USPTA Eastern - Spring Newsletter 2024

USPTAEASTERN

PRESIDENT'SMESSAGE

TEAMWORK

I was fortunate to begin the start of my new tenure as president of our division by attending a terrific team building exercise led by Dr Jessie Biondi at the USTA Eastern Annual Meeting on January 27 of this year

Dr Jessie, as she likes to be called, led an interactive workshop in which she explored the principles of team building, and as she eloquently states, created a ‘unique opportunity to strengthen bonds, enhance communication, and build a culture of appreciation within your team.

For me Dr. Jessie’s pivotal message for success was to explore and utilize each team members’ strengths. I also very much appreciated and understood her message that both on and off the court as teaching professionals we need to consider ourselves as a coach not merely an instructor which means we also want to cultivate the same atmosphere when developing our players whether in a private or group lesson or for a league or school team. Further, in the instance of my current tenure as President of our division, in cultivating our leadership team and all of our team members

OURGOALSTHISWEEK

And one other life lesson I can draw from as I start my new tenure comes from another hat I’m wearing I also serve as a member of the alumni committee of UConn Softball where I played division 1 softball for our team when it was a top 20 nationally ranked team back in the day Our current UConn softball head coach Laura Valentino is a great example of what Dr Jessie also advocates as Coach Laura instills the importance of cultivating a family atmosphere with the current team members and between them and the alumni

I love Coach Laura’s team motto which is ‘We before Me’ and I’m delighted to say that coach Laura has rebuilt the championship culture that our softball team has enjoyed in prior years!

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It is this team model I have and will continue to follow throughout my tenure and our team goals include growing and engaging our membership so that we can all enjoy being part of the USPTA family!

While the year is young our team has been very productive in working towards our goals.

In this issue you will learn how team member Michael Filipek from Metro District partnered with one of his players to help support our division in our Members Corner Column.

PRESIDENT'SMESSAGE

Thanks to the initiative of our team members on the Education Committee we are introducing a new Education Corner Column which we hope will further our goals in engaging our members.

And we have a new update on our Western and Northern District team member Adrienne Alteri who recently opened the new indoor tennis facility at the brand-new Watertown YMCA where she is now serving as Director of Tennis and Racquet Sports I had the pleasure and honor of attending the grand opening and speaking on behalf of Joe Steger and USTA Eastern who supported this wonderful endeavor which returned indoor tennis to the Watertown community for the first time in 17 years!

The mark of a strong team is having depth in its talent! I encourage all our team members to get more involved in our USPTA family It is the best way to appreciate the benefits of membership

OURGOALSTHISWEEK

The depth and quality of our leadership team has already taken shape Steve Pekich, our Western and Northern District President, organized two outstanding local educational workshops and coaches clinics in Syracuse (this year marked his 40th such clinic) and Watertown in early March which you will learn more about in this issue

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Then, in mid-March, Bob Bynum our New Jersey District President, teamed up with another Eastern legend Marvin Dent to lead another coach’s educational workshop and clinic at Edgewater Tennis Center in Edgewater NJ. And they had great organizational help from Karla Ruaya our Diversity and Inclusion Committee Co-Chair. You will find a couple of photos from this terrific workshop in Marvin Dent’s article that can be found in this issue.

I had the pleasure of attending all three of these educational events and was very impressed with the quality of all the presentations as well as the receptiveness and appreciation that the participants expressed. It was also a great opportunity to personally reach out to our members and potential members to address any concerns some had in completing their certification and to promote our upcoming Joint Division Conference and all the benefits of membership.

PRESIDENT'SMESSA

Speaking of our joint Division Conference, I would strongly encourage you to join us on May 3-4 at the Genesis/Atlantic Club in Manasquan, New Jersey We have a slew of outstanding speakers, including Kim Clijsters, Lisa Raymond and Tim Wilkison, a specialty course led by Mike Barrell, pickleball certification and fun networking and social events planned.

Another new addition that we will be adding to our next newsletter is a special jobs corner for our members to get a jump start on learning about employment opportunities We have already started to notify members of these opportunities via email and look forward to including these posts in our newsletter as well.

We also have established a USPTA Eastern Division presence on the Team Reach App which is free to join and serves as a useful communication platform to post and share about upcoming USPTA happenings

Please feel free to reach out to me directly for opportunities to engage! My email address is: millie tennisclubofhastings@gmail com

Here’s to a productive and enjoyable 2024!

Millie Didio President USPTA Eastern Division

MEMBERSCORNER

I'm Heath Hoover, the new 1st Vice President of the USPTA Eastern Executive Board. I am taking over the position from our new current President, Millie Didio. As the 1st Vice President, it is my job to oversee membership. One of our major goals this year is to grow our membership. Increasing our membership is extremely important to our division, because it gives us the funding we need to carry out our educational and social activities I have been working with Paul Fontana, Executive Director, helping our members whose memberships have been suspended due to non-payment of dues or because their educational requirements have not been met. Paul emailed all the suspended members in January to let them know that we are here to help them get their memberships back in good standing. We have been providing these suspended members with easy ways to help them, such as taking some online courses to get their educational credits up to the required level or for those that haven't paid their dues, we can offer them a payment plan from National Another way that we are helping increase the membership numbers is by assisting the new applicants to navigate the certification pathway by letting them know about upcoming Level 2 certification workshops so that they can finish the process and become active members. We also learned about this invaluable information about being able to transfer from PTR to an equivalent level in the USPTA from our Head of Education, Brad Breakstone who emailed the Director of Membership, James Stockwell James said that all you have to do is email him your PTR certificate showing the level certified to james stockwell@uspta org and then he can onboard them from there They will have their application fee waived as well and only need to pay prorated membership dues for the year. They will only need to be safe play approved and take one online course to complete the equivalency.

The other duty that I have inherited from Millie is the Member's Corner/Member Spotlight It is my honor to Spotlight Michael Filipek and to share why he has been selected for this honor During our board meetings we have been brainstorming on ways to raise funds for our division. Michael came up with an idea how members could give back a little to the division. Here is a blurb from Michael about what he did in his own words.

SPOTLIGHT

MICHAELFILIPEK

It was my thought that as a method of raising funds for the USPTA outside of membership dues, that it would not be asking too much for pros to dedicate the revenue of one hour of their teaching each year to the USPTA So, I decided to "put my money where my mouth is" and donate $150 of my lesson revenue to the USPTA Eastern The $150 that I donated represented five ½ hour hitting lessons with a client that I have been hitting with for years. When I informed the client of my intentions, her interest was quite piqued, and she asked, "Can I contribute more?" Of course, I said yes. I told her that instead of paying me that she could just write a check for $150 to the USPTA and if there were anything more she would like to contribute that would be wonderful. Long story short, after the five hitting sessions she handed me a check for $5,000

I'm proud to provide this money to USPTA Eastern, and I hope that it will be utilized to help attract and retain younger pros to our organization. -- Michael Filipek

Here is more about Michael:

Michael's life and career have been immersed in tennis He was born and raised in central Connecticut and was twice the #1 ranked junior player in New England. Michael was a nationally ranked junior and received a scholarship to attend Indiana University where he captained the men's team and graduated in 1997. He subsequently gained professional tournament experience in both the United States and Europe.

As a coach, Michael has 30 years of teaching experience and has been a certified USPTA Professional since 1997 He is Head Professional and Junior Programs Director for Tennis in Manhattan, which operates three indoor facilities in New York City. Michael presides over the largest junior tennis program in NYC, with over 900 children enrolled. He has also served as Manager of Sutton East Tennis in Manhattan. Michael opened his summer camps, known as Beyond Camps, in 2007 and currently operates at three locations in Connecticut

Level 2 June 8th, 9th, and 10th

Southhampton, NY

Level 2 July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd

Rochester, NY

JOIN TODAY AND REAP THE BENEFITS

Now is an exciting time to be a part of the association! In addition to educational changes, I’ve outlined our goals for 2023 below:

1. Education

a. Continue to provide regular monthly webinars

b. Return to in-person workshops & conferences

2. Improve Communication

a. Create a schedule of regular marketing content

b. Conduct Semi-Yearly Virtual Town Halls

c. Survey our Membership more often

3.Help Facilitate New National Education Track

a. Continue to Liaison between National and Eastern Division

b. Provide Communication regarding Educational Changes

4. Create New Partnerships

OURGOALSTHISWEEK

a. PTM Programs

b. Early Education College Programs

c. Local Clubs in our Districts

d. Attract a More Diverse & Inclusive Full Board of Directors

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EDUCATION& CERTIFICATION

Grips, We’re Talking Grips

By Marvin Dent

Unlike Allan Iversen talking about practice. I had never heard that there was such a thing as a grip. That is perhaps because of my rather circuitous introduction to tennis. For a longer time than I care to admit, I didn’t know that people took lessons to learn how to play tennis I was 18 years old, the first time I ever held a racquet in my hand I, stupidly, walked on to a clay court with football shoes on responding to a dare that I could do that, “since (I) thought that I was so good at everything”. I found the sweet spot on that very first ball. All the punishment that was doled out to me seemed justified for the endorphin rush I traded it for. It literally change the course of my life. In reflection, it actually gave me a course, because baseball, my first love, no longer existed at the institution

Imagine having a stroke that players, I was in awe of, wanting to copy my stroke. I made the team the following year barely able to properly keep score, probably because my position coach was also the tennis coach and he had a soft spot for me. He was also the one who assign me the job (read punishment) of maintenance of the 4 red clay courts. Prior to that mesmerizing experience, I had held only two other things in my hand; a baseball bat and a ping pong paddle The former has a round handle, so appropriate to be gripped. The latter was two-sided. Tennis racquets are octagonal. My baseball glove was attached rather than held. Upon my initial introduction to the octagonal apparatus, would I be more inclined to grip it or attach my hand to it? I treated it like a glove which I certainly would not have gripped. In the park that I spent much of my time in as a young boy, we were either smashing baseballs or ping pong balls That first experience with a tennis racquet could only have been used one way, with an upper cuff forehand execution that had been myelinated for years and so was my orientation to the eight sided ping pong racquet.

Participants at USPTA New Jersey District Coaches Training that was held on March 16, 2024 at Edgewater Tennis Center featuring New Jersey District President Bob Bynum and Marvin Dent.

For a very long time I could not fathom why I secretly yearned to play with a smaller handle I would have never imagined that two icons of the game played with smaller handles, Fed and Rafa And, the commonality you asked? Yes, they both were avid ping pong players and I had an experience with both of them so unique that even as I write about this now, all of the emotional thrills associated with that experience are still etched firmly wherever such things are stored I should first tell you in case this is news to the readers, Tony Nadal, Rafa’s uncle, was a renown world class ping pong champion. The connection is easy to make from there but I had the good fortune to see Rafa play “table tennis”, literally. Rafa was playing tennis on the ping pong table exhorting the same exact forehand stroking pattern that produced 20 grand slams in the Player’s Lounge at the US Open Every time I was sure the ball was going to hit the floor, it came back up from underneath the table in that same vectoring arc, of going forward and sideways. A sight to behold, to be sure.

Here’s where it really gets to the heart of the matter. With having a chance encounter with Roger Federer presented to me, I could not pass it by even though company policy dictated that I do exactly that. Need I say that it was in the locker room just prior to his finals with Andy Roddick Still, ever the consulmate gentlemen as I explain to him that I had given a few presentations titled “Federer is Betterer” and I invariably got the question, “what grip does he use?” My answer, I said was that “ he probably doesn’t even know the names of grips”. He flashed his world class smile and said, “you are right, I don’t ” My follow up question was that I was also asked “why does he spin the racquet?” I said, “most likely because the ball has not arrived yet”. That was followed by a chuckle this time and a, subtle, imperceptible glance at my credentials, while saying, “I never thought of it before but if I’m ever asked that again, Marvin, I’m going to give them that answer” The jubilance I experienced was palpable from the encounter, yes but the super nova was my confirmation that all conversations centered around the notion of “grips” were misguided.

How or when it ever got started, I can only speculate and that I will Long before newspapers sent reporters to cover international tournaments, the players, themselves reported on the results This led to players being obliged to respond to a curious leisure class of how could they learned how to play the game of royalty? The question of how to hold the racquet was envitiable. They most likely were as clueless as Federer. The manipulations and adjustments were made on a subscounious level References to stance, grip and hit were perhaps too convenient to pass up and became the acceptable lexicon of the game. The fact that they were all related to baseball and golf, not withstanding. Never mind also that hitting a baseball and a golf ball has always been games with very high degrees of difficulty and played with round handles never the less I take exception to all of those references and it is not just because, after much urging by veterans of the game that needed a complimentary backhand to go along with my (untaught) weapon of a forehand. I sought out lessons with that goal. As a consequence of being introduced to the forbidden fruits of tennis, it cost me my bliss and to be forever cast out of the Garden of Eden without any conscious awareness of my forehand what so ever. When asked by the coach, how didn’t I hit my forehand? I remember responding incredulously, I don’t know how I hit it, I just hit it. I’ve often wondered how that must have sounded to him?.

YMCAWATERTOWN,NYHOSTSUSPTA INSTRUCTORWORKSHOP

Watertown

The FIRST Watertown Annual Instructors and Coaches Clinic was held on Sunday, March 3 at the Watertown Downtown YMCA, which held its Grand Opening just a few months before due to the efforts of USPTA Pro Adrienne Alteri When the presenters left Syracuse on March 1, the joke was that in Western Region, Jason had come from the West, Steve from the East and Colin from the South now we had to go the North in Watertown This clinic was from 10am to 1pm with Steve leading off by handing out the educational materials and presenting his topic on strategies and drills that are self feeding, Jason following up with Perception Training and at the end, Millie informing the attendees about the USPTA as an organization interested in them

Lunch was then served, not in a Bistro but Adrienne's office and not sandwiches but pizza

ELEVATEFITNESSHOSTS40TH

ANNUALHIGHSCHOOLCOACHES WORKSHOP

Syracuse

The 40th Annual Instructors and Coaches Clinic was, as always, hosted by Elevate Fitness and Tennis Club on friday, March 1 from 9am-2pm A combined crowd of USPTA pros, high school coaches and Syracuse Parks coaches were in attendance Each attendee was given a folder with a bio and outline to take notes and were asked to participate in the 3 presentations as learning is done best by doing.

The presentations: Steve Pekich (Syracuse) " Self-feeding Drills for Instructors and Coaches;

Jason Joesph (Buffalo) Perception Training for Players and Teams;

Colin Crawford (Binghamton) "Singles Drills and Strategies"

After 4 solid hours of hitting tennis balls and moving around courts, all participants moved to Elevate's Bistro for lunch where USPTA President Millie Didio welcomed them and gave them a short talk on the USPTA's programs and resources

TOURNAMENT ALERT

THANK YOU TO OUR ENDORSEES

The USPTA Eastern is proud to announce our award winners for 2023

Eastern Pro of the Year: Brad Breakstone

Industry Excellence Award: Brad Thyroff

College Coach of the Year: Jeff Bloomberg

High School Coach of the Year: Gerry Cuva

Elevate Award: Jordan Benjamin

Facility Manager of the Year: Mike Smookler

USPTA Stars Award: Jordan Sadowitz

Major Contributor of the Year: Jason Joseph

Lifetime Achievement Award: Steve Pekich

EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR'S REPORT

Hello USPTA Eastern Members

As winter turns to Spring, we are all getting ready for outdoor tennis. I cannot wait! I want to make sure everyone has our Annual Conference on their schedule We will be holding our Conference on Friday and Saturday, May 3rd and 4th at the Genesis/Atlantic Club in Manasquan, NJ. We have several exceptional speakers, Kim Clijsters, Mike Barrell, Lisa Raymond, Tim Wilkison, Joao Pinho and Esu Ma’at presenting at the conference. This will be a joint conference with Middle States joining us as hosts Brian Dillman, our new CEO will be attending the conference, and he will address the membership with a detailed National report to our attendees!

OURGOALSTHISWEEK

We continue to raise the standards for the entire Division and serve our entire membership Millie Didio, our new President, along with our energized Board of Directors, continue to schedule workshops and special events throughout the division. Please look for events being held in your area and try to attend, hopefully they will fit into your schedule

We also have a new Editor of our Newsletter. Jason Joseph will be at the helm of our quarterly publication. If you would like to write an article, share news or photos of an event at your facility or program, please reach out to Jason at: Jason joseph tennis@gmail com

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There is an interesting line at the beginning of the movie, the Departed Jack Nicolson’s character states, “I don’t want to be a product of my environment I want my environment to be a product of me ” The USPTA is your organization Please be an active part of our association! I hope everyone has a great outdoor season and I look forward to seeing you at our conference.

Paul Fontana

Executive Director

USPTA Eastern Division