Where Else Was Home for Family Circle Cup?

Other than Hilton Head Island, where else was the Family Circle Cup held?

Five Reasons to go to the Family Circle Cup

We aren't going to provide press coverage for the Family Circle Cup (beginning April 4) this year or have prize drawings and handouts, but we are going the last few days, hopefully to simply relax and enjoy some great tennis.

Perhaps, we may provide a few blog posts or a few tweets while we're there.

Here a few reasons you should go to this WTA tournament if you can:




1. Family Circle Tennis Center is a wonderful facility. No, it's not Billy Jean King National Tennis Center. It's homier and there is usually plenty to enjoy, see or do while matches aren't underway. The event and facility staffs are fantastic and helpful. There are a vast number of national and local vendors there, tennis-related and otherwise. Also, because this is not a monster of a stadium, even the highest seats are good seats.

2. Daniel Island is a beautiful community and you don't have to go far for some fantastic food; vistas of rivers, creeks and marshlands; or to perhaps find your next home.

3. Charleston is within view of Daniel Island and is only a 10 to 15 minute drive away. Voted one of the top U.S. cities to visit for many years, its history, architecture and style of living is not all there is to take in. There are usually some local events beginning this time of year aside from all the fantastic shopping, not to mention that Charleston has received high regard from the culinary industry nationally and beyond. Also, there are beaches east and south of Charleston and plenty of water sports to partake.

4. There is much history behind Family Circle Cup and is the largest women's only tournament of the year. Andrea Petkovic is back to defend her title from last year and although there is obviously only one singles and doubles winner, almost every player has said they enjoy the tournament, the atmosphere and the people.

5. It's Tennis.

So, if you haven't made plans to go the Family Circle Cup, do so. The links above should help you in discovering what you need to know.

And, we'll be providing some posts over the next several days to highlight some items you may find interesting.

Save Money on Just About Everything!

Bernie McGuire Receives Top Tennis Coach Award

Local (to us) Hammond High School tennis coach, Bernie McGuire, has been named the Professional Tennis Registry High School coach of the year.

Bernie has taught some of my family and tennis friends and has been a huge asset to Hammond.

Read the article.





Also read McGuire Honored for No-cut Policy.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/education/article16870739.html#storylink=cpy

Slippery When Wet?

Have you ever been playing a match and those tears from heaven begin raining down on your court and all you want to do is continue play - your game is spot-on, you have the tennis fever or you simply feel great because your in-laws just left from a three-day visit?

At Moose League a few years ago, during a chilly December morning, we began to get a slight drizzle which slowly increased with the sky lending itself toward nothing otherwise for quite some time. After a while this is when I and most other sane people are likely to pack it up and head for shelter.

Have You Ever Noticed - Tennis Players in Films

Have you ever noticed in most movies, TV shows, and more so, on TV commercials, that you can almost immediately discern that whomever is supposedly playing tennis may have had their closest and only encounter with the sport back when playing Pong on an Atari machine some time back in the '70s. It's comical.

Well, a few months ago I was browsing the TCM (Ted Turner's Commercial-Free Classic Movie Channel) schedule on my box hoping to find something interesting or entertaining to waste a couple hours with, perhaps Bogey up to something mysterious, Gary Grant being witty in most anything he did or Lauren Bacall just being Lauren Bacall. I love classic movies and am no celebrity hound by any means. I'm just throwing around some names.

Happy New Year!

Those Beguiling Tennis Geezers

The gentleman to the left, Father Time, usually shows up this time of year.

One can usually find him in cartoons, editorials and even some greeting cards.

Well, I'm accustomed to this and it truly doesn't remind me of much other than the coming new-year (which is wonderful), but then I stumbled upon the following picture along with the caption:

Older Players Handing it to Some Whippersnappers

Many of you may remember being a freshman or sophomore on a high school or college team. You may have been in equal shape or possessed the same speed and agility as the seniors, but they probably had something you didn't - more experience, perhaps greater wisdom on the field or court of battle.

Tennis Has An Income Inequality Problem

The following article definitely merits attention and may pose many questions and stir up some ideas you have particularly if you have watched tennis tournaments or team matches on television and attended a few pro events at a variety of levels.

So many light bulbs lit up when reading this - mostly dim ones as this topic is so broad in scope and geography that one must consider so much when addressing the issue.

One will need the input from so many and it looks as if this is beginning to be done.

I would love to see (literally) more lower-level pros playing, knowing they are making a financial gain in doing so whether or not they are moving up to the big time.

Hell, I wish a lot more teaching pros were making a go of their careers successfully full-time. 

The article is by Carl Bialik of FiveThirtyEightSports.

Aussie Completes 24-Hour Wheelchair Tennis Challenge

You're going to love and appreciate this:

Australia's Dylan Alcot rolled into the history books on Friday morning at Melboune Park, completing a 24-hour wheelchair tennis challenge and raising more than AUD$70,000 for charity, with the total still rising.

Read more at http://www.itftennis.com/news/194203.aspx#wVkxQa3jSe6gFlFl.99.

Grow Your Tennis Business - A Resource for Tennis Club Managers, Pros, Coaches and Parents

Somehow we discovered 3rdToad Tennis and I Toad You So had been mentioned back in October on a tennis blog and I went to see more about what was said. 

Well, I contacted the author, George Lowe, to thank him and also to update him on all that had happened in the last two months with 3rdToad Tennis - a lot.

Obviously I spent time perusing his site to see what is going on with Grow Your Tennis Business and I liked what he has done in just a few months and I hope he continues to do so, very well and successfully.

I only hope you who visit his site will share any input, ideas or experiences with George, if you have some, just as we hope for from our readers and followers.

Check it out!

Tennis - The Sport for a Lifetime

Whether you picked up your first tennis racket at a very young age, grasped onto the game in your teens or were enticed to slap that fuzzy yellow ball around during your adult years, you chose a sport, activity and community which offers so very much.

Take it as far as you want or just go out there and enjoy the game. There are so many different levels of competition and play out there - most anyone will find their groove once they realize tennis is a fun, challenging and physically rewarding sport.

Tennis provides a means for you to increase and maintain endurance, agility, balance, coordination and muscular reflex and strength; all of which, at a minimum, makes you more fit, more alert and keeps that mass between your ears, sharper than a tack.

Making Tennis Gift Giving Easier

Some of you may already make gift certificates available for anyone to purchase your services and perhaps some tennis or health products you handle as well. Many of you may not.

In either case, this is a wonderful way to make the gift giving process easier, more attractive and more fun for both the giver and recipient.

Typically, producing or having gift certificates made is not terribly expensive and the return on investment is pretty good unless you go to your local printer and have a thousand made.

Mark10SPro, one of our web site customers, recently announced the availability of gift certificates on his web site via a post he created. Notice he asked some great teaser/discovery questions in his announcement.

These aren't too difficult to make using a computer and some basic software, but you do want to pay attention to detail and spacing. Keep it simple or get extravagant.

We use Photoshop for ours, as well as for other things, but this would be one expensive piece of software simply for making gift certificates, unless you already have it. Power Point and Word can also be used, but we aren't giving instruction here as there are way too many scenarios. 

To find how to produce your own simply type diy gift certificates in your favorite search engine. You will either find instruction on how to do so or services that will actually help you produce them on-line, some for free.

If you definitely wish to find services which produce them for you, then type in just gift certificates as well as the name of the area in which you live if you wish to deal with someone locally.

However, if you do so you will want to print or have the certificates printed on a weightier paper, at least card stock thickness, perhaps glossy. Also, don't try to cut your certificates to the desired size using scissors. Most mail or office stores have the tools to do it right. Our local FedEx Kinkos allows us to come in and use their cutter at no cost.

If you have a web site from 3rdToad.com Tennis and you want to learn how to sell your services on-line, including products and gift certificates, then please go to Buy Buttons and Gift Certificates.

Begin using gift certificates year round, let others know they are available via your web site, e-mail or however, and increase your revenue while possibly gaining some new students and more appointments.

Tennis Balls for Christmas? What About Some Lessons?

What have I given my father for most of the last twenty Christmas holidays, along with some other small, more personal gifts strewn over the years? Tennis balls.

It's like buying socks and underwear for kids (circa 1964) - you know they need it, but do they truly want or appreciate such for a Christmas gift? This ranks a close second behind getting coal in their stocking.

Well, after a decade or so of never inquiring as to what my family wanted, for which I had a lot more fun just giving fun or unique gifts, the dreaded, but more sane drawing-of-names routine became reality.

My New BFF

by Meredith Harrington

My new BFF is Tennis. It’s been said that it’s the only game that gives you the most love. Ha ha, get it? Love! If you aren’t familiar with the game, love stands for zero in the scoring system. You start at love, then move up to 15, 30, 40 and possibly deuce. For deuce you keep playing until someone scores ahead by two) (i.e., 6-4, 7-5).

In my case, tennis began with a renewed effort to play with a best friend on public courts three hot summers ago. Both of us had been avid players 30 years before, but life got in the way. Babies were born, toddlers joined Gymboree, toddlers grew up and went to school, until at long last, our free time became free for us to choose what we wanted to do. I was an empty nester, but my friend was not. So, we tried meeting early on Sundays to get in a set or two. I didn’t especially enjoy singles, so I invited a few friends to turn us into a doubles team. Then I bought a $5 Groupon to join Baltimore Tennis Patrons, a USTA-tennis league, and started playing mixed doubles, while keeping my weekend game alive. Not a fan of mixed doubles, I however passed my name around, and by fall, was playing with a northern Baltimore County tennis rec league, women only. Loving the friendliness of women’s doubles, I then was invited to play indoor summer with another group, and then 4 more!

Tennis for All

This is why this blog exists. We love to hear from those in the real community tennis world. This is what it's all about. 

The following are writings sent to us by Meredith Harrington, Scarie Merrie.

___________________________

Tennis skirts! I looooove tennis skirts! Okay, really, who the heck cares about tennis skirts? This is a blog. Blogs should offer pithy advice or something upbeat everyone can relate to. Mine is mostly memoirs, or musings. But this time I decided to write about my life saving emotional retirement gift to myself. Tennis, and what it’s done for me.

There are no rules for blogging, except keeping it clean and honest. Some of my followers would ask with disgust, isn't tennis an elitist form of recreation? That I’m discriminating. Yes, and no. People play tennis at private clubs, public parks, and if they have a court in their own back yard, they skip tennis barn fees and head out back. Tennis is not elitist anymore. Tennis is neither segregated, or gender specific.  Look at Arthur Ashe, Donald Young, the Williams sisters, and James Blake for turning a once all white sport into a widely integrated one. As for gender equality, bravo to Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Venus Williams for coming out of the closet in a very public arena. As of this writing, no known male gay players have admitted their sexuality.

The Case for No Cut

Following is an article by Lissa Johnston, quite a superb teaching pro at quite a phenomenal public facility, Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center. 

Lissa has great passion for 10 and Under Tennis and also those years which follow for our youth taking court or wishing to do so, well into their teens and perhaps beyond.

The following by Lissa illustrates her passion for the sport and its accessibility to all, particularly the young-ones.

This information may be of great benefit to tennis parents and teaching tennis pros.

_____________________________ 

by Lissa Johnston

Lots of great info from the USTA South Carolina tennis coaches workshop I attended recently. New drills forthcoming. In the meantime I am taking a moment for a brief rant about 'no cut' tennis teams. If you are not into rants, just be patient and new drills will be posted over the next few days.

Rant Commences Here

When the workshop broke for lunch, I was fortunate to be sitting at a table with lots of great tennis folks including Barbara Jones from St. George SC and some of her pals who have done amazing things getting youth tennis going there. SC Tennis Hall of Famer Bernie McGuire also joined us. Bernie is the tennis coach at a private school called Hammond in Columbia, SC. I had never met Bernie in person, but had worked with him by proxy, coordinating a friendly with some of his players last fall through his assistant, Bob Crab. I introduced myself and we talked about Hammond a little bit. He mentioned he had 71 girls on his no cut tennis team.

Seventy-one.

Read on >>

Tennis League Team Practice. Come On!

Now, I know this is a very broad subject, considering how many recreational tennis players, teams and leagues there are throughout our country and the world, but this misnomer need be addressed.

I can't say I've experienced what takes place on every team, but I've been around the tennis league block.

I've had many prior captains say something to the effect of, "We practice on Tuesdays." or "We have practice matches on Thursday".

We all know so many league tennis teams and captains have their own agenda, methods or whatever (players aware or otherwise - I get it). Not all tennis teams and players are going to go out there and go for the jugular on every stroke or point, but please let's not call this practice, what may be, at best, a scrimmage.

"I Don't Play Net." What?!

I was playing on a mixed doubles (first time with this team) team years ago and the captain hadn't decided the final line-up until 
match time.

I was paired with this young lady who had good pace on both ground strokes and could move well laterally. I had only hit with or against her a few times in practice (more later on practice).

However, our opponents didn't meet each other just the day before and we had our hands full. I noticed my partner wasn't coming in, even when I may have had enough time to go get my car and park it in her service box. Our opponents weren't obliviously to the fact either.

During her next service and between serves I walked back to her and invited her to come up to the net. "I don't play net," she said, which up to this point was quite obvious. "I asked what side of the court you preferred. Not which corner," I replied. She laughed. "It's fun up here. Come on up," as I returned to the net.

She did and although we lost the match our odds of winning increased dramatically. She actually said she had fun playing the net.

Belgian Waffles, U.S. World Cup Soccer, Football and Wimbledon

Julian Green of the U.S. celebrates after
scoring a goal during extra time.
(REUTERS/Michael Dalder)

Well, I would be lying if I said, "I really know what's going on at Wimbledon." Except for a few updates...okay, I'd still be lying.

There's something much larger going on right now and I can't be bothered with tennis, a sport I love so much. 

Another sport, soccer, is having its World Cup right now. I began playing soccer as a child down here in the South when most people were clueless if you mentioned the sport of soccer and you dared calling it football. I was selected for the All-State team and went on to college to play and I should have looked at other colleges I didn't know were looking at me (long story). But, I never called soccer, football. There's good reason - to prevent confusion and also to avoid some angry fans of the other game I also like, from making ignorant comments about the one I was playing at the time.

That's it. We Are Done With Family Circle Cup - 2014

Well, almost. We still have to collect and compile all the prize entries from our various social networks. We will do so over the next few days and notify the winners.

The WTA, and more specifically, Family Circle and the facility and tournament staff did a fantastic job, a fact most all the competing pros seem to never overlook.

How about those pro ladies? Except for perhaps the 2nd round of singles, there were far more matches going three sets or tight two sets than otherwise.

The surrounding businesses and people of Daniel Island were gracious and inviting. The weather was mostly perfect for players and fans alike and even on the day of the most threatening forecast, clouds, some cooler weather and about 30 minutes of light rain was the worst the skies provided.

We truly enjoyed covering and watching the tournament, not to mention all the people we met and new friends we made. Many of you we will be contacting soon.

Thank you to all of you who participated and followed along with us. 

Play the Game!

Doug Ingbretsen
3rdToad.com Tennis