Pork Chops remain unbeaten; showdown for 1st place 3/8/09

On Friday, February 20^th, PCA faced off against a solid lineup from Lakeside captained by Jeanne Fields.  Lakeside has some nice players on their roster and they brought their best to play us.  At #1 Janet Lippincott (of Harambees Heroes fame) and Jonathan Burke faced off against Celes Panicelli and Tony Sciscione.  We didn’t win this one and our court 1 opponents have not lost this year.  Tough match.

At #2 doubles, we had some serious protection for preserving our win.  Chow and Hammer protection is what I’m talking about.  Coming off of their first round Kings & Queens tournament victory in straight sets, Kathy Joy Hammer and Dave Chow won 3&1 vs. Jane Bulman and Jeff Carroll.  This was an exciting match to watch as we played aggressively, closed the net and dictated the tempo of the match.  This was a nice win against a good opponent. Afterwards I heard Dave singing while listening to his iPod in the locker room, something about his many aces that night – “This is a serve you just can’t touch,  can’t touch this,  can’t touch this,  my my my,   your return is a sitter??    Hammer Time!

At 3^rd doubles, Margie Hamilton and Victor Munoz played very well against Jeanne Fields and newcomer Jason Fingerman.  Jason self rated a few days prior to the match and published at 5.0 so we were a little concerned having a very strong player on court 3 – especially with what we knew would be a rough court 1.  But alas, Margie and Victor played great and won 6 & 2.  It was nice to see Victor on the court because he has a busy work schedule and has overcome some nagging injuries.  Come to think about it – that might be a good new team name, “Nagging injuries” or “The Nags.”  This thought should resonate with any of you who regularly read my musings – if you do you certainly know that I am “team name” challenged. 

Ok, on to the competitive landscape for 8.0 MXD in PATD.  The top 2 in the standings are the TA Pirates and us.  The next match is a showdown Sunday, March 8^th at 6:30pm at Tennis Addiction for essentially an automatic berth in the playoffs come April.  Tickets are available at Ticket Master and StubHub.  The Pirates will start Anthony Dececco and Brian Zansitis against us as they are the best 4.0 guy in PATD and 4.5 guy in PATD respectively.  They are really 4.5 and 5.0 but I’m not going to complain about it (especially since they are both on my 9.0 team) – I’m just going to figure out a way to beat them. 

 The other beast in the flight is our nemesis, TST, a.k.a. The Springton Team.  TST lost 0-3 to the Krushers earlier in the season and dropped a tough match 2-1 to the Pirates last Saturday.  2 losses is not the end for them but the rotund woman is warming up.   For the record, this is a super team and it just goes to show you how competitive things have gotten in our little corner of the world. 

The good news is that the Kinetix Second String knocked off the Kinetix Krushers in the upset of the season to date.  This puts the Krushers a game back fighting for a playoff berth and they have still yet to play the top two teams in the flight.  This was a stunning upset.  Well done to their captain Liz Eukers! 

Now on to the fun stuff, the Kings & Queens tournament.  The first round matches are underway.  In impressive fashion, KJ & Dave defeated Veronica Loch and Chris Kyper.  This was the lower seed advancing and not surprising because we all anticipated a slew of upsets because the teams are so evenly matched.  On Friday, 3/6 at 6pm two awesome parings face of at TA, Irene Acosta/Tom Ramsay play Cindy Basile/Chris Flouris.  The winner of this war should at least make the semi finals.  Most of the first round matches are scheduled at this point.  Thank you everyone for being so proactive scheduling your matches.  It’s hard to find convenient times and available courts to get these matches played.  

 That’s it for today – we have TST & the Krushers coming up after the Pirates but first things first.  Just one note, yours truly has been playing in CPD this year.  That is a competitive group out there.  Virtually every team is competitive and it’s solid tennis.  I am very impressed with the District, good people and good fun.  This is definitely  a sport that is growing. 

Pork Chops improve to 3-0

There’s a grumble in my humble stead.  I think someone is headed for a tumble.  Be assured it’s not us that will stumble but rather our foes that will mumble after playing us.  What’s changed you ask form this prognosticator of tennis?  Hmmm, everything has changed hasn’t it?  Bottom line, we’re ready to rumble and we are taking no prisoners.   Our team looked like it would crumble after we had to break up last year and we kind of fumbled and bumbled our way through the first half of the season.  But, as any 8 year old Rudolph fan will tell you – Bumble’s bounce!

The Chops upped our record to 3-0 with a victory over Kinetix 1 on Friday, January 30th.  Lynn Dickson & Tony Sciscione overwhelmed their opponents at first doubles 0&1.   At #2 doubles, Al Goodrich, a.k.a. the nicest man in USTA tennis, and Anne Maxwell showed what it means to be savvy veterans.  They won 4&4 over our doubles team of Beth Lelii and Mike Weidinger.  This was a chess match and we needed a few more bounces to go our way to win this court.  No shame – just a good performance from our opponents.

At #3 doubles, Veronica Loch & Chris Kyper won 1&2 over Antonia Tripp & Ravi Pillutla.  Veronica raises her lifetime Komet/Pork Chops record to 4-1 after last notching a victory in 2006.  Veronica played on a different mixed team for the last 2 years so welcome back V.  Chris Kyper has been playing in Central PA (CPD) and recently moved back to the area.  He and Veronica have paired up to make a nice team.

Next up for us is Lakeside.  They are 1-3 on the season but they have some solid players so as usual we’ll have to play a strong lineup to get past this team. 

It’s tournament time (and thank you Canh for the reminder.)  We are running the 2nd annual Kings & Queens tournament.  This was awesome last year and it was won by Amanda Leigh Player Hall and Canh Ho.  We’ll seed every individual team on our team and play it out.  I expect we will have 12 teams so it will take 3 wins just to get to the finals.  We will wrap this up right before Districts.  Last year the inter-team competition was brutal and I’m certain that it will be again.  Good luck!

We have four matches remaining after Lakeside: Pirates, Krushers, TST & Rally Cats.  It should be an exciting finish as only the top two teams advance to Districts.

Pock chops win 3-0

I write this on the happy side of the knowledge that “all things are possible.”  When the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2006 I felt that there were no dominant teams that year, that the Steelers were on a roll and that they got a lot of turnovers and breaks that went their way.  The bottom line is that the Steelers were world champions in 2006 – enough said.

The Eagles on the other hand seem to be able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  They never seem to get their mojo going for a sustained period and in recent years when they were at their best they still didn’t impress people as the best team in the NFL – only a real good team with something to prove. This year at 5-5-1 coming off of a loss to Baltimore and a tie to Cincinnati it didn’t look too promising for them. And then the Eagles beat the Giants on Sunday…

The moral of the story is that this axiom applies to tennis too.  After a successful season we find ourselves rebuilding and facing the toughest competition I can ever remember.  We won the championships of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware in 2008 and this year we might not be the best team at our own tennis facility.

The Pirates, Krushers and TST are probably all better squads than us simply because they didn’t have to disband like we had to and they have all made key additions to their rosters (including picking up our players).  It makes me humble and concerns me that we have an extremely difficult path just to get to Districts with no expectations of getting any further.  To put this in perspective, this is our 5^th year and we’ve never not made districts and traditionally success was measured solely by our performance at Districts.

It’s all good fortunately and I have to remember that it’s just tennis and it’s supposed to be fun.  I like the idea of being the underdog and having an opportunity to over-perform in our matches. I don’t like the idea of relaxing in my easy chair watching Districts.

We played the Boomers Saturday night at Tennis Addiction.  We won all 3 courts in straight sets.  At #1 dubs Chris Pesta and Canh Ho played Tom Mead and Barb Heck.  This was the closest 6&3 win I have ever witnessed.  It was 2 hours long and the tiebreaker in the first set was 13-11.  Canh was in the hospital all afternoon with his 2 year old niece who was running a 107 degree fever (she’s doing better now).  Canh barely made it to the match and I’m sure it was hard for him to focus on tennis.  Chris Pesta on the other hand hadn’t played a USTA mixed match in years and it’s not easy being thrown into the fire at #1 dubs facing solid opponents.  Well done – way to battle.

At #2 doubles, Lynn Dickson teamed with her new partner Tony Sciscione.  Tony is a rapidly improving player (our favorite type) and we weren’t sure how’d he’d play with Lynn after just one practice with her.  In his first USTA Mixed match ever he faced Ruth Portonovo (a very top of level 4.0) and Gary McGeehan.  Ruth & Gary were 2-0 on the season coming in to the match and they recently notched a sweet 6&1 victory against the Pirates who are possibly the best team in our flight now.  Lynn & Tony won 4&1 and played very well together.  Welcome Tony and a great win for the duo.

At #3 dubs yours truly partnered with newcomer Irene Acosta.  Irene recently moved to the area and has fast made inroads with the tennis community.  She’s already played six matches this year because she plays for a team in Delaware and she will play a lot more for us too including some 9.0 matches.  We played Engram Lloyd and Debbie Pincar and won 1&2.  Great start Irene and here’s your official welcome!

Up next is Kinetix 1 on January 30^th.  We are now 2-0 on the season but we have 3 big obstacles in our path to overcome (TST, Krushers & Pirates) if we are to finish in the top 2.  If we keep our heads down and keep fighting then who knows, this just might be our year after all.

New Sheriff in town

There’s a new sheriff in town, ya hear?  And the name is not Reggie Hammond.  The schedule is out for 8.0 and the league has changed dramatically since last year.  The Komet lost four regular season matches in the last four years, lets call these the “W” years.  Three of those losses were to TST and one was to the Healthplex.

TST in the same term lost 6 matches, three to the Komet and one each to Frog Hollow, Upper Dublin and Springton.   Needless to say, in the W years it was the Komet vs. TST (except one year – Komet vs. Pennsbury) competing on Sunday at Districts with the winner advancing to Sectionals.

We have a new sheriff in town, and that Sheriff is the Kinetix Krushers captained by Elizabeth Tassone.  The Krushers downed TST last weekend 3-0 in straight sets! *yawn*  In addition to the Krushers (I kinda like “C” team names taking on the Kinetix “K”) there is the Tennis Addiction Pirates led by Ron Siggs who have been steadily improving and will challenge for one of the two playoff berths from our flight.

So who will it be this year?  Perennial contender and 2 time sectional making TST, the Krushers, the Pirates or that new team, what was their name – kinda hokey name – that’s the ticket – Pork chops and Applesauce. The winners should come from this group and that excludes the Boomers who with 2 wins already are already in first place in the flight!

Here is our schedule for the 2009 season:

11/7/2008 Kinetix Second String Won 2-1

11/22/2008 8Pirates  Need to reschedule

1/10/2009 Boomers 2

1/30/2009 Kinetix I

2/21/2009 Lakeside

3/14/2009 TST

3/20/2009 Kinetix Krushers

4/4/2009 Rally cats

I am disappointed that we only get 8 matches.  It’s not easy to coordinate with the local clubs but since Delaware 8.0 has 16 matches, Central PA 8.0 has 13 matches and in the last four years we’ve never had less than 11 matches – 8 is a step in the wrong direction.  But, it’s only tennis and that’s one area of my life where I refuse to get upset about anything. You  can go silly worrying about the affairs of tennis.

Another source of wonderment are the number of ex-Kometeers assuming key roles in our opponents lineups.  It’s bitter sweet to me.  Clearly we love our players but don’t lose too easily to us when the Pork chops come to visit (wink wink).   It’s just a new world out there and there are some solid lineups that we’ll have to get by if we want to advance to even the first round of the playoffs.  Let the fun begin.

Komet competitive at Nationals

Front row: Canh Ho, Karen Loomis, Lynn Dickson, Amanda Leigh Hall, Jackie Shaw and Eric Markowitz. Back row: Russell Chamberlin, Sergei Kolpakov, Ron Rubenstein and Sue McNabb.

The Komet finished 1-2 at Nationals in a three-way tie for 2nd place in our flight.  We played, in order, Mid-Atlantic (Virginia Beach, VA), Eastern (Stamford, CT) and Caribbean (Puerto Rico).  The Komet went 4-5 in individual matches. 

We had a lot of fun.  We expected fierce competition but discovered that our opponents were just like us and basically at the same level in tennis.  I think that if they played the tournament 10 times; there would be six different winners.  The reason why is because with so much parity, a lot comes down to individual matchups.  If we played Eastern first and then Mid-Atlantic instead of the other way around we would had Sue/Sergei on a 4.5 guy/3.5 girl combination instead of the opposite.  At 8.0, 4.5 men typically like to bang away and more from the baseline which is a good strategy for us if you are playing Sergei because he loves the pace.  Sergei’s partner Sue McNabb is very effective as well in these types of matchups and they have defeated every 4.5 man/3.5 woman they have faced previously.

 In our 2^nd match vs. Eastern (Stamford, CT) Amanda Leigh Hall and Canh Ho dropped a tough first set tie-breaker but were firmly in control of the 2^nd set up 5-2 with Amanda serving when disaster struck.  Canh rolled his ankle which immediately looked like he stuck a golf ball in his sock.  In an inspirational display of heart and grit, we won the next game but Canh simply could not walk and his opponents went right after him and won the match tie-breaker 10-4 .  This was the deciding match as Lynn Dickson and Ron Rubenstein had earned another hard fought victory at #1 Dubs.  Canh is out 6 weeks now after seeing his doctor when he got home.

 

The combination of a 3.5 guy /4.5 woman was what was most prevalent at Nationals.  An aggressive, poachy 3.5 guy and a rock solid 4.5 woman backing him up was the recipe for success in 2008.  We saw some 4.0/4.0 but primarily it was the 3.5 guy/4.5 woman combo and only one 4.5 guy/3.5 woman combo.  The team that advanced in our flight was three pairs of 3.5 men/4.5 women.

We were practicing between matches at a nearby facility called RDV.  It’s where the Orlando Magic practices.  Inside the huge complex they have a display with the outlines of the Magic player’s hands on basketballs and another display on the ground with the sneakers that they wear.  I wear XL gloves but my hands were about half the size of the silhouette on the balls and my size 10.5’s fit easily inside Tony Battie’s size 18 shoes. Shesse!

OK, back to practice.  After an intense few sets in the sunny 70 degree weather, Sergei grabbed a cold six pack of purple Gatorades that was near our court and brought them to his court.  Eric and Canh jumped at the opportunity to have some refreshment and said, “Oh man, can we have one?”  Sergei said, of course – their Ron’s!

I really don’t want to go here but I will slightly.  In my opinion there was one 3.5 rated guy who was a legitimate 4.5.  He was the only one stood out to me as way over level but I wasn’t going to complain. After all, our 3.5 guy is no 3.5 but that is because he has worked extremely hard to improve and it really shows.  In the final match, this player in question hit 3 winners in a row: backhand return of serve, big top spin forehand down the line and then a cross court groundie with so much pace and angle his opponents couldn’t react in time.  After the match I witnessed a heated exchange between the opposing teams captain and a USTA official.  Despite winning the match, the team captain was very upset about the guy’s level.  Bottom line, you don’t get to Nationals by not being over level or very close to it.

was one of the highlights of the trip.  We went with some of the Kinetix 9.0 team who finished with about the same fate as us.  Our party of 11 waited an hour and a half on a Saturday night and we were seated in the kitchen at the captain’s table.  It was great.  I felt like Henry Hill in Goodfellas sitting next to Simmonetti the Wop, Wasyl No Nose, Sergei the Killer and Tania Two Times who told Markowitz to “Get the Bill, Get the Bill.”

I played in the Caribbean match and was fortunate to come out on top thanks to the superb play of my partner Karen Loomis.  When we came off the court so fast Sergei told me his first thought was “wow, they must have got killed!”  Not so fast rabbit…

At #1 dubs in the Caribbean match, Jackie Shaw fresh off surgery on her other knee partnered with Eric Markowitz against a formidable team.  After losing the first set 2-6, Jackie and Eric fought hard and once again raised their level and took the 2nd set 7-5.  We ended up losing the court in a close tiebreaker but thanks to Sue & Sergei winning their own match tiebreaker, we won the team match.  Whew!

It’s customary for the teams to bring a small gift for their opponents.  Kudos to Amanda Leigh Player Hall Smith Jones Johnson for coming up with the team gifts of Giant size Hershey bars.  I was thinking Tasty Kakes but thought that athletes (I use the term loosely) wouldn’t each such unhealthy food but considering how well the chocolate was received by our opponents I’m sure that was a faulty assumption.  We got Salt water taffy from Virginia Beach and chocolate from Puerto Rico.

All is well that ends well.  To every Komet-eer, thank you for four years of grand memories.  We fought hard and prepared well.  Please come back in 2010 as we are going to put the band back together if you will.  As I told our team, excellence is not doing 1 thing 100% better but rather doing 100 things 1% better.  We have every reason to be proud of our efforts.  Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us. -  Sir Thomas Brown 

Luke, Canh, Sergei, Amanda, Russell, Jackie, Sue, Eric and Ron

 

 

The Komet, my 2008 Mixed Doubles team is headed to Orlando, FL to play Nationals 11/21/08 – 11/23/08.   Wish us luck!! 

Since we advanced to Nationals we can have no more than 3 of us on any one roster for 2009.  The Komet is 4 years old with a regular season record of 44-4 and a post season record of 14-4.   Lets see if we can make some more waves and finish what we have worked so hard to accomplish. 

Below is the first update for my new 2009 8.0 Mixed Doubles team – Pork chops and Applesauce.  Returning from the Komet is Lynn Dickson, Canh Ho and myself.  We’ve added some great new talent and merged with Springton – my new co-captain is Vlad Grodecki.  Our first match was 11/7/08 vs. Kinetix 2nd String.

 

Big Points, Long match

All’s well that ends well right?  We had a marathon 2h 45m match with Kinetix 2^nd String on Friday, 11/7.  There was another USTA match being played and they finished all 3 courts before any of our courts came off.  I started Kinetix 2^nd String (originally called K2) 3 years ago.  There was a shot in the first year for this team to make Districts and they are good again this year – clearly the best they have ever been which is nice to see – but that doesn’t mean I want to lose to them.  Bill Eyre ran the team last year and now Liz Eukers is running the show.

At 1^st Doubles, original Komet-eer Canh Ho teemed with Margie Hamilton vs. Anne Dejdar and Dilip Rajagopalan.  Dilip is 6’4” and stands 8” from the net and hits angled drop shots and aggressive forehands.  We were up 4-1 in the first set but only managed to win the set in a tie breaker.  We lost the 2^nd set 3-6 and started the 3^rd set just after 10pm.

In the interim, new comers Kathy Joy Hammer and Kevin Pattinson faced Ed Daou and Liz Eukers.  We lost 6&3 despite having set points in the first set.   Liz and Ed are nice players so this was a difficult court to win.

At 3^rd doubles, Chris March came in looking like he recently got run over by a truck.  Chris got 9 stitches and a nice shiner when he attempted a top spin shot on Tuesday and clocked himself with his racket in his right eye.  At least that’s the story he went with…  On to business, despite squandering a 5-2 first set lead and numerous set points Cindy and Chris did manage to pull out the first set in a tiebreaker.  I wasn’t very close to the court but I thought I heard Cindy saying something about Chris’s left eye if they didn’t come through but I may have been mistaken.  We won the 2nd set 6-3 for an excellent start with our new team.  Great job.

And back to 1^st dubs, what a war.  Canh was playing well and our opponents were focusing on Margie.  It was on serve until Margie got broke to make it 4-5 with Anne serving for the match.  Anne won her first 2 service games of the set at love and the first two points of this game.  (This was the point that I was officially pissed – or feeling that I am not entitled to win and that we are going to lose.)   We won the next two points but faced two match out points in a gut wrenching sequence of shots.  But alas, we pulled out the break of serve and then won the tiebreaker 7-1.  Great job Margie and Canh – way to persevere.  We start the season 1-0.

Our next match is 11/21 which will be postponed because we have multiple team members traveling to Florida for 2008 Mixed Nationals (prayers welcome).   We have a bye 12/6 and that’s the schedule until 2009.

Great start team!!!

C&H Varsity Squad wraps up the season 4-6

We had an interesting year.  Canh and I started the team to get more exposure at 4.5 and between us and we wound up playing 3 matches.  Limited playing time seemed to be a central theme this year as this team is so talented, just not available much on Saturday mornings.

Standouts for the season are as follows.  Steve Beers and Dave Bozentka both went 4-0 on the season for the top individual, undefeated record.  The most exciting doubles duo that emerged is Scott Falatek and Travis Eldridge who did not lose and faced solid competition.  The Cal Ripken awards goes to Kenny Koay who played all nine matches. 

All in all, there are some better teams in the league this year than us like Fort Washington and the Bucks Broncs.  We could have finished in the top 4 and qualified for districts but realistically we weren’t getting past the top two.  Key goals for next year are limo service for Othman, Ed meeting Vince again, lots more of Scott/Travis and Dr. Dave finding his rightful role in the starting lineup.

Despite Todd’s repeated requests to “Ice the Scrubs” we never found ourselves in a position to turn anyone down who wanted to play on a given week.  I did actually tell Tucker before the second to last match that we had 8 already when he responded late in the week that he could play – wow – that really felt good in that I was actually “managing the lineups.”  Thanks Tucker for making my season J

We are a competitive group and I see great improvements ahead for us – maybe even with a team name.  If married life for Canh means that he takes a year off then we certainly need to adjust.  Please make any suggestions for next year by leaving a comment. 

The year end picnic hosted by Pete Blok was terrific – thank you Pete (and Amy)!  Last year the stars aligned and the Blokheads made Sectionals and there is no reason to think we can’t get back there again. 

Ho My!

Ho My! as Dick Enberg says, what a season.  We finished 9-1 but we did not advance to Districts.  We won our last match of the year 4-1 over a very decent UMLY Aces team on Saturday which demonstrates that there isn’t much of a gap between the last place team and the top teams.  In the end we had a terrific team capable of doing well at the next level but there are many reasons why we should still feel good about our effort.  It has been memorable tennis season replete with excitement and challenges.

Here are my 5 keys to playing better tennis.  The “golden nuggets” if you will of great tennis and the road map for success.  Before I give away the treasure, I’ll preface my remarks that everything makes sense for players attempting to win it all if you are an improving player.  If you practice, prioritize learning the game, read, take lessons and simply mimic to the best of your ability what you see on TV you will get better.  With progress there are typically goals.  With goals there is often attainment of those goals and at the least, the opportunity to analyze the effort and adjust the strategy. 

Before I explain the Chamber-Magic I acknowledge that there are the obstacles.  There can be many reasons why we sometimes under achieve.  They are family commitments, work obligations, social calendars and your health.   Any or all of these areas may hinder your ability to adequately prepare for the challenge of USTA tennis but the good news is that virtually everyone faces the same issues.

Another critical area is team chemistry.  The teams that practice together, have fun together are the ones that often do well.  It is a common thread.  In fact all of the top teams like the Bucks Broncs, Logan, T.A. Pirates and Great Valley are comprised of friends with good work ethics and who play the game of tennis is such a way that it attracts others who want to participate so they can join in the fun.

Lets go though our final match.  At #1 singles, Chris Kyper played Matt Forester.  Chris played every match this season not because he was scheduled to play every match but because he was ready to fill in when needed and was a consistent performer.  Chris dropped this match to Matt who is a talented player.  Chris had multiple match points in the match tiebreaker but it wasn’t to be – a good match all the way around.

On #2 singles, Mitch Reading dismantled his opponent in straight sets.  Mitch is a rapidly improving player and his future will be bright.

At #1 dubs,  Eric Markowitz & Ron Rubenstein played a rematch against Bill Eyre and Ed Daou.  They won this match up the first time in 3 sets and did so again after dropping the first set.  This match was a good example of why it’s imperative to be aggressive and get to net because anything less is just not good enough with the parity in this league.

#2 Dubs was Tom “Killer” Faith and myself.  Killer was in rare form and it was a pleasure to play with him.  Our opponents remarked about his 4.5 serve after the match which is a common response. We won in straight sets after a very competitive first set.  For the sake of humanity I will not show Killer’s mug but instead will show his lovely and most dedicated fan.

#3 Dubs was a nice win by Bill Carpenter and Joey Zaza 3&4.  I didn’t see too much of the match but it was nice to round out the victory with a solid 4-1 performance.

 

So here they are – my own personal five, must have resources, to thrive and mostly survive in USTA tennis:

1)      Dr.  Kevin Lutsky, MD – Hand Surgeon

2)      Dr.  Jason Miller, D.P.M – Foot Surgeon

3)      Dr. David Bozentka, MD – Chief, Orthopaedic Surgery

4)      Dr. Ron Rubenstein, MD, PhD – all around medical advice

5)      Wasyl Manko – Teaching Professional Extraordinaire

I have leveraged the skills of each of these terrific individuals and with luck and some divine healing I may be ready come Mixed season to give it another go.

On a personal note, I was recently asked in an interview, “what would you do if you didn’t have to work for the next 10 years?” with the caveat that I’d be paid handsomely during this period.  I have thought about it for a few weeks and my answer is this.  I’d provide a service.  Since tennis is my passion I’d continue working for the USTA in my volunteer position and doing the things I do for my USTA teams.  It’s a towel here, a can of balls there, a bottle of water for a thirsty teammate and a re-gripping of racket about every 10 seconds (Tennis Warehouse sends me new overgrips for free just to get my opinion since I’m such a good customer).   I answer many rules questions from the players in the flights I coordinate for the USTA and despite the grief and frustration I get occasionally, I enjoy it.  I think if we grow the game by being a role model it serves a greater good.  I am not so myopic that I think that providing a service in tennis circles is the big picture but it is a good example of what one might accomplish if they promote something in such a way that others see it as a rewarding opportunity for in individual who believes in fair play and good fun.  Anyone who decides to contribute their precious time and energies with team spirit and passion is a shining example of the benefits that you can reap from tennis.

That’s it for C&H for 2008.   I look forward to next year when we will attempt to make it to Nationals and continue the solid play and sportsmanship we’ve had for 7 great years. Stay tuned for the 4.5 recap coming in the next day or so and from your cappie and co-cappie remember you puny and pathetic weaklings, we are here to PUMP YOU UP!

Find a Cure for Cystic Fibrosis

This is an important contribution and message from one of our teammates, Ron Rubenstein, MD, PhD.

Many of you know me as a degenerate tennis bum, but may not know about my day job as Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  (Okay, those of you who have seen me play tennis probably think it is a really good thing that I have a day job. Alternately, if you only know me as Dr. Ron, you probably think that I should concentrate more on my tennis!)  In either case, I am writing to ask you to support both of these passions.
 
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) affects about one of every three thousand babies born in the United States and is the most common genetic disease in Caucasians. Currently, there are about 30,000 people living with CF in the US. People with CF have a defective gene that leads to the production of very sticky mucus.  This sticky mucus can clog the lungs, and cause chronic respiratory infections and progressive lung disease. It can also clog the pancreas, preventing a person’s natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.
 
Approximately 50 years ago, a group of concerned parents got together and formed the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) with a mission to “assure the development of the means to cure and control cystic fibrosis and to improve the quality of life for those with the disease.”  At that time, few children with cystic fibrosis lived to attend elementary school. Today, with the support of the Foundation, advances in research and medical treatments have extended the median life expectancy for people with CF to over 37 years. Miraculously, over 40% of the people currently living with CF are adults!
 
This remarkable progress has been fostered by the CF Foundation, which significantly funds basic and clinical research aimed at developing and improving treatments for CF. It also funds and accredits more than 115 CF care centers, 95 adult care programs, and 50 affiliate care programs. The Foundation has been noted by a number of prominent publications (including USA Today and Forbes) for its innovative model of supporting collaborative CF research in both industry and academia.  It is also one of the most efficient organizations of its kind with over 90 percent of every dollar of revenue raised available to fund cystic fibrosis research, care and education programs. In fact, Charity Navigator, the country’s largest independent evaluator of charities, has given the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation its coveted four-star rating for sound fiscal management.
 
So why am I telling you all of this? Each year, the Delaware Valley Chapter of the CFF sponsors “Game, Set, Cure,” a tennis auction ball and pro-am tournament that raises money for CF research and care.  I had the privilege of playing in last year’s event (which raised over $125,000.)  To support my entry into the pro-am this year (and my aforementioned tennis habit), I am asking for your help in the form of a contribution. Making a donation is easy and secure!  Either go to http://www.cff.org/LWC/RonRubenstein
or send a check (made payable to “The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation”) to: Delaware Valley Chapter, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 2004 Sproul Rd., Suite 208, Broomall, PA 19008.
 
Any amount you can donate is greatly appreciated. (Of course, the more “zero’s” at the end of amount, the better!)
Thank you for supporting CF and for helping me out.

Ron Rubenstein, MD, PhD
Director, Cystic Fibrosis Center
Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Cystic Fibrosis Center
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

C&H win twice this weekend but may not advance

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.  It was the time of second guessing our lineups and we came up short.  We needed to sweep all of our individual matches this weekend to make up the difference with first place Great Valley.  GV is ahead of us in individual courts by 3 now.

Our team won this weekend 3-2 over the Drunken Fools on Saturday and it was Chambermaids & Ho’s 4 – the Scottish Highlanders 1 on Sunday. Two of our wins at singles were in straight sets by Jesse Brown.

Never have I been so depressed with our team having won twice in a weekend – we now find ourselves on the brink of elimination from the opportunity to go to Districts unless the Drunken Fools can defeat Great Valley next week.  A manly bunch those Drunken Fools – Adonis’s if you will.  Men among men – champions at heart and recent Local league champions too – How I admire their skills…  Our coaches, nutritionists and chauffeurs will be in touch this week to help out any way possible.  Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more…

Back to my lineup decisions.  Saturday against the Drunken Fools we put together our best pair (Canh Ho and Tom McAvoy) at #1 dubs in the hopes of taking down the #1 team of our opponents – Andreas Schuschke and Joe Dixon.  The problem was that Andreas and Joe played #2 on Saturday.  At #2  we had Eric Markowitz and Tom Faith.  Anyone who has ever heard of our team knows of them.  They were 12-1 lifetime in the regular season coming into this match and they have a winning post season record.  Reunited for the first time this year they were up 6-2, 5-4 against what I consider the best 4.0 duo in the PATD this year (Andreas and Joe) before succumbing in 3 sets.  It was a valiant effort.  No shame guys – one heck of a fight.

The other court we dropped was a great effort by Shawn Minnier who is a rapidly improving player who avenged his only loss of the season to Chris Kyper.  This was a three and a half hour battle with many long points but also aggressive play full of clean winners.  Clearly we would like to have won this court but again you just have to tip your hat to your opponent sometimes and say great tennis.

Eric Markowitz (a.k.a. Uncle Ian) has produced outstanding results this year as always and Tom Faith has more natural talent than any partner I’ve had the privilege to play with.  The lineup mistake I made was on Sunday against Tennis Addiction by playing myself with Tom at #1 instead of playing Tom with Eric.  Tom and I won a tournament this year but our success in USTA matches has been limited.  My bad for separating the traditional pairing and it says a lot for the parity and level of play in our flight.  Our opponents, the Athens of the Tennis Addiction outplayed us plain and simple to a 6-4 victory in the 3rd set.  Pure dead brilliant play from Neil Hebenton and John Lonsdale who watched us go Doolally.

Let me digress for a moment.  I have been impressed with many players over the years.  Pete Blok, Ed Hughes/Vince Campisciano, and Melinda Lee to name a few.  All of these players have had much success at 4.0, moved up and have has the same success at the next level.  Genius me, I figured I’d add my name to the list. I really want to be a great player but I seem to have forgotten one piece of the puzzle.  Now what could that be?  Hmmm, let me think, not sure, ahhh, hmmmm, talent – yeah that’s the ticket, talent.  I lack talent.  I would like to say I got the girl, wrote the novel, and won the match but this Casey struck out.
 
So what is the moral of the story?  Keep our heads up?  Enjoy the journey as that is the real reward?  If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.  Enjoy your achievements, your goals and your friends.  I am so proud of this team and Districts or not, nothing can take away the fond memories of our 8-1 season.  Lets just hope it’s not over next week.