Top left: Men’s 70 singles finalist Gary Hirshey, left, and winner David Brooks; Center: Women’s 35 singles second place Kerry Cernoch; Top right: Tournament Director Gloria Dial, left, with 75 singles consolation winner Ed Emmett; Bottom left: Men’s 50 singles winner Humberto Alzate; Next: Men’s 80 singles finalist Wellborn Gregg; Next: Men’s 40 singles finalist Ankur Baishya, left, and winner Denova Navario; Right: Men’s 65 singles winner Ed Vercelli
Top left: Men’s 75 singles winner Larry Carroll, left, and finalist Hal Steinkopf; Center: Men’s 65 singles finalist Tim Perry; Right: Men’s 60 singles finalist David Neider; Bottom left: Men’s 40 singles consolation winner David Anderson; Next: Men’s 55 singles winner Keith Mackert; Next: Men’s 60 singles consolation winner Greg Brown; Right: Men’s 50 singles consolation winner Yigit Aktulga
The Houston area was recognized for three ”bests” in the USTA/Texas competition. Winners were selected by voting.
Gabriel Gutierrez was Best College Coach; Aceing Autism at Houston Hearthstone Country Club was Best Adaptive Tennis Program; and Adaptive Athletics at the University of Houston was Best Adaptive Tennis Program (small).
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Houston NJTL Fun Day, sponsored by Fayez Sarofim & Co US Men’s Clay Court Championships, was held at Fonde Recreation Center. Photos by Mark Howard
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USTA Texas and Adaptive Athletics at the University of Houston participated in the Abilities Expo at NRG Hall in August. Harold Graham photographed the action.
Cindy Benzon, assisted by Justin Hensley, conducted a clinic at Mead Middle School for more than 150 physical education teachers. They offered lots of red ball training as well as reviewing tennis curriculum and explaining how it will benefit PE programs. Photos by Justin Hensley
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Second Annual We Play for Pride Tournament
Left: Men’s open singles winner Liam Collins, left, and finalist Frederick Albion; Center: Women’s 4.0 singles finalist Elizabeth Detring, left, and winner Zhou Lin; Right: Men’s 4.0 singles finalist Patrick Flanigan, left, and winner Jacob Jensen
Left: Men’s 4.5 doubles finalists Eric Hernandez and Daniel Neuman, left, and winners Bill Zindler and Johannes Spille; Right: Women’s 3.5 doubles winners Monica Ho and Melanie Wong, left, and finalists Kat Kaliski and Yvette Marietta
And that’s not all! More photos on Facebook, April 4 post.
Emma Hughes relaxes on one of the new benches at Lee LeClear Tennis Center.
From left: Siblings Jay Bhandari, Boys 14s 3rd place, left, and Annika Bhandari, Girls 12s 1st place; William Liang, Boys 16s 3rd place; Bryce Lin, Boys 16s 1st place; Emman Mahmood, Girls 12s 2nd place
From left: Ayush Jodhani, Boys 14s 2nd place; Sister and brother winners–Daniela Rodriguez-Gnecco, girls 14s, and Santiago Rodriguez, boys 12s; Jack Drinkwater, boys 16s 2nd place; Lara Fawzy, Girls 12s 3rd place
From left: Clara Gong, Girls 14s 2nd place; Stanley Huang, Boys 14s 1st place; Blake Taylor, left, Boys 16s 2nd place, and Avyukt Satish, Boys 16s 1st place; Nathan Wang, Boys 14s 1st place
From left: Rylan Rivas, left, Boys 16s 2nd place, and Nimay Harish, Boys 16s 1st place; Emman Mahmood, Girls 12s 2nd place; Drew Westbrook, Boys 16s 3rd place
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Site directors Jeri Richards Brantley and Emma Hughes
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Left to right, top row: Girls 12 West finalist Tiffany Urtis and winner Elizabeth Smirnova; Girls 14s East Flight 2 winner Jocelyn Sun, left, and finalist Lakshmi Coffey; Girls 12s East winner Darya Majed, left, and finalist Brooklynn Price.
Second row: Girls 14s Flight 2 consolation winner Hanzhen Ying, left, with Natasha Rosseland; Girls 12s Flight 1 consolation winner Maddy Svadlenak; Girls 14s fourth place Francesa Ariz, left, and third place Helena Young.
Third row: Girls 14s East finalist Madeleine Monti, left, and winner Samantha Gottfried; Girls 14s Flight 2 doubles winner Madeline Peters. (Partner Rebecca Crichton); Girls 12s third place winner Presley Horowitz, left, and fourth place winner Elaina Jia.
Fourth row: Girls 14s Flight 2 doubles winner Rebecca Crichton-Amaya (partner Madeline Peters); Girls 14s consolation winner Sophia Preng.
The five-day ITF/USTA Junior Wheelchair Camp at the University of Houston featured lots of tennis matches and drills. Players also rode the METRO Rail to an Astros baseball game, engaged in a water fight one day and finished with an awards banquet. Photos by Cindy Benzon and Harold Graham.
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The first We Play for Pride tournament, led by HTA Board Members Sarah Flood and Troy Toole, debuted at Memorial Park Tennis Center on June 24. Participants played tennis matches, then had lunch at Beck’s Prime in the park, with a colorful rainbow cake for dessert. Proceeds of the event were donated to the Montrose Center.
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(Share your tennis-related photos with On & Off the Court. Please identify location and/or event. Send to terrystjohn@att.net.)
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HTA and USTA Texas hosted a Meet and Greet Session for USTA Texas volunteers prior to the annual meeting in Irving, Texas.
Scenes from the HTA RBC Wealth Management Level 3 Boys and Girls 12 and 16 Singles Tournament
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Congratulations to:
Special Coach of the Year Awards:
Coach of the Year Awards:
The USTA/ITF Wheelchair Tennis Camp at the University of Houston welcomed players in July. Two-time Paralympian Shelby Baron and USA National Coach Paul Walker were here to help.
Top row: Students, sponsors, parents and staff gathered after the luncheon for a photo shoot.; HTA ED Emily Schaefer, Kendall Jaeger and Victoria Jaeger (right) congratulate student Isaac Harris; Cheryl Hultquist, Schaefer, Claire Goosey and Brenda Blanchard were in attendance. Second row: Lunch is served at Beck’s Prime; third photo, The North Houston Women’s 4.5 team, captained by Tawn Vo and Donna Miller, advanced to Nationals. Team members are Kelly Cantrell, Mary Donlon, Audrey Du, Tara Kim, Michelle Logan, Michelle Marin, Heather Mee, Miller, Angela Momeier, Cristina Petrosini, Christina Thorson, Marissa Valentine-King, Vo and Wendy Womack. Third row: the North Houston (Lucky Strings-The Woodlands) 3.0 team, captained by Julie Warrington, advanced to Nationals. Team members are Tina Battle, Janet Beckman, Erika Breen, Tara Brengel, Catriona Edmond, Sara Jackson, Michelle Legg, Carla Lovell, Robyn Schapiro, Theresa Schlichter, Meredith Sipko, Warrington, Tara Wheeler and Hillary Zuniga; The Houston Haute Shots 3.5 team, captained by Veronica Barnhill and Kim Pataky, advanced to Nationals. The roster includes Kirsten Arnold, Barnhill, Cari Curtis, Adrianna Daza, Mei Dong, Jing Du, Margaret Forte, Bridget Hettish, Akemi Ikei, Marty Kirkpatrick, Kristin Kloss, Jennifer Lively, Beth Lumba, Gabriela Montes, Marlene Morales, Pataky, Ambar Penaloza and Kimberly Sanders; and the Houston 4.0 team, captained by Mary Volf and Marian Hilpert won the 4.0 Sectionals. Team members are Ellen Chandler, Michele Friedman, Hilpert, Angela Johnston, Emmie Ko, Hannah Law, Amy Markwort, Samantha Morrison, Thy Regent, Meghan Rovelli, Natalie Synnott, Diana Tully, Volf, Valerie Volpi and Elizabeth Zdeblick. Adult Sectional Champions photos courtesy USTA Texas
95 new players from local Jack & Jill chapters participated in this first of a kind event.
Left: Jack & Jill tennis organizers; Center: Jack & Jill Mom and daughter; Right: Jack & Jill tennis group
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The Lifetime Galleria 55+ 8.0 team reached the semifinals of Sectionals in Dallas. Team members from left to right: Sam Ahn, Ian McKeithen, Frank Jeanson, Paul Finnett, Bill Funk, Mike Wasik, Karl Watson Jr., William Mao
Congratulations to the Noho 4.5 Tri-Level team, captained by Jason Freeman, winning their division at the Texas Sectionals in Austin at the end of January. Team members are Leonidas Andrews, Red Benzon, Patrick Burns, Keith Clark, Chase Collins, Jason Freeman, Timothy Green, Ronnie Kwan, Raymond Martinez, Marcus Mategrano, David Moore, Gerardo Palencia, Luc Thomas, Trung Trinh and Rajneesh Verma. (Photo courtesy USTA Texas)
The 7.0 team captained by Tony De Santis will represent Texas at the 65 & Over National Invitational in Surprise, Arizona, in January. Team members are Co-Captain Gautam Adhia, David Wang, Raymond Luu, Chuck Stasny, David Corbin, David Pattillo, Yulim Tev, Tom Yeung, Luis Montilva, Gene Saylors, Parsons Jim, Bill Ogden, Carmelo Mauro, Don Avera and Jack Shubert. Photo Courtesy of USTA Texas
The 2020 and 2021 Texas Tennis Hall of Fame members were inducted in a combined ceremony in Waco. Chuck Sanchelli was among those recognized for 2020. Other 2020 members were Paul Cass, Kathy Vick and Carol Weyman. The 2021 Hall of Fame Class inductees were Wayne Leavitt and Carolyn Moody. Photo courtesy of USTA Texas
The Memorial High School tennis team showed their Thanksgiving spirit by assembling 75 bags of groceries and donations and 75 gift cards for turkeys and perishables for their sister school Pine Shadows Elementary. The generous donations from the local tennis families helped Memorial surpass their goal in an especially tough year with food supply chain shortages and lingering COVID-19 concerns. With direction from Memorial coaches Booth, Andrews and Mandell, the kids unloaded, unpacked, organized and assembled the bags and loaded up cars full of groceries ready for delivery. Thank you to the tennis team for blessing these families with a Thanksgiving meal.
Congratulations to Houston’s 8.5 women’s combo team for winning Sectionals in Corpus Christi in October. Jeri Richard-Brantley captains the team. Members are Chiara Combs, Debanjolee Das, Linnie Ford, Maria Garcia-Mireles, Chelsea Grear, Anjali Iyer and Mary Tran. Photo courtesy USTA Texas
Photos by Tracy Rolling
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Chuck Sanchelli
The Wild Houston Alley Cats won the 8.0 Mixed Doubles Sectionals in Abilene. Bill Zindler is captain, and team members are Michael Bell, Anthony Bright, Kimberly Elliott, Jessica Emerald, Laurie Emerson, Donnetha Johnson, Grace Kownslar, Leyla Martinez, Andrew Mefferd, Lydia Mireles, Austin Mireles, Dirk Mueller, Emily O’Bar, Stanley Sou and Richard Tagle.
Above: Scenes from Combo team competition at Homer Ford Tennis Center in mid September. Winning combo teams heading for Sectionals in Corpus Christi this month are captained by men’s 9.5—Bill Zindler; women’s 8.5—Jeri Richard-Brantley; women’s 7.5—Keiko Kay Thompson and Diem Pham; and women’s 6.5—Michele Thiet and Pam Saddler.
Above: Scenes from the Senior Women’s Clay Court Championships held at the Houston Racquet Club in September. The tournament celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.
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Club Notes: The Downtown Club at the Met will host this year’s 2021 Charity Classic 80’s Festival October 4-9. This is the 15th year of the Charity Classic, ClubCorp’s major effort benefitting employee care foundation and more than 100 charitable organizations. The event includes a silent auction and many sporting events for members, friends and guests. This year’s charity proceeds will go to Wounded Warriors.
Noho won the men’s 4.0 Texas 18 & Over League Sectionals in Dallas in August. The team’s roster includes Captain Jason Freeman, Jorge Bedolla, Ian Bird, Corey Kruseman, Greg Leiker, Grant Lopez, Marcus Mategrano, David Moore, Joel Peters, Adam Riggs, Allen Sanders, Tomas Scataglini, Michael Spearman, Luc Thomas, Trung Trinh, Nghia Truong and Jorge Vega. Photo courtesy USTA Texas
Above left: Nancy Richey, a graduate of Jeff Davis High School in Houston, was inducted into HISD’s recently established Athletic Hall of Honor along with athletes from the city’s other high schools. Center and right: (Photos from the NJTL of Houston Facebook page) Arianna De Los Reyes from Bendwood with her third place medal on the USTA Junior Circuit and Danielle (no last name given) who won the finals of a USTA Junior Circuit green ball tournament.
Cheers to the winning teams at the Citywide League tournament at Lee LeClear Tennis Center in July. Teams heading to Sectionals in Dallas the last weekend in July are the 4.5 Men LLTC Old School captained by Allen Teague; 4.5 Women LLTC Summer Smashers captained by Anjali Iyer; 3.5 Men HFTC Hawk Eyes captained by Freddy Soewito; and 3.5 Women Windsor Park Lakes Stars at Night captained by Kim Pataky.
Iyer reported that the Summer Smashers competitors heading to Dallas are Iyer, Chelsea Grear, Donnetha Johnson, Cindy Taylor, Chiara Combs, Nicole Le, Michelle Campbell, Holly Hayes, Jasmine Nguyen, Tammy Nasse and Cara Miller. Anna Studt, Jeri Richard, Tomomi Tsuchiya and Christina Moreno are also on the team.
Winning Lone Star teams are 5.0 Men—Cinco Ranch Viteri captained by Pablo Viteri; 4.0 Men Life Time Galleria captained by Lynn Klement; 4.0 Women HFTC Bumblebees captained Illina Yang; 3.0 Women Royal Oaks Royal Deuces captained by Virginia Endecott; and 2.5 Royal Oaks Royal Courtettes captained by Claire Thuen. The 5.0, 4.0 and 3.0 teams will compete in Richardson the first weekend in August.
Good luck to all!
The Stars at Night team after their Citywide win–Kim Pataky, Akemi Ikei, Lilian Soares, Rachel deLigny, Christina Tran, Amy Cooper, Kim Sanders, Betty DelRio Rodriguez, Veronica Barnhill, Elena Macias, Sayuri Pinon, Erica Delaney, Debbie Ukani, Soraya Milano, Margaret Forte, Marty Kirkpatrick, Jen Lively, Lan Au, June Castronovo, Stacey Parish.
Lifetime Galleria team members are Cameron Klement, Steven Casto, David Sotelo, Dillon Piper, Ivan Corona, Antonio Garcia, Nicolas Grasty, Bill Funk, Steve Thacker, Thurston Woods, Jim Davis, Lynn Klement
John Wilkerson will be inducted into the USPTA Hall of Fame during its World Conference September 19-23 at Westgate Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. He will be inducted along with Stan Smith and Trish Faulkner at the September 22 luncheon. Photo courtesy USTA.com
Level 5 Open HTA 14 and 18 singles tournament at Lee LeClear TC in June: Left to right: Girls 18s winner Kori Montoya, left, and finalist Anneliese Beltran; Gloria Dial presents Allan Xu with the boy’s Sportsmanship Award. Allan also was the winner in the boys 14 singles; Boys 18 finalist Aashish Dhanani, left, with winner Nicolas Montoya; Girls 14s winner Erin Bui, left, and finalist Ahona Chowdhury. Meet another one of our scholarship recipients–Quentin Maxwell. He’s a Magnolia West High School graduate and will be attending the University of Alabama in the fall.
Congratulations to Memorial High School tennis players Aleksandra Dimitrijevic and Drew Morris, who won the Class 6A girls doubles division of the UIL state championships in San Antonio in May. Photo courtesy of the Houston Chronicle.
RBC Wealth Management Level 4 Open 12s & 16s tournament at Lee LeClear Tennis Center
Top row: Boys 12 winner Blair Chen, left, and finalist Mason Vaughan; Spectators; Girls 12 finalist Carley Griffin, left, and winner Marta Pacuraru
Second row: Spectators; Boys 16 winner Noey Do, left, and finalist Jackson Caldwell; Girls 16 finalist Michelle Li, left, and winner Catherine Shen
Third row: Spectators
Below: Tournament officials Jeri Richard-Brantley, left, and Gloria Dial
RBC Wealth Management Houston Open (Adult, Senior and Super Senior) at Lee LeClear Tennis Center
Row 1, from left: Men’s Open singles winner Guillermo Cosson, left, and finalist Kristian Rodriquez; Women’s Open singles winner Alexis Odom, left, and finalist Carla Cooper; Linh Nguyen, women’s 3.5 singles winner
Row 2: Players checking in; Men’s 3.5 40+ winner Tony Kayser, left. and finalist Praveen Bondala Nageswararao; Women’s 3.0 doubles 2nd place Barbara Endl, left, and Kit Kaliski
Row 3: Women’s 4.5 finalist Anjali Iyer, left, and winner Nealie Kaplan; Mary Ann Padilla and Jeri Richard-Brantley at tournament desk; Blake, Ann and Cecile Wilde
Row 4: Men’s 4.5 singles finalist James Bui, left, and winner Kyle Koehler; Men’s 60s winner Jay Pfister, left, and finalist Mike Martin; Between matches
Row 5: Women’s 3.5 40+ doubles winners Kathy Xia, left, and Akemi Ikei; Women’s 3.0 doubles winners Serena Zindler, left, and Layla Martinez; Men’s 4.5 40+ winner Steve Phan, left, and finalist JD Miles
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First Row: Left: High school scholarships recipient Varun Thachil, class of 2018. Varun reports, “I am now a junior at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and my major is Healthcare Management on the pre-med track. In my freshman year I played for the Case Men’s Tennis Team (my roster pic is attached) and I only lost one match the whole season. The next year I stopped playing to spend more time on my academics. I also serve as the vice president of Special Olympics here, and we often hold tennis clinics for less privileged school kids in the local Cleveland area. Despite no longer playing tennis competitively, I have been coaching kids in Cypress when I come back home from college. I am applying to medical school this year and am set to graduate next summer. Thank you so much for the HTA scholarship. It has decreased the burden of my tuition costs along with my merit scholarship, and I am ever grateful for the recognition you have given me.”
Center and right photos: Brooke Dickey, a scholarship recipient in 2018 and a junior at Texas Tech, has been accepted to the competitive Supply Chain Management program at Tech’s Rawls College of Business. She is majoring in Supply Chain and minoring in accounting. She reports “My cumulative GPA is a 3.758, and I am interning with Amazon this summer as an area manager. Throughout my time at Texas Tech I have played for the Texas Tech Tennis Club. I am a two-year nationals qualifier. I have held the officer positions: Travel Coordinator, Social Media Admin., and President. I have recently joined the pickle ball club. I have been waiting tables at Saltgrass Steakhouse throughout college. I have received my class ring. I am thankful for the scholarship I received from y’all, since I am financially independent (I do wish I could re-apply).”
Second Row: HTA NJTL classes at Lee LeClear Tennis Center and Bendwood Park.
