Beach Tennis USA Partners With ITF

Joint effort will expand the global development of beach tennis

August 13, 2010 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff

In a major development, Beach Tennis USA (BTUSA) has established a strategic partnership with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to expand the global development of the sport of beach tennis. The ITF, based in the United Kingdom, is the world governing body of tennis and has 205 member national associations worldwide. Under the new agreement, all BTUSA tournaments will be recognized by the ITF as officially-sanctioned events, contributing to the international player ranking system and appearing on the ITF’s official tour schedule.

“This partnership with Beach Tennis USA gives us a solid platform in North America to develop the sport of pro and recreational beach tennis on a truly grand scale,” said Jackie Nesbitt, head of professional circuits at the ITF.
Beach Tennis USA launched the first pro beach tennis tour in the United States in 2005, and over the past six years, has overseen the sport’s steady domestic growth, mostly through grassroots efforts in South Florida, Southern California, Chicago and Long Island, N.Y.

“The sport of beach tennis is a movement whose time has come,” said Marc Altheim, BTUSA’s founder and commissioner. “Enormous efforts were taken over the past five seasons to lay the foundation for beach tennis here in the U.S. We’re very excited to be aligned with the ITF and anticipate the movement to grow exponentially.”
In another important development, beach tennis, for the first time, will be included in the AAU Junior Olympic Games, the largest youth multi-sport event in the country; which will be held July 29-Aug. 7, 2010 in Hampton Roads, Va. More than 15,000 participants, representing 50 states and U.S. territories, will compete in over 20 sports.

“This is a crucial step toward our ultimate goal of making beach tennis an Olympic sport,” said Jim Lorenzo, BTUSA president of the partnership with the AAU.

The AAU Beach Tennis Championships will be played alongside the Beach Volleyball Championships, which will provide a great atmosphere for the young athletes, and will take place Friday, July 30-Sunday, Aug. 1. Divisions will be as follows: Boys & Girls (under 14 years of age) Doubles, Boys (14-18 years of age) Doubles and Girls (14-18 years of age) Doubles.

Registration fee is $40 per team, and the entry deadline is Thursday, July 22. To sign up, visit www.beachtennisusa.net or www.aaujrogames.org.

“The 2010 AAU Junior Olympic Games will be open to anyone who wants to play beach tennis, even if it’s for the first time,” said Altheim. “We’ll have clinics, games and activities for anyone who wants to give it a try."
Given its name, you might think beach tennis is only meant to be played on sand, but that’s definitely not the case.
“The object of the game is to keep the ball in the air the entire time without letting it hit the ground and therefore it can be played on sand, grass, pavement or snow,” said Lorenzo. “Beach tennis is truly a year-round sport.”
Just ask Brian Johnson, Dan Johnson and Stephen Sayoc, three beach tennis enthusiasts who started “snow beach tennis” in their hometown of Buffalo, NY.

“The biggest challenge of beach tennis is moving on the sand,” said Brian Johnson. “Snow is not much different … you get the same feel, and we certainly have enough of it here in Buffalo.”

So in the dead of winter, the Johnson Brothers and Sayoc conducted a snow beach tournament as part of the Powder Keg Festival held in downtown Buffalo this past February. According to Dan Johnson, the tournament was a huge success and one of the top-ranked beach tennis players in the world, Matteo Marighella of Italy, described snow beach tennis as “fantastico.” Quite an endorsement!

Beach Tennis USA has made an appearance this year at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Truckloads of sand were delivered and a beach tennis court was constructed. Look for more about this in the next installment of “The Sand Pit.”

 

Beach tennis action need not be limited to the beach as these players take advantage of the foot-friendly grass during a match

 

 


Beach tennis action from snowy Buffalo, N.Y.

 

 


Italian beach tennis player Alex Mingozzi in BTUSA action

 

 


Beach Tennis USA action, coming to a beach near you!
 

 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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