HHIs to Sectionals

Jr. Team Tennis Pro Experiment -- See attachment & below

TENNIS E-News

July 14, 2008 Vol. VII, No. 78
South Carolina Tennis 2006 Media Award Winner
Hilton Head Island SC

2.5s Win Southern Section Championships AGAIN!!!

So What Else Is New: Local Senior 2.5s Have No One To Play at Sectionals, But Others Do

HILTON HEAD ISLAND SC (TENNIS E-News) -- "I just found out that there will be no 2.5 Senior Women's sectionals," emailed local 2.5s coordinator Sue Cook a week or so ago, adding: "So (the) Sun City team has nowhere to compete. There was no 2.5 senior men's sectional from the getgo." The Sun City Rally Girls had won the South Carolina Senior 2.5 championship.

The only 2.5 team from the Hilton Head Island leagues will be the Adult Women's Bluffton HS Alley Cats. "I had only one 2.5 adult men's team that competed in Charleston (SC championships) and lost," Cook said. Six states have teams competing in the 2.5 Adult Men, including an "A" and a "B" from South Carolina.

That means the Alley Cats will be carrying their HHI League and South Carolina titles into action Saturday in Mobile AL, traveling with HHI's only other combatant, the Senior Men's 3.5 Indigo Run Golden Bear Claws. The Claws will play in the Southern Championship's second segment that starts Thursday the 24^th.

Along with their competition on courts, the HHI League teams will get to enjoy a couple of big parties -- Sunday the 20^th aboard the USS Alabama battleship and the second on Friday the 25^th in the Renaissance Riverview Hotel.

Here is the schedule as now posted on www.southernleaguetennis.com.

Saturday the 19^th

9:30 a.m. -- A2.5W -- Bluffton HS Alley Cats vs. LA(A)/Lafayette Marguerita Mammas

Sunday the 20^th

11 a.m. -- A2.5W -- Bluffton HS Alley Cats vs. KY/Louisville Blairwood

Monday the 21^st

11 a.m. -- A2.5W -- Bluffton HS Alley Cats vs. AR(B)/Little Rock Chenal

Tuesday the 22^nd

8 a.m. -- A2.5W -- Final --

Thursday the 24^th

9:30 a.m. -- S3.5M -- Indigo Run Golden Bear Claws vs. AR/Arkadelphia

2:30 p.m. -- S3.5M -- Indigo Run Golden Bear Claws vs. GA(B)/Marietta Olde Towne

Friday the 25^th

8 a.m. -- S3.5M -- Indigo Run Golden Bear Claws vs. TN(B)/Memphis Bartlett

Saturday the 26^th

9:30 p.m. -- S3.5M -- Indigo Run Golden Bear Claws vs. AL/Birmingham Brook Highland

Sunday the 27^th

8 a.m. -- S3.5M -- Final --

Kidzone Kids Get a Quickstart Tournament Experience

HILTON HEAD ISLAND SC (TENNIS E-News) -- With 20 entries in all, the kids had an awesome time at HHI's first Kidzone tournament for youngsters aged 8 & Under and 12 & Under Sunday at Chaplin Public Tennis Center. So reports Director Patricia Hy-Boulais. "They all tried really, really hard. (We) saw some great matches. Unbelievable from such young ages."

The kids were playing under a new USTA Quickstart format that uses short courts and special balls designed to give the youngsters a much more fun experience that attempting full-court play with adult regulation balls.

Kidzone and Quickstart is mostly about having fun playing tennis, but for the Sunday experience, there were winners in the various divisions as follows:
Under 12s Main draw : Winner - Isabelle Boulais; Finalist - Justin Boulais
Under 12s Consolation: Winner - Mathew Bornstein; Finalist - Bryce Flowers
Under 8s Main draw: Winner - Conrad Alford; Finalst - Payton Flowers
Under 8s Consolation: Winner - Lara Martel; Finalist - Chloe Johnson
For information on the kids programs, contact Hy-Boulais at patricia@hytennis.com.

PTI Fundraiser Redux

President's Box Tickets at the US Open Still up for Grabs … But Only Until Sunday

HILTON HEAD ISLAND SC (TENNIS E-News) -- The winners of the July 5^th drawing for US Open tickets in the USTA President's Box are unable to attend the championships, so the drawing sponsor, Public Tennis Inc., is offering the seats in a now-until-Sunday silent auction. Proceeds will go to the PTI court fundraising efforts.

The tickets are valid for a morning or evening session in the President's Box on one of the first four days of the US Open (Aug. 25th-28th excluding opening night), reports PTI VP Tim Ryan. Tickets include a complimentary lunch or dinner in the President's Suite. To submit a bid, email chaplinroundrobin@hotmail.com. The deadline for bidding will be Sunday evening. The current bid is at $200.

USTA League Players Needed

6.5 Women's Combo -- Team needs 3.5 women players that will be practicing at Chaplin Public Tennis Center Wednesday nights with matches probably on Saturday afternoons. Contact Heather Rath at 301-1122 or heatherrath@yahoo.com.

7.5 Women's Combo -- Our Palmetto Dunes 7.5 combo team, Chix Mix, is seeking two 4.0 women looking to

round out our roster. Please contact Anneliza Itkor at anneliza@hargray.com or 338-5858.

3.0 Super Senior Men's 60s -- Chaplin's first ever 3.0 Super Senior 60s team needs some more players. Season begins early September. Contact Ray Hardy at rayhardy36@aol.com.

TENNIS E-News 'Experiment'

Jr. Team Tennis Wraps Up Season With Festivities, Plans for States

BLUFFTON SC (TENNIS E-News) -- Junior Team Tennis celebrated its successful Spring/Summer season with games, awards and plans for teams to advance to South Carolina Championships.

About 35 players and 20 adults took part in the Sunday festivities, during which winning JTT coaches Scott Nichols and Bob Brown received travel award checks for the state playoffs.

The photo attached to this issue shows the volunteer coaches who taught free clinics, cooked and played "Beat the Pro". Identification for the photo, from left: Beaufort's David Reidmayer, Villains Coach and Co-Sponsor Nichols, Windmill Harbour's Royce Sylvan, Low Country Sports Network's Brett Robertson, Badkatz Coach Brown and Seggie Academy's Di Seggie. (The aforementioned "experiment" is TENNIS E-News experimenting with a photo attachment. Hope it worked.)

Keeping Track

Updating our trail of Dana Andis, former tournament (and other activities) director at Palmetto Dunes Tennis. Dana is sales manager of TennisSet.com and you can go to http://www.tennisset.com and check it out. It's a Kansas City area store, as Dana points out, and not a mass-sale discount house. Its website went up last week and you will be seeing ads in TENNIS magazine. Dana had been regional rep for Head Racquet Sports.

TENNIS E-News FootNote

ooooO

( ) The Players Amateur Golf Tournament at Belfair had to restart its early players because it was determined

( ) that one pin placement was "too difficult". Pooooor babies. Where was the pin placed? In Beaufort?

(___) Tennis match: "Sorry, Mr. Referee, but we must replay that match. The net placement was

too difficult, being there between me and the opponents."

-- Dennis Malick