Berg, Gonzalez, Liang and Revzin Receive USTA National Bill Talbert Sportsmanship Awards; USTA Announces Two Additional College MatchDays for April

One of the highlights of any junior's career is a nomination for the annual Bill Talbert Sportsmanship Award, and thanks to the USTA's Pat Mitsch, I am able to pass along the names and information on the 2012 national winners: Hadley Berg (Northern California), Xavier Gonzalez(Texas), Spencer Liang(Mid-Atlantic) and Aaron Revzin(New England). The four players and their families are invited to the International Tennis Hall of Fame ceremony in July, where they will witness the induction of Martina Hingis, among others, and will receive their awards.

I had written about Liang's award in my profile of her earlier this month for the Tennis Recruiting Network.  Mitsch has supplied the following information about the winners, while you can go to their Tennis Recruiting Network profiles by clicking on their names in bold:

Hadley Berg (3/11/1996)

- 2010 Boys' and Girls' 16 Zone Team Championships (Level 2) Spirit Award - a member of the NorCal team that won the award for sportsmanship and team spirit.

Section Tournament Sportsmanship Awards:

• 2011 Girls’ 18 Solano Junior Excellence (Level 4) – winner of daily award for outstanding sportsmanship; award is given to a boy and a girl each day.

• 2011 Girls’ 16 NorCal Sectional Championships (Level 3) – winner of Tournament Sportsmanship Award; award is given for outstanding

sportsmanship throughout whole tournament.

• 2010 Girls’ 16 NorCal Sectional Championships (Level 3) – winner of daily award for outstanding sportsmanship; award is given to a boy and a girl each day.

• 2007 Spare Time, Inc. Junior 12s Championships (Level 5) – winner of Tournament Sportsmanship Award; award is given for outstanding

sportsmanship throughout whole tournament.

• 2007 Spare Time Memorial Day Junior 12s Excellence (Level 4) – winner of Tournament Sportsmanship Award; award is given for outstanding sportsmanship throughout whole tournament.

• 2007 Marin Veterans Day Junior 12s Open – winner of Tournament

Sportsmanship Award; award is given for outstanding sportsmanship throughout whole tournament.

• USTA NorCal Sportsmanship Bag Tags – At least five (5) since program began. Hadley has a couple more bag tags but cannot remember from what tournaments and years they are from.

District/Local Tournament Sportsmanship Awards:

• 2012 Maze Cup (USTA NorCal/USTA SoCal Annual Davis/Fed-Cup-Style

Team Competition) NorCal Sportsmanship Award Winner – winner chosen by SoCal team.

• Redwood High School 2010 MVP – Girls’ Tennis Team

Xavier Gonzalez (6/14/1996)

Gonzalez with coach Jack Brasington, a 1994 Bill Talbert Award Winner
(photo courtesy JJ Gonzalez) 

National Tournament Sportsmanship Awards:

- B14 USTA Winter National Tucson, AZ December 2010—January 2011

B14 USTA National Open Mobile, AL November 2009

Section Tournament Sportsmanship Awards:

- B16 Bob McKinley Sportsmanship Award, College Station, TX June 2012 (Annual award given by USTA Texas Section; candidates nominated by umpires and winner selected by vote of peers.)

- B14/12 Clarence Mabry Sportsmanship Award, Tyler, TX August 2010

- B14/12 Clarence Mabry Sportsmanship Award, Laredo, TX February 2009

- B14/12 Clarence Mabry Sportsmanship Award, Arlington, TX October 2008

- John Newcombe Sportsmanship Award, Pasadena, TX November 2006

District/Local Tournament Sportsmanship Awards:

- "Male Player of the Tournament” (In recognition of his attitude and respect for the sport of tennis)

- 92nd Annual La Jolla Tennis Championships San Diego, CA June 2008

- St. John’s School 8th Grade Boys Sportsmanship Award 2010

- St. John’s School 7th Grade Boys Sportsmanship Award 2009

Other Awards:

Citizenship Awards: St. John’s Middle School Student - Council Service Award May 2010

ACADEMIC AWARDS (2011-2012 School Year)

• American Chemical Society- First Place on Honors Chemistry Exam (winning

$2,500 scholarship for college)

• US National Chemistry Olympiad Finalist (top 10%)

• Scored 102 on American Mathematics Competition (AMC 12) (top 5%)

• Scored 5 on American Invitational Mathematics Exam (top 25% of the top 5%)

• St. John’s School Awards

o Chemistry Award Winner

o Dr. Johnson English Award Winner

o AP Spanish Language Award Winner

o AP Calculus BC Honorable Mention

• Science and Mathematics Club officer

HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS (Spring Season)• Captain of St. John’s Tennis Team

for junior year (spring season)

• Most Valuable Player Award in tennis -2 years

• SPC All-Conference Honors in tennis-2 years

Delegate to Houston Model United Nations 2012

For more on Gonzalez and his award see this article from the Houston Tennis Examiner.

Spencer Liang (1/25/1995)

National Tournament Sportsmanship Awards:

- July 2012 - USTA National Opens (Philadelphia Area Tennis District)

- Sportsmanship Award G18s

- April 2011 - USTA Spring National Championships (Easter Bowl Sportsmanship Award G16s

- August 2010 - USTA Hard Court National Championships Sportsmanship Award G16s

April 2009 - USTA Spring National Championships (Easter Bowl Sportsmanship Award G14s

Section Tournament Sportsmanship Awards:

- October/November 2012 – USTA Mid-Atlantic Junior Sportsmanship Award

District/Local Tournament

Sportsmanship Awards:

- October 2010 - USTA Maryland Paul Goldstein Sportsmanship Award

Other Awards: Selected to USTA Player Development World TeamTennis Camp in 2010

Aaron Revzin (6/13/1994)

National Tournament Sportsmanship Awards:

- 2012 USTA Junior Scholar Athlete Award – Honorable Mention

• 2012 USTA National Open (Level 2, Dayton, OH) 18’s Sportsmanship Award

• 2010 USTA Winter National Championships (Level 1) 16’s Sportsmanship

Award

• 2007 USTA Zone Team Championships 14’s Sportsmanship Award

Section Tournament SportsmanShip Awards:

- 2012 USTA New England Colonel Bernard Gorfinkle Sportsmanship Award

(Awarded to the USTA New England Boys 18-and-under player who exemplified

outstanding sportsmanship on and off the court throughout his career)

• 2012 Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) Team

Sportsmanship Award (Captain of recipient Needham High School tennis team –

awarded to only 1 team in Massachusetts)

• 2009 Herbert L. Schachter Mensch Award - Sportsmanship and character

award, selected from all USTA NE 12's -18's, boys and girls

• 2007 New England Open (Level 3) 14’s Sportsmanship Award

• 2006 USTA New England Annual Junior 12’s Sportsmanship Award

School Awards:

• High Honors

• Needham MA Booster Club Scholarship (awarded at graduation for “combining

will to win with scholastic ability and good sportsmanship”)

• Needham High School Athletics Excellence Award

• Academic Excellence Award – awarded end of Junior year

• National Spanish Exam Medalist (3 years)

Community Awards

• Boston Globe and Boston Herald All Scholastic (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)

• Bay State Conference MVP (2010-2012)

• Joe Linsey Scholar Athlete Award (B’Nai Brith, 2012)

• B’Nai Brith All Scholastic Award (2009 – 2012)

Volunteer and Community Activities

• Handi Racquet tennis program – volunteer coach for developmentally

challenged youth and adults

Congratulations to these four and all the other juniors who were nominated by their sections for this prestigious award.

The USTA announced today that two more CollegeMatch days have been added to the 2013 schedule, both of them men's matches: an April 6 match between BYU and Boise State, as part of the USA-Serbia Davis Cup tie, and USC at UCLA on April 19th.

The complete release is below:

USTA ADDS TWO DATES TO COLLEGE MATCHDAY SERIES IN 2013 

BYU at Boise State Men on April 6 to be held in Conjunction with
the U.S. Davis Cup Team’s Quarterfinal Tie vs. Serbia

USC at UCLA Men on April 19 Added to Series Spotlighting College Tennis

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., March 28, 2013 – The USTA announced today that it will spotlight two additional college tennis matches this season as part of its College MatchDay series: BYU at Boise State men on Saturday, April 6, in Boise, Idaho, and USC at UCLA men on Friday, April 19, in Los Angeles.

In Boise, College MatchDay will be held in conjunction with the U.S. Davis Cup Team’s World Group Quarterfinal tie vs. Serbia April 5-7 at Boise State’s Taco Bell Arena. The Boise State vs. BYU men’s match will be held at the Boas Tennis Center on campus that Saturday at 9:30 a.m. local time, three hours before the 12:30 p.m. start time of the Davis Cup doubles match scheduled for that day at Taco Bell Arena.

“We’re thrilled to be able to highlight college tennis alongside a United States Davis Cup Team tie,” said Jeff Ryan, USTA Senior Director, Team Events. “Bringing College MatchDay to Boise is another great way to celebrate the game of tennis.”

“The dream of getting Davis Cup to Boise State was great. Now, to play BYU and have MatchDay in conjunction with Davis Cup made the dream that much better,” said Boise State coach Greg Patton. “It is going to be an unbelievable festival and celebration of college tennis, Davis Cup tennis and basically tennis in the team format."

College MatchDay debuted in February with more than 1,000 fans attending the Florida vs. Stanford women’s match in Gainesville, Fla., and continued with the Virginia men hosting Duke in March. The USTA launched College MatchDay this year to highlight a number of premier men’s and women’s college tennis team matches each season, organizing activities and local outreach surrounding the host team’s campus. College MatchDay will feature a team match every week beginning in 2014.

The USTA has partnered with college tennis by serving as the title sponsor of the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s indoor tennis center, the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships, the USTA/ITA National Collegiate Wheelchair Championships and more than 85 USTA/ITA Regional Tournaments. The USTA also names and funds its annual Collegiate Team, a high-level training program for top American collegiate tennis players designed to provide them with exposure to the USTA Pro Circuit in a team-oriented environment.