Just a couple of weeks before the Men's and Women 's National Championships, and despite altering schedules and expanding play to Friday night for the first time in years, it was realized that one more court would be needed. That's when Jim Reilly of R.J. Reilly stepped into help.
His company had put up the extra “stadium” courts at the host Shadow Lake Club, where the main matches were to be played, but it was apparent one more was needed. “Jim really hit a home run for us this time,” said co-chair Fritz Odenbach. “He not only came through with his usual timeliness and quality on the two courts we originally contracted for, but he went out of his way to get us that one additional court that made all the difference in our eventual schedule. To be honest, he and his organization deserve one of those APTA medals for being a winner here at Rochester, because that's exactly wha[...]
After a lengthy discussion and extensive presentation by Bob Brown at the Annual Meeting on May 11, 1996, the APTA Board voted to modify Rule 13, which called for the replaying of a point when the service touched the net cord, center strap or band, and landed in the proper service court. The rule was modified to eliminate the replaying of the point when this happens, thus putting the ball in play.
Several other rules where this situation could be described were also reworded to conform to the new decision.
Before the change, a portion of Rule 13 stated:
"In all cases where a let is called, the point is to be replayed. The service is a let if:
(a) It touches the net cord, center strap or band and then lands in the proper
service court;
(b) After touching the net, band or center strap, it touches either member of
the receiving team or anything they are wearin[...]
In the strongest statement yet on the chronic problem of foot-faulting, the Board of Directors approved a proposal by League Coordinating Director William Jones, that, for one year, leagues and others in casual play may call a "let" every time the server violated the foot-fault rule rather than taking the loss of point.
The purpose of the suggestion was that a "kinder and gentler" approach to the violation was needed and would increase the awareness of the problem for the player involved.
Source: Platform Tennis News, Summer 1996
An Adult/Junior platform tennis tournament was conceived by Robin Rich Fulton following her experience running the National Junior Championships the previous season at the Wee Burn Country Club in Darien, Connecticut. She enlisted the assistance of Bob Callaway in the venture, and had the support of David Kjeldsen of Viking Athletics as the title sponsor.
The goal of the tournament was to promote the game among the younger set by giving them an opportunity to play with adult partners; learn from them; enjoy the camaraderie and ambiance of a tournament; and inspire juniors to continue to practice and play. The National Junior Championship would follow the event on the APTA schedule. The concept was to have regional play in as many locations as interest could be generated. Four sites had already signed up and winning teams from these locations would be invited to a central location play[...]
Although the sport was born and bred in the Northeast, fifty years later the rebirth of paddle was taking place in America's heartland. The Midwest had witnessed a surge in paddle over the past five years, signaling good news for the health and well- being of the sport.
Growth in the region's paddle community was evidenced by strength of play and players. As opposed to years past, many of the top-ranking competitors were from points west (Mansager and Goodspeed, men's double champs from Michigan and ranking contender Bill Fiedler from Chicago, to name a few).
Tournament participation was up, as well as the number of mid-west-based facilities. The APTA now had five board members from mid-western states. Most telling was the fact that APTA membership in the Midwest had outpaced that in the East.
Yet, while the numbers proved a point, they did not tell the whole story. Growth cam[...]
During his tenure as president of Region V, Hogan was a mover and shaker in growing participation in his home city of Indianapolis and throughout the Region. He saw his role as being “to develop a stronger and wider membership base and provide services to all players, at every level of the game.”
Hogan instituted creative tactics to grow the sport locally. Upon noticing that many area players were not APTA members, he incorporated APTA membership into the Indianapolis chapter membership program. The league he started in 1989 with 32 players had grown to more than 200 APTA/IPTA members by 1996. The building of several new courts at the Indianapolis Racquet Club had helped the boom in play.
Hogan noted, “Not only do we need to expose more people to the game, at the same time we must provide facilities on which they can play. All those players (especially young people) who can[...]
All the talk as the paddle season opened was about the change in the Official Rules under which play would continue on a net cord service.
Some changes in wording were necessary to emphasize that, although many paddle tennis rules were derived from tennis, there were situations where they were different in certain respects.However, there were a few substantive changes in the Eleventh Edition of the Official Rules.
The Rules Committee, under direction from the Board of Directors, had been asked to make the calling of lines by players in an un-officiated match, less “hard and fast” and more “forgiving.” This was accomplished by expanding the comment following Rule 10 by incorporating most of the wording from the “The Etiquette of Platform Tennis.”
The “Continuous Play” regulation found in Rule 24 had a new paragraph (c) inserted which read: “During a service ga[...]
Jack Randall, a long-time player, coach and supporter of the game had a dream: that a national platform tennis center could be developed.
His vision:
“I'm convinced people everywhere will love paddle once they have a chance to know what it is and have had a chance to play it. This cannot be done strictly through private clubs. The solution: A National Platform Tennis Center at a public facility is needed to accomplish this. A place important enough to the media to give it some exposure - especially on TV - along with an offer to come down to the center and try the game for free. We make it easy; newcomers try it ‘indoors’ and comfortably. Once they like it, they move with their friends outdoors. It seems natural to locate such a center in the heart of the area where the sport originated ... a place with a large population, in a major media market and in an active area of pla[...]
For the first time in the history of the game, more than one brand of ball was approved for use in the different National Championships.
Three manufacturers were allocated a portion of the designation “Official APTA National Championship Ball” by a vote of the APTA Board.
The ball to be used in the Men's and Women's National Championships was awarded to Viking Athletics. The Senior Championship would be played with the ball made by Wilson Sporting Goods. The Mixed National and the Mixed Masters would use the Marox ball.
Source: Platform Tennis News, Winter 1997
Back to TopPlatform Tennis News covered the charity tournament hosted by Fox Meadow that supports The Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry, NY.
The Children’s Village Platform Tennis Tournament was co-founded by Fox Meadow Tennis Club member Sally D. Rogers, and had been run at Fox Meadow since the early 1980s.
The beneficiary was the Sanctuary program at Children's Village, which provides a safe haven for young people between the ages of 12-17 who felt they could not go home, or had no home to go to.
Besides food, shelter, and clothing, the program was designed to stabilize young people in crisis and help them take control of their lives.
The tournament covered a significant part of the Sanctuary’s annual operating budget.
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