Boy’s Pre-Season High School Tennis Invitational

March 22, 2011 | By Michael Sarro

The Bayport Blue Point Community Tennis Association (BBPCTA) held a Pre-Season Tennis Invitational event, open to any varsity or junior varsity high school boy’s tennis players on Long Island. The invitational was held at Eastern Athletic Club’s Blue Point branch as the Club was generous enough to offer their facilities at a highly reduced rate for the 40-plus high school players who participated. Food and drinks were also provided for players encompassing a full night of fun tennis in anticipation of the start of what should be an exciting season on Long Island. Long Island Tennis Magazine was on-hand as press and to support the event.

Laurie Gruppuso, director of the event and BBPCTA founder and president, said that, “The event was a great success! The matches were double elimination so everyone got a good amount of hitting in."

The match format was tie-breaker scoring with a 15 min. match limit. According to David Fallon, co-director of the event and one of the directors for the BBPCTA said to the players, “This is all in fun. I don’t want to be brought to the court to deal with line disputes. When in doubt, call the ball in.”

Indeed fun was stressed throughout the duration of the competition, as the event was put on for everyone to have a good time, meet other local players, and basically serve as a pre-season warmup for a few local high school students.

“What I particularly liked about the invitational was that it had a fun-social component, while still offering kids great competition,” said Gruppuso.

The JV matches were played as singles matches, while the varsity matches were all doubles matches. The JV winner was Matt Diers, followed by Corey Zirkel coming in second, Kevin Mawn in third and Bob Mischo in fourth. Finishing in first place in the varsity division was Alex Rosenfeld & Jared Drzal who edged out the team of Dylan & Jason Quintana in a hard-fought finals match.

The BBPCTA was formed approximately two years ago by Laurie as her son grew interest in the sport around the age of nine.

“All of a sudden, he stopped playing other sports and solely focused on tennis," said Gruppuso. “I also noticed that there were few low cost options out there, so I gathered up some other local parents who had interest, and I found out that a lot of people in the community were excited for low-cost, high-quality tennis lessons for their kids. With the help of other volunteers, we were able to develop the CTA."

Lionel Pomerantz returns a shot at the Bayport Blue Point Community Tennis Association (BBPCTA) Pre-Season Tennis Invitational

 


Zachary Stephan (foreground) with Lionel Pomerantz (background)

 


Dylan Quintana in action

 


 Ari Jonas in action at the Eastern Athletic Club’s Blue Point branch

 

Stephen Gruppuso in action at the BBPCTA Pre-Season Tennis Invitational

 

Steve Marzagalli returns a serve during his match

 


Corey Zirkel during his match

 


Jared Drzel and Alex Rosenfeld discuss strategy during a break in the action

 


The JV winners with Board Members Dave Fallon and John Selvaggio (from left to right): Bob Mischo, Corey Zirkel, Kevin Mawn and Matt Diers

 


Michael Sarro
Director of Business Development, United Sports Publications Ltd.

Michael Sarro is director of business development for United Sports Publications Ltd. He may be reached by phone at (516) 409-4444, ext. 330 or e-mail michael@usptennis.com.

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