WInter National Winners

As promised, a slide show of most of the winners of the Winter Nationals in Arizona. I wasn't there, of course, but I've searched through my photo archives and found most of the older competitors. I apologize for having no photos of the girls 18s winner, Emily Gelber, the unseeded 14-year-old from New York, who didn't lose a set on her way to the championship, and the boys 14s winner, No. 9 seed Nathan Pasha of Georgia, who also didn't drop a set en route to his gold ball. Although I had the boys 12s finalists, thanks to the recent Florida tournaments, I didn't have either of the girls in the 12s final.

Eric Boal of the LA Daily News followed the Southern California contingent throughout the tournament, and filed this story about Ryan Thacher's victory in the boys 18s.

I also added photos of Julia Cohen, who just won her third straight Casablanca Cup, the ITF Grade A tournament in Mexico, and took the doubles title as well. Kellen Damico teamed with Jonathan Eysseric of France to take the boys doubles championship.

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TAGS:Winter Nationals, tennis, junior tennis

Happy New Year!

The Tennis Recruiting Network begins 2007 with an interview with Will Guzick, who is publicly announcing that he's selected Harvard for his higher education.

I wrote a story about Guzick for Smash in early 2006, and I never doubted he would choose a school that would challenge him intellectually and athletically. Today he goes for a gold ball in 18s doubles at the Winter Nationals.

We have a Rose Bowl party this afternoon, so this post is early, but tomorrow I'm planning a recap of the Winter Nationals, with as many photos as I can find of those in today's finals.

TAGS:Will Guzick, tennis, junior tennis

Inside Junior Tennis Podcast; USTA's Junior Year in Review

The most recent Inside Junior Tennis podcast is now available. Kevin McClure and I discuss the Junior Orange Bowl winners and use the Miami Herald story on Evan King as a jumping off point for delving into the issue of balance in a gifted junior's life.

A few weeks ago, usta.com wrapped up the 2006 tennis year from the American junior perspective; Sally Milano's article is here.

I have just converted to the new and improved Blogger, and in the next few days you'll notice a different look for zootennis. Bear with me, it may take a while to get it organized.

TAGS:usta.com, tennis, junior tennis

2006 Honor Roll

December 2006

Reo Asami

12s Junior Orange Bowl

Mateusz Kecki

ITF Grade 1 Eddie Herr (dbls)

Mitchell Krueger

12s Eddie Herr International

Thai Kwiatkowski & Joseph DiGiulio (dbls)

12s Eddie Herr International

October 2006

Mateusz Kecki

ITF Grade B1 Tulsa

Kellen Damico & Johnny Hamui

ITF Grade B1 Tulsa (dbls)

September 2006

Jamie Hunt & Nate Schnugg (dbls)

U.S. Open Junior Championships

August 2006

Donald Young

18s USTA Nationals

Brennan Boyajian

16s USTA Nationals

Junior Ore

14s USTA Nationals

Gordon Watson

12s USTA Nationals

July 2006

Michael Venus

18s USTA Clay Courts

Brennan Boyajian

16s USTA Clay Courts

Dennis Kudla

14s USTA Clay Courts

Gordon Watson

12s USTA Clay Courts

Kellen Damico & Nate Schnugg (dbls)

Wimbledon Junior Championships

April 2006

Jamie Hunt & Donald Young (dbls)

ITF Grade B1 Easter Bowl

Donald Young

ITF Grade B1 Easter Bowl

Brennan Boyajian

16s USTA Easter Bowl

Evan King

14s USTA Easter Bowl

Mika DeCoster

12s USTA Spring Nationals

Kyle McMorrow

16s International Spring

March 2006

Nate Schnugg (dbls)

ITF Grade 1 Gerdau Cup

Houston Barrick

18s USTA Spring Nationals

Jamie Hunt and Nate Schnugg (dbls)

ITF Grade A Banana Bowl

January 2006

Ray Sarmiento

Teen Tennis International

Shaun Bernstein and Ray Sarmiento

Teen Tennis International (dbls)

Dennis Lajola (dbls)

ITF Grade 1 Loy Yang

Kallim Stewart

18s USTA Winter Nationals

Ryan Thacher

16s USTA Winter Nationals

Jordan Cox

14s USTA Winter Nationals

Emmett Egger

12s USTA Winter Nationals

For 2005 Honor Roll,

click here

Game, set, touchdown: USC's success is hardly by the book: CBSsportsline.com (AP)

A Rose Bowl preview featuring Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans wouldn't normally make my daily reading list, even if the Michigan Wolverines are their opponent on Monday. (I guess I'm still in denial that U of M didn't get their rematch with the Buckeyes in the BCS title game).

But it turns out that Carroll has been a fan of a tennis book for many years, and has passed along copies of it to many of his players. Lawrence Jackson, a defensive lineman, is the player most recently influenced by W. Timothy Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis. I checked out the reviews on Amazon, and although it doesn't sound as revolutionary as it probably was back in the 70s, I'm guessing much of the zen-type advice continues to resonate with athletes not yet born when the book was published.

TAGS: tennis, The Inner Game of Tennis, W. Timothy Gallwey, Pete Carroll, USC

To Academy or Not To Academy

While I was in Florida, Peter Bodo was too, and even though he was at IMG/Bollettieri's for only a day, he gathered plenty of material for an interesting TennisWorld post. He reveals an offer Bollettieri made to the USTA, who apparently declined it, although no reasons were given. Bodo's remarks regarding a six-year-old Bollettieri student produced many perceptive comments from his readers, and many interesting issues were raised including the special needs of gifted children, the boarding school option, how young is too young, etc.

I know many juniors who go to academies, including Bollettieri's, and many who do not. Some do not because they aren't interested in leaving their homes and families. Some do not because they can not afford it and they have not been offered scholarships. Some do not because they are happy with the progress of their game with their local coach. And yes, some do not because they are not interested in pursuing tennis that seriously.

But if you have a child who loves tennis and excels at it, and you are from say, Nebraska or Minnesota, how do you choose between giving that child the opportunity to develop against top competition and a "normal" family life? Do you move the entire family to Florida or Southern California? And does this only increase the pressure on the child, who now feels responsible for prompting such a major change?

These are dilemmas that no one can presume to resolve for someone else. It turns out that the six-year-old's parents felt the commenters were jumping to conclusions, and they sparked another interesting batch of comments when they took the opportunity to weigh in with the particulars of their daughter's situation. That comment (12/22 12:50 p.m.) is in this post.

TAGS: tennis, Nick Bollettieri, Peter Bodo's Tennis World