USTA Eastern Long Island Region Update (January and February 2012)
Carefree Team is Long Island Corporate Tennis Champion
In the spirit of the holiday season, USTA Eastern Long Island teamed up with United Way of Long Island to hold its first Corporate Tennis Challenge Fundraiser in December. The team from Carefree Racquet Club of Merrick was the overall winner, taking home the title of Long Island Corporate Tennis Champion at the event, which was hosted by the Port Washington Tennis Academy. Coming in second was the team sponsored by tennis enthusiast Steve Shapiro of Merrick. The event raised money to provide rehabilitative and recreational tennis programs for returning military veterans and their families.
The fundraiser was one in a series of events saluting our nation’s military. In November, the USTA Eastern Section and Long Island Region joined with the USTA National office in Operation Yellow Ribbon, to say, “so long” to our deploying neighbors. The Yellow Ribbon events are held around the state by the New York Guard to help transition military personnel and their families and to make deployment less ominous for all. This year, the USTA joined with the New York Guard to provide tennis lessons to the children, while their parents attended informational sessions and seminars. The children were also given free USTA 10 & Under memberships, as well as gifts and prizes. Bill Mecca, USTA Eastern Long Island tennis service representative, coordinated this event.
The Corporate Tennis Challenge event pitted companies and organizations from across Nassau and Suffolk Counties against each other in a battle for Long Island bragging rights. The event included a tennis clinic and round-robin doubles competition, with trophies awarded to the winning teams and players. In addition, all tennis players enjoyed a buffet dinner, t-shirts and special gifts.
All profits went to the United Way of Long Island’s Military Family Assistance Project, which supports programs that serve Long Island military, reservist and National Guard personnel active in Operation Enduring Freedom and/or Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn and their families.
Members of the winning team from Carefree were: Mara and Ben Mazza, Veronica Kurka, Ruth Settles, Debra and Seth Lehman, Michele Bergman, Liz Schiff, Devang Parmar and Susan Fisch. The second place team, represented by Steve Shapiro of Merrick, incluided the following players: Ross Binder, Jared Zeitlin, Asher Abitol, Rhonda Dauway, Kerrisha Buckley, Yael Glaser, Mac Laurencin, Larry Ham and Carl Harris.
All matches were played by doubles teams. Individual winners were: Carefree (Women’s 6.0, Mixed 6.0, Men’s 6.0 and Mixed 8.0); Setauket Tennis & Fitness, East Setauket (Mixed 7.0 and Women’s 8.0); United Way of Long Island, Deer Park (Men’s 7.0), and HD Tennis, Syosset (Men’s 8.0).
Participating teams represented the following: United Way of Long Island, Malverne School District (two teams), Carefree Racquet Club, Setauket Tennis & Fitness, Steve Shapiro, and HD Tennis.
Special thanks to the following for their assistance: Marian Morris; Craig Fligstein; Port Washington Tennis Academy; Carl Summerlin, USTA Eastern Metro president, and the CW Post College women’s tennis team; Marquee Screen Printing; Carefree Tennis; Melanie Rubin; Ronni Klein; Mike Pavlides; Ed Wolfarth; Debra Indeck, and Maddie Binder.
Credit all photos to Melanie Rubin
Carefree team members Susan Fisch and Devang Parmar display their trophies
Karen Dunbar and Allan Weiner of the Setauket Tennis & Fitness team celebrate their victory
Carl Summerlin (left), USTA Eastern Metro president and coach of the CW Post College Women’s Tennis team, joins USTA Eastern Long Island President Daniel Burgess, along with John and Anne Taylor
The Setauket Tennis & Fitness team had several winners. Shown here (from left) are Karen Dunbar, Allan Weiner, Ronni Klein, Matthew Neiger, Sharon Erb and Monica Aston
Nick Penny & Herb Harris of HD Tennis in Syosset were Men’s 8.0 Doubles champs
USTA Eastern Long Island Region Event Planner Marian Morris (right) hands out gift bags
Players preparing to play in the LI Region’s First Annual Corporate Tennis Challenge
From left, representing the Malverne School District, are Darrol Lopez, Desiree Bunch and Coach Charles Nanton, with Daniel Burgess
A player serves in the LI Region’s First Annual Corporate Tennis Challenge
Larry Dillon, USTA Eastern staffer and QuickStart tennis specialist (center back), poses with some of the children in their new “I Love Long Island Tennis” t-shirts donated by the USTA Long Island Region board
A deploying soldier fills out a free USTA Membership Application for his kids
Melanie Rubin (left), USTA Long Island Board Member, and Bill Mecca (right), USTA Eastern Long Island Tennis Service Representative, are joined by deploying soldiers
Long Beach shows its heart at CPR/AED training
The USTA Eastern Long Island and Long Beach Tennis Center joined forces to help save lives by hosting a three-hour Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and CPR Training session. Participants received their two-year CPR certification upon completion of the program.
The CPR/AED training program was the second in a series sponsored by the Long Island Region in an effort to make this important skill available and accessible to all members. Any club or organization with an interest in hosting their own training class can contact Jacki Binder, USTA Eastern Long Island Region Communications Director, at ustaonlongisland@gmail.com.
The training session was made possible by Forever 9-The Robbie Levine Foundation. The Robbie Levine Foundation works to increase awareness of the need for and importance of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in saving lives, particularly in youth athletics, and to advance Robbie’s love of sports and giving nature by supporting youth sports programs. Proceeds from the training session went to Forever 9 to support its efforts to donating AEDs to youth sports programs.
USTA Eastern LI Region collects clothing to help tennis players
A new community service initiative will be started by the USTA Eastern Long Island Region in January, and all club members and member organizations are urged to help. Beginning Jan. 15 and lasting for one month, club members will be collecting donations of new and gently used tennis clothing to be given to tennis players in need. All donations will be given to tennis players from the Shinnecock Indian Nation and the Community School in Westbury operated by United Way of Long Island.
Many clubs across Long Island will be setting up collection locations. Region board members will pick up all the clothing during the week of Feb. 16, to be sorted and distributed. Any gently used tennis attire for men, women and kids, in all sizes, is welcomed. New tennis clothing is also welcome.
Those with questions about where to drop off their tennis clothing or who want to help collect, sort and distribute the donations can contact Ronni Klein, Region Clothing Donations Coordinator, at ustaonlongisland@gmail.com.
Merrick Street Fair a hit
Two 10 & Under QuickStart tennis courts were a hit at the Merrick Street Fair where the USTA Eastern Long Island Region met many new tennis players, both kids and adults, taught the basics of the game, and signed up junior tennis players for QuickStart memberships.
Hundreds of children from around Long Island learned tennis basics and had fun trying a new sport at the annual Merrick Fair. The USTA Eastern Long Island Board, led by Daniel Burgess, president; Melanie Rubin, JTF liaison; Marian Morris, event planner and Bill Mecca, USTA Eastern Tennis Service Representative, set up two 10 & Under courts at the fair, and organized lessons for many new, young tennis players. These kids learned tennis the “Quick Start” way, USTA’s format specially-designed for children under the age of 10 where the racquets are smaller, balls are lighter and tennis courts are shorter.
Region board members helped throughout the day, as did local pros, including Carefree Racquet Club (Merrick) Manager Kathy Miller and Director of Tennis Ronny D’Alessandro, Dory Levinter from Long Beach Tennis Center, Ashley Horishny, Daniel Burgess Jr., Sunny and Ed Fishkind, Kerrisha Buckley and Elaine Rodriguez, as did the girls from the John F. Kennedy (Bellmore) High School Girls’ Tennis Team.
I Love Long Island Tennis t-shirts now available
T-shirts displaying love of local tennis are now available from the USTA Eastern Long Island Region. The white shirts, with bold yellow and black graphics and the message “I Love LI Tennis,” with the “love” in the form of a heart-shaped tennis ball, are $5 each and make great gifts. They are available in both children’s (youth large) and adult sizes (small, medium, large and extra-large). The t-shirts will be for sale at all USTA Eastern Long Island Region events and can be ordered by e-mailing ustaonlongisland@gmail.com. Pictured here, USTA Eastern LI Region Board members Jacki Binder (left) and Mike Pavlides (right), along with volunteer Maddie Binder (center), show off their “I Love Long Island Tennis” t-shirts.
