On Saturday, December 13, 2008, the Long Island Platform Tennis Association ("LIPTA") hosted its 6th Annual Viking Junior Tour tournament at the Garden City Country Club, the Cherry Valley Club and the Garden City Community Park.
With Christmas less than two weeks away, the children received a surprise early morning visit from that jolly old Nordic man with rosy cheeks and a little round belly - that's right, David Kjeldsen, founder of Viking Athletics, was there to provide his support, wearing his trademark "horns"! LIPTA is grateful to Viking Athletics for its sponsorship of the Viking Junior Tour, and for providing the children with a memorable platform tennis experience (and great favors).
Among the four age divisions, thirty-two (32) teams participated, and countless parents and grandparents cheered. The level of paddle was extraordinary, the good sportsmanship was commendable[...]
Fred Gumbinner, Chair of the Players Committee filed the report in PTM
As most of us are aware, foot faulting has become a pervasive problem in the game of platform tennis - both at the social level and at the competitive tournament level. It has been exacerbated by the fact that there is often resentment or even outrage when a player calls a foot fault violation.The one enforcing the rule as opposed to the perpetrator is sometimes labeled the "bad guy."This phenomenon does not occur when one calls a dearly out ball out; yet it does with respect to foot fault violations, even though both instances constitute a loss of point under the rules of the game.
There is no need to discuss the policies against foot faulting as there is almost universal concurrence that players should not foot fault. Various ideas have been suggested and debated as to how to effectively enforce the foot fault[...]
FAULT - Roving Foot Fault Judges. Where were they at the first large APTA tournament of the season? I watched over 15 hours of matches at the Chicago Charities, and I didn't hear one foot-fault called - although I saw a lot. I thought the new APTA rule was roving foot fault judges were to be used at all national ranking tournaments. Maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time when I was watching? Funny, I didn't see any at the Sound Shore Invitational either. Surely I will see them next weekend in the APTA Presidents back yard for the Long Island Invitational.
ACE - Peachtree Paddle, Atlanta, Georgia. Gotta love any platform group that gives out great car window decals to their members. The three-color design really stands out. Contact them and maybe you too can get one.
ACE - Videographers. With the technology available today, there is a lot of great information regarding p[...]
Our sport is growing, and growing quickly. This is evidenced by the number of websites devoted to league play and area play across the country. While I am sure I am missing quite a few, below is list of sites that I recently compiled. (If you know of others, please let me know.)
Clearly some of the sites are updated almost daily. Sadly, others haven't been updated in over a year. Some are hokey; some are professional to the max. Some are purely data driven; others are all about the story. But the bottom line is they seem to work for the groups they serve.
If you have a half hour or so, spend some time visiting each of the sites. You may get ideas to share with your league webmaster to make your site better.
Please let me know your favorite. Mine is the Western Pennsylvania Platform Tennis Association. [enlarge image to read more]
I've had a lot of discussions over the past couple of seasons with a number of players about the lob "bounce out" loss of point rule. I think this rule should definitely be changed for the following reasons:
1. Lobbing effectively in platform tennis requires a lot of skill in a 22 feet deep court (note: a tennis service box is 21 feet deep). Any lob hit high/deep enough to bounce
out of the court would give the net team enough time to get under the ball and decide whether or not to play it out of the air. It is difficult to get your opponent much behind the service line with low trajectory lobs even if they would land deep untouched and the good overhead hitters handle the high/medium depth lobs pretty well. A higher trajectory lob would come down steeper and if hit deep enough would force the overhead hitter to take an additional step back thus creating more potential offensive oppo[...]
Scott Bondurant
Age: 49
Residence: Chicago, Ill.
Family: Wife: Susan; Daughters: Brooke, 13; Cara, 11
Occupation: Asset Management
Hobbies: Tennis, Golf, Travel
Do you have an awareness of the fact that you're playing guys that could be 30 years your junior?
I'd be lying to say that it isn't fun to be able to compete with players that are a lot younger. It's still fun to be out there playing in the open division. The other thing is platform is very conducive to continuing to be able to play, to compete at older ages simply because it's a smaller court and it's all doubles. If you can find a partner that can cover a large part of the court, you can hang in there.
Do you prepare differently mentally than you have in the past?
Not really. I would just say that I probably don't get as nervous about matches as I used to. I just go out there and take them as they come.
Has y[...]
Hall of Fame inductee, Paul G. Sullivan, died on February 4, 2009 in Vero Beach, Florida, at the age of 82.
He was born in Brooklyn, lived most of his life in Scarsdale, New York, and in recent years, Vero Beach. He attended Princeton University, and served in the Navy as a radioman in Annapolis. His work career spanned over 50 years, first with Hayden Stone and then with Smith Barney.
Paul served for many years on the Board of the American Platform Tennis Association, and was APTA President from 1963-1965. He was also President of the Fox Meadow Tennis Club from 1967-1969.
During the 50's and 60's, he was a major contributor to the activities of the APTA serving, among other things, as Chairman of many National Championships and as Chairman of the APTA Umpires Committee. He was also a USTA umpire, and served in that capacity at the U.S. Open and at Wimbledon.
He was instru[...]
Jonathan Lubow
Hometown: Randolph, NJ
Spouse and Kids: Wife: Jessica. Daughters: Caroline (8), Katie (5)
Hobbies: Gardening, Golf, Skiing
Personal Note: Wrote Options on Futures: New Trading Strategies
Paddle used: The National
Favorite shot: The "Dagger"
Sports experience: Played tennis in high school
Team accomplishments: 2006 and 2009 NJ State champs, 2008 Chicago Charities champions
Platform tennis partner history: "I used to play with Chip Dyer. He moved to Colorado four years ago and I hooked up with Steve."
How do you train for the season: "I do not train. I try to play all year round. Night paddle in summer is great."
Nutritional regimen, vitamins, stretching, etc.: "I drink Gatorade and I never stretch."
When did you start playing platform tennis? "After College. Charlie Stevens (Paddle Legend) got me into the game."
What do you like most about platform [...]
Deception can be an effective weapon in any paddle player's arsenal. Throwing up an offensive lob when your opponents are on top of the net or hitting a drop shot off a hard drive will keep them off balance and lead to a lot of free points. Here you will learn how and when to attempt a Dagger, an extremely low percentage shot that, if executed successfully, could win the point outright and get some laughs in the process.
The Dagger is a shot off the end of the paddle that should only be tried under certain circumstances.
The Set-up
A good spin overhead from an offensive position backs one of your opponents deep into his corner and puts him on the defensive. All he can do now is hope to dig the ball out and keep the point going. A weak floater towards the middle of the court is the perfect setup for a Dagger attempt.
The Reaction
The other team sees that they have hit a weak sh[...]
In a celebration held at the Women's 40/60 National Championships on February 11, 2009, Winnie Hatch and Sharon Hummers were inducted into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame, in recognition of their outstanding achievements both on and off the court over many years.
The induction presentations were delivered by Steve Baird for Edwina "Winnie" Worth Hatch and by Bob Brown for Sharon K. Hummers, before a large, enthusiastic, and appreciative audience at the Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, New Jersey. Each honoree acknowledged the election with thanks, and other comments of adoration followed by several relatives and friends.
The induction of Mansager and Goodspeed, the 2008 Hall of Fame Inductees, took place on January 17, 2009 at the Cincinnati Midwesterns. Todd Ward explained why:
The Cincinnati Midwesterns played out the way most Midwesterns have gone for the last several y[...]
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