USPTA SUMMER TEXAS NEWSLETTER

USPTA TEXAS SUMMER RETREAT

AUGUST 4-5, 2023

The Club at Sonterra

San Antonio, TX

PRESIDENT

Matt Watson

8407 Crooked Trail Tyler, Texas 75703 matt@hollytreecc.com

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT

Craig Bell

5201 Westgrove Drive Dallas, Texas 75248 972-931-4950

cbell1360@aol.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT

Mel McRee

3400 Mesa Road Lubbock, Texas 79403 806-786-2660

Mel@lubbockcc.org

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

Kelly Marshall

2510 Onion Creek Parkway Austin, Texas 78747 kmarshall@onioncreekclub.com

3rd VICE PRESIDENT

Adrien Chabria 5712 Palo Pinto Ave. Dallas, TX 75206 214-232-5237

ajchabria@me.com

SECRETARY

Michelle Stallard

3500 Woodhaven Drive Midland, Texas 79707 512-924-7097

michellestallardhome@gmail.com

TREASURER

Ernie Abraham 13765 Southern Oaks Dr. Burleson, Texas 76028 817-980-9374

abrahamernie@yahoo.com

PAST PRESIDENT

Jenny Gray 901 Sonterra Blvd San Antonio. Texas 78258 512-930-3783

jgray@clubatsonterra.com

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Tosha Smith

8003 Greenslope Dr. Austin, TX 78759 512-848-0598

tosha.smith@uspta.org

A Message from President, Matt Watson

Howdy fellow USPTA Texas Tennis professionals. I hope everyone is enjoying a busy summer with full camps and a busy schedule on the courts.

We had a fantastic turnout for our 3rd Annual USPTA Texas Golf Tournament in Grand Prairie, TX. We had 30 teams participate from all over Texas and we were able to raise important funds to help support our USPTA Texas programs. Thanks to all who participated and we hope to continue to grow this event.

For the upcoming Summer Retreat, we are thrilled to be back at The Club at Sonterra and a big Texas thank you to board member Jenny Gray and her team for welcoming us back to their beautiful club. We have a great lineup of activities for you including multiple hours of tennis and pickleball presentations, Friday afternoon golf, Friday night dinner, and a social Saturday night at Rebecca Creek Distillery (with an INDOOR room for our party so we can enjoy being out of the heat)! We hope to see you there.

As a reminder, the USPTA World Conference will be held in Orlando at the beautiful Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel and Resort September 24-28. The National office has coordinated some great education and social events for our members to enjoy. There will be a poolside party and dinner on Wednesday night at 6:00pm at the resort. This will be a terrific opportunity to connect with fellow USPTA professionals from around the country. Our featured speakers will be HOF inductees Chris Evert and Kirk Anderson. As a reminder, if you register for the conference before September 1st, you will receive a $50 discount on your registration fee.

Our Texas division party will be Tuesday night with a location TBD. Please keep an eye out for updated information on our division gathering in Orlando. We hope that many of you can make it and we have a strong showing of Texas USPTA members!

Please be sure to mark your calendars for our 2024 USPTA Texas Annual Conference that will again be held at the Las Colinas Omni Hotel February 9-11, 2024. I encourage every member to invite your fellow USPTA Texas professionals to attend.

I want to again thank our board members for their continued effort and time to provide our USPTA Texas members with terrific opportunities so that you may fully enjoy and appreciate the benefits of your membership. It is hard to believe I am coming to the end of my 4-year term. It has been my honor to serve every one of you over these past 3.5 years and I look forward to continuing to serve on our USPTA Texas board and help our organization continue to grow and excel as the industry’s leading teaching organization.

As many of you are aware, USPTA is now offering Pickleball certification to our members. If you have any interest please touch base with Tosha for more information about cost, testing dates, etc. Our head tester, Kelly Marshall, is doing an exceptional job at growing our number of certified pickleball professionals in Texas. She is well on her way to attaining 50+ USPTA certified pickleball professionals already this year in Texas.

As always, please feel free to share your thoughts with myself or any of the board members so that we may help our USPTA Texas membership continue to be the best in the country!

Regards,

Matt S. Watson, USPTA Elite Professional

COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS

Awards | Mel McRee

Buying Show Chair | Ernie Abraham

Division Conference | Kelly Marshall

Education | Adrien Chabria

Ethics/Legal | Tommy Connell

Diversity & Inclusion | Jack Foster

Finance | Ernie Abraham

Jr. Development | Craig Bell & Adrien Chabria

Lessons for Life | Dennis Reblin

Long-Range Planning | Jenny Gray

Membership | Tom Ingram

National Convention | Jim Sciarro

Nominating | Jo Keene

Regional Directors | Craig Bell

DATES RATE 2023

AUGUST

4- 5 USPTA TEXAS SUMMER RETREAT (SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS)

6 USPTA PICKLEBALL CERTIFICATION (SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS)

SEPTEMBER

8 – 10 USPTA TEXAS JUNIOR GRAN PRIX STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS (NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS)

24 – 28 USPTA WORLD CONFERENCE (ORLANDO, FLORIDA)

OCTOBER

6 – 8 USPTA TEXAS PICKLEBALL TOURNAMENT (TYLER, TEXAS)

NOVEMBER

1 – 3 USPTA LEVEL 2 WORKSHOP

USPTA TEXAS SUMMER RETREAT

August 4 – 5, 2023

Hello, USPTA Texas Professionals! Get ready to join us in San Antonio for some fabulous continuing education speakers on Friday and Saturday. There will be a golf option on Friday afternoon, a Friday night social at Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, and a Saturday evening social at Rebecca Creek Distillery.

The education seminars on both Friday and Saturday will be held at the Club at Sonterra located at 901 E. Sonterra Blvd. San Antonio, Texas.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

$100.00 if you register by July 15th

$115.00 after July 15th

Register at Link: USPTA Texas Summer Retreat

• Option to play golf on Friday afternoon- additional $65.00 (limited space)

• We are offering a Pickleball certification on Sunday which requires an additional registration and fee (limited space)

HOTEL

• Courtyard by Marriott, San Antonio North/ Stone Oak at Legacy

• Rate of $139 if booked by July 18th

• Link to book your hotel: Marriott Reservations

DEADLINE TO REGISTER FOR CONFERENCE - JULY 31st

Questions? Contact Tosha Smith at Tosha.Smith@uspta.org or (512) 848-0598

Summer

Retreat 2023 Schedule

Friday, August 4, 2023

The Club at Sonterra

8:30 am – 12:00 pm

Registration

9:00 am – 11:30 am

7 Ways to Improve your Coaching & Players Performance - Ken DeHart

11:30 am – 1:30 pm

Lunch on your own

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Tennis Drill Share- Opportunity to Share your Favorite Drills

1:30 pm– 6:00 pm

Golf

6:00 pm- 8:30 pm

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria

Saturday, August 5, 2023

The Club at Sonterra

8:30 am – 12:00 pm

Registration

9:00 am– 10:15 am

Tennis Drills & Games for Private Lessons

Michelle Stallard

10:15 am- 11:30 am

Building Strategy into your Lessons

Gerry Maingot

11:30 am – 1:30 pm

Lunch on your own

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Pickleball Drills & Games - Kelly Marshall

6:00 pm- 8:30 pm

Rebecca Creek Distillery

Featured Summer Retreat Speakers

Ken DeHart

Ken DeHart is the Director of Racquets at Alpine Hills in San Jose, California. He is a USPTA Master Professional and a PTR International Master Professional. Ken has received the USPTA Lifetime Achievement Award, he is a USPTA four-time Divisional Pro of the Year winner, and a two-time PTR International Pro of the Year recipient. Ken is in the USPTA NorCal Hall of Fame and the PTR International Hall of Fame. He is also on the USPTA Education Committee.

Ken has been a presenter at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open Coaches Conference. He has been an international speaker in Italy, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Mexico. Ken is the co- author of the International Book of Drills and author of Master Your Tennis Game- 50 Mental Strategies & Tactics.

Kelly Marshall

Kelly is the Director of Tennis and Fitness at Onion Creek Country Club in Austin. She has over three decades of playing and coaching experience on multiple levels. Kelly brings a high level of skill and expertise. Her extensive knowledge provides an atmosphere that is positive and enables athletes to work through their struggles and on to success.

Kelly played for a division 1 University and held a national ranking of #3 in doubles and # 10 in singles. She was named a Sun Belt AllConference Player and led her team as Captain for all four years. Kelly is a USPTA Elite Professional and serves as a Vice President on the USPTA Texas Division Board. Kelly is the USPTA Texas Division Coach Developer and is a USPTA Certified Pickleball Professional.

Michelle Stallard

Michelle Stallard is the Director of Tennis & Athletics at Bush Tennis Center. She has been there for two years. Before working at Bush Tennis Center, she was the Director of Tennis at Horseshoe Bay Resort for sixteen years. During her time at Horseshoe Bay Resort, she developed the program into one of the top ten resort destinations in the world (USA Today) and one of the top fifty tennis resort destinations in the world (tennis resorts online). While there, she coached Faith Academy to twelve state championships in fifteen years, making her the all-time winningest high school tennis coach in TAPPS history.

Michelle has achieved excellence in all levels of her tennis career. As a junior player from Memphis, she was ranked #1 in the USTA Southern Section and top 15 in the U.S. Following her junior career, she earned a full tennis scholarship to the University of Texas at Austin. As a longhorn, Michelle won the Southwest Conference “Triple Crown” with Singles, Doubles, Team Titles, and NCAA Division 1 Academic All American Honors. She is also a certified pickleball instructor. Michelle graduated from UT with a BS in exercise physiology and corporate fitness. She currently serves on the USPTA Texas Board of Directors and is a USPTA Elite Certified Tennis Professional.

Gerry Maingot

Gerry Maingot is the Director of Tennis, Pickleball, and Swim at the Corpus Christi Country Club. Gerry has been the Director of Tennis and Swim at the Corpus Christi Country Club for the past 21 years. He coordinates very active adult and junior programs at the club. Gerry is heavily involved with the South Texas Pro Association where he runs the Fall USPTA League. Gerry was the tournament director for the popular Ladies 18 & Over Little State Tournament and the Ladies 40 & Over Little State Tournament for 20 years.

Gerry currently serves as treasurer for the Corpus Christi Pros Association and has been a board member of the Corpus Christi Tennis Association. Gerry ran the Spring USTA 18 and Over League, the USTA 40 and Over League, and the USTA 18 and Over Mixed Doubles League in Corpus Christi for 20 years. Gerry has also served as the USPTA Texas Division President, the Executive Committee of the USTA Texas Section, and was Chair of the USTA Texas Leagues

USPTA Champion of Champions Cup Event

The USPTA Texas Champion of Champions Cup was held in Houston on April 5th and 6th. Friday matches were played at River Oaks Country Club and Saturday matches were moved to Chancellors due to inclement weather. The Kingwood team took 1st place and Tyler came in 2nd. Thank you to all the coaches and players for attending the event. Shout out to Ernie Abraham for running a great event.

EXPERIENCE THE Premier Tennis Education Event

LIVE in Orlando!

The historic USPTA World Conference is the world’s largest gathering of tennis professionals, industry leaders, representatives, manufacturers and wholesalers, and it’s returning to the largest tourism destination in the United States, the exciting and energetic Orlando, Florida on Sept. 24-28, 2023.

Experience five days of in-person learning, on-court seminars, networking, social events and the 2023 Awards Luncheon, featuring USPTA Tim Heckler Hall of Fame inductees Chris Evert and Kirk Anderson.

Set to take advantage of the gorgeous Central Florida ambiance, this year’s venue, the Rosen Shingle Creek, offers robust dining options, low-price golf at its renowned course and tons of relaxation around its four pools.

By registering before Sept. 1, 2023, USPTA members can attend the conference for $499, non-members for $549. Take advantage of our early bird pricing!

Hotel registration information will be sent to you when you register for the conference. (Rooms are $139/night plus applicable taxes- there is no resort fee.)

We will have the USPTA Texas Dinner at the World Conference on the evening of Tuesday, September 26th. Hope you can join us!

Successful USPTA Texas Golf Tournament

We had a fantastic turnout for our 3rd annual “Fore the Love of Tennis” USPTA Texas golf tournament that was held on June 23rd at Prairie Lakes Golf Course in Grand Prairie, Texas.

There were 30 teams registered that competed for prizes. Thanks to all the players and sponsors we were able to generate funding to help support USPTA tennis programs across the state of Texas for juniors and adults. Thank you to our President, Matt Watson, who put the event together, and our board members who helped make the event a success.

USPTA Pickleball Certifications

Kelly Marshall, the USPTA Texas Pickleball Coach Developer held a pickleball certification in Arlington on June 22nd and one in Corpus Christi on June 24th. There is a certification coming to San Antonio on August 6th.

If you have a group in your area interested in getting certified, or if you have questions, reach out to Kelly Marshall or Tosha Smith.

TM

USPTA Specialty Course

USPTA Texas held a specialty course in Houston on April 6th. The event was moved over to Lifetime Tennis due to the weather. Kelly Marshall ran the course and shared some fantastic drills and coaching tips.

CRAIG’S CORNER

A big Texas sized “Howdy” to all of you out there who are reading this latest edition of Craig’s Corner. Summer is here and I’m certainly in favor for the warmer weather – I’m not much of a cold weather fan as I lived in the mountains for three years during my college days and you know what boys and girls – it’s cold in them thar hills! Summer time suits this author just fine!

Well, Anywho, with that being said (which ain’t a whole lot), here are my latest thoughts, mental musings and other such mind-bending nuggets to digest for you, the faithful.

On the Lone Star front, did you realize (maybe you did, but I certainly didn’t) that the USTA Texas Slam is the largest junior tournament in the US of A --- that’s right boys and girls! This year right around 1,000 kiddos between the ages of 11-18 competed in the annual tournament - and according to the USTA Texas website they boast The Texas Slam is the largest junior tennis tournament in the USA!

This year’s Texas Slam was held in Georgetown, home of Inner Space Caverns (I’ve been down in the caverns – pretty cool!) and home to more than 150 courts, including 86 lighted courts at nine sites and 48 practice courts. According to some research by yours truly, players from all over the state (except El Paso and Texarkana) invaded the courts of Georgetown and pumped in around $2 million into the local economy in right at 7 days of tournament play – that’s a whole lotta Benjamin’s amigos! This will be the 3rd year that the city of Georgetown has hosted the massive jr tournament with Abilene, College Station and Wichita Falls being the cities that have previously hosted the event in the past 30 or more years.

When I arrived on the tennis scene in Texas back in the late 80’s the Summer Jr. Grand Slam, aka The Texas Slam, was always held in Wichita Falls, which I thought would always host the tournament as the Wichita Falls tennis community did a really spectacular job in hosting the event – side note: The Summer Jr. Grand Slam was not the biggest event Wichita Falls hosts every year – that distinction goes to

the Hotter N’ Heck 100 which annually has over 12,000 bike riders in late August! But anyway, I digress, I’ve gotta think that this is where the Summer Jr. Grand Slam really “cut its teeth” so to speak in Wichita Falls, with the massive number of jr tennis players participating in singles and doubles play.

I was saddened somewhat when the tournament left Wichita Falls but I knew that College Station would be an outstanding venue for the kids to play at because A&M’s college tennis facility was really, really nice. And what kid wouldn’t want to play at that facility as they may never get a chance to compete for the Aggies when they are college age. I recall a number of years back at a Summer Grand Slam, one of the best jr tennis matches I’ve ever witnessed was on the Aggieland courts between Lukas Starmach from Corpus Christi and a young man by the name of Ryan Harrison who was living and training with his family down at Newk’s Tennis Academy in New Braunfels at the time. These two went at it for hours in the sweltering summer heat and humidity of College Station – it must’ve been at least 125 on the court that day. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was watching these two titans go at it – not knowing that one day Ryan Harrison would be playing on the ATP tour. The match was so intense that both Lukas and Ryan were both seen in the corner relieving themselves of whatever substances they had in their stomachs from an earlier meal – sorry, I didn’t want to be too graphic but I’m sure you get the picture non the less. Young Mr. Harrison won that match that day in 3 tough sets and the rest they say is history – well, maybe not, but it sounded like the thing to write.

Anyway, I’m sure many a USPTA Texas tennis professional has many a great story (or two) about this monumental jr. tournament that happens around mid-June each year somewhere in the Great State of Texas! Everything is said to be bigger and better in Texas and the Texas Slam is the biggest tournament in the land - keep up the great work and Great Game tradition!

Nationally speaking, I’ve been reading a few articles of late on the demise of Red, White, and Blue American men at the top of the Great Game. Granted we have some fine players in the current American ranks but Andy Roddick, back in 2003, was our last Grand Slam winner from the USA. That’s two decades or twenty years of American men being shutout at the top. Now granted we have American women (Venus\Serena Williams) who have dominated during the past two decades, but on the men’s side of the ledger, we’ve been bone dry! Our good USPTA Texas amigo, Craig O’Shannessy feels like our men need to add more serving and volleying into their games. Brad Gilbert, a pretty seasoned veteran, says we need more time on the dirt, banging away and learning how to set up and construct points. On a recent

edition of At The Net Podcast (I co-host with USPTA Texas Pro, AJ Chabria), Brian Teacher, who won the AO in 1980, suggests that our kids need to play more sets. Brian feels this has been a big problem in recent years that our players can do all the drills – groundstrokes, volleys, etc. etc. – but where the rubber meets the road is actually getting out on the court and playing sets and thus learning about your game and how you to defeat opponents – critical thinking, which drills don’t necessarily provide. Many years ago, I was talking with legendary college tennis coach, Chuck Kriese and he made an interesting point as we were watching his Clemson Tigers warmup prior to a collegiate match in Big D. He said, Craig to make my team I tell all the aspiring Clemson Tigers that they need to play at a minimum of 20 sets per week – that’s correct boys and girls, 20 or more sets a week is what Coach Kriese told me! Interesting thoughts about our men’s tennis dilemma – what says you, is this a technical, tactical or just get out and play more tennis scenario?

On the world stage, I was reading a few of the numerous tennis news emails I receive and I noticed an interesting quote from Roger Federer highlighting a problem in today’s tennis. The article started off by quoting The King in saying, “We live in a world based on numbers and statistics. We like to improve our statistics and break records so that we can determine who is the strongest.” The article went on to quote RF by saying, “As soon as you win a Slam or become world #1, you are immediately asked how long you will stay on top or when you will win your next Slam. The fun has taken a back seat. This mechanism has been fueled to such an extent that it has become a problem, at least in my opinion.” I started thinking about this and agree wholeheartedly with him. Incredible pressure exists on tennis players not only from yourself, peers, or the press and once you reach the top of the mountain, it seems like this is not enough for some and they won’t let you enjoy the moment or even two moments for that matter. Seems like there are a number of “one hit wonders” as they say in the music industry. I know everyone might see this differently but is this more of an external pressure or internal pressure as to how and why “fun has taken a back seat” as The King says? Interesting thought – what do you think?

A couple of interesting thoughts about American tennis and world tennis in general – I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts and comments on both topics – see my contact information listed below.

Well kids, it’s time to circle the wagons, put out the fire and call in the dogs -- until next time, whenever that is, was or could be, Keep Your Eye on the Ball and Don’t Forget the Sunscreen...

cbell1360@aol.com | craigbell@benttreecc.org

214-762-8600 (cell\text)

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