January 2024 Newsletter
JTT Fall Sectionals
–Photos courtesy USTA Texas
Three Houston Junior Team Tennis teams won their divisions at the Fall Sectionals at the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels in December.
The Houstonian Red team won the 14-and-under Intermediate competition; the Red Tornadoes claimed victory for the 12-and-under Intermediate title; and the Green Tornadoes were the 10-and-under champions in the Green Division.
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October 2023 Newsletter
the Most Valuable Professionals Award
Gran Prix moves into new territory
HTA revived the Gran Prix tournaments for beginner and intermediate youth this summer and sent a team to the state championships at Newk’s this September.
Many years ago the Houston Professional Tennis Association sponsored Gran Prix tournaments to introduce young players to the sport and competition. This year HTA Tournament Director Gloria Dial set up the one-day tournaments at six sites (Lee LeClear Tennis Center, Rivera Tennis Academy, Golfcrest Country Club, Forest Oaks Swim Racquet Club and Kingwood Country Club) for the inaugural season.
“The tour has opened the door for a mutually beneficial relationship with area clubs,” Dial reported.
“The kids involved have never done anything like this before, and they made new friends and found out what tournaments are about,” she said.
HTA Executive Director Emily Schaefer called this year’s tour a decent start.
“We hope to make it bigger next year and believe it helps foster good relationships with pros and clubs, not to mention the opportunities it provides for up-and-coming juniors,” she said.
Justin Hensley, HTA community tennis intern, and Ara Schmaltz, tennis coach at Rivera Tennis Academy, site of one of the one-day tournaments and a team practice session, accompanied the Houston team to Newk’s in New Braunfels.
Players who made the trip to Newk’s included Thiago Chavez, Emma Fragman, Danielle Harris, Om Hunjan, Zophia Jones, Meera Kalakkunnath, Shlok Kalakkunnath, Simone Majekodunmi, Jose Eduardo Navarro, Maria Fernanda Navarro and Roland Parsons.
The Houston team didn’t win the championship, but Hensley said they all had so much fun and enjoyed playing the other five teams from all over the state.
“Some of our team players couldn’t go to the tournament,” he explained, “and we unfortunately had to forfeit several matches.”
Schmaltz explained that this was the first time for the kids to play in a tournament.
“They were excited and even more excited when they won some points,” she said. They were all doing their best and kept asking for advice on how to play and what to do when their opponents did something new.
“The most important thing was that the parents were supportive of all the kids,” she said.
“We were building a community that weekend.”
Hensley and Schmaltz were recognized by the tournament for their part with the “Most Valuable Professionals Award.”
July 2023 Newsletter
Photos courtesy USTA Texas
Houston juniors receive honors at the Texas Slam in Georgetown in early June
Houstonians Dylan Varughese and Kayden Johnson won the boys and girls 14 singles divisions, respectively, at the Texas Slam, one of the largest junior tournaments in the United States, in Georgetown.
Aidan Xu and Allan Xu of Katy won the boys 16 doubles.
Allan Xu won the John McFarlin Outstanding Sportsmanship Award, presented to the outstanding junior boy in Texas for his exceptional performance, a willingness to work with up-and-coming players, cooperation and proper respect, and a sportsmanlike and competitive spirit. Laila Nguyen of Houston earned the Mary Lowdon Outstanding Sportsmanship Award, which honors an outstanding junior girl in Texas who has shown exceptional ability, a good ranking, a willingness to work with up-and-coming players, cooperation and proper respect, and a sportsmanlike and competitive spirit.
Zoe Young of Spring received the Barbara Smith Sportsmanship Award. The trophy is awarded to a 14-year-old girl (and also a 14-year-old boy–the one given for boys 14s is named after Paul Christian). Chosen by players in the tournament, both awards highlight players demonstrating outstanding sportsmanship and fair play. The Emily Schaefer Sportsmanship Award (named after the current HTA director) for the Girls 12s was presented to Stella Chambers of Austin.
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November 2022 Newsletter
Why your child should play tennis and develop their “Hidden Score Card.”
By Sarah Flood
Tennis is an amazing sport for young children. It has many benefits even though at first it may seem hard to learn and is a more individual sport.
It’s a lot more social than people realize. You can’t just go out and play tennis at a young age like you can with other team sports, so the coming together in groups and clinics is a fun way to learn and get good at it.
At the beginning it can be more about making friends and hanging out in the group, rather than being good at the skill, but in the end your child meets other players in similar school grades and ability levels. The more they want to keep going back to see their friends the faster they reap the many rewards of playing tennis.
Tennis isn’t a high contact sport.
So for any parents worried about injuries, they don’t happen as often on the tennis court as compared to more physical team sports.
Tennis is also a sport for life. Courts provide lots of space for children to run around and play, and athletes continue to play the sport well into their senior years.
It is also widely accessible, easy on the joints, and whether for competition or simply for leisure, tennis is a sport your child can play for as long as they please. Not only can you play it for a lifetime, it’s a great cardiovascular, high-intensity sport, that uses a lot of movements and a lot of the large muscle groups in the body. It is even thought to help you live longer!! So, there are obviously major benefits to playing tennis.
The amazing things about sports, and in this case tennis, is that it teaches your children so much more than the sport itself. It teaches your kids about the “Hidden Score Card.” The energy they bring to tennis and the more commitment they invest will have an impact and a purpose on their strength of character.
They will learn to fight battles and to deal with adversity. Interestingly, adversity does not build character but reveals it. You can watch the children grow while they play tennis and deal with the challenges it brings. Tennis is already hard because you must beat the opponent on the other side of the net; you don’t want to have to battle against yourself also. Beating two opponents at once can be hard!
The hidden score card
Performance character enables children to achieve a higher level, but a moral and ethical character–the hidden score card–is the gold standard of who we want to become as human beings. Even though we are chasing extrinsic measures of success while we play, research shows that our moral and ethical character has the greatest impact on sustained high performance.
If we want to grow and be happy and have high performance and fulfillment, we must work both score cards. Not one to the exclusion of others. More important than the chase to the top, is who is the player is becoming as a consequence of that chase.
Playing sport and being an athlete is a gift, but being a great human being is the most important lesson. Whether your child plays in high school or college or neither, it doesn’t matter. In the end it is about who they become as a human being and what type of character they build along the way.
Tennis can help your child learn these important life lessons, and the truth is that the real value of competitive sport is in helping athletes become stronger human beings for life.
To learn more about tennis in Houston contact Sarah Flood – sarahfloodtennis@gmail.com, or the Houston Tennis Association.
To learn more about the Hidden Score Card, read more research and information from the world-renowned performance psychologist Dr. Jim Loehr Ed.D.
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August 2022 Newsletter
College and university recruits
Several area high school senior tennis stand-outs made commitments to college teams for the fall. Tennisrecruiting.net reported the signings.
Signing on the women’s teams are Kennedy Gibbs, (top left), Houston, at Purdue; Daryl Locke, (bottom left), Kingwood High School, at Southwestern; Ella Mullins, Tomball, at St. Thomas; and Ashley Klauck, John Newcombe Tennis Ranch and Magnolia, at Endicott.
Kabeer Kapasi, (bottom center), Houston Christian, will be playing for Rice, while Grant Lothringer, (top right), The Woodlands, commits to the Texas A&M team. Deacon Thomas, (bottom right), Stratford High School, has signed with Xavier. Photos courtesy Tennnisrecruiting.net
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July 2022 Newsletter
Texas Slam in Georgetown area standouts
Congratulations to the Houston area players who reached the finals at the Texas Slam. In the girls singles Ally Lin of Katy (in above photo courtesy of USTA Texas) won the 18s; Tianna Rangan of Sugar Land won the 16s; and Emily Golovanov of Katy won the 14s. Emily and Reyna Xiao of Katy won the girls 14 doubles. Laila Nguyen of Houston was a finalist in the girls 16 doubles with partner Alyson Shannon of Plano. Elliott Awomoyi of Cypress won the boys 12 singles.
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USTA Texas announced its annual junior tennis award recipients at the Texas Slam at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. There were several area players among the recipients.
Allan Xu of Katy received the Paul Christian Sportsmanship Award, given to a 14-year-old boy. Chosen by players in the tournament, the award highlights a player demonstrating outstanding sportsmanship and fair play.
Missouri City’s Evania John took home the Emily Schaefer Sportsmanship Award, which honors a 12-year-old girl selected by the players.
Chloe Brissett of Houston won the Zina Garrison Sportsmanship Award, given to a 16-year-old girl.
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June 2022 Newsletter
King Daddy JTT excelled at Sectionals.
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May 2022 Newsletter
2022 Spring Junior Team Tennis Flight Winners
10U Intermediate Orange Ball Beginner
- Royal Oaks
- Enric Red
10U Intermediate Orange Ball Intermediate
- Telfair
- King Daddy Orange Tornadoes
10U Advanced Green Dot Ball
- King Daddy Black Tornadoes
- LLTC Green
12U Beginner Yellow Ball
- HRC Lester
- Telfair
12U Intermediate
- Houstonian Red
- King Daddy Red Tornadoes
14U Beginner
- Royal Oaks
- King Daddy Copper Tornadoes
14U Intermediate
- King Daddy Blue Tornadoes
- Shirshac
18U Intermediate
- King Daddy Tornadoes
- Houstonian
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February 2022 Newsletter
Congratulations to these four boys who were recognized for their good sportsmanship during the HTA Level 3 tournament in January. From left, top row, James Cockrell and Patrick Chen competed in the boys 18s, and Elliott Awomeyi and Qasyn Dar (in the second row) were in the boys 14s.
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August 2021 Newsletter
Read the full story in the Houston Chronicle
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July 2021 Newsletter
Houston’s Mazzucato Wins Biggest Junior Tourney in Texas
By Paul Ryan, Content and Media Strategist, USTA Texas
GEORGETOWN, Texas — Dallas’ Landon Ardila won the Boys 18s singles and doubles championships while Houston’s Sofia Mazzucato won the Girls 18s title at The Texas Slam held in Georgetown from June 19-26.
“Honestly, when I saw the players in the draw, I was a little scared,” said Ardila. “I knew we could take doubles because we were the No. 1 seed, but singles I knew it would be more of a challenge. I did not think I would take both of them. It feels great.”
After winning the doubles final on Wednesday with his partner Grant Lothringer of The Woodlands, the duo had to face off against one another in the singles finals.
“It’s crazy that we both went undefeated and one of us had to lose,” Ardila said. “It was a nice experience to play doubles with him then and play him in the finals.”
For Mazzucato, it was a road that took some three-set thrillers and tiebreaks early on, but finished with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Reya Coe of Plano. After coming up short in the final of the last Texas Slam in Girls 14s, Mazzucato was finally able to lift The Texas Slam trophy.
“This was my first time playing Girls 18s,” Mazzucato said. “Two years ago, I got to the final (of Girls 14s) and lost, so I wanted to win this year really badly. I was really motivated to win this match quickly in the fewest amount of games.”
Ardila, Elliott Awomoyi of Cypress and Laila Nguyen of Houston were the only players to win in both singles and doubles.
A full list of the results can be found at PlayTennis.com.
More information can be found at TheTXSlam.com.
Boys 18s Singles: Landon Ardila def. Grant Lothringer 6-1, 6-1
Boys 16s Singles: Noey Do def. Mahir Khurana 6-1, 6-1
Boys 14s Singles: Jackson Hinderberger def. James Quattro 6-0, 6-1
Boys 12s Singles: Elliott Awomoyi def. Miguel Rooney 6-4, 6-3
Girls 18s Singles: Sofia Mazzucato def. Reya Coe 6-3, 6-0
Girls 16s Singles: Eva Oxford def. Victoria Zhao 6-4, 7-6 (7)
Girls 14s Singles: Laila Nguyen def. Daria Budko 6-2, 6-4
Girls 12s Singles: Chukwumelije Clarke def. Marta Pacuraru 7-6 (4), 6-2
Boys 18 Doubles: Lothringer/Ardila def. Brown/Konakanchi 7-5, 2-6 [10-7]
Boys 16 Doubles: Singh/Barot def. Chunduru/Chunduru 7-6 (2), 4-6 [11-9]
Boys 14 Doubles: Hewitt/Sifuentes def. Scarborough/Cotton 6-1, 6-0
Boys 12 Doubles: Awomoyi/Xu def. Rooney/Singh 6-0, 7-5
Girls 18 Doubles: Opaciuch/Santos def. Platt/Boyer 6-4, 6-4
Girls 16 Doubles: Shen/Jackson def. Moody/Monti 6-4, 7-5
Girls 14 Doubles: Lombardi/Nguyen def. Montoya/Kovachev 4-6, 6-4 [10-4]
Girls 12 Doubles: Xu/Nolan def. Burrows/Pacuraru 3-6, 7-5 [10-6]
Awards at the Texas Slam in Georgetown
USTA Texas announced its annual junior tennis award recipients in conjunction with The Texas Slam.
Several local players were recognized.
Victoria Zhao of Houston earned the Mary Lowdon Award, which honors an outstanding junior girl in Texas who has shown exceptional ability, a good ranking, a willingness to work with up-and-coming players, cooperation and proper respect, and a sportsmanlike and competitive spirit. She also won the Zina Garrison Sportsmanship Award, becoming the first player since 2015 to win both the Lowdon and Garrison awards as a 16s player.
Katie Garofolo-Ro of Houston received the Maureen Connolly Brinker Award. This award honors an 18s girl for outstanding sportsmanship and fair play both on and off the court, with the final selection being made by the players of the tournament.
Qasym Dar of Houston received the Paul Christian Sportsmanship Award, given to a boys 14 player.
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June 2021 Newsletter
Getting Ahead and Playing Up! The New USTA Junior Tennis System
By Sarah Flood
Getting your child ahead in the new USTA system has never been so important…until now! In the old Texas system, your child played through 10 & Under, got to yellow ball and started playing 12 & Under challengers. The goal was always to work their way up to champs or super champ level and then keep their ranking high enough in the state that they never went back down a level. They were never required to play ahead; they just had to sustain their level so thaat when they aged up nothing really changed.
In the new system it’s now very different, and we are all finding ourselves—parents and coaches–navigating a new pathway. Everything is based on a national ranking. There are limited draws, and L7 12 & Under tournaments are now all green ball in Texas, so what should your child do if they are in yellow ball within six months of aging up?
Play ahead!
I have been teaching junior tennis in Houston for 13 years, and I am also now learning this new system. But what I have found so far is that your ranking is the only thing that matters! It’s your player’s golden ticket into the draw, and their ranking can be great one day, and then when they age up, practically nonexistent. It is harder for them to get into the tournaments they were used to playing, and it slows their progress. Your player, who has never had to play ahead until now, can be top 300 in the nation in 12s, age up, and then be in the 2.000s in 14s. This player used to play L4 and L5 tournaments, and now they can barely get into an L6 event. So my message to all parents is make sure you are giving your players enough time to raise their ranking!
Play different levels
The new system is more flexible, and you can try to play whatever level you qualify for, and you can play in as many tournaments a month as your schedule permits. So…if your player is turning 13, 15 or 17 in the next six to eight months, start now on the next age group.
Even if they play one tournament in their current age group and one in the higher age group, at least your player is starting to transition and build their ranking for the next two years of their life. It would be better to accumulate some points in lower level tournaments in a higher age group, so that when they officially age up, they can keep playing the higher level tournaments for more points, and their ranking doesn’t shift so much.
For more information go to usta.com
For player ranking information go to: usta.com/juniortour
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April 2021 Newsletter
By Sarah Flood
What is JTT and why should your child participate in it?
10 and Under Tennis is a USTA youth program that encourages kids to play tennis by making it more accessible and attractive to potential players. It helps kids develop skills faster and have more success with innovative kid-sized racquets, low compression balls that bounce lower and slower allowing them to have longer rallies on smaller courts and to become competitive in their own sized space.
Using this American Development Model through USTA and net generation, coaches and parents can recognize the early success that children can have, making them more likely to stick with it and to reap the benefits of confidence and sportsmanship that come along with this commitment.
With hundreds of clubs and junior programs teaching and promoting this American Development Model, what is the next step for players who want to become competitive?
My advice would be to become involved in USTA’s Junior Team Tennis (JTT). This is a fun introduction to youth competition. It’s a team event too, so it’s more fun than just sending your child out to battle it out on their own with no one to help them. In my 13 years of teaching, I have seen many children in individual tournaments who love it and others who hate it. Some can’t handle losing because they haven’t been fully prepared for the moment. Perhaps someone cheated and they got upset or they didn’t like the pressure of competing.
So many factors contribute to a child either having an amazing first competitive experience or wanting to quit after their first attempt. JTT can be he best intro to correctly prepare any child to start their competitive pathway.
Tennis has always been seen as the individual, sometimes lonely sport, but JTT makes tennis as equally fun as other team sports. It involves singles and doubles, and kids get to play together and cheer each other on. It builds more than just improved strokes. It builds friendships, resilience and character. It’s so much more than tennis!!
JTT is also simply run and easy enough for parents to be captains. It’s a short event that takes only a couple of hours on a weekend, so it’s not a huge commitment for parents. It also helps your child earn participation credits towards their USTA development and moving towards the next ball in their progression. So it’s a win win!
So how do you join a JTT team?
Anyone can form a team. Professionals in clubs or neighborhoods, even parents, can form teams. You just need a team captain to complete the USTA Safeplay and background checks and have a minimum of four players to register a team through HTA. You also need two to four courts in order to host other teams, but a lot of clubs are already involved and participating in JTT. So if you are already playing in a youth program ask the pros about it, and if you are not, contact your neighborhood pro or HTA directly to help you find a team.
HTA wants to promote JTT and all youth programming any way we can, and we look forward to having your children participate in the fall season in the Houston area.
For more information contact HTA’s Ann Wilde: ann.w@houstontennis.org, Melinda Hampton, melinda.h@houstontennis.org, or Sarah Flood at sflood@houstonracquetclub.com