USPTA Texas - The Texan Spring Newsletter

WE HAD A GREAT TIME!!!

2022 USPTA Texas Annual Conference Is In The Books!!

Embassy Suites Hotel & Conference Center, Frisco, Texas

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from around the state

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Another USPTA Texas Adult Championships in the Book

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2022 USPTA Texas Annual Conference

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Pro Tips/Drills

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craig's corner 1

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 1912 Abrams Rd. Dallas, TX 75214 214-232-5237 adrien@lakewoodcc.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

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

t seems hard to believe we are already preparing for summer 2022…yet here we are with it right around the corner! I hope everyone has enjoyed a busy first half of the year with more to come.

We were thrilled to be back together in February at our annual USPTA Texas Annual Conference which was held in Frisco at the Embassy Suites and Conference Center. It was great to see so many faces again from around the state. We hosted nearly 75 tennis professionals with speakers from all over the United States, as well as from Italy! Education Chair, AJ Chabria, did another fantastic job of organizing a terrific line up of presenters for our group that shared insight on many facets of our industry.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Our 2022 Summer Retreat will be held in Lakeway (Austin area) August 12-13 and will include education Friday and Saturday morning, golf in the afternoons, an evening social on Saturday, as well as poolside cookout Friday afternoon at Lakecliff Racquet Club. We will keep everyone updated as we finalize details for the event. Our host hotel will be the Lakeway La Quinta, and we will provide registration details in the coming weeks. We will be having an on-court presentation Friday morning at Lakecliff Racquet Club (followed by poolside cookout) and classroom presentation Saturday morning at the La Quinta. We hope you will be able to join us for this fun and informative event!

Back by popular demand, we will once again be having our USPTA Texas “Fore the Love of Tennis” fundraiser golf tournament on Friday, June 3. It will be a 2pm shotgun start and will be held at Waterchase Golf Club in Fort Worth (eastern edge of Fort Worth off I-30 > about 10 minutes from the Ballpark in

Matt Watson Arlington). We hope to see many of you there for this fun event that will give us an opportunity for fellowship, as well as raise money for our organization to support USPTA Texas programs and USPTA Texas members. Sponsorship and registration packages are now available, and we would love to have your support. This year’s event will include Hole in One contests, putting contests, dinner, drinks, and cash prizes for flight winners. The link to register is www.usptatxgolf.com.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the 2022 World Conference at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside the week of September 18-22. This will be an incredible opportunity for more education, as well as a great time for renewed fellowship with fellow tennis professionals from around the world. Our division party will be that Tuesday night – more details to come!

Continued health and happiness to all of you and I hope to see you at our upcoming events!

Regards, Matt S. Watson, USPTA Elite Professional

COMMITTEE

CHAIRPERSONS

DATESTHATRATE!!!

Awards Mel McRee

MAY

Buying Show Chair Ernie Abraham

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Division Conference Kelly Marshall

23-25

Education Adrien Chabria

2022

USPTA Pickleball Certification Garland, Texas Teaching Essentials 3 Certification San Antonio, Texas

JUNE

Ethics/Legal Tommy Connell Diversity & Inclusion Jack Foster Finance Ernie Abraham

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USPTA Texas Golf Tournament Fort Worth, Texas

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USPTA Pickleball Certification San Antonio, Texas

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USPTA Pickleball Certification Houston, Texas

Jr. Development Craig Bell & Adrien Chabria Lessons for Life

AUGUST

Dennis Reblin Long-Range Planning Jenny Gray

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Membership Tom Ingram

USPTA Texas Summer Retreat Lakeway, Texas- Austin Area

SEPTEMBER

National Convention Jim Sciarro

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Nominating Jo Keene Regional Directors

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Craig Bell

USPTA Pickleball Certification Midlothian, Texas USPTA World Conference New Orleans, Louisiana

Sport Science Bob Haugen Pickleball Testing & Certification Michelle Cornish

Welcome to the Texas Division New Members

USPTA Adult Leagues

Brandon Mathey Jacob Alan Kudrick Gaston Cuadranti Adriana Maria Pineda Wendi Schlesinger David Subirats William Stephen Gates, Jr. Freddy Alejandro Chong Ken P. Klein Lilly Kimbell Irina Cvijovic Ishanka Mohottige Austin Hunter Daniel Scammahorn Alex Kuznetsov Randy James Roller Reza Askari

Jenny Gray Elevate Eli Sepulveda USTA Liaison Van Barry

Reinstated Members Felix Alvarado William Brody O'Bryant Patrick S. Fitzgerald Lisa S. Westergard Brad Conaway Jerome Millet Kaleb Ashton Shirley M. Gearon Louis Iglesias Bradley J. Watson

Tamara Crawford Pierce W. Brandan Diego Chapela Yevgeniya Barysheva Sean Straley Darvin McBrayer Kenneth B. Olivier Lee O. Wright Fabrizio Falciani Angelica F. Lagrange

(407) 634-3050

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OM AROUND THE STATE FROM AROUND TH FROM AROUND

THE STATE...

AUSTIN KELLY MARSHALL

Exciting News...Austin will host a WTA tour tournament on February 27- March 5, 2023. The Capital Area Tennis Association (CATA) received the 2022 National Community Tennis Association of the Year from the USTA. The USPTA Junior Gran Prix series just kicked off with several tournaments around the Austin area. The JCC Austin recently built 6 tennis courts at their facility.

BRAZOS VALLEY

BRANDON CARLSON

Spring is in full swing for tennis programming in the Brazos Valley. The Brazos Valley Tennis Association recently hosted the 2nd Annual "Have a Heart" Charity Mixer that was able to raise over $1000 for BCS Together, a local charity that supports foster families and children in the community. The event brought together area tennis pros, players, and community partners to sponsor this worthwhile cause. Additionally, BVTA's evening women's

league has kicked off to great success this Spring and will be wrapping up play in a couple of weeks. Finally, local tennis players and pros provided support to the Area 6 Special Olympics competition at College Station High School, and we were happy to see 15 athletes competing in the individual skills challenge and singles match play.

CENTRAL TEXAS JULIAN CURATELLA

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We are happy to report life back out on the courts and tennis is in full swing! It has been a great start to spring 2022 in central Texas: Our USPTA Junior Grand Prix circuit is under way. We added an extra tournament this year in the hopes to build a solid team to take to Newks this fall.

We took 3rd at the state championships last season, and we are looking to surpass that achievement. Ridgewood Country Club had its best entry with over 70 players.

Our Junior Team tennis wrapped up their spring season on Sunday, April 3rd with a big party at Robinson High

School. Numbers were also up! Big thank you to Claire McFerran, who continues to lead this program!

USTA league play has seen fierce competition in the early going and we are happy to notice a rising interest in that department! We are also looking to build mixed teams in all levels for this summer!

Waco Tennis Association continues its work in the schools. WTA is starting 6th grade NJTL program at Cesar Chavez Middle School. They will also host 6 Team Tournaments and 6 Team Challenges this spring.

HE STATE FROM AROUND THE STATE FROM DALLAS ADRIEN CHABRIA

Annual conference, ATP 250, and the coach of one of the GOATs … quite a first quarter for the tennis fans, players, and coaches in Dallas.

In mid-February, tennis professionals and brilliant speakers from Texas, Florida, Tennessee, California, and Italy converged (personally and virtually) at the convention center of Frisco for a weekend of learning, and camaraderie at the 2022 USPTA Texas Annual Conference.

We bid our treasured Executive Director, Charlotte Wylie, a wonderful retirement, as we welcomed our new Executive Director, the fantastic Tosha Smith.

The same week, some of the world’s best male players were part of the renaissance of professional tennis in Dallas, at the Dallas Open ATP 250.

Fresh from two weeks at Indian Wells with Rafael Nadal, the great coach Francisco Roig visited the hilltop at SMU to put on a Master Camp for coaches and players the weekend of March 25-26. Thanks to SMU Head Coach/ Director, Grant Chen for bringing Roig in for an opportunity to learn from the best.

Safe to say the tennis community in Dallas is inspired and motivated for a remarkable 2022.

FORT WORTH LAURA GILBERT

Kelly Langdon was awarded the Lloyd Sessions Educational Merit Award by the USTA.

VALLEY ANDY CARTER

The McAllen Country Club has a Men’s $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit/ITF World Tour event scheduled for the week of October 10th.

The Rio Grande Valley sent a Ladies team to the USPTA Champion of Champions Cup April 6 & 7 at River Oaks in conjunction with the ATP River Oaks Clay Court Championships.

The HEB Tennis Center at Pendelton Park just completed the resurfacing project of all 14 courts.

The Harlingen Country Club will be hosting a Pro/Am to promote The USTA National Tennis Month campaign for the month of May.

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r e h t Ano

USPTA Texas Adult Championships in the Books

We held another successful USPTA Texas Adult Championships January 21st- 23rd, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Ten (10) women’s teams and ten (10) men’s teams played in the event. There were 462 players from all around the state of Texas. The Austin ladies’ team were the victors over Dallas with a score of 76- 52. On the men’s side, San Antonio defeated Austin 66- 62 to win the men’s 2022 team championship!! Jenny Gray did a wonderful job directing the event along with the help of thirteen (13) volunteers. Thank you to everyone involved in running the tournament: Jenny Gray, Mel McRee, Matt Watson, Debbie Lowry, Charlotte and Mike Wylie, Kelly Marshall, Dencil Johnson, Paul Soliz, Dave Tibbetts, Sarah Flood, James Daly, and Tosha Smith. If you are ever interested in helping with the tournament, contact Jenny Gray or Tosha Smith.

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2022 USPTA Texas A

The 2022 USPTA Texas Annual Conference was a success. Those in attendance had a great time. The conference was held on February 10-13 at the Embassy Suites Hotel & Conference Center in Frisco, Texas. There was an excellent lineup of speakers throughout the weekend. The Friday General Membership meeting had good attendance with USPTA COO Fred Viancos giving the national update, and Charlotte Wylie was honored for her years of service as the USPTA Texas Division Executive Director. Big thanks to all our speakers, attendees, and volunteers.

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Annual Conference

The USPTA Texas Division and USTA Texas enjoyed a Friday night reception and dinner together. It was a fun time visiting with tennis folks across the state. USPTA Texas hosted a retirement reception for Charlotte Wylie on Saturday night. It was a fun evening for all.

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PRO TIPS/DRILLS THE VOLLEY

by Brian Lusson

USPTA Elite Professional and Director of Tennis at Westwood Country Club - Austin, TX

Often the volley gets too busy with regards to what the upper body (arms) have going on. The trick is to simplify your top half when volleying. An easy thing to tell yourself is to “have your head and the racket head together when contacting the volley.”

If the proper volley footwork is lacking, then the racket arm will typically get “too busy” (see swinging) trying to compensate for being out of position. Just think of your head and the racket head being as one.

Good volleyers exhibit good footwork on volleys. They split step, then step up (lunge) to the volley, putting their head and the racket head together as one. Tighten up your volley with good footwork that allows the volley technique itself to be simple – keeping your head and the racket head together.

UP AND BACK TRIANGLE DRILL

This is a great drill you can do with 2 or 3 players (3.5 level and up).

If two players, Pro should position as the single player at net.

Start with feed to baseliner who hits down the line. Volleyer then hits at opposing volleyer who tries to volley right back in same direction and then that volleyer resets shot to baseline.

Baseliner focus > keeping ball down Single Volleyer (purple X) > Crisp, low volleys at opposing volleyer Opposing volleyer (Red X) > Reflex volleys / stabbing volleys back at volleyer before they can recover / importance of covering middle when ball is in corner to partner The other effective part of this drill is to emphasize to baseliner is that by keeping ball in front of them (assuming both opposing players at net in parallel position) they are essentially shrinking the court in terms of return volley options. You mostly eliminate short angles and volleys outside of partner at net down the line (these volleys illustrated by the orange lines and stars). It is important to help baseliner understand that “in front of them” can mean anywhere from just to Purple X’s side of the center line to the doubles sideline of 10

by Matt Watson USPTA Elite Professional and Director of Tennis at Hollytree Country Club - Tyler, TX

Purple X side. I emphasize to my players they can eliminate coverage of much of court by keeping ball in front of them when in this position.

Keeping in mind that most club players will volley in their natural direction of stroke, a ball to the middle of Orange + sign player – regardless of left-handed or right handed – their natural motion with that volley will be to pull the ball outside of red x and thus opens up that lane! MEANING – stay to PURPLE X side of middle > their natural volley will be to hit back at BLUE X. This assumes, again, you have hit a fairly crisp ball and they have minimal time to react. If you throw up a marshmallow – PREPARE TO GET TOASTED!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE – this is under assumption that both opposing volleyers are slightly off the net and in parallel play! If the down the line volleyer is on top of the net then this tactic is of course ineffective.

As players develop consistency, this drill can promote the hitting of a lot of balls and players can focus not just on making shots but also on clearance control. I especially like to do this drill with two players and me as the opposing volleyer to help maximize number of balls hit.

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CRAIG'S CORNER

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big Texas sized “Howdy” to all of you out there who are reading this latest edition of Craig’s Corner. How’s your 2022 looking?

According to recent data I’ve been seeing, The Great Game is on the uptick and more people have found their way to tennis the past couple of years. I know at my club, we are experiencing a nice number of new players meaning more lessons, shop sales and participation in events and activities around the tennis facility – not a bad deal, in my humble opinion!

Recently, I attended our National Executive Committee Meeting at our USPTA National home in Lake Nona, Florida. We have not had this meeting in person since 2019, and I wanted to say how great it was to see our fellow USPTA professionals from all over the country.

I’ve personally missed seeing everyone as the pandemic has caused a bit of a disruption to our normal meeting(s) schedule. Plus, I wanted to give a huge “Thanks” to our national staff (they number about 21 or so) for all that they do to make our association work from behind the scenes. It’s a big effort to keep these wheels of progress moving forward as they spin a lot of plates but yet, make it look so easy! So, I wanted to share my appreciation for our fellow USPTA professionals for your dedication to the Great Game and to our USPTA national staff down in the Orlando area for everything you do on behalf of our association – it doesn’t go unnoticed!!

So anyhow, with that being said, here are my latest thoughts, mental musings and other such mind-bending nuggets to digest for you, the faithful.

On the Lone Star front, as I’m writing this Craig’s Corner, I wanted to give a “shout out” to our new Leader of the Pack\Executive Director, Tosha Smith! Here’s a little bit about Tosha who is a fellow USPTA professional and originally from Lubbock, Texas! Tosha earned a degree in Psychology from St. Edwards and a Master’s in psychology from Pepperdine – those degrees will certainly come in very handy working

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with this group! She has been a club professional working at The Courtyard (for over 17 years) and most recently at The UT Golf Club. She has loads of tennis administrative experiences as she has served as President of CATA (Capital Area Tennis Association) and worked for USTA Texas over 18 years, where she managed all adult programs, including leagues, NTRP ratings, tournaments, and the collegiate program.

Tosha also continues to play tennis and has won numerous events and represented Texas at various competitions. We are extremely lucky to have someone like Tosha working as our new Executive Director. If you’ve not met Tosha, which I know most of you have, you’ll be seeing her around a lot at our various USPTA Texas events. Welcome Aboard Tosha, we are thrilled you are the new leader of the pack!!

Nationally speaking I’ve had this thought for a number of years and thought it might be a good time to dust the idea off from top shelf. The thought being: why don’t we have “officials\ referees” on every court during tennis tournaments\events?

Every other sport I can think of has paid officials to officiate their games\events.

Would a little league baseball game think of not having an umpire officiate a game?

What about youth soccer, basketball, lacrosse, etc etc – the list goes on and on. Why can these sports figure out how to pay officials and not the Great Game?

Yes, I know it’s an “honor” type sport and the game of tennis can tell the integrity of the players playing when a close call is made.

A number of years ago, I was talking with our good Texas tennis buddy, Tommy Connell at a USPTA Texas conference in Horseshoe Bay, he said that he and a friend went out a few years ago to play tennis and the friend asked him, “Are we playing (a) college rules, (b) tournament rules or (c) friendly rules?”

Tommy looked at his friend puzzled and asked him to explain the difference in the rules he mentioned. His friend said, “well college rules are that if the ball lands 6” inside the baseline the balls out; in tournament rules, if the ball hits the line, the balls is out and in friendly rules, if the ball lands 6” outside the baseline its good!” I laughed thinking how true this statement was! I’ve played under all three sets of rules, not calling them formally by these names but we all get the drift! So why is it that the Great Game is not is played under the

“friendly” rules more often? Is it because in tournaments or meaningful matches it’s difficult to call the ball “in” when it’s “in” or is there a character flaw in some players that just don’t want to lose to you or me (well I know not me, that’s for sure as I would be considered a horrible loss!)?

Anyway, I digress, but I do recall when I was the Ektelon racquetball rep some twenty-five years ago, I had traveled to a tournament to see what was taking place. I was dumbfounded when I heard not once, but many, many times over the loudspeaker, “I need a $5.00 referee for a tournament match.” Racquetball had figured out what I think the Great Game needs to do, have an innocent bystander (referee) help officiate all matches that are played. I certainly wouldn’t mind paying a few extra dollars to make sure I’ve got a different set of eyes on my match – not that I think my opponents are taking “liberties” with line calls. Heck, I know that I’ve probably made a bad call inadvertently over the years. But I can tell you I’ve never cheated anyone deliberately - I might have missed a call here and there – but I always give my opponent(s) the benefit of the doubt.

So, what say you about an official\referee on every court – especially in amateur tennis?? I’d be interested to get the debate going, right here and now.

On the world stage, I’m disappointed to see Ash Barty leave the WTA professional “tennis party” so early in her life. At only twenty-five years young, “Aussie Ash” has decided to move on and retire from the Great Game. I really enjoyed watching her win the AO this year as she was the first Aussie woman to win the AO in forty-five years dating back to Evonne Goolagong’s victory in 1977. For a person whose tennis career was way too short, she left a lasting legacy that will be remembered for a long, long time. As the Aussie’s are known to say, “Good on you, Ash!” Well kids, it's time to circle the wagons, put out the fire and call in the dogs -until next time, Keep Your Eye on the Ball and Don't Forget the Sunscreen...

Craig Bell CB cbell1360@aol.com craigbell@benttreecc.org 214-762-8600 (cell\text)

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