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Beach tennis, anyone?
Reprinted from The Buffalo News
Barefoot in the sand with paddles in hand, growing sport makes its way to Western New York
By Jane Kwiatkowski
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Beach tennis is not your average court sport.
For one thing, it’s played on sand, and paddles— not rackets—are used to smash the ball over the net. Music is a must. Sunscreen is recommended and — look, Ma—no shoes!
“It’s just a nice way to spend the day,” said Stephen Sayoc, director of tennis at South Towns Tennis Club. “You’re out on the beach by the water. You’ve got the fresh air, and you’re barefoot in the sand. It’s fun, easy to learn. I get my whole family out there, and we do it together.”
Beach tennis, born 30 years ago in northern Italy, has made its way to Buffalo, where earlier this month the Buffalo Beach Tennis Tournament Bash played in Woodlawn Beach State Park attracted 80 participants. It was the largest mixed-doubles tournament played in the country and the first in Western New York, according to Jim Lorenzo, president of Beach Tennis USA.
“There are 30 locations in the country to play beach tennis, and Buffalo is one of them,” said Lorenzo. “The new paddles have made the game much easier for people to learn. Within five
minutes you can be volleying and playing a match.”
The fast-paced sand sport is catching on locally, nationally and internationally.
Four teams of teenagers from Western New York will compete later this month in Virginia Beach, Va., as beach tennis breaks into the AAU Junior Olympic Games. The International Tennis Foundation has recognized the sport, which will debut at next year’s Pan-American Games in Toronto. And by 2016 sponsors hope to introduce the sport to the Summer Olympics in Brazil as an exhibition event.
“It’s an incredible cardio workout,” said Dan Johnson, an instructor at South Towns Tennis Club in Orchard Park. “It’s not like you’re on a flat surface. It works your balance. You’re constantly adjusting.”
Team Western New York
Blue cabana tents dotted the sand at the beach in Woodlawn Beach State Park in Blasdell one recent weekend, providing sun shelters for the many young families who attended the first Beach Tennis USA mixed doubles tournament in the area. With the Lackawanna windmills soaring in the background, seven beach tennis courts were in full swing.
“Players from all over the U. S. will come to [Virginia Beach] to showcase the sport,” said Johnson, who along with his brother Brian and Sayoc, will coach the Western New York contingent. “They’ve been training since last October, incorporating the volley benefit of beach tennis into their regular tennis game.”
The Junior Olympics, held annually, usually draws about 14,000 participants ages 18 and under who take part in 20 sports over a two-week period. There will be no qualifying rounds for this year’s beach tennis event.
Caroline Bristol, 18, of Orchard Park, will compete in Virginia Beach with teammate Alison Tepas. In September, Bristol will play college tennis at Mercyhurst in Erie, Pa., where she plans to study sports business.
“You can’t be afraid to dive,” said the recent high school graduate, who received a beach tennis paddle as a graduation present. “You have to be a decent athlete. It’s a lot of volleys, legs and dives.”
At the moment, Bristol is taking a break between sets of beach tennis. Sweat is streaming from her face, which is protected by 100 SPF. One thing learned quickly: Beach tennis is a battle of attrition. Tournament winners could play 10 sets or a total of 90 games.
On this day, the second of the two-day tournament, players appear fresh despite the fact they were playing until 7 p. m. the day before. Joy Bristol, who attended both days to watch her daughter compete, believes beach tennis is a “healthy” sport.
“They come down a couple nights a week and play a nice healthy sport with some nice adults,” Joy Bristol said. “They even play in the snow. On puffy snow days, they set up the court in Stephen’s backyard and dive in the snow instead of the sand.”
Also expected to make the trip to Virginia Beach are Bryan Matthews, 18, and Sam Korach, 17, both of Orchard Park.
“The game is all volley,” explained Matthews. “You’re not allowed to let the ball hit the ground. It’s a great workout, plus the skills transfer over to tennis.”
Locally, Woodlawn Beach State Park is scheduled to install three permanent beach tennis courts, according to park manager Kevin McNallie. And at Cazenovia Park in South Buffalo, beach tennis will be integrated into the youth tennis lessons currently offered between noon and 2 p. m. Fridays.
Gaining a foothold
Through a series of teaching clinics, leagues and tournaments, the sport of beach tennis has slowly gained in popularity in parts of the country including Charleston, S. C.; Southern California and coastal Florida. But the official home of Beach Tennis USA is in Long Beach, where the game was introduced in 2005 by Marc Altheim, a Long Island developer who fell for the sport when vacationing in Aruba.
“The top players in the world are in their 20s, but we’ve got a couple former Davis Cup players playing,” said Sayoc, who pointed to the two permanent beach tennis courts at the National Tennis Center in Flushing. “The very top players in the country train on beach tennis courts.
“It’s easy on the body,” explained Sayoc, who won a regional beach tennis tournament earlier this year in Long Beach. “You can dive, and bounce right back up. The sand is low impact, so it’s not like being on a tennis court for four or five hours where you’re limping the next day.”
Globally, the sport traces its origin to the early ’80s and the province of Ravenna, Italy. In 2008 at the European championships held in Riccione, Italy, the Italians finished first followed by teams from Belgium and Cyprus. In other countries, beach tennis is called beach paddle ball. In Israel, it is called matkot; in Italy, racchettoni.
In 2010, the biggest development for Beach Tennis USA was the switch from standard tennis rackets to paddles for regulation tournament play. The paddles, which range from 18z to 20 inches, are made of fiberglass, carbon or a carbon-Kevlar blend. They range in price from $20 to $250. Junior paddles for children are most often crafted from wood.
“The paddles give you more control, more feel,” said Johnson. “It’s a better game with the paddles. What’s perfect is that you can come in there without any tennis experience and start playing. With the rackets, it wasn’t as fun.
“Right now Buffalo is one of the hot segments of beach tennis being played in the country,” said Johnson. “We even played at the Powder Keg Winter Festival, across from the ice maze.”
e-mail: jkwiatkowski@buffnews.com |
