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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Marino to Georgia Tech; Orange Bowl Deadline; Spencer Feature

First I want to notify everyone that I am going to be away on a long weekend for a family celebration beginning tomorrow, so posts are likely to be at unusual times if at all. I'll be posting early on Thursday, and then will be introducing on Friday the new feature--Coaches' Q and A with Andy Brandi and Harold Solomon. Andy will be addressing the always problematic when-to-play-up issue for zootennis readers. I should be able to review and post comments, but that may be it until Monday. I haven't missed a day since July 9th, so I guess I'm due for a break.

In the rich get richer department, Canadian Rebecca Marino has verbally committed to Georgia Tech for next fall. I spoke with her in Tulsa for the article that appears on The Tennis Recruiting Network today, and she is very confident that Bryan Shelton's program is the right place for her.

The fact sheet and other information for the Orange Bowl (16s and 18s) was posted on the ITF junior website today, and the deadline for entry is THIS Friday, October 26, at 5 p.m. Wild card requests are also due on that same date. There is a new sponsor this year--Dunlop--and they are supplying the balls. The tournament will continue to be played at Crandon Park, but note that the USTA High Performance headquarters have moved to Boca Raton.

Wil Spencer is featured on MaxPreps, a website I didn't know about until I read this piece today. Although I had spoken to him about his choice of tennis, I wasn't aware just how talented he was in other sports before he began to concentrate solely on racquet and ball. But what does the headline mean?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

As far as the headline goes, I assume that you're referring to the "Gigs 'Em" part. "Gig 'em" is something that A&M people say. It's a tradition of sorts. It's often said in the vein of, "Go get 'em," or "Beat 'em." Other times it's said as an expression of one's loyalty towards Texas A&M.

I found this on the origin of it:

"At a yell practice before the 1930 TCU game, A&M board of regent Pinky Downs '06 shouted, "What are we going to do to those Horned Frogs?" His muse did not fail him as he improvised, borrowing a term from frog hunting. "Gig 'em, Aggies!" he said as he made a fist with his thumb extended straight up. And with that the first hand sign in the Southwest Conference came into being."

Anonymous said...

wow..david has much too much time on his hands

Anonymous said...

GT sure is doing a great job of recruiting. They lose McCray and Miller but replace them with Marino plus they've added freshmen in Hickey, Krupina and Johansson this season. If one of the girls can take Miller's place at #1, and it looks like McDowell might be the answer, then Bryan Shelton could have set them up as contenders for the next few years. They're also going to have a really tall team. Krupina is 6`1 and Marino is 6`2.

What's the status of Craddock? She's not listed on their roster but I haven't heard that she's transferred, injured, gone pro or quit school?

Colette Lewis said...

Craddock is taking a year off, is playing pro events as an amateur and is not expected to return to Georgia Tech.

Anonymous said...

Does that mean she isn't expected to return to any school or just that if she does return to school it'll be somewhere apart from GT ?

I guess i can see the logic in going to another school if she wants to go pro at some point. Even with Kristi Miller gone next year she'll have a lot of competition to play #1.