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The Sportime Champions (18 Advanced), YMCA Acers (18 Intermediate), and YMCA Devils (14 Intermediate) represented the Northern Region in the USTA Eastern Junior Team Tennis Sectionals at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, NY.   The Devils had to play Team Gritty first. Team Gritty went undefeated in the tournament and won the 14 Intermediates. Next up was the team from Metro - HJTEP. The Devils won 4 out of 5 events thanks to Stephen Potvin (Boys Singles); Jolie Chichak (Girls Singles): Claire Dooley (Girls Doubles and Mixed Doubles); Yurui Lin (Girls Doubles; and Vivek Venkat (Mixed Doubles). They finished with a match against a strong Long Island team (Waldwick Covered Courts). Waldwick was the only team to challenge Team Gritty. Nevertheless, Jolie Chichak still came away with another singles win. "Overall a great team effort." (Andrea Peters - proud mom and Team Captain) The YMCA ACERS were in it all the way. The ACERS won both of thei

The past weekend the Coach Gene Gould Tournament was held at SPORTIME Schenectady.  About Coach Gould So many great Capital District players played under Coach Gould. He had so many great teams, talented players, and more than 500 wins as Boys High School Tennis Coach at Shenendehowa - probably the most wins ever for a high school tennis coach in New York State. He was the Section 2 Coordinator for many years. It was a pleasure to have known him.     "I still have the most wonderful memories of a caring and thoughtful coach and a smart and dedicated master. I have a book by my bedside that he inscribed to me and a picture of my daughter with him. His spirit lives on." Cay Hanley The Tournament From the opening gun, there was great tennis and exciting tennis. The first match out - between Michael Versaci and Vivek Lanka - went to a 9-7 deciding set tiebreaker. In the Boys 14's, Ian Jin won more games than tournament winner Renat Gosmanov in their opening round match-up. Th

Last week I wrote an introductory article about tennis and sun.  This article specifically focuses on hydration.  Hydration is important! Your body depends on water to survive.  Every cell, tissue, and organ in your body needs water to work properly.  For example, your body uses water to maintain its temperature, remove waste, and lubricate your joints.  Water is necessary for overall good health. (1) Dehydration of as little as 1-2 percent of body weight (only 1.5-3 pounds for a 150 lb. athlete) reduces performance.  Dehydration of 3 percent or more of body weight increases a tennis player’s risk of heat-related illness (heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke).  For every percent of body weight lost during play, an athlete’s core body temperature can rise by 0.5 F. This results in the athlete’s heart working harder by 3-7 beats per minute at the same work rate. (2)   SIGNS OF DEHYDRATION    (3)   Not only do you lose water when you sweat, but you also lose electrolytes. What are

The Bethlehem Eagles traveled to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to play in the NYS Public High School Team Championships. In the opening round, Bethlehem came up big in the doubles. They won all 3 doubles events. Unfortunately, they came up short in the opening round, losing a close match to Commack by a score of 4-3. Doubles winners were Hayden Brown/Ian Jin, Tao Xie/Emiliano Torlasco, and David Bievenue/Nyle Dennin. The match came down to a 3-set nailbiter at 4th singles, with Bethlehem’s Aiden Haas coming up a little short. A great effort by the Eagles.

As I said yesterday, it was an excellent year for Section 2 High School tennis.  A big highlight was Masami Surisawa winning the backdraw at High School States.  No area Sophomore had that kind of success at States since 2007 when Albany Academy’s Matt Kandath won Boy’s States (when he was the youngest player to win States).  Masami not only won the Consolation draw, but he got to avenge some previous losses.  Earlier this year, Masami lost to Gurv Suri 2-6, 7-6(2), 10-5 at a Level 5 tournament in January.  This time Masami took the third set tiebreaker 12-10.  In the finals, he avenged another prior tournament loss when he played Anthony Markello - a Senior from Olean, NY.  Markello beat Masami 8-4 when they played back in February 2021 in a USTA tournament at Binghamton Tennis Center.  Revenge is sweet!

 What an exciting year for Section 2 High School tennis.  Loren Cuomo (Schenectady-Mohonasen) showed us that the only thing that could stop her from winning Section 2 Championships was a pandemic (Sectionals were not held in 2020 due to COVID).  She had to settle for winning four straight Section 2 Championships.  After winning Sectionals, Loren went onto the State Championships at SPORTIME Schenectady - playing on the same courts she had won so many Sectional Championships on, and the winning wasn’t over for her.  Loren started off States with an impressive 6-2, 6-0 win over Nicolette Loeffler (Cold Springs).   She followed that up with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Olivia Medrano of Pelham.  In the third round, she played Alyssa Margolin (Ward Melville Senior High).  Loren took the first set before losing 6-4 in the third.  Loren still had one match to go, and she capped off her High School Tennis career in style with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Mia Palladino (Brewster).  Loren played 4 great

 We have already experienced 90-degree days this year, and more will come.  As tennis players, we need to take the sun seriously.  Both Dehydration and Sun Exposure can be deceptive.  Often, the effects of sun exposure are cumulative.  When it’s 90 degrees out, and we are fine, we think we will be alright because it will only be 85 degrees out tomorrow.  I have first-hand experience with the cumulative effects of the sun.  Several years ago, I coached 16 and Under Zonals at the University of Texas at Austin.  On the second day, we came back from our match to find that one of the Eastern boys on one of the other teams had gotten heat stroke – Eastern Section players were divided into three teams.  His parents told me he had to get three bags of IVs in the ambulance.  On Day 3, it was our turn.  One of my players came over to me on a changeover and said, “Coach, I don’t feel too good.” He wasn’t walking normally, and he looked lethargic.  I brought the player to the tournament office - t

          The future looks bright for Northern Region tennis. SPORTIME Schenectady hosted the June Ten and under tournament, and the level of play was as good as it’s ever been. There were so many great points and intense competition, but the kids all played fair. So many Northern Region players have come through the Ten and under tournament progression, and results from the older age groups show how much better our kids are doing. We have more highly ranked 12 and under/14 and under players than I can remember at any time in the past. Congratulation to Ryan Limam of Fayetteville, who took the 10 and under Green Ball Boy’s event by beating Xavier Pulecio of Guilderland. Brooklyn Kelling beat her twin sister Kennedy to take the Girls’ Green Ball event. The Kellings are from Saratoga Springs. Hans Werner (Albany) beat out Aiden Paul (Albany) for the Boys’ Orange Ball title. The next Ten and under tournament is scheduled for July 3rd ( CLICK HERE ). editor@518tennis.com

  Albany's Masami Surisawa came up big at the New York State Public High Scholl Athletic Association State High School Tennis Championships. He drew the second seed in the first round and lost, which sent him into the Consolation Draw. After that, he never lost again. Masami showed his grit and determination. After dropping the first set 6-2, Masami came back and won the second set 6-1 and the match tiebreaker 10-7. He also came back from a set down in the semi-finals. His high school coach - Anthony Omar, said, "Super proud of him and his toughness to play high-quality tennis at the highest level." After the match, Masami told me, "I was very happy to have won. The competition was very tough, but I am proud that I was able to pull through."  

 Day 2 and all the matches were indoors at the National Tennis Center. Zain and Avaneesh finished their first-round Consolation match but came up short, losing 6-4, 6-3. Albany Academy's Will Fraser and Zain Magdon-Ismail won their consolation match this morning and then lost in a nail-biter that went to the third set tiebreaker. They lost the tiebreaker 10-6.   In the singles, Mahen Bitkuri lost to Gurv Suri (Cornwall Central) 3-6, 7-5, 12-10. It was another nail-biter. Meanwhile, Masami Surisawa defeated Nathan Hart - Penfield High School 6-2, 6-3, and defeated Gurv Suri. Masami will play Charles W Baker High School's Anthony Markello in the Consolation Round Finals tomorrow morning. A special shoutout to Zain Magdon-Ismail, who was awarded the Section 2 Sportsmanship Award.   editor@518tennis.com

Bethlehem's Will Bievenue and Aaditya Ojha made it to the quarter-final round at States.  They won their second-round match by beating Funiciello/Licciardello (Charles W. Baker HS).  Unfortunately, their journey ended there today when they lost to Ward Melville's Burztyn and Pennabadi.  It was a great run, we congratulate them on their strong showing.  They represented Section 2 well.  “I think this experience is amazing and being with this group of kids has been a ton of fun. Going into day one, I didn’t think we had a chance because their UTRs were higher than ours but it was awesome to pull off the wins. Today is going to be tough with the one seed so we are going to try our best” - Aadi Section 2 Singles winner Krishnadhev Jammula had to pull out of the Consolation Draw with an ankle injury.  The other two Section 2 Singles players - Mahen Bitkuri and Masami Surisawa - won their first-round Consolation Draw matches.  Zain Magdon-Ismail and Will Frasier won their first Conso

SINGLES DRAW https://app.universaltennis.com/events/112165?d=fd16b1fe-dfa6-4dac-9c4f-e575dfc8f42c&r=0&t=3 Khrishnadhev Jammula (Albany Academy) plays Michael Safir (Old Westbury) LOST 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 Mahen Bitkuri (Guilderland) plays Stephan Gershfeld (George W. Hewlett) LOST 6-1, 6-1 Masami Surisawa (Albany) plays Jason Shuler (Scarsdale) LOST 6-1, 6-0 DOUBLES DRAW https://app.universaltennis.com/events/112165?d=372bef2f-1f44-41ed-aced-382acb4e1ee7&r=0&t=3 Aaditya Ojha/Will Bievenue (Bethlehem) play Simons/Guan (Ithaca) WON 6-2, 6-3 Avaneesh Benki/Zain Choudry (Niskayuna) play Wei/Wallis (Horace Greeley) LOST 6-2, 6-1 Zain Magdon-Ismail/Will Fraser (Albany Academy) play Platrow/Greilsheimer (Paul D. Schreiber) LOST 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-4 editor@518tennis.com  

SINGLES DRAW https://app.universaltennis.com/events/112165?d=fd16b1fe-dfa6-4dac-9c4f-e575dfc8f42c&r=0&t=3 Khrishnadhev Jammula (Albany Academy) plays Michael Safir (Old Westbury) Mahen Bitkuri (Guilderland) plays Stephan Gershfeld (George W. Hewlett) Masami Surisawa (Albany) plays Jason Shuler (Scarsdale) DOUBLES DRAW https://app.universaltennis.com/events/112165?d=372bef2f-1f44-41ed-aced-382acb4e1ee7&r=0&t=3 Aaditya Ojha/Will Bievenue (Bethlehem) play Simons/Guan (Ithaca) Avaneesh Benki/Zain Choudry (Niskayuna) play Wei/Wallis (Horace Greeley) Zain Magdon-Ismail/Will Fraser (Albany Academy) play Platrow/Greilsheimer (Paul D. Schreiber) editor@518tennis.com  

This morning the Section 2 Boys’ champions left on a bus from SPORTIME Schenectady for the State High School Championships.  The tournament is played at the National Tennis Center - where they play the U.S. Open.   The word of the day was excitement.  Seventh-grader Zain Choudry (Niskayuna) was the youngest member of the Section 2 team.  He told me, “I am excited about going.  I’m just going to try to have fun.” It’s a new experience for him.  As a matter of fact, it’s a new experience for all of them.  States were not held last year because of the pandemic, and of course, the whole Boys’ season was canceled the year before.  Academy’s Krishnadhev Jammula told me, “I think it will be really exciting – a new experience for me.” His fellow teammate, Zain Magdon-Ismail, had this to say, “This is my first time at States.  Last time we were one win short.  I feel like we earned it.”   This is also the first time for Maple Hill’s Kolby Flach.  Kolby is the Sectional Coordinator.  His Maple H