can be explained by two factors. Fiscal year 07-08 income does not include $30,325 in League dues for the 07-08 season which were not received prior to the closing of the books. Fiscal year 06-07 receipts included two extraordinary items, (a) a $20,000 pass through for the Nationals and (b) two one-time donations in the amount of $12,025 for junior development. Actual Expenses in 07-08 were $196,712, down from $214,358 in Fiscal 06- 07.

Platform Tennis Magazine:
1) Sally Cottingham reported that the APTA now has a signed contract saying they own the content from both past and future magazine issues. Also, the APTA now has their logo on the front cover. It was expressed that the final issue each year should have the National Champions on the cover.
2) Also, the APTA should begin celebrating the 75th anniversary of the APTA (Nov. ’09).
3) The APTA will get past issues of PTM posted on the website.

Seniors:
Tim Mangan expressed that Rich Lombard has done a great job with the Seniors events.
1) The 45-55-65 Nationals will be at Centercourt on February 27-March 1.
2) The 50-60-70 Nationals will be held at Fox Meadow on March 20-21.
3) The Mixed Nationals will be on March 14, 15 at Indian Trails.
4) Tim discussed other issues regarding Senior Nationals such as number of matches, number of teams required and other logistics.
5) It was the consensus of the Board that tournament directors have the flexibility to have a 90+ category in their tournament if they really want that instead of requiring them to have it as a 95+.

Chapel Hill:
1) Peter Lauer reported on Chapel Hill which now has 80+ players 55 players in the league. They had a mixed tournament, a men’s tournament and other events.
2) The University of North Carolina is about to build 3 courts and so the game is growing.
3) The Chapel Hills folks are still working on raising the money to pay back the loan — still need about $17,000.
4) It was the consensus of the Board that all of their league players should be required to be individual APTA members.

Exhibition Tour:
Todd Ward gave a report on last year’s exhibitions. Currently, the focus for next season is on Minneapolis, Atlanta, University of North Carolina and Charlottesville. Saturday, May 3

Juniors:
1) Long Island will host the next Junior Nationals.
2) Marjorie Hodson and Patty Hogan have run this tournament, and run it well, for about 10 years. Last year, there were 256 participants spread across boys and girls 10, 12, 14 and 18 year age groups.
3) Long Island will run it this coming year.
4) The APTA would like to see this tournament move around each year the way the open Nationals do.
5) After discussion, it was unanimously approved that the APTA allocate $2,000 in the budget to support the Junior Nationals.

Other Tournament Questions:
1) A motion was raised to add a National Championship for 125’s. The motion was defeated.
2) A suggestion was raised to lower the number of participants required for a tournament to be deemed a National Championship. After discussion, Mark Fischl asked for a motion, but none was offered.
3) A suggestion was raised to put in a requirement for 145+ tournaments that states that one of the two players must be at least 75 years old. No motion was offered.
4) A suggestion was raised to limit the number of matches a player is required to play in a day — especially for Senior tournaments. One suggestion is to limit it to 3 matches per day per tournament.
After considerable discussion, the group concluded that this should be left up to the discretion of each tournament director who has to deal with the weather and court availabilities.

Election of Officers:
The following slate of officers was proposed, moved to be elected and unanimously approved: Mark Fischl for President; Scott Bondurant for Vice-President; Sally Cottingham for Treasurer; Bill O’Brien for Secretary

The Nationals in Cincinnati:
A lengthy discussion took place regarding the schedule for APTA Nationals. Numerous concerns were raised, including: the increased skill levels of participants, changes in the sport, matches lasting longer, increased physical load on the players and venues with fewer courts, and increased difficulty in court scheduling.

The Cincinnati Nationals Committee requested to push the men’s President’s Cup competition back to Thursday (instead of the usual Friday) and then schedule 2 of the men’s’open Nationals matches on Friday, 3 on Saturday and the usual 2 on Sunday.

It was moved that, as a one-year pilot, the APTA will hold the men’s and women’s President’s Cups on Thursday March 5, then start the women’s open with 3 matches on Friday morning, and then start the men’s open with 2 matches on Friday afternoon (along with at least the first 128 back-draw match) followed by a 4th match for the women. Then, the women would play the usual 2 matches on Saturday morning and the men will play 3 matches on Saturday followed by their usual 2 matches on Sunday. At the end of this tournament, the APTA will evaluate how well this worked and discuss it again at next year’s Board Meeting. The motion was carried 13 to 1.

In 2005, a resolution was adopted prohibiting the Nationals from being held the first weekend in March. It was moved and unanimously approved to set aside this rule for one year only (to accommodate what Cincinnati wants to do). It was then moved that the APTA eliminate the rule prohibiting the Nationals from being held the first weekend in March (with the understanding that the APTA would “encourage” directors to avoid that week if possible but ultimately leave the decision in their hands). The motion carried 6 to 4.

The APTA Website:
As a follow up to the prior day’s discussions, the following proposals were moved and voted on:
1) It was moved that the APTA budget $2,500 for e-mail blasts this coming season. The motion carried unanimously.
2) It was moved that to put $24,500 into the budget to cover work on all 9 of the proposals set forth in the handout provided. The motion was carried unanimously.
3) A search committee consisting of Paul Wiggin, Mike Cochrane, Scott Bondurant and Ann Sheedy will define the “news” job and try to fill that slot.

Rules:
The Rules Committee met to consider a couple of suggested changes:
1) The Committee recommends that the APTA legalize the “double hit” or “carry” when a player has struck the ball BEFORE it reaches the screens. They suggest that the double hit or carry still be illegal when the ball is hit AFTER it has come off the screens. The group wanted to change the Committee’s recommendation by making the “double hit” or “carry” a legal shot as long as the shot is hit in one continuous motion. The group wanted to make the wording the same as it is in tennis. The motion was carried unanimously.
2) It was also recommended that the APTA change the rule which currently states that any ball that is hit off the screens and then comes back over the net to the hitter’s side be a loss of point for the hitter not apply to a ball hit off of the side screen. It was moved that the above mentioned rule be amended to clarify that only shots hit off the back screen, and nicks, which then come back over the net to the hitter’s court will result in loss of point to the hitter. That is, any shot which is hit off the side screen and which then comes back to the hitter’s court is a legal shot. The motion was carried unanimously.
3) The lob bouncing out of the court issue was raised. After discussion, it was determined that any recommended change should go through the Rules Committee.
4) A rule to limit the amount of time allowed for “warming up” prior to a match and which perhaps also lays out the procedures for a warm-up was discussed. After discussion and general agreement, it was determined that any recommended change should go through the Rules Committee.

Player’s Committee:
It was suggested that foot faults still need to be addressed. Tournament directors (and players) don’t want to be the “bad guy” by enforcing the foot fault rule. It was moved that the APTA require that each Regional President will designate at least one tournament in their Region to have a roving foot fault judge at that tournament. The motion was carried unanimously.

What about having a roving foot fault judge at the Open Nationals? It was moved that the APTA require the Nationals Committee each year to provide a roving foot fault judge for the Open Nationals. The motion was carried unanimously.

Hall of Fame:
The following list of candidates for the Hall of Fame Committee: Tim McAvoy, Bob Brown, Steve Baird, Chuck Vasoll, Patty Hogan, Deirdre Redden and Walt Peckinpaugh were nominated. The motion was carried unanimously. Also, Tina Kelly was unanimously appointed to the position of Representative of the Platform Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame Foundation on the APTA Board to succeed Rich Lombard.

Prizes:
It was moved that the APTA provide $2,500 to the Cincinnati Nationals Committee for awards. The motion carried unanimously.

Junior Rankings:
A committee chaired by Mike Gillespie will address junior rankings.

College Program:
A discussion about promoting college programs took place but no conclusions were reached, nor did anyone step up to take this subject on.

Liability Release:
Beach Kuhl and Bill O’Brien will pursue how to get liability releases when someone fills out the paperwork to join or renew APTA membership.

Executive Director, Ann Sheedy:
1) In order to get a list of all known courts, Ann will send each Regional President a list of the courts she knows and ask them to identify any clubs or private courts that are not on the list.
2) Ann wants to put together a better presentation on how to start or rejuvenate a platform tennis program. Tina Kelly and Ann will do this.
3) Ann will look into changing the mailing of Platform Tennis Magazine from “standard” postage to “Periodicals.”
4) For a dub gift, the APTA is going to send out large outdoor thermometers to member clubs.

Budget:
Sally Cottingham led the discussion.
1) It was moved that the APTA budget $1,000 for promotional materials and $1,000 for printing. The motion carried unanimously.
2) It was moved that the APTA include $10,000 in the budget to support exhibitions and clinics. The motion was carried unanimously.

Fund Raising:
Rob Coster and Peter Lauer agreed to lead an effort to define the job description for a fund raising “Development Manager.”

2009 Meeting Date / Adjournment:
Mark Fischl: Next year’s meeting will be on May 8 and 9, on Long Island.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 10, Issue 1, September, 2008

Hall of Fame Inductees: David Kjeldsen and Ftitz Odenbach. MIA were Flip Goodspeed and Scott Mansager

At the Saturday evening banquet during the Rochester Nationals, the 2008 Hall of Fame inductions took place. Patty Hogan read the introduction for inductee David Kjeldsen and Walt Peckinpaugh did the honors for inductee Fritz Odenbach.

The remaining two inductees, Scott Mansager and Flip Goodspeed were still on the court at 8 p.m. and were unable to attend their own induction, due to their opponents 3 1/2 hour previous round of 16 match. They eventually finished their match by 10:30 and their induction was postponed until January 2009 at the Cincinnati Midwestern tournament.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 9, Issue 5, May, 2008

President’s Cup: Region IV women and Region II men capture the Cups

Women’s President’s Cup: The Women’s President’s Cup took place on Thursday, March 13. Top women from six of the seven APTA regions competed for the prestigious cup. For the third time in four years, the Region IV women (Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toronto) won the title.

The team players included: Nancy Budde – Nathalie Lemieux, Holly Peck – Karen Henke, Lynn Thompson – Chrissy Johnson, Kathy Allen – Ann Turner, and Sandra Odenbach – Vicki Nagy.

Men’s President’s Cup: On Friday morning, while the women were taking to the courts for their main draw first round matches, the men were playing their President’s Cup matches. For the second time in the Cup’s 32-year history the Region II men won the event. The last time they did it was… in 2007!

The team players included: Bill and Leo Power, Jerry Albrikes, Greg Bennett, Rob Pierce, Johan du Randt, Matt Dana, Jeff Mitchell, Marc Porter and Peter Harvey.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 9, Issue 5, May, 2008

An interview with the game’s Norseman, David Kjeldsen

APTA President Mark Fischl met with 2008 Hall of Fame inductee, David Kjeldsen, and discussed the recent sale of Viking Athletics to Prince.

MF: David, there has obviously been a lot happening in your life of late. Is it true that you are selling Viking Athletics to Prince?
DCK: Yes.

MF: Are you excited by it? Are you working less now?
DCK: Excited yes. Very excited. I have been working harder in the last few months than I have in the last couple of years. There is so much information to share with and transfer to the great staff at Prince.

MF: Is it true you talked with other companies before selling to Prince?
DCK: Mark, I am not comfortable talking about that. It’s not proper to talk about those that you dated in the past on your wedding day.

MF: What will this sale mean to the platform tennis community?
DCK: The platform tennis community will benefit in a number of ways. The first being technology. As you know, I was a “one man band” at Viking. Now with the staff at Prince the dreams and concepts I had for paddles, they can and will become reality because their R&D staff is phenomenal. That said, my wife is already planning a trip to Italy [Note 1] to visit them! Second, and what really sold me on partnering with Prince, is they really want to give back to the sport to see it grow. They are excited not only about continuing our initiatives with the juniors but growing them.

MF: What were the over-riding factors that made you decide to sell the company?
DCK: There were a number of factors that went into to making the decision. First, as you know I have had some serious health issues over the last few years. It’s hard to run a business while continually looking over your shoulder wondering whether the health issues will pop up again. Second, as much as I wanted to keep all our manufacturing here in America, the comparative cost advantage that my competitors enjoyed was becoming so overwhelming that I knew I needed to partner with talent that could bring my costs into line with those of my competition in order to keep the brand alive. Finally, traveling to as many tournaments and events each season as I do, my age is making it more and more difficult to have the energy to keep the pace up.

MF: How will Prince impact Viking?
DCK: There will be many changes. First and foremost, we are moving all of Viking Athletics from Long Island to Prince’s new, larger, and modern campus in Bordentown, New Jersey. Two, our dealers will have a greatly expanded customer service group to work with. While I won’t be answering the phones anymore, Christine Dalton and her great staff will be bringing Viking’s customer service to a new level. Three, Viking will be have a much broader line to offer players in years to come.

MF: Will you be continuing on with Prince or are you retiring?
DCK: Retiring I don’t think so!! I still have two of my three children to put through college. I hope to be working with the folks at Prince for many years to come; I need to! To be frank, I would not have entered into discussions with any group if I weren’t going to be part of the organization going forward.

MF: So, what’s going to happen with the name Viking? Will it disappear?
DCK: No, quite the opposite. The Viking name and brand will not only continue, but also, in fact, it will become even stronger and develop worldwide recognition as Prince’s global presence helps us enter into the sports of padel, paddle tennis, and paddleball.

MF: Will your product line change?
DCK: In the broad sense and in the short term the answer is no. Viking will still offer paddles, balls, and accessories to the paddle community. Within each product group, as we are able to take advantage of Prince’s R&D and buying power, I am confident we will expand the offerings within each category. As time goes on I am sure we will add clothing and shoes to our product mix.
MF: What will happen to the OZ?
DCK: Well, Mark, as you know the OZ has been the best selling paddle on the market for the last 12 years and last season we celebrated the manufacture of our 25,000th one. I don’t foresee anything happening to it. That said, as our new technology takes hold I am sure it will be incorporated into the OZ.
MF: Are the employees and staff at Prince into platform or is paddle just another product line to them?
DCK: The best way to answer the question is by way of three quick examples. First, the most recently contested 50+ Husband and Wife National Championships was won by Pete and Karen Lyons. Pete is the New England territory sales manager for Prince. Second, early in March many of the senior executive staff came out for a night of paddle just so they could learn about the game and test new equipment. And finally, there is already talk about putting up platform courts next to the existing tennis courts on the Prince campus so employees can play when they want.

MF: Okay, let’s change subjects for a moment. So, what’s it like being a member of the APTA Hall of Fame?
DCK: Unbelievable isn’t it? Who would have thought that me the poster boy for Lazy-boy furniture would be honored with the induction? My family was shocked that Bob Brown (Chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee) could actually find a store that had enough material to make a green jacket that actually fits me!

MF: I have to ask. What is happening to your trademark Viking hat?
DCK: It’s staying put on top of my head!

Note 1: Prince had been owned by the Italian company Benetton Group, S.p.A.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 9, Issue 5, May, 2008

What happens in Vegas doesn’t have to stay in Vegas

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“We had a great time and would love to do it again” – Mike and Bob Bryan, 5-time Grand Slam doubles champions commented after playing platform tennis for the first time

A public relations concept turns out to be arguably the most memorable event in platform tennis history.

Just one week before the National Championships, from March 5th through 9th, platform tennis put on a show at the Tennis Channel Open for the entire nation to watch via live television.

The Tennis Channel Open is an annual ATP Tennis Tournament held in Las Vegas and features many of the best players in the world. Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Marcos Baghdatis, Robby Ginepri, and 5-time grand-slam winning doubles team – the Bryan Brothers are a few of the top-billed participants.

The Open is televised live for the week and also features coverage from the world “paddle” (not platform) tennis championships, and exhibitions from the nations top players in activities such as air hockey, tennis racquet stringing, wheelchair tennis, a fast-serve competition, and more.

Just over 18 months ago, platform tennis promoter Jason Gray had an off-the-wall idea. He wanted platform tennis to have a booth presence for the thousands of passers-by to learn more about the game. Furthermore, Gray wanted to set up a platform tennis court on the grounds to have platform’s best players compete on national television.

Gray’s first dabbling into paddle promotions occured in 2004, when he invited the former tennis grand slam doubles champions, Luke and Murphy Jensen, to compete again platform’s National Champions, David Ohlmuller and Chris Gambino, in the touted Battle@Beckett in Cincinnati, Ohio. The event was well-attended and drew great local press in the Ohio area. In 2005, Gray and promoter/court builder David Dodge began the Premier Cup- an exclusive eight-team cash prize, round robin event pitting the bestmen in the game against each other. The annual event has continued each year since with great competition and success.

After months of contemplation, Gray approached the APTA Board of Directors in May of 2007 with his plans to set up a platform tennis court at the 2008 ATP Tennis Channel Open in I as Vegas. Seeing the promotional value of the event, the APTA contributed $5,000 towards the site fee costs and sent Jean Kempner, along with Gray, to secure a contract with the Tennis Channel.

David Dodge of Premier Platform Tennis had already agreed to bring a court superstructure 2,000 miles from Philadelphia to Las Vegas if the APTA approval was secured; and, on March 4th, Dodge and his crew did just that.

The Tennis Channel gave platform tennis a tennis court located 100 feet from the 8,000 seat center court stadium. On that court, Dodge set up the court superstructure- complete with lighting. Platform tennis was also given a 10′ vendor booth.

The neighboring booth to platform tennis was a company called Sport Court. T.J. Love, the general manager of Sport Court, Las Vegas asked Gray if he would like Sport Court to set up a temporary playing surface on top of the tennis court- within the platform tennis superstructure. Gray agreed and thus the orange and blue surface you see in the photos on the right.

Love said, “We had never provided a court for platform tennis before. After we saw how it looked and hearing how well it played, we are looking to open up our market to expand to platform tennis.

On Wednesday, March 5th, 24 platform tennis players arrived in Las Vegas. Some were National Champions, some were top-notch instructors, and some came out simply to support the sport and their friends.

Brian Uihlein, Todd Ward, Mike Marino, Mike Cochrane, Mike Rahaley, Brian Heil, Matt Garavaglia, Rod Workman, Peter Berka, David Caldwell, Blake Cordish, Mark Kebe and Jason Gray performed dozens of free exhibitions to 200+ enthusiastic tennis spectators.

APTA President Mark Fischl, Board Member Beach Kuhl, Executive Director Ann Sheedy and Jason Gray manned the platform tennis booth for five days from moning until late in the evening. Hundreds if not thousands of spectators grabbed up free Premier Platform Tennis pens, note pads t-shirts and other promotional items.

Members of Four Bridges Country Club came out to support Gray: Barry Rudell, Bob Spencer Pierre Dommestrup and Kerry Snyder.

Tennis Channel Tournament Director David Egdes had the difficult task of coordinating the entire tournament event. On several occasions, he visited the clinics and platform tennis booth. He said, “We were pleasantly surpised with the professionalism and organization of the entire platform tennis staff From the ongoing clinics, to the booth management, raffles, and impressive talent, platform tennis was the most organized vendor we have ever had at the event.

Tennis Channel Facilities Operation Director Andres Borowiak amplified the sentiment saying, “We didn’t know what to expect from the platform tennis staff. It was nice to partner with such a professional organization and we look forward to your return next year.”

As the ATP tennis tounament proceeded, platform tennis beagn to receive more and more national television exposure. During the first couple days, Gray would receive word that the behind-the-court remote controlled production camera would be going live within one hour. Sometimes it did… and sometimes it didn’t.

As the week progressed, platform tennis began to recieve more and more television coverage on the Tennis Channel’s 2 million household subscription clientele.

For more on this event see reference source.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 9, Issue 5, May, 2008

As judged by the competition – the best of the best men and women players

PTM surveyed the top 50 men and the top 50 women in platform tennis and asked about tournament competition. Forty-five players responded, giving an interesting view inside the minds of the best in the game.

Categories were: Most Offensive Overheads, Toughest Competitor, Best Hnads at Net, Best Sportmanship, Best Serve, Best Return of Serve, Least Unforced Errors.