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SMASH for Cancer Tournament…A Gift of Love:

Northwood Racquet and Fitness Club held its 3rd Annual Smash for Cancer Tennis Tournament and Fundraiser the weekend of August 15-17th.  This three day event included tennis for all levels. The tournament raised $10,000 for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life Program.  The most memorable part of the event is a Luminary Ceremony.  Luminary Bags are placed around the courts and are lit at dusk.  The luminaries contain messages of hope for… memories of…or just names of… loved ones and friends. 

Each year the tournament is dedicated to a local tennis player who experienced the disease.  Honored this year was, Elaine Shook, wife of Dave Shook, Lehigh University’s tennis coach.  Elaine, an avid tennis player in the Lehigh Valley, lost her fight with cancer last November.  Dave participated in the tournament both as a player and in honor his late wife’s memory.

Northwood generously donated refreshments throughout the tournament, court time and memberships for the winners.  Staff, friends and local businesses donated raffle prizes as well.

Parkland Girls' Tennis Team coached by Paula Kaunitz…A Love of Volunteer Service to the Community:

For the third year in a row, the girls won the Lehigh Valley Conference.  Parkland won back to back Lehigh Valley League Championships as well as Lehigh Valley District X1 Team Districts and District X1 Doubles Districts, being seeded Number 7 and beating the Number 1 and 2 seeds.   Parkland's season ended with an 18-1 record.  Wonderful season!

However, the “winning spirit” of Coach Kaunitz and her team goes beyond the tennis court.  Throughout the year, Paula volunteers her time at many events and programs in EPD, including, this past year: Wheelchair Tennis, the City of Allentown Sports Day tennis at Fountain Park, the Lehigh Valley Kids Fest and the Country Meadows Adaptive Tennis Program, that she, along with Bruce Kisthardt, created and is now used in Country Meadows Retirement Communities in the Lehigh Valley and the Deutsch Institute in Scranton PA.  Paula also gets her team involved in these community activities!  The Parkland Girls' Tennis Team led the "Alzheimer's One-Hour Walk-A-Thon" this fall and helped raise money for the disease.

Kudos to Paula…an outstanding individual who gives so much to tennis and others in her community.

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Embrace Your Dreams…Love to the Youth in the Community:

Embrace Your Dreams (EYD) began 2008 with two new after school tennis programs.  One program, held at Clearview Elementary School in Bethlehem and run by EYD head tennis coach Matt Beal, introduced a group of first time tennis players to the game.  The second program, held at Dieruff High School in Allentown and coached by Katie Granson-Cassese, EYD board member and former Head Tennis Coach at Yale, involved some first-time tennis players as well as a number of former participants. 

In addition, the South Bethlehem Neighborhood Center benefited from their first tennis program this past summer under Embrace Your Dreams instruction.  

For the second year, Olympus America sponsored a trip to Arthur Ashe Kid's Day for twenty Embrace Your Dreams youth and five lucky chaperones!

Nearly a decade old, this non-profit organization in the Lehigh Valley whose mission is to impact the lives of young people of diverse backgrounds by providing life skills education as part of golf and tennis instruction continues to make an impact on the Lehigh Valley youth which they serve. Much of EYD funding comes from the generosity of Lehigh Valley private and corporate contributions as well as the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA). 

Good Shepherd’s Golf &Tennis Invitational-It’s All About the Children…Love to Special Needs Children:

Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, PA was the site for the Invitational which was held on September 8th.  The fundraiser event which received generous support from local businesses, organizations and individuals, raised more than $105,000 for the pediatric program which serves children struggling with autism, cerebral palsy, brain injury and other developmental problems.  The annual event helps provide care to the many families whose insurance doesn’t cover extended therapies. 

Tennis winners this year included: 1st place-Kevin Sprague (men) and Judith Harris (women); 2nd place-Kevin Wenck (men) and Annette Gray (women).

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2008 USTA Middle States Section Annual Tennis on Campus Championship:

The 5th Middle States Campus Championship was held at Lehigh University the weekend of October 25-26th. Twenty-one college teams from sixteen colleges throughout Middle States competed, including first-time entries Bloomsburg, Rowan and Bucknell.
For the second year in a row, Penn State University earned the title of champion with Rutgers University the 2008 runner-up. Both teams displayed a high level of play and the competition was top notch.  Each will receive an automatic bid for the "USTA 2009 Campus Championship". Drexel University upset Villanova University and came in third by defeating a University of Delaware A team which finished fourth.
 
This year, for the first time, a Silver and Bronze bracket was added to the competition. The Silver winner was Rutgers University B team and the Bronze winner was Lehigh University B team.

Based on a vote by their fellow teams, the Sportsmanship Award was presented to Shippensburg University.
 
Bruce Kisthardt, EPD Tennis Service Representative, organized the event.  He expressed his thanks to all who contributed to the successful championship.  He especially thanked Justin DePietropaolo, former Penn State Tennis Club President, student player and captain, volunteer college committee chair and current Tennis Service Representative, who has been fully involved each year with the Middle States Campus Tennis program; Elaine Wingfield who has contributed to the Middle States campus championship success for the past five years; all the Eastern PA District volunteers; Lehigh University, specifically Lehigh Tennis Coach Dave Shook and professor Neti who obtained use of the University's courts for the event; and  Steve Dansky of Winning Touch Tennis Lehigh Valley and Don Potts and Kathy Carbone of Northwood Racquet and Fitness Club for coming to the rescue on short notice when rain on Saturday presented a challenge and forced indoor play.

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70’s Inter-districts:

EPD hosted the Women’s 70’s Inter-District competition this year.  It was held at Saucon Valley Country Club August 19th – 21st.  Central Penn District won the event.  Although EPD did not come out the victor, both the weather and the tennis were great, according to Sally Evans, event coordinator.

Growth of Tennis at Split Rock Lodge:

Many tennis events enhanced the summer at Split Rock including the Keystone Kickoff, the Split Rock Summer Classic and The Pocono Open, all-in-all producing over 141 entrants.

Another state flag will be added to the eleven already on display at Split Rock due to Will Piekarsky's (Indianapolis, IN) participation in the 2008 Keystone Kickoff.             
 Christine Bergey (Kingston, PA) won her 4th and 5th titles this year in the Girl's 14's and 16's. A participant since the inaugural event in 2005, she has won a singles event every year. Congrats, Christine!
 
The Split Rock Summer Classic followed the first Classic Tennis Camp and included fourteen campers in the draws.  Of the seven events held, Classic Tennis Camp attendees captured five titles. The group did a nice job of motivating and respecting each other throughout the week.

 The 4th Pocono Open, a USTA prize money event, was held the weekend of August 15-17th.  It was a slam dunk with Middle States Men's #1 ranked and first seeded Clint Boling from Bethlehem, PA defending his 2007 title over #3 ranked and second seed Maksim Tikhomirov of Philadelphia, PA. To add to that pedigree, the event saw players arrive from as far away as Martha's Vineyard (MA), Ontario, Canada and South Carolina. Boling himself flew in from Paris two days prior to the opening rounds after spending part of his summer playing Club Tennis in Europe.

Each year he Pocono Open selects a participant to receive the Dr. Charles Wolbers Sportsmanship Award for excellence in composure and performance.  The 2008 recipient was quarter-finalist Michael McGrath from Media, PA.

George Wolbers, Head Pro at Split Rock Resort in Lake Harmony, PA, gives      
special thanks to sponsors Split Rock Resort, Vacation Charters, DFC and Associates, Jim Thorpe Area High School, East Stroudsburg University and the Healthful Corporation.

Tennis Accomplishments:

Tommy Meyers, who won six Gold Medals this year (never accomplished before) and the 2008 Tennis Outstanding Athlete Award at the Keystone State Games (KSG), has been nominated for the 2008 KSG Kelly Cup Award.  The Kelly Cup is the highest annual honor awarded to a KSG Athlete.  No Tennis Player has ever won this award. 

Art Smith was recently recognized by the professional registry of teaching pros for 30 years of distinguished service. Art, a USPTA tennis professional, high school coach and formerly ranked Middle States tennis player also made his mark playing at the collegiate level while at Moravian College.

Alan Heverly Lehigh Valley tennis pro, player, and coach, was inducted into the 2008 Moravian College Athletic Hall of Fame on October 17th.  Alan, who graduated from Moravian in 1996, was a two-year member of the men’s tennis team.  He had a 21-8 career singles record after transferring from Bucks County (PA) Community College, where he made two appearances in the National Junior College Athletic Association Tournament.  As a senior, he helped the Moravian Greyhounds win the MAC Commonwealth League title as the team won a school record 13 matches with a 13-3 record.  Also in 1996, he earned a spot on the GTE Academic All-America First Team while earning spots on the MAC All-Academic Team in each of his two seasons.  Alan served as the team captain and was selected as the team’s most valuable player.  In addition, he received the Moravian College Blue & Grey Senior Male Scholar-Athlete Award.  Alan, who works for Via of the Lehigh Valley, lives in Bethlehem, PA, with his wife Karen.

Congratulations to all of these members of the EPD tennis community for their accomplishments!