14 minute read
Heard Around Atlanta
Learn & Earn
We have all seen some extreme creativity during these crazy COVID-19 times, and that extends to AYTEF, which started an incredible program for kids in the community when the tennis facilities shut down. Executive Director Torrey Hawkins created the AYTEF (Atlanta Youth Tennis & Education Foundation) Learn & Earn Club. Hawkins shipped tennis equipment and education curriculum directly to families in the Washington Park area. The kids were able to track their learning progress with AYTEF to earn a series of summer boxes that support athletic and academic development. Kids wrote essays and after they were submitted, Hawkins delivered a box filled with cloth racquets, summer enrichment workbooks, markers, pencils, balls, arts and crafts, and more. The kids then sent in photos and videos of their progress to receive a second box, filled with pickleball racquets, more athletic equipment, reading books, and other school supplies. The third Learn & Earn box included a tennis racquet, more books, a book about Arthur Ashe, and a gift
Revitalized
As of Sept. 1, 2020 the Concourse Athletic Club in Sandy Springs has rebranded as CAC Tennis. Under its new direction, the tennis program has been fully revamped and energized with a new director and staff.
Rob Wilkins has been named director of racquet sports, Corey Matney is now the head tennis professional, Mimi Mitchell is the new junior development coordinator, and Dominic Arbie and Elliot Clowdis are the new tennis professionals on staff.
card to get other school supplies to be prepared for the fall school year. Hawkins says they also included activities that emphasize gratitude and says the organization received overwhelmingly positive responses from the participating
Concourse Athletic Club Tennis
families. Great job AYTEF!
All 7 clay courts at CAC Tennis have been under major renovation and are now manicured and ready for new ju nior tennis clinics, adult drills/clinics, adult team tennis leagues, tournament teams, weekly round robins, and cardio drills.
The Junior Program begins September 14, and CAC Tennis will host a Halloween Social on October 29. Learn more at wellbridge.com/concourseathletic-club/fitness/tennis.
AYTEF Golf Tournament Scheduled for October 26
Be sure to mark your calendar for October 26 for the AYTEF Golf Tournament at the Dunwoody Country Club. This is the second year of this event, which supports the Atlanta Youth Tennis & Education Foundation and is a program supported by the ALTA Foundation. AYTEF was established in 2003 to meet the needs of underserved children in metro Atlanta. Your support provides health, wellness, education, sportsmanship, and tennis programming to kids throughout Atlanta.
The tournament opens at 9 a.m., with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. The awards reception will follow at 3 p.m.
For more information, please contact Pam Porter at 678.772.4230 or pam@magnoliagolfgroup.com. To sponsor or register, visit www. aytef.org/golf or text GOLF to 202.952.9883.
TELL US!
Send your stories, compliments, complaints and questions to altaeditor@altatennis.org.
PGA TOUR Superstore Opens First Ohio Location
Atlanta-based PGA TOUR Superstore has opened its first Ohio location in Columbus. Inside the 42,000-square-foot store, golf enthusiasts can work on their swing in seven, high-tech interac tive simulators — two inside the Fitting Studio — and eight virtual practice bays. There’s also a 2,565-square-foot putting green. The experiential retailer offers the largest selection of clubs, accessories, footwear, and apparel for men, women and juniors, as well as in-house repair services, lessons, and clinics from certified teaching pros. The store also does free custom fittings.
“Home to the Memorial, Muirfield Village, and the Golden Bear, Columbus is at the heart of Ohio’s golf scene,” said Dick Sullivan, president & CEO, PGA TOUR Superstore. “What sets us apart from other Ohio golf retailers is that we offer our guests a fun, welcoming, and safe atmosphere inside our stores. Providing in-store experiences is at the core of what we do, and we are excited to give Ohio golfers of all levels the opportunity to swing into action.”
PGA TOUR Superstore continues to grow in golf-centric markets and has opened three stores in 2020 thus far. The Columbus store marks the company’s 44th location in the United States.
Stay & Play Carolinas’ #1 Tennis Resort TOP 10 TENNIS RESORT IN THE UNITED STATES
Package includes:
• 4 days / 3 nights in a 1 bedroom resort view villa • 2 hours of court time daily (upon availability) • Two tennis clinics per player • Three-day bike rental per person
Starting from $190* pp/pn CALL 866-287-2679
More Vacation Packages available at PalmettoDunes.com/NN Use promo code NET 20
*Rate is per person, per night, based on beginner/intermediate package for two (2) person occupancy in a one bedroom resort villa & includes taxes & resort fees. Some restrictions apply. Subject to availability. Rate expires October 31, 2020.
ASK ABOUT PICKLEBALL PACKAGES FOR FAMILIES & GROUPS!
TECH TALK
When Does a Team Show in the Member Portal > My Active Teams?
The ALTA website has been updated to show teams in My Active Teams as soon as they are submitted during roster entry. ALTA received a lot of feedback from teams wanting to set up their new season on the ALTA website, so we made this update.
Teams can start communicating about the new season in My Active Teams > Communicate.
Availability can be entered as well with only the dates of the upcoming matches showing until schedules go live.
Any roster corrections during the roster entry and corrections period can be taken care of with roster access in My Active Teams.
Teams stay in My Active Teams through a league’s City Finals. —Joan Appelbaum, ALTA IT Manager
The Georgia Tennis Foundation and USTA Georgia recently announced the 2020 class for the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees con sist of Brian Vahaly (player) and Craig Jones (coach). Additionally, University of Georgia Men’s Tennis Coach Manny Diaz was honored with the Dan Magill Impact Award.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the enshrinement ceremony has been planned for the 2021 Truist Atlanta Open.
Vahaly made significant inroads at the highest level of the game, reaching a career high of #64 in the ATP world singles rankings in 2003. That same year, he reached the quarterfinals of the Pa cific Life Open (Indian Wells), defeating in order former top 10 players Fernan do Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Ferraro, and Tommy Robredo. He also reached the semifinals of Memphis.
Vahaly is currently serving his third, non-consecutive term as a member of the USTA Board of Directors. He resides in Washington, D.C.
Jones continues to make major impacts in the development of future generations of great players throughout Georgia. An inductee into the Rome & Macon Hall of Fames, he has been producing championship-quality play ers for approximately 37 years, having become a tennis director at the young age of 23.
He has produced more than 150 players who have received college scholarships and mentored more than 30 of his players as they became coaches and tennis directors themselves. A 10-time Georgia Davis Cup coach and 3-time Southern Intersectional coach, he has won the coveted USTA Georgia Pro fessional of the Year three times. Since 2005, Jones has served as the director of tennis at Idle Hour Country Club in Macon.
Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame member Diaz (Class of 2000) is the all-time lead er among SEC tennis coaches with 709 wins (and counting). With an 80-per cent winning percentage throughout his tenure at the University of Georgia, Diaz has won 28 SEC Championships, along with four NCAA team champi onships and seven NCAA team finals appearances.
Georgia Tennis Foundation President Cannon Carr said: “Congratulations to our Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame Class of 2020. We look forward to celebrating their accomplishments at the 2021 Truist Atlanta Open. A special thank you to Richard Howell and the Hall of Fame Selection Committee for their efforts.”
For the fourth straight season, the University of Georgia women’s tennis team was named an Intercollegiate Tennis Associate All-Academic Team, and five student athletes were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.
Senior Elena Chrisofti, juniors Katarina Jokic and Morgan Coppoc, sophomore Meg Kowalski, and freshman Lea Ma were all named ITA Scholar-Athletes. This is the fourth-straight year Christofi has been named an ITA Scholar-Athlete, the second for Kowalski and first time for Jokic, Coppoc, and Ma.
“It was another outstanding year for UGA women’s tennis academically,” Head Coach Jeff Wallace said. “Our student ath letes continue to excel in the classroom as well as on the courts. We always appreciate the hard work they put into our program.”
To be named an ITA Scholar-Athlete, one must meet the following requirement, having a grade point average of at least 3.5 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year. To be named an ITA All-Academic Team, programs must meet the following requirements, have a team grade point average of 3.2 or above (on a 4.00 scale), and all varsity letter winners should be factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year.
Christofi, a finance major, was the Georgia female recipient of the Boyd McWhorter Post-Graduate Scholarship, as well as Marilyn Vincent Scholar-Athlete Award which is given to the graduating female senior with the highest GPA. Christofi made the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletic Honor Roll eight times in her career, plus appeared on the Dean’s List multiples times as well. She served as the team’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Representative too.
Jokic, an intended risk management and insurance major, has made the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll four times in her career, including the Dean’s List once. She is a two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and was an IUTA Scholar-Athlete in 2018.
Coppoc, a risk management and insurance major, was named to the SEC Spring Honor Roll this past season, as well as being named to the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll Dean’s List this fall semester.
Kowalski, an intended sports management major, is a three time member of the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll, a two time member of the SEC Academic Spring Honor Roll, and a two-time member of the SEC Community Service Team.
Ma, an intended sports management major, was named to the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll for the first time in her career in the fall, and she has been named to the 2019-2020 First-Year Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll.
Congratulations
Congratulations to the Atlanta Tennis community for helping make Atlanta’s only ATP event such a success!
Signature Tennis Courts Proud builder of the courts … since its inception! mike@signaturetennis.com
PPTR to be the Official Education and Certification Partner of the American Platform Tennis Association
The Professional Platform Tennis Registry (PPTR), the newly formed subsidiary of Professional Tennis Registry (PTR), has entered a partnership with the American Platform Tennis Association (APTA) to become the Official Education and Certification Partner of APTA. According to PPTR, the multi-year agreement will be a tremendous benefit to hundreds of racquets professionals who want to add or enhance their coaching skills and become certified in platform tennis.
“PPTR is thrilled to be working with APTA. APTA is a dynamic organization with a forward-thinking board and a dedicated staff that is helping grow platform tennis,” said Dan Santorum, CEO of PTR, PPR, and PPTR. “It is a natural partnership, because many PTR and PPR members, mainly in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, want to add PPTR to their credentials. As a professional membership organization, it’s important to provide PPTR members with the tools they need to do their jobs better, to serve their members/employers better, and to improve the overall health of both sports.”
PPTR workshops will begin in September, which is the beginning of the inaugural PPTR membership year. As an added incentive, those who are members of PTR and/ or PPR will receive a deeply discounted price to join PPTR.
Seven UGA Men’s Tennis Players Earn ITA Scholar Honors
A team-record seven University of Georgia men’s tennis players recently were named 2020 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athletes.
The distinction requires that a player must be a varsity letter winner and have a grade point average of 3.50 or higher for the academic year. This year’s Georgia players include Robert Loeb, Sam Dromsky, Alex Phillips, Philip Henning, Blake Croyder, Tyler Zink, and Erik Grevelius.
Loeb, Dromsky, and Phillips just com pleted their senior seasons. Phillips, who was named to the 2019 SEC Commu nity Service Team, finished with a 3.77 GPA. This is the fourth-straight sea son All-American Loeb (3.97 GPA) and Dromsky (3.78 GPA), who was most re cently named to the 2020 SEC Community Service Team, have earned the distinction. Dromsky will continue his education this fall at the Dental College of Georgia in Augusta.
Henning earned a 3.50 GPA in the 2019-20 academic year. The Bloemfontein, South Africa, native is entering his junior season with the Bulldogs. Henning and Grevelius tie for the most overall wins for the 2019-20 season.
Also a rising junior, Croyder, a Marietta, Georgia native finished the academic year with a 3.60 GPA. He boasted a 9-0 dual record for the 2020 season, taking him into the 2020-21 season with nine-straight wins.
Rising sophomores Tyler Zink (3.54 GPA), a native of Bradenton, Fla., and Erik Grevelius (3.50 GPA) of Stockholm, Swe den, round out the list for Georgia. Zink led the freshmen in dual wins for the 2020 season with five, while Grevelius led Geor gia in overall wins with 19.
KSU Owls Collect ITA Academic Honors
Members of the Kennesaw State men’s and women’s tennis teams secured Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic honors, the organization announced recently. In addition, the women earned their ninth consecutive team honor.
Four members of the men’s squad were honored as ITA Scholar-Athletes with six ITA Scholar-Athletes coming from the women.
The four men recognized for their achievements in the classroom were Mritunjay Badola, Jose Galvez, Seru Tezuka, and Harrison Wood. The women’s student-athletes were Elle Baker, Melody Cantrell, Juliana Castellanos, Paola Cortez, Aspen Jarrett, and Brenna Reilly.
“I’m extremely proud of all of the men and women on this list,” Director of Tennis Matt Emery said. “These were certainly unprecedented obstacles that were thrown their way this past year, and they rose to the challenge resiliently.”
The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale).
In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status, a player must meet the following criteria: have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year and been listed on the institutional eligibility form.
Leading the way in improved mobility.
Whether you’re getting back in the game or simply looking to stay at the top of yours, a stronger you starts here. At Northside Hospital Orthopedic Institute, our vast team of orthopedic specialists in Spine, Sports Medicine, and Arthritis and Total Joint care are ready to keep you moving with powerful, personalized care.
866-NH-ORTHO | northside.com/orthopedic
Your Source of Strength
Babolat Introduces a New Pure Aero VS Racquet
According to Babolat, its new Pure Aero VS combines the exceptional spin and feel of the Pure Aero with pinpoint precision. The new racquet is designed to offer more control than the top-selling Aero, which is engineered for a faster-paced player. The Aero VS features a thin ner beam, 16x20 string pattern, a more flexible frame, a 98-square-inch head, and it weighs just 10.8 oz. On the power/control spectrum, the new racquet fits somewhere in between the Aero (for power) and Pure Strike (for control).
