The Prentice Cup

Some good tennis was played yesterday on the grass at the club. It was Longwood's turn to host the Prentice Cup. Longwoods' own Connor H and Matt P were in the line up representing Harvard.  Many people came down to watch the event, which was to a big part organized by Jon T and Mark W.

Matt delivering a devastating serve.

Connor on the right (if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't know it from this pictue)

Joanna to the left and an unidentified fan cheering for the Irish teams.

Connor's own fan club!

Mark Williamson provided an excellent briefing on what the Prentice Cup is:

"The Prentice Cup, a lawn tennis match played between teams from Harvard-Yale and Oxford –Cambridge started in 1921. At that time, it represented the first international intercollegiate tennis event ever held and it’s the oldest truly amateur tennis competition played on an international scale. The Prentice Cup was named for Bernon Prentice who donated the Cup in 1925.

The match is a bi-annual event played alternately in Great Britain and the US. The venue for the match in Great Britain is the All England Club and in the US is the Seabright Lawn Tennis and Cricket Club in Rumson, New Jersey. Traditionally, the visiting team has travelled in the host country before and after the match, playing a number of other events at clubs with grass courts. Longwood has been a regular and highly popular stop on the tour.

The Oxford-Cambridge team comprises three players from each of the Universities. At Longwood, they will be facing a strong team comprised primarily of Harvard and Yale alums."

Crickets Tennis

The Crickets occupy the bottom room on the pool side of the building. Kim and her staff train all the little crickets how to get ready for tennis and swimming. It's about changing outfits, finding the tennis sock, get out of a wet bathing suit, and keep track of the racket. The Crickets is also about developing motor skills on the tennis court by tossing balls, catching balls, rolling a tennis ball, hitting a tennis ball, and getting a water break. Also, ball pick up is an important activity to practice at this age, as coaches later in life will demand that players pick up the balls on the court.

In the pictures below, Coach Maisie shared her water break skills and tennis skills with some of the Crickets.

Get your motor running

Cardio Tennis is a great way to get your motor running and to improve your tennis at the same time. It's a pure exercise clinic, and no room for doubles play at the end. Just running down balls and hit FHs and BHs repeatedly across the court. This Wednesday morning group was tiny, but they worked hard. If you haven't tried a Cardio Tennis session yet, sign up for Saturday 11-12 or Wednesday 9-10. Get your motor running!

Meredith, Alice, Stephanie, and the boom box.

Monday Night Team Tennis Standings as of July 17

Team Larry: 505*                                            Team Magnus:  533*

*The score from 7/9 is missing... I am trying to locate the score sheet. It got lost in the bar when they figured out who should be charged for the drinks... Larry won that night, so with that score added to the total above, Larry will be in the lead.

Summer in the city

If you haven't noticed it, it is summer in the city of Boston. On the courts at Longwood, fathers and their sons from all over the country are competing for the 2012 Father/Son Grass Court Gold Ball. Good tennis was played all day Monday, also into the evening when the Monday Night Team Tennis took over the courts. We had 9 courts going. KC, Kathy, Jacqueline, Steve, and Jeff played for the first time this year, and were quite happy afterwards when they found out that they were all (except Jacqueline) on the winning team and got a free drink. But Miss J was still happy and enjoyed playing in the event.

Larry was busy running the Father/Son tournametn, so I was able to draft players very independently. As a veteran MNTT player, Joe McNay was signed early to my team. To even the strengths of the teams out, another heavy weight player, Bernhard Radtke, was quickly assigned to Larry's team. A fan favourite, Bob Dickie, made a comeback, having not played in a few weeks. As a protege' of Larrys, he of course had to be assigned to Larrys' team. Other regulars were Maria, Andrea, Debbie, Patge, Wallace, Dan, Cindy, Lenny, Peter, Bob, Ken, Bruce, Susan, Paul, JVH, and Lou.

The first round was key to the victory. And victory was sweet. After three weeks of coming in second, my team played very well and finally won again. My team was up 44-28 after the first round of doubles, and won 42 games in the 2nd round against Team Larry's 30 games. In the end, my team won 126-90. For the 3rd round, one of my players had to leave, so I filled in for him. Together with Jeff Z I clinched the victory with an impressive 8-0 win over [first name, last name] and [first name, last name]. (Names erased upon request by the losing team.)

It was a great night for tennis and everyone had fun playing and socializing afterwards. Next week will be tougher when Larry is around for some hands-on coaching again.

Final score MNTT # 5:    Team Larry  90                                        Team Magnus 126

Camp Wolf now accepting donations

Another excellent day for Monday night team tennis. This was the 4th MNTT, and at this point Larry is winning. He has won 3 of the 4, or 75%. Pick your poison. We had 14 courts and 56 players participating. One of the possitives this night was the fact that there was actually some food left for me afterwards on the poarch. Typically it's all gone by the time me and Larry have done the math and counted up the 3 rounds. Tony brought out some good stuff, and I especially enjoyed those crackers with cheese and jam. I had 5!

 

Two other possitives were round 1 and round 2. My team performed very well, going into the lead after the first round and expanded the lead 108 to 94 after round 2. I was sitting pretty watching the matches play out the way I had planned it. But then something happened in the last round. Team Larry surprisingly caught up and actually passed my team! I know exactly what he did, he put in Betsy E in a key match, and she and her partner scored a 7-1 victory on court 12. I have to say, a genius move. A close match on the CH court required my hands on coaching, and I had to walk out and talk to my players. We decided to return the other teams serves XC and then our net player would poach. Well... let me put it this way: it didn't go as planned. My team ended up winning 3 games against the other teams' 5 games.

At the end of the day I felt that if we could have kept the pace up, the Nahirny's could have won a free drink each instead of having to pay for 4 drinks. I feel that Larry was handed some donations in Round 3. And he accepted them.

Final score: Team Larry                                                                   Team Magnus

Monday Night Team Tennis #3

Around 4 PM today Paul asked me how many courts I expected for Monday Night Team Tennis. Thinking that it is the 4th of July week, and that many people go away, I said my guess is 5 to 6 courts. 40 players showed up and we had 10 courts of tennis! Curt, Vicki, Walter, Pam, David, and Carol played in their first MNTT. Welcome!

I was wondering whether Larry would call in from South Dartmouth to check on his team. He and Linda are on a well deserved family reunion break. There were no calls. Hmmm.... he must be communicating with his team somehow. Maybe he just sent some possitive vibes from the So. Dartmouth beaches.

The first round was tight. Larry's team won 33 games vs. Magnus/ 24 games. Going in to Round 2 I said to myself: "I need to stir things up here". So I put the Taffs together, and they got the job done. However, Round 2 ended up in Larry's favor despite the Taffs. For the 3rd round I got desperate, so I had to play my best card: McNay/ Rappaport. They already played together in Round 1, but in this situation I couldn't take any chances. My coaching paid off and McNay/Rappaport won their match, Larry's team however again showed who was the stronger team tonight, and ended up winning also the 3rd round. There must have been some hidden coaching going on after all. I will find out!

Final score: Larry 131                            Magnus 101

Excellent conditions for MNTT

Round 2 Order of Play