APTA improves its support for tournaments

The APTA, in conjunction with talented and experienced tournament directors, is compiling a resource inventory to assist tournament directors. From small local events to National Championships, you will find documents that will provide a guideline for you and your volunteers. Many of these documents are now available at Tournament Support

The site includes documents such as: Tournament Director Handbook, How to Conduct a Draw, Draw Sheets in Detail, Rules of Platform Tennis, Standardized Warm-up.

Coming soon: Budgets, Timelines, Organizational Charts, On-Line Registration Information, Entry Form Template and Hut Commander Playbook.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 11, Issue 3, January, 2010

Peter Lauer, APTA Region VII President – “APTA’s single most important mission.”

At Tim McAvoy’s invitation, I write with great and growing news on what is arguably the single most important mission of the APTA: to grow our great sport to the prominence in this country and beyond that we all think is worthy. Each of us has seen how players who are new to the sport light up after their first few games saying ‘Wow, this game is great fun,” or the like. We’ve witnessed juniors who wander into a paddle tennis cage with great curiosity, start banging a ball around with friends, and get hooked. It’s a terrific sport, and we’d like to see it grow further and faster. [enlarge image to read more]

APTA announces formation of Junior Tour

The APTA is proud to announce the formation of the APTA Junior Tour. Formerly known as the Viking Tour, the APTA Junior Tour will be led by Tom Safford who has been working closely with David Kjeldsen to ensure a smooth transition.

Viking will also continue to be the lead sponsor for the Tour.

Our thanks go out to John Embree, President, Prince Americas and to David Kjeldsen, former Viking CEO, for all of their support in making the APTA Junior Tour a great experience for our junior platform tennis players.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 11, Issue 3, January, 2010

Dick Reilly- legendary court builder and innovator

Platform tennis legend and Hall of Fame inductee, Dick Reilly has been a staple of the game for more than four decades. Growing up with the sport in Scarsdale, New York, Reilly remembers his father playing recreational platform tennis. Reilly took up the sport in college. After college, he entered the world of academia as a teacher, but worked on a construction crew, building houses in the off-months to supplement his income. It was during these summer vacations that Reilly got the idea that building platform tennis courts to a higher standard could do both him and the sport a service.

How did the idea to build platform tennis courts come to you?
“While playing on some courts in Scarsdale, I was shocked at how poorly the courts were made. In 1961, the wooden joints and butts of the platform were raised, causing many bad bounces. I thought that if I built a court, I would make the joints meet under the net. To do that, 30-foot boards would be required, but at that time, only 20- to 24- foot boards were made. Contracting a western lumber mill, I ordered a boxcar full of 2″x6″ x 30-foot boards, and that’s how we started. In my first year, I built two courts. At that time, there were no professional court builders and screens were pretty much nonexistent they were pretty much just a wire fence fastened to a 2×4-inch board. They were not taut. I increased the bottom boards to 3×4- inches, making them much stronger and able to hold much greater tension. In those days, the screens were still held together with staples. I can recall times when people would bump into the screens and actually fall through them. My solution was to interweave a lacing material, making the screens stronger and more playable.”

How did you come up with the concept to build platform tennis courts out of aluminum?
“Phil Osbourne was an engineer for Alcoa in New Jersey. Phil and I had a friend who just built the first aluminum tennis racquets at that time. He asked me to go to Princeton to build the first platform tennis court made of aluminum for George Vaughn and Dick Hardgrave, but I didn’t want to do it because I loved working with wood. That week, Phil and I designed the aluminum deck boards on a napkin at a local restaurant. He moved to Pittsburgh in the early ’60s, and along with Jenny Scott, built the Fox Chapel Racquet Club. He asked me again to build the first aluminum courts, using architectural blueprints which he helped create. We built the first aluminum court in November of 1963. We used a wooden superstructure to support the screens.”

Over the the years, how many courts did you build of wood and aluminum? And in what countries did you them?
“I built about 3,500 courts or so. Probably the first 100 were wood; the rest were all aluminum. It’s been a blessing that I’ve been able to travel the world putting in these courts. Many of the courts we’ve put in were in U.S. Embassies, such as those in Belgium, Moscow, Germany, Poland, England, France and Japan.”

“There must be close to 4,000 courts in existence today. The aluminum courts last forever. The old wooden decks would only last 7-8 years.”

When did your children get involved with the business? Are they involved full-time, part-time?
“Two of my four kids have been involved with the business, Jim and Kathy. They both graduated college in 1985, and I solicited them to get into the business. Kathy had a degree from Dartmouth and she was the perfect person to run the office. Jim had a degree in forestry, but I encouraged him to get into building the courts. At one time, Jim ran seven, two-man teams. Our business divided itself between building and maintenance. The wooden decks required tremendous maintenance, so we would hire college kids for summer resurfacing.”

You were an APTA board member in the 1980s. Can you contrast dynamics of the sport and Board at that time, with today?
“I recall when I was a Board Member in the ’80s, Mike North was the president of the APTA. The function of the APTA was primarily to set up tournaments, the Nationals being, of course, the biggest. Men’s and Women’s tournaments were divided by age and adolescent play began to grow.”

What are the greatest achievements of the APTA Board?
“I think the greatest achievements have been in branching the sport out to a national audience. Back in the ’70s and `80s, everything was at Fox Meadow and based along the East Coast. The first distant courts we built were at the Cincinnati Country Club. Phil Osbourne then helped us branch into Pittsburgh. Chicago came a bit later when we built Winnetka. John Embree was a big organizer for the sport in Chicago. The APTA has done so much for the sport.”

Did you ever meet the founders, James Cogswell or Fessenden Blanchard?
“Fessenden’s daughter, Ruth Walker, was our next door neighbor growing up. I was her yard man as a teenager. However, I never met Fessenden Blanchard. Over the years, I did meet James Cogswell several times, but he was not alive when we created the first aluminum courts. I think he would have been pleased with them.”

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 11, Issue 3, January, 2010

Results of National Championships and coverage of Men’s and Women’s Nationals

2010 APTA National Championships: On-line Postings Provide Real Time Story

Thursday, March 4, 7:30 a.m. EST
We’re here at the Waynesborough Country Club in the Philadelphia suburbs for the 2010 APTA National Championship Competitions. I will be documenting the event and posting news and results every few hours.

Today, we will feature the Women’s and Men’s President’s Cups. Tomorrow will be the Women’s day one of the Nationals. The men will play some first round matches to open up more courts for Friday’s matches.

Thursday, March 4, 9:15 a.m. EST
Well, the team photos have been taken, and the Men’s and Women’s President’s Cup competitions are under way. Are you familiar with the President’s Cup? This special event is held every year immediately prior to the Nationals. Each APTA region selects five of their best teams (excluding the very top-ranked players), to compete in a round robin against other regions. All President’s Cup players also play in the Nationals, making for a grueling, but exciting, long weekend of paddle. Players compete throughout the tournament season to accumulate enough President’s Cup Qualifying Points to represent their regions. That’s what the PCQ marker on many tournaments is about.

Thursday, March 4, 1:55 p.m. EST The President’s Cup matches are into full swing on a beautiful sunny day. Jackets are off and people are sitting outside. Photographers are busy so we should have our first photos posted tonight.

This evening at Waynesborough CC there will be awards for the President’s Cup and check-in for men and women.

The women’s tournament starts Friday morning and the men play early round matches starting a little later in the day Friday.

Thursday, March 4, 10:00 p.m. EST
Congratulations to the Region 5 Men’s team and the Region 1 Women’s team for their victories in the President’s Cup.

Friday, March 5, 12:00 noon
The weather has been fantastic. Cool and sunny in the SOs with a few clouds floating in and out. The women’s seeds have held as the first few rounds are completed and people are breaking for lunch. Some of the chat revolves around the experience of being taken out by top seeds and whether of not it was a learning experience.

Updated draws are posted periodically.

We have posted a slide show from the President’s Cup on the APTA’s web site. Photos will be added throughout the day as we can drag ourselves away from watching matches.

Friday, March 5, 1:30 p.m.
The women’s round-of-16 matches are starting as everyone finishes lunch and regroups. In the main draw, 15 of the 16 seeds have progressed to the round of 16.

In the single upset so far, Heidenberger and Shelburne defeated 13th seeds Jones and MacKinnon in the round of 32.

The check-in desk continues to be busy as men arrive for check-in.

Friday, March 5, 5:15 p.m.
The women’s quarter-finals are well underway. The top four seeds made it through to the quarter-finals.

Men’s action is also into some second rounds.

Women’s Quarters:
Doten-Keane (1) vs. Flynn-Tarzian (9)
Lemery-Ohlmuller (12) vs. Delmonico-Main (4)
Dardis-Shay (3) vs. Prendergast-Zink (6)
Parsons-Sheldon (7) vs. Prop-Schneebeck (2)

Friday, March 5, 9:00 p.m.
This evening, the ladies finished up the quarter-final matches, setting up the semis which are scheduled to start tomorrow at 10 a.m.

Top seeds Mary Doten and Susie Keane face off against 4th seeds Kerri Delmonico and Aila Main. The second seeds, Heather Prop and Lynn
Schneebeck, play Cindy Prendergast and Lauren Zink. Should be a pair of excellent matches.

Saturday, March 6, 9:00 a.m.
At the party last might, semi-finalist Cynthia Prendergast was inducted into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame, the highest honor in the sport. Her induction speech was written by former partner Patti Hogan and delivered by Tim McAvoy. Cindy will be playing the semis this morning.

Saturday, March 6, 1:00 p.m.
Wow, what a day! The weather has cooperated fully and the play has been spectacular at tournament central. Based on the scores coming in from all the locations, there have been a lot of very competitive matches played today in the backdraws.

In the APTA Women’s Nationals, the two semi-final matches were contested simultaneously on side-by-side courts, providing continuous action for a huge crowd of spectators. Both semis went to three sets, but while Prop-Schneebeck and Delmonico- Main fought hard for tickets to the final, in the end it was to be a repeat of last year. Newly inducted Hall of Famer Cindy Prendergast and partner Lauren Zink take to the main court to have another crack at 5- time National Champs Mary Doten and Susie Keane, trying to increase their own title counts.

Saturday, March 6, 4:00 p.m.
Despite the vocal support, a large home-area crowd, and many outstanding points, Prendergast and Zink fell to Doten Keane 6- 1, 7-5. Doten and Keane now hold six APTA Women’s National titles. They have won in six out of the last eight years, and have won every time they have reached the final.

After the match, Cindy Prendergast told Platform Tennis Magazine, “We started out shaky and then improved. The second set was a good one.” Lauren Zink added, “They certainly bring their ‘A’ game every time they play us. Since we lost to them again in the National finals, I think that we’ll take up beach paddle and play them next year in bikinis.”

When Susie Keane was asked how she felt, she said,”We had a tough semi and were warmed up to play a great first set in the finals It was a warm day and hard to keep the ball in the court. We all made unforced errors that we were unhappy with.” She added, “Eight years ago, Mary and I played our first Nationals together here at Waynesborough. We were unseeded and it was a balmy 60 degrees. Naturally, we were looking forward to a warm day again today for the semis and finals. We got what we hoped for.”

Mary Doten concluded, “We played well in the finals and never let up. A match like this can turn on a dime.”

The men have been keeping all the other courts in town busy. Some seeds started to fall in the round of 32, when Gillespie-Stulac took out 13th seeds English-Heil, Dana- Jonason defeated 9th seeds Caldwell- Cordish, McKnight-Rose bested 14th seeds Broderick-Moore, and Parsons-Schmidgall beat 15th seeds Arraya-LeFevre. The quarter-finals are scheduled at the Waynesborough stadium courts for 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., accompanying the evening festivities. Check draws for updates. We’re posting regularly.

Saturday, March 6, 9:00 p.m.
What an amazing night in Waynesborough! The men’s quarter-finals were, simply put, amazing. In summary, Cosimano and Haller defeated Cochrane and Estes; Albrikes and du Randt defeated Rothschild and Schmidt; Goodspeed and Mansager defeated Bondurant and Johnson; and, Marino and Uihlein defeated Berka and Eberly.

Sunday, March 7, 10:45 a.m.
All the action today is taking place at tournament central, Waynesborough CC. With five permanent and three temporary courts, there is enough court space to comfortably handle all of the late round matches.

On the stadium courts, the two semi-final matches started up at 9:30, to a large crowd of spectators. After a little over an hour, one semi is finished and one has just finished the first set.

Jerry Albrikes and Johan du Randt took care of business quickly, defeating Anthony Cosimano and Steve Haller 6-0, 6-2 in a fast paced slug-fest. At the same time, Flip Goodspeed and Scott Mansager crafted their way through Mike Marino and Brian Uihlein in a more traditional mix of patient set-up and quick attack.

This afternoon’s finals will feature the 8-time National Champions, Goodspeed and Mansager, against the dark horse 16- seeds, Albrikes and du Randt.

Sunday, March 7, 1:25 p.m.
All the back draws are complete and the crowd is buzzing in anticipation of the men’s final, scheduled to start momentarily. Check the draws for results for all of your pals. As soon as the final is over we’ll be posting the results. Then after your intrepid reporters and photographers have a chance to catch their flights home, well be posting more information and lots of photos.

Platform Tennis Magazine spoke with Scott Mansager before walking on the court for the finals. He said, “We have never played Johan or Jerry before. Flip and I hope that we can figure out a winning strategy during the match.”

Ironically, du Randt said the exact same thing.

Sunday, March 7, 3:30 p.m.
With hundreds of excited spectators on hand, Jerry Albrikes & Johan du Randt have claimed their first national title, defeating Flip Goodspeed and Scott Mansager 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.

The match may be a sign of things to come as du Randt displayed one of the most awesome exhibitions of offense in platform tennis history. Jerry Albrikes held his own and picked his opportunities carefully when to attack.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 11, Issue 5, April, 2010