On the Ball: News from LI LI Awards Season Is Here
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Volume 8, Issue 1 USTA Eastern Long Island March 2019 On The Ball: News From LI LI Awards Season Is Here Spring is approaching and Awards will be presented to “Our annual dinner is a won- Coming that means USTA Long Is- those who made their marks derful celebration of the best land awards season is near. on the court as players, vol- of Long Island tennis,” said Soon unteers, coaches, teachers, Jonathan Klee, regional di- The LI Region is proud to parents and more. rector, USTA Long Island. THURSDAY, MAY congratulate all of our recent “We look forward to sharing 2nd: 29th Annual and upcoming honorees at The evening’s highest honor this event with the broader USTA Long Island the Local, Sectional and Na- will go to Karen Cadorette community and hope to see Awards Dinner tional Levels. They include of Huntington (below), who many familiar and new faces juniors and adults recognized will receive the Hy Zausner that night. We are grateful to 5/11, 12 (rain dates by USTA Eastern at its annu- Lifetime Achievement Award. this year’s sponsors for their 5/18, 19) Nassau In- dividual Tourna- ment @Eisenhower Park 5/17, 18, 20 Suffolk Individual Tourna- ment finals @William Floyd HS 5/20 (tentative) Long Island High School Champion- ship @Suffolk site commitment to growing the 5/30-6/1 New York al conference and local Additional prestigious game in our Region. I also awardees who will be cele- awards will be given to: want to thank everyone who State High School th Championships brated at our 29 Annual took the time to nominate Long Island Region Awards Bruce Moodnik, Vitas Ger- their peers. Your efforts en- @National Tennis ulaitis “For the Love of Ten- Center Dinner on May 2nd. Finally, sured that we will, as always, we are excited to announce nis” Award (photo at right); honor the most deserving that our own Terry Fon- Nicholas Haridopolos, candidates.” tana (above) will receive the Arthur Ashe Multi-Cultural USTA’s Senior’s Service Award, and the Perri Fam- According to Klee, dinner Award later this month ily, Rose Buck Scalamandre sponsorships are still availa- visit www. (story, page 3). Tennis Family of the Year. ble. Email us to learn how longisland. you can put your business in High school awards will in- Save the Date! front of more than 300 mem- usta.com clude Coaches of the Year bers of Long Island’s tennis Brian Hoffner of Roslyn for details on all Plans are underway for the community by becoming an and John Czartosieski of events 29th Annual Long Island awards dinner sponsor. Westhampton Beach. In Awards Dinner, which prom- ... 2018, Long Island was proud ises to be the best yet. Sched- To see a complete list of nd to be home to both the boys’ follow us on Face- uled for Thursday, May 2 at awardees and for more infor- and girls’ New York State book USTA Long the Chateau Briand Caterers mation, please visit Long and Nassau County Singles in Carle Place, the event will Island Awards Dinner. To Island or Twitter Champions, Patrick Malo- bring together many people attend the dinner, please ney of Oyster Bay and Ra- @USTA_LI who have made an impact on click here. the local tennis community. chel Arbitman of Hewlett. Both will receive awards. On The Ball: News from Long Island Page 2 Eastern Section Rewards Excellence The USTA Eastern Section honored Eastern also recognized 11 junior tour- several Long Islanders at its annual nament players who demonstrated Eastern Conference and Awards Din- outstanding sportsmanship on the ner and Junior Awards Luncheon in court in 2018. Representing Long Is- January. They are: land are: Tennis Woman of the Year: Girl's 10's Sportsmanship Sunny Fishkind (below, holding silver Award: Sofia Perez. bowl) surrounded by her family. Jona- than Klee, USTA Long Island Regional Director, is at far right. George Seewagen Award: Adrian Chirici (above, holding award) with his family and Jenny Schnitzer (far left), USTA Eastern Executive Di- rector, Jonathan Klee (2nd from right) and Amber Marino (right), USTA Eastern President). LI Volunteer of the Year: Terri Arnold-McKenzie (below, hold- Boys’ 18's Sportsmanship ing plaque) with, from left, Amber Ma- Award: Pieter Wernink (below, rino, Jenny Schnitzer and Jonathan holding award) with, from left, John Klee. 10 and Under Tennis Klenner, immediate past president, Award: Jason Wass (below, right) USTA Eastern; guest speaker Jessica with Neil Thakur, USTA Eastern Ten- Long, swimmer and 23-time Paralym- nis Service Representative, Long Is- pic medalist , and Jenny Schnitzer. land. Corporate Service Award: Carefree Racquet Club (below): from left, Kathy Miller, Valerie Rifkin and Lori Jenis. Press Service Award: Brian Scholarship Awardee: Lina Coleman (below), editor of Long Is- Mohamed. land Tennis Magazine. On The Ball: News from Long Island Page 3 National Honor for Terry Fontana Terry Fontana of throughout Long Island for many programs on Hicksville will years, bringing tennis to children and Long Island receive the adults through several programs she and has re- USTA Seniors’ created and continues to operate. In ceived sever- Service Award at addition to founding the Matinecock al awards the 2019 USTA Racquet Club and the Hicksville Com- including Annual Meeting munity Tennis Association (the first USTA East- & Conference CTA on Long Island), and running ern Lifetime the weekend of March 25-26 in Austin, tournaments, she has been actively Achievement Texas. involved with the Long Island Region- Award (2014) and Volunteer of the al Council since 1989. She has chaired Year (1992) and USTA Long Island This award is presented annually by numerous committees and events in- Region Vitas Gerulaitis for the Love of the USTA Seniors’ Committee to the cluding Rally Day, Community Tennis Tennis Award (2013) and Hy Zausner person deemed most deserving of the Association, National Junior Tennis & Lifetime Achievement Award (2000). respect and honor of all seniors. It is Learning, Corporate Challenge and awarded based on willingness, cooper- Kids’ Days. She also has taught tennis Photos of Terry: ation and participation, either in play as an after-school program at local Top left, with tennis great Chanda Rubin at or organizational parochial schools. USTA LI Kids’ Day work, for the bet- terment and fur- In 1995, Fontana organized the Vitas Bottom: with Daniel Burgess, then-president, therance of senior Gerulaitis LI Championships, raising USTA Long Island, receiving the Vitas Gerulai- competition. Fon- over $13,000 in scholarships and tis for the Love of Tennis Award tana has been a $2,000 in contributions for deserving Top right, surrounded by her family at presen- tireless volunteer juniors. She has worked tirelessly to tation of USTA Eastern Lifetime Achievement in Hicksville and support and grow Junior Team Tennis Award Boys’ High School Season Starts The boys high school tennis season promises lots of great tennis action from day one (March 4th in Suffolk and March 18th in Nassau) through Individual Tournaments in both cpunties, the Long Island Team Championship and the New York State Tournament. New this year, the USTA LI Region Council will be supporting “No Cut Tennis” on the high school level by providing all members of no cut teams with blue wrist bands. USTA’s No Cut Tennis initiative encourages coaches and schools to allow all those interested to participate on tennis teams. According to the USTA, No Cut Tennis offers teenagers many benefits including allowing every child to have the opportunity to engage in healthy, lifelong ac- tivities in a safe and supportive environment with their peers. A no cut policy sends the message that developing kids, even the less talented and/or late bloomers, is important to the coach and school. All Nassau and Suffolk coaches who have a No Cut program are asked to contact Mike Pavlides, Massapequa HS Ten- nis Coach & USTA Long Island HS Representative, by e-mail at [email protected] and provide the following information: coach’s name and email address, school name and mailing address, and number of players on team. Each Varsity and Junior Varsity player will receive one wrist band. Teams are encouraged to wear their blue wristbands in April to show their support for Autism Awareness. Coaches are also asked to take a team pic- ture during the season of their players wearing the wristbands and email it to [email protected]; all photos re- ceived will be posted on the USTA Long Island web site and our social media. In addition, coaches are invited to share photos and stories of their teams that par- ticipate in community service projects dur- Commack HS, 2018 Suffolk Champs Nassau Singles Champs 2018 Nassau Doubles Champs 2018 ing the season. That information will be shared in the next issue of “On the Ball: News from LI.” Simply send material to us by clicking here. On The Ball: News from USTA Leagues Page 4 Captain of the Year Tri-Level Ladies Win Sec- tionals USTA Eastern honored Blasia Baum as Long Island League Captain of the Year. Recipients of this annual award, given to one captain in each Eastern Region, are nominated by the Long Island’s women's Tri Level team (three courts of players in each region. doubles, one at 4.5, one at 4.0 and one at 3.5) won their Eastern Sectional event in Westchester and will now ad- “Captaining a league team takes dedication,” said USTA vance to the National Championships at Indian Wells Ten- Leagues Senior Manager Lauren Bull. “Captains spend a lot nis Gardens (California) the weekend of March 14-17. The of their own time ironing out logistics so that all players can winning team, which plays out of Sportime Lynbrook, is have a great experience.