YTA Raises $200,000 at Bank of the West Classic
Youth Tennis Advantage’s For the Kids dinner and Aces fundraisers made nearly $200,000 for the Bay Area teaching and tutoring nonprofit that’s trying to rebound from cuts necessitated by the poor economy and tight purse strings. The response at the July 29 dinner during the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford was encouraging and, near the end, held a surprise for Executive Director Loretta Conway. After it was announced that a new “College Pathway Workshops” program to prepare kids for college needed $90,000, some amazing gifting broke out.
“In 10 minutes, $89,200 was raised,” Conway said. “I almost fainted. I expected half that. And many of the hands that went up were new donors.”
The dinner itself, sponsored by Blue Shield of California, included many mini-fundraisers and netted $134,240. Aces for Kids, with a $10,000 donation from Bank of the West, raised $60,500, slightly under last year’s total and below expectations, but the counting wasn’t finished at press time. Possibly the evening’s largesse was sparked by Barry MacKay’s scintillating interview with a top player. This year it was with charming Marion Bartoli. MacKay said it was his best ever as the witty and anecdotal Bartoli easily won over the crowd of 180 adults and kids. She also won the tournament.
Magyary Breaks Through in Alpine Hills’ 70s
In a tournament where top seeds rule, it was only unseeded Andrew Magyary who stepped up to inspire aging underdogs throughout NorCal by toppling the top three seeds in the Alpine Hills Senior 70s in July to take home a hard-earned singles title.
The unseeded Magyary, of San Mateo, came back from an embarrassing distance in the finals to knock off No. 2 seed Elmer Mangrum, of San Jose and Florida, 0-6, 7-5, 6-2. Magyary had upended top-seeded Colin Armitage of Danville in a marathon second round match, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6). He still had enough in the tank to stop San Francisco’s Mason Grigsby, No. 3, in online casino spiele the semis 7-6(9), 6-1. In the remaining eight men’s singles categories, the top two seeds were the finals.
With 14 entries, the 70s had the largest draw. Moreover, this was Magyary’s first tournament victory in at least ten years. His USTA NorCal record dating to ‘99 shows no titles but indicates he gained four finals. The last was the ‘04 Courtside Seniors 65s where Mangrum beat him in three sets. Surprisingly, women’s doubles created stronger draws than the men’s. The casino online women’s 50s had six teams, won by Laurie Rose and Nancy Sallaberry, and the 70s and 75s each had five. All eight men’s doubles draws were three-team round robins, or less.
But enthusiasm over women’s doubles at the bucolic Portola Valley club wasn’t enough to counter a slide in participation. Total entries were 174, down from 189 the year before, a rise that had stemmed three declines. Repeat winners this year were Yvonne Merrick of Oakland in women’s 70s and Mangrum and David Ferran in men’s 70s doubles. Other winners: M45s, Jim Rakela; M50s, Anthony Mendoza; M55s, Tom Kitiguchi; M60s, Steve Cornell; M65s, Kent Olsen; M75s, Dwight Christopher; M80s, Wayne Hippenstiel; M85s, William Graham; W45s, Tracy Houk; W50s, Martina Bartels; W60s, Nancy Garcia; W65s, Katarina Kivel; W75s, Mary Kearney.
W45D, Karla Baarnette/Lisa Speigelman; W65D, Rosemary Hopkins/Monica Williams; W70D, Susan Bittner/Fran Kristofferson; W75D, Barbara Bachmann/Jean Knofler; M45D, Kevin Howard/Byron Nepomuceno; M50D, Peter Morris/Karl Yorston; M55D, Lance Turner/Herb Tout; M65D, Steve Booth/Bill Wagley; M75D, Owen Hand/John Olmstead; M80D, Don Gale/Ramon Myers; M85D, Dyle Anderson/Austin Sellery.
Nike 12s, 14s champs Vie at Stanford University
Stanford’s tennis center will host the national Nike Junior Tennis Championships Sept. 18-20. The 12s and 14s winners from 16 sections throughout the U.S. will compete to determine four winners who will advance to the prestigious international NJT tournament in the Dominican Republic.
Competing on the campus will be the winners from the NorCal Sectionals, which were held in June at Seascape RC in Aptos. Four players from San Jose all made the boys finals. No. 3 Timothy Tan beat No. 4 Richard Pham 7-5, 6-1 in the 14s, and No. 1 Cameron Klinger defeated No. 2 Kenneth Tao 6-4, 6-3 in the 12s. In girls’ 14s finals, No. 1 Mariska Chamdani of Santa Clara beat No. 6 Isabella Heidenreich of Napa 6-0, 6-1. No. 2 Catherine Bellis of Hillsborough beat No. 1 Jenna Friedel of Mill Valley 6-3, 6-0.
The winners receive gratis room and board and can dream of emulating the only world-beater from NorCal that has ever emerged in the series that now involves 27 countries. In 2004, Sacramento’s Matuse Keckie won the NJT international 14s in France. Keckie was on the NCAA titlw-winning USC squad.
Suisun’s Phil Cello has been the NJT director, coach, and NJT National Masters TD since ‘00.
In Brief
The Osuna Cup, the senior team competition between the U.S. and Mexico that carries a large contingent of NorCal players, was scheduled this year in San Luis Potosi but was cancelled because of swine flu. The central Mexican state, an early center of the virulent flu, had 13 deaths attributable to it in April.
NorCal Hall of Famer Ken Robinson of San Carlos retuned to the winner’s circle in July when he and Santa Fe’s Jimmy Parker reunited to win the National Indoor 65s in Vancouver, Washington. They beat Lee Housman/William Bethard of San Diego 6-1, 6-0 in the final. An injury had knocked the double Grand Slam winning team out of the National Clay 65s in April.
