Paddle is her balance. Just back from a weekend on Long Beach Island, and having spent two weeks skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho, it was pure luck to find Helen Garrett with some time to talk. No moss grows on Garrett, the perennial senior tournament winner, with 16 APTA Senior Championships and eight "silvers," as she puts it. She plays both women's and mixed tournaments, enjoying the differences of each game. And she very much enjoyed the team concept of the President's Cup. Garrett played in the very first one in 1986, and was on the Region III team for several years.
Garrett and long-time partner Sandy Simmers won the Women's 70+ Nationals in Scarsdale, New York, this past December. Both players are from the Washington, DC area, and Garrett really enjoys the time they spend together, whether in the car traveling to tournaments or on the court. "Neither of us has a big forehand or big [...]
You two recently paired up as a team. How did you find each other and was it an instant gelling?
Warner: “Mark was my junior tennis coach during my high school years. A few years after attending SIUE, Mark and I began corresponding again and soon began to practice on the paddle court. It wasn’t until this year that we seriously discussed pairing up. We are good friends off the court, and we were curious to see how our strengths would complement each other on the court.”
What about each of your styles of play do you think make your team strong?
Warner: “Through the use of spin on both serves and overheads, we try to keep our opponents neutralized from attacking from the backcourt; as a righty/lefty combo, we find sometimes we can create more pressure on the net team with our forehand drives and blitzes from the middle of the court.”
Where do you see yourselves having[...]
Close to 100 players took part in seven hours of clinics over the course of two days hosted at the Kingsway Platform Tennis Club in Toronto, Canada. Juan Arraya was joined by Mark Fischl, Brian O’Connor and Newfoundlander Mark Parsons, along with Toronto’s own Paul Stulac on the Kingsway courts and led a series of clinics and exhibition matches on a challenging weather weekend.
Adults and juniors who had never picked up a paddle took part along with seasoned level 1 players.Beginners, intermediates and advanced players had only one negative comment about the clinics – WE WANT MORE! [enlarge image to read more]
The Chicago Charities tournament has become second only to the Nationals for paddle treasure.
Good work and good play go hand in hand every year at the Chicago Charities tournament, where the proceeds benefit a charity chosen by the CC committee. Glen View Club of Golf, Illinois, hosted the highly-touted tournament, known for its quality of play.
Teams came from all over—including California, Canada, and Connecticut—to vie for the Charities cup and to support a great cause, The House of Peace Shelter. And no good deed goes undone—everyone received favors of warm picnic blankets and paddle DVDs for their participation.
Hall of Famers and former national champions dotted the draw sheet for both the men's and women's events. The women played on Friday and Saturday morning of a golden weekend. The worst element the women had to deal with was bright sunshine. With a field embar[...]
In the summer of 2010 Wilmington Country Club built a new platform tennis facility. With four courts and a fantastic hut, the complex sets a high standard for any club that intends to build the “best” new facility. As WCC starts its second paddle season with the new facility, the number of paddle players has soared. This brief history may provide other clubs with a road map for going from “just okay” to great.
WCC was founded in 1901. It has always been a premier golf club in Delaware. The South Course (one of two 18-hole courses) was designed by Robert Trent Jones. It is consistently rated one of the top courses in the country. The tennis facility boats 17 tennis courts including the only grass courts in Delaware as well as three indoor courts. Year after year the squash program produces nationally ranked juniors and college players.
The sport of platform tennis experience[...]
In December, 2011, Hall of Famer Hank Irvine gave a two-day PPTA certification course at The Villages in Florida, a large 55-and-over retirement community. Their six ground-level asphalt courts were opened in March 2010. Since then, free lessons or clinics were held on Wednesdays and Fridays year-round by resident volunteer instructors who had played paddle before moving to Florida. The certified developmental coaches are now new members of the PPTA. They are now in the process of reviewing their teaching format based on what was learned from Hank Irvine's course, his suggestions and the PPTA manual.
This community is in its last expansion, growing from some 86,000 residents to reach about 110,000 by 2017. As more residents desire to learn to play paddle, the plan is for the new certified coaches to teach other residents to become volunteer coaches.
Hank's story is fascinating. He[...]
Viking has recently announced plans to introduce a new ball which will extend the normal platform tennis playing season worldwide into a year-round sport. The new Viking Low Bounce platform tennis balls are set to arrive in March 2012, just as the platform season usually comes to an end.
Platform tennis is a sport played primarily in the northeastern and midwestern United States. Due to the solid rubber core construction of a normal platform ball, which produces a lively bounce during the cold winter months, this same ball becomes too fast and hard to control when the weather gets warm or in high-altitude conditions. Viking has just announced the introduction of a new formula that combines the current construction of the Extra Duty ball with the feel and performance athletes expect from a normal platform tennis ball.
Viking has been the Official Ball of all American Platform Tennis[...]
As a team, how did you find each other and was it an instant match?
Keri: Sue and I are both from Long Island and we played against, and with, each other often for practice before we decided to team up. I think we were a good match from the start because of our different playing styles. I tend to be more aggressive, and Sue has the ability to keep us in the points, set me up and also bring some offense when the opportunity presents itself.
Sue: Keri and I met through playing in the local women's platform league. She plays for Nassau Country Club, and I play out of the Garden City Community Park. We have mutual paddle playing friends and we played socially on many occasions. When her partner became injured, she called me to fill in as her partner in a tournament. We had moderate success and began to play a few more events together. Her partner never recovered and we decided to conti[...]
On Friday, March 16, 2012, the Huntington Country Club in Long Island, New York, was the place to be as APTA President ,Tim McAvoy received the APTA's highest honor for his outstanding efforts on and off the court. Introductions began with Nationals Co-chairman, Duane Hayden (along with Tim Mangan) welcoming the crowd and introducing APTA Hall of Fame Member and keynote speaker Steve Baird. In attendance were hundreds of players, friends and family members traveling to Long Island to show their respect and appreciation for Tim.
The transcript of the induction speech delivered by Steve Baird introducing the 78th recipient is shown in its entirety below.
Where do you start when talking about Tim McAvoy's contributions to the game? Well you start with his mom, Lucie Bel McAvoy, who was a pioneer of the game in the greater Philadelphia area and a Hall of Fame member (inducted here 20 [...]
It began with lunch. Two friends at Hajime-Sushi in Harrison, New York, were talking about one of their favorite sports. Nothing unusual in that, right? But then one of them floated the idea of starting a website for like-minded enthusiasts. The other looked up from his Tolcu-Jo and said, "Let's do it." PaddlePlayer.com was born.
That was nearly a year ago. Since then, PaddlePlayer.com has become a great website to visit for all things platform tennis.
It features articles written by the sport's most knowledgeable players and followers, video tips from pros, and full coverage of all major paddle tournaments and events— all with the goal of promoting the sport and helping players at all levels improve their game. Some of the most recognizable names in the sport—Mark Parsons, Alex Bancila, Drew Broderick and Johan du Randt— share their knowledge, tips, and opinions through inst[...]
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