Texan Newsletter Spring 2024

PRESIDENT

Mel McRee

3400 Mesa Road

Lubbock, Texas 79403

806-535-1242

Mel@lubbockcc.org

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT

Kelly Marshall

2510 Onion Creek Parkway Austin, Texas 78747

512-585-1008

kmarshall@onioncreekclub.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT

Adrien Chabria

5712 Palo Pinto Ave. Dallas, TX 75206

214-232-5237

ajchabria@me.com

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

Ernie Abraham 13765 Southern Oaks Dr. Burleson, Texas 76028

817-980-9374

abrahamernie@yahoo.com

SECRETARY

Sarah Flood 11201 Lynbrook Dr. #3802 Houston, TX 77042

713-894-1256

Sarahflood0514@gmail.com

TREASURER

Michelle Stallard

3500 Woodhaven Drive Midland, Texas 79707

512-924-7097

michellestallardhome@gmail.com

PAST PRESIDENT

Matt Watson

8407 Crooked Trail Tyler, Texas 75703

matt@hollytreecc.com

EX OFFICIO

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,

Happy Springtime USPTA Pros!

Firstly, I want to thank all our speakers and presenters who did such a fantastic job at our recent conference in Las Colinas. Also, want to give a shoutout to Tosha who put countless hours into the preparation for the event. As tennis pros we know how much time and energy it takes to run a successful tournament, the hours before a ball is ever hit, well that’s Tosha and our conference. Things ran so smoothly and it was all her fault. Right there with her are our education and conference chairs, AJ Chabria, and Kelly Marshall, respectively. They make up the Holy Trinity of teamwork for our conference and they truly deserve special recognition.

Mel McRee

This year we have a lot of wonderful USPTA events heading your way. We recently held the Champion of Champions event at River Oaks Country Club in Houston The USPTA Junior Circuits will culminate with the Gran Prix at Newks in September. We are having our annual golf tournament headed by Matt Watson in June, our Summer Retreat in Waco in August, and in November we will be hosting our first ever USPTA Pickleball State Championships in Rockwall. Personally, I am very excited about this event. We will have regions all over the state hosting USPTA pickleball leagues to qualify players for the event in November. This will become a terrific opportunity to form teams at your clubs and facilities and monetize and make pickleball more competitive and organized in Texas. On top of all of that the World conference is in Rancho Mirage, California in mid-September as well. All in all, we have a great lineup of events for USPTA pros and their players.

One thing I am also extremely excited about for this year is our reinvigorated committees. We need more volunteers and we have so many exceptional pros with talents galore. The committees will meet in person or virtually to tackle the issues, bring fresh new ideas to the board, as well as volunteering for events. This is also a great training ground for future board members, and presidents. To everyone who applied I want to thank you for your time and service to our association.

Again, thank you all for being a part of our great association, we have the best pros in the country and it is truly a pleasure to represent and serve you.

Regards,

Mel McRee, USPTA Elite Professional

DATES RATE

MAY 17 - 19

USPTA Level 2 Workshop

Westwood CC (Austin, Texas)

JUNE 28

USPTA Texas Golf Tournament

Waterchase (Fort Worth, Texas)

COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS

Awards | Matt Watson

Conference | Kelly Marshall

Education & Certification | Sarah Flood

Competitive | Jenny Gray & Ernie Abraham

Membership | Mel McRee

Finance | Michelle Stallard

Diversity, Equality, & Inclusion | Adrien Chabria

Nominating | Jo Keene

USTA Liaison | Fred Viancos

AUGUST 9 - 10

USPTA Texas Summer Retreat (Waco, Texas)

SEPTEMBER 6 - 8

USPTA Texas Junior Gran Prix (New Braunfels, Texas)

SEPTEMBER 15 - 19

USPTA World Conference (Rancho Mirage, California)

NOVEMBER 2 - 3

USPTA Texas State Pickleball Championships (Rockwall, Texas)

FROM AROUND THE STATE Regional Directors

Kelly Marshall

Austin news! The ATX Open was a great event for the second year in a row. Westwood Country Club and it’s staff did an excellent job hosting the event along with Christo Van Rensburg. Such a treat to have high level women play right here in town! This is a great event.

AUSTIN

BRAZOS VALLEY

Junior Team Tennis is underway with professionals getting used to the WTN numbers as they relate to junior grassroot play. It is a learning curve but our area pro’s are working hard to master it! We welcome Melissa Chambers to the Capital Area Tennis Association and her new role of organizing all the JTT Coaches.

The Gran Pris Tournaments got underway last week with the first tournament held at Onion Creek Club. We had over 93 juniors competed, and everything went smooth! Looking forward to the next one!

Brandon Carlson

We are seeing a marked uptick in participation in our three women’s leagues in the Brazos Valley this Spring, including the introduction of a new 2.0/2.5 league to introduce new players to the sport. Additionally, tennis programming for the City of College Station has begun for the spring season, and we have 125 players registered for our group classes.

We are excited to continue planning the redevelopment of the Bee Creek and Central Park tennis courts after our successful bond campaign, with work due to begin in Winter 2024. Finally, both Texas A&M tennis teams are back in action and ranked in the top 10 of the ITA Team Rankings as of this update.

CENTRAL TEXAS

FROM AROUND THE STATE

Regional Directors

Julian Curatella

We are happy to report that Central Texas facilities continues to strive with lots of various activities and programming for the whole family.

Our USPTA Junior Grand Prix circuit began last month. We added an extra tournament for 2024 and look to build on the momentum of last year. Our Central Texas team took 2nd place at the state championships last season and we are looking to surpass that achievement. China Spring, Ridgewood Country Club and Midway HS had record participation!

Junior Team tennis spring season on Sunday, April 7th with a pizza party and prizes.! We want to recognize Claire McFerran who continues to lead this amazing program and all the volunteers who are vital to the program’s success.

USTA adult league play has also begun! We continue to have seen an increase in numbers for all levels. We look forward to building mixed doubles teams as we head into the Texas summer heat.

All Central Texas facilities are gearing up for their respective summer camp. Facilities are offering a wide range of first-class programs, academies style training, tennis and sport camps for June, July and August!

FORT WORTH

Laura Gilbert

Leslie Crook has come out of retirement to be the new Head Tennis Coach at Eagle Mountain High School.

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has initiated a pilot project to designate and recognize top performing tennis operators as “USTA Premier Facilities”. The Southlake Tennis Center was selected as one of the nation’s first 50 pilot sites for 2023-2024.

DALLAS

FROM AROUND THE STATE

Regional Directors

Adrien Chabria

Leagues and teams are all already in high gear. Players and professionals are undoubtedly inspired from our USPTA Texas Annual Conference, so much local college tennis at UTD, UNT, TCU, SMU and many more….. and of course the always impressive ATP Dallas Open.

Proud to see the tremendous times for USPTA professionals in Dallas!l. Are you enjoying this new boom in racquet sports?

Betty Sue Welch at a gathering of the USPTA, Dallas Professional and Dallas Tennis communities at the Bent Tree CC this past winter.

Pro players Masha Kononova and Jada Robinson with coach Craig Kardon, supporting the ATP Dallas Open’s Rally for Charity.

Local legend, Bert Cole with Frances Tiafoe at the Dallas Open.

Texas professionals spent some time courtside with Goran Ivanisevic at Indian Wells.

Joshua Sheehy at the DTA booth!

CORPUS

CHRISTI

FROM AROUND THE STATE Regional Directors

Gerry Maingot

Spring is in full swing and daylight savings time has started –bring on the tennis. Lenson Smith received the USPTA Texas Elevate Award and Gerry Maingot received the USPTA Texas Star Award at the Annual USPTA/USTA-Texas Conference in February.

Lenson Smith continues to run all the USTA Leagues in the Coastal Bend and has even started a Day League for the players.

Zach Williams has begun registration for the USTA Junior Team Tennis League – he is expecting to have about 60 juniors participate. Matt Westmoreland at the Corpus Christi Athletic Club is in the middle of an expansion – adding 8 indoor pickleball courts.

Gerald Tjon-a-joe has had a busy spring, he just finished hosting his third high school tournament and has also started a wheelchair clinic which will be held once a month. Bobby Hagerman has moved to Rockport Country Club where he has assumed the position of Director of Tennis.

SAN ANTONIO VALLEY

FROM AROUND THE STATE Regional Directors

Dan Cantu

It’s Fiesta time in San Antonio and the tennis scene is bustling with tennis events.

Congratulations to the winners of the Men and Women 40 and over playoff teams who competed over the weekend. These winners will have the opportunity to travel to the Woodlands in early June to compete at the state level.

High school tennis, both public and private schools are preparing to advance their teams in the individual season to the next level. Good luck to all the players!

We cannot forget about the Fiesta open tournament, a key event in San Antonio tennis, will be held on April 26-28th at McFarlin tennis center.

Andy Carter

HEB Tennis Center will be the site for the 2024 Men’s and Women’s Western Athletic Conference Collegiate championships. The dates are April 18-20

Special Olympics Texas South Region Area 01Tennis Skills Competition will be held April 17 at the Port Isabel High School.

Kiskeya Athletics has just opened up their beautiful new Tennis and Fitness facility in The Rio Grande Valley in the City of Pharr. They have 4 new lighted indoor Tennis courts. The facility is open to the public.

Harlingen Country Club will be hosting a USTA Officials Chair and Linesperson Train-ing Saturday and Sunday April 20-21.

Harlingen Country Club will also be hosting a USTA Level 1 Coaching Fundamentals Workshop Saturday and Sunday May 4 and 5.

Another USPTA Texas Adult Championships in the Book

We held another successful USPTA Texas Adult Championships January 19- 21, 2024 in Houston, Texas. Ten (10) women’s teams and ten (10) men’s teams played in the event. There were over 450 players from all around the state of Texas. The Austin ladies’ team were the victors over Abilene with a score of 67- 61. On the men’s side, Austin defeated San Antonio Wild 67- 61 to win the men’s 2024 team championship. Jenny Gray did a terrific job directing the event along with the help of twelve (12) volunteers. Thank you to everyone involved in running the tournament: Jenny Gray, Mel McRee, Michelle Ash, Debbie Lowry, Kelly Marshall, Ben Randall, Dencil Johnson, Paul Soliz, Becky Reger, Sarah Flood, James Daly, and Tosha Smith. If you are ever interested in volunteering to help with the tournament, please contact Jenny Gray or Tosha Smith.

USPTA TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE Highlights

The 2024 USPTA Texas Annual Conference was a success. The conference was held on February 8- 11, 2024 at the Omni Las Colinas, Irving, Texas. Those in attendance had a fantastic time.

We want to acknowledge and appreciate all the speakers who volunteered their time to present engaging topics at the conference. The speakers included Jack Newman, Gregory Prudhomme, Craig Bell, Adrien Chabria, Kelly Marshall, Patrick Fontana, Beverly Bowes, Matt Bacon, Otis Sadler, Michelle Stallard, and Mel McRee. We held a pickleball certification on Sunday morning.

On Friday, the USPTA Texas General Membership Meeting Luncheon was held where Brian Dillman (USPTA CEO) and Jenny Gray (national board member) presented the national update.

USPTA Texas Annual Conference Highlights

USPTA Texas

Annual Conference Highlights

USPTA Texas Division and USTA Texas enjoyed a Friday night dinner together. We held the Saturday awards luncheon together again where we honored all of the award winners.

USPTA Texas

Annual Conference Highlights

The USPTA Texas & USTA Texas Awards Luncheon was held on Saturday.

Congratulations! 2023 USPTA Texas Award Winners

Star Award

GERRY MAINGOT

Proud Award

MATT WATSON

Industry Excellence Award

KELLY MARSHALL

Touring Coach of the Year Award

LEIF MEINEKE

Lifetime Achievement Award

JACK NEWMAN 2023

Congratulations! 2023 USPTA Texas Award Winners

Elevate Award

LENSON SMITH

Diversity Award

DAVID MENDEZ

High School Coach of the Year Award

DAVID WEBB

Professional of the Year Award

ERNIE ABRAHAM

Small Facility Manager of the Year Award

ALAND PRICE

Large Facility Manager of the Year Award

REX CUAJUNCO

USPTA Texas Annual Conference Highlights

On Saturday evening, members gathered for a fun evening at Grimaldi’s Pizzeria.

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CRAIG’S CORNER

A big Texas sized “Howdy” to y’all today! It’s hard to believe that The Ides of March is upon us and spring is here! If you are like most of the folks in my neck of the woods, you are glad that warmer weather is prevailing! Fortunately, this year we’ve had a very mild winter for us warm blooded homo sapiens in North Texas!

I wanted to let you know that this will be my last edition of Craig’s Corner. I’ve enjoyed writing this column for right at eleven years and almost forty articles. It has been my honor and privilege to hopefully come up with some interesting content for you to either agree with or not agree with as I was certainly wanting this column to be thought provoking in an informative kind of way.

Anywho, with that being said (which ain’t a whole lot I might add), here are my latest thoughts, mental musings and other mindbending nuggets to digest for you, the faithful of the Great Game and Craig’s Corner.

On the Lone Star front, as I’m writing this Craig’s Corner edition, I was recently attending the Texas Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame Annual Banquet in Waco and I wanted to Congratulate the 2023 Hall of Fame

Class of Inductees Cindy Benson, Ken Crawford, Laura Gilbert and Fernando Velasco. What fascinating stories each of them told about their involvement in the Great Game from the beginning of their time starting on court to how they were selected to be in attendance one night in November, 2023. If you didn’t know, the Texas Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame starting inducting members back in 1981 with Dr. Daniel Penick and Bruce Barnes were the original inductees. If you’ve not ever visited the Museum and you are a fan of the Great Game, you are totally missing out on one of the “Can’t Miss” places to visit in Waco along with Chip and Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Café – and I would say in this order!

Nationally speaking, I came across an interesting article,” What Does It Take to Become a Great Tennis Coach.” This article was from a site I’ve never seen or heard of – jobsinsports.com. There was the usual introduction about the coaching market offering a nice opportunity to pass your knowledge of tennis onto players at high school, college, gyms and tennis facilities. The article did mention that you don’t have to be a great player to excel as a coach – you just need a passion for helping players – however it certainly helps if you have a little playing experience in my humble opinion. But what I found fascinating was towards the end of the article a paragraph entitled, “How To Excel As A Tennis Coach.” At this point the article wasn’t necessarily devoted to oncourt tennis experience(s) but more off court experiences such as: (a) developing strong communication and listening skills, (b) having excellent leadership expertise, time management and organizational skills, (c) staying positive and finally (d) stay in practice both as a player and a coach. I’ll have to agree with this last part of the article as my offcourt experience(s) far out weigh my on-court experience(s) at this point. My playing credentials certainly didn’t hurt or hinder me in getting to this point as a Master Professional, but I feel my offcourt game is way better than my on-court game has ever been. I’m

interested to hear your point of view of “What It Takes To Be a Tennis Professional\Coach” – drop me a note, if you have a moment as I certainly would enjoy hearing your thoughts!

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...

CB

cbell1360@aol.com

craigbell@benttreecc.org

214-762-8600 (cell\text)

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