Blog

Tennis4All Board elections

Tennis4All Members:
It’s that time of the year again!  Please let us know if you are interested in joining the Tennis4All Board.
This was a great year and we are looking to re-energize our group to improve our core activities while finding new ways to connect with the LGBT+ tennis community.  We can only do this with the support and guidance of our volunteer board members.

Do YOU have thoughts on how to make Tennis4All more fun and offer great events??  Well, then put your name in the hat and join the board ?  The board members are chiefly responsible for planning and managing the various year-round activities (i.e., singles league, doubles league, ladders, socials, team tennis, BTC tournament, etc.) and setting goals on how to improve the organization for years to come.

If you are a current member of Tennis4All and interested in running for one of the 12 board member positions, please e-mail your interest to cliffg@gmail.com by Saturday, August 24th, 2019. Depending on the number of candidates, you may be asked to provide a brief paragraph (fewer than 150 words please) explaining who you are and why you want to hold a position. The final list of candidates will be announced and all members will have an opportunity to vote via e-mail if we have more than 12 candidates.

Some of this year’s highlights:

  • Boston Tennis Classic featured as a Master Series!:  Congrats to tourney directors Ryan Losey, Roman Krasikov and Mike Mercier. We also received awards in 2018 for GLTA Best Tournament and Best Tournament Team.  Like, best in the world…Wow ?.
  • BTC featured on the USTA website:  https://www.usta.com/en/home/stay-current/newengland/boston-tennis-classic-2019.html.
  • We are hosting the Atlantic Cup this August 10 & 11:  We are welcoming Philly, NY, and DC at the Harvard Beren Center.  Thanks to Brian Frasier & Conall O’Cleirigh for organizing this great event.
  • Updated Website:  Chris Wood took the lead and revamped our site to a more modern and user friendly (and mobile friendly) approach…nice.
  • Volunteer Opportunities at Community Servings:  Thanks to Steve Backhaus for organizing this event, we are excited to give back to our community.
  • Participation in: Singles leagues, Doubles leagues, Summer Challenge ladders, monthly socials has been great! Let’s keep up the momentum.
  • Improved Facebook & new Instagram postings: Thanks to Gino Galutera for giving us a more polished and prominent presence on social media.

If you have any questions about the director positions or the time commitments involved, please feel free to contact me or any of the current board members who will be happy to assist you:  http://tennis4all.org/contact/

Barbara Ullman
Brian Bartoloni
Cliff Gibbons
Conall O’Cleirigh
James Conforti
Mike Dineen
Mark Weber
Scott Paveletz
Steve Backhaus
Steve Menichetti
Steve Santoro

We look forward to seeing a record number of candidates this year soon!

Thank you,

Cliff Gibbons cliffg@gmail.com
Tennis4All Clerk

Fall 2019 Singles League

All,

I am delighted to share with you the details of the Fall 2019 Singles Season by Tennis4All!

The details are as follows:

  • This season will consist of 15 weeks, from September 8, 2019 through December 15, 2019. There will not be any weeks where there are no scheduled matches.  All scheduled matches will be on Sundays.
  • The cost will be $230 for the season.
  • Each participant will be scheduled to play at least 9 matches.
  • We are maxed out at 46 participants.
  • Registration will open on Monday, August 4 and will remain open until the earlier of (a) member capacity is reached or (b) Saturday, August 17.
  • We will be sending a reminder email to our membership each day registration is open. In advance, we ask for your patience and understanding regarding multiple emails; these reminders are vital to both reaching our capacity and keeping the league successful and competitive.
  • Everyone will be allowed to request up to 2 Sundays off, and I will do my absolute best to accommodate those requests.

How to sign up:

  1. Go to the Tennis4All website by clicking HERE.
  2. Verify your membership is up-to-date. If you are not sure if it is up-to-date, please email your Membership Director, Brian Bartoloni, at membership@tennis4all.org.
  3. Click the big blue “Sign Up!” button at the bottom.
  4. Complete the application.
  5. Submit payment.
  6. Please note that all three of the following must be successfully completed to be considered registered: (a) membership up-to-date; (b) application submitted; and (c) payment received.  If you have any questions/concerns, please reach out to Mike Dineen at dineen.t4a@gmail.com.

I (Mike Dineen) and other board members, to be determined after annual elections, will be the directors of the singles season.

As always, if you have any questions/concerns, please let me know.

-Mike

Warming Up for the Open!

Hello Out There!

We have had some brutally hot days.

But now the weather is beautiful, as we all begin our preparation for the US Open Series.

There is movement on the ladder:

Sam, Roman and Meng have all moved up several rungs on the Challenge Ladder. Congrats to you guys.

How far can they go? And can anyone stop Novak? These are the question the world is asking.

Some of you may recall that my big brother David and I have a summer ‘Slam’ rivalry of our own. I must report that he took the first Slam, 6-3, 7-5….so it was close, and I think I know what I need to do to reclaim the trophy. Slam 2 will be tomorrow out on Block Island.

Its good to see so many active players on the ladder. Lets keep it going.

August awaits. On the way to Flushing Meadows

Peace

Doug

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberries and Cream

Its all heating up at the All-England Club…Serena and Halep…could be a classic…will Rafa take Fed down tomorrow or will the mighty Roger reassert himself? Can anyone stop the Djoker? Could that person be Bautista-Agut? he has beaten Novak before. But on this kind of stage?

Here on the Summer Challenge Ladder, Mr Wood is making his way up the rungs…can he take it all the way to the top where the mighty Legendre remains top dog?

A fascinating score from the Chuang-Surla-Vargas match: two lopsided sets for each player and then a tight tie-breaker. Tennis can be wacky.

And the 3 point-makers at the top continue to battle it out, with Jeremy and Scott continuing to just constantly play tennis. I am in awe.

On a slightly more serious note, I am including here a link to the code of conduct for Tennis 4all which the Challenge Ladder abides by. Please review and please always let me know if you feel like the principles stated within this link are not being upheld by an opponent. I will always keep your communications anonymous but I do want to hear from you.

A healthy sense of competition should always be present out there on the court sure, but this league is all about providing fun, safe, collegial spaces where friendships might emerge and mutual respect is the way.

Here it is:

http://tennis4all.org/code-of-conduct/

Have fun out there.

and for me personally I gotta say…VAMOS RAFA!

Doug

TIGHT POINTS

Hello Summer Challenge Ladder Warriors!

The battle for Points is getting very interesting with Mr Pollock rising high on the ladder to challenge Mr Surla-Vargas there, and some other folks are directly under him as well.

Mr Legendre continues to lead gracefully at the top of the Standings ladder. Can anyone take him down? What will it take? Mr Menechetti came close but alas…the ladder leader remains the same.

A reminder: when you challenge someone, make sure you are looking at the Standings and NOT the Points ladder to see who is 6 above or 4 below you. We had a little confusion about that. Sometimes of course you challenge someone, make a date to play etc and in the meantime they might move up or down on the ladder and be out of your official range: that is not a big deal and you should just proceed with the match.

Weekend weather looking pretty good! see you out there, on the courts of honor.

Also, (shameless self-promotion section of this announcement) we have only a week and a half left of “Pride and Prejudice” over at the Balch Auditorium on the Tufts Campus. Do come support your Rung Master here, playing Mr Wickham, Mr Collins and yes, Miss Bingley, in a new funkified adaptation of the great Jane Austen story. Here is the link with all the stink! https://www.actorsshakespeareproject.org/plays-events/pride-and-prejudice/

 

Doug

Vamos Enos!

This past week saw Rafa claim his 12th French Open, Ashleigh Barty receiving her first… and more importantly, the arrival of Scott Enos on the Summer Challenge Ladder, instantly ascending to the 2 spot on the Points ladder and jumping up several rungs on the positions ladder. Well done Scott!

 

The weather is gorgeous.

See you out there.

It is time to prepare… for Wimbledon.

March time 1:30 PM on Saturday!!

Hi everyone,

Anyone who is interested in marching with Tennis4all (the more, the merrier) should meet at 827 Boylston Street (Sir Speedy is your landmark) no later than 1:30 PM this Saturday 6/8.

Bring your tennis racquet as we plan on playing mini tennis and waving to the crowd with our racquets.

This is a great chance to promote the league, have fun, and be proud of who you are!!

We hope you can join us!!

A link to the Facebook event page is below.  Please check it for any updates.

https://www.facebook.com/events/2151189848327181/?ti=icl

Any questions?  (617)-838-5279.

Steve Menichetti

March with us June 8th!!

Hi Everyone,

Tennis4all will be marching in the pride parade ?️‍? on Saturday, June 8th.  We will know more about start time (sometime between 11am-1:30pm) and location (somewhere on Boylston street) on Wednesday or Thursday.

The weather forecast for Saturday is 75 and sunny ☀️.  Nice day for a stroll, perhaps?

ALL are welcome – we hope that you consider marching.   Let’s be proud of who we are as individuals and as an organization.

Below is a link to the event.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

https://www.facebook.com/events/2151189848327181/?ti=icl

Steve Menichetti

(617)-838-5279

 

 

Wiggle Waggle

Hello out there! The Summer Challenge ladder is off to a blistering start. As you will note in the score report, there was a Fierce battle between the #1 and #2 players…seems they both left it all out there.

Yours truly was heard wheezing on the court against an old foe…#cardio #bewarethelobsofcliff!

Jeremy continues to amass huge points. Will anyone catch him? The summer is long.

The ladder is also long.

Climb it.

Vamos Rafa

Recruiting for Atlantic Cup Team 2019

Dear Tennis4All Members —
It is my great honor and privilege to be serving as this year’s Atlantic Cup captain, and in that esteemed capacity (i.e., the role that nobody else wanted), I am writing to ask that you consider representing our great organization in our effort to dominate our rivals (on the tennis court not the bedroom, you pigs). Boston will compete in a team tennis competition at the Harvard courts on August 10th and 11th against NY, DC, and some other insignificant city from a state that voted to install The Donald as President (payback time!). The team will be composed of players from each level (Open, A, B, C, D and XXX … don’t ask, but lets just say Buldini has this one covered) at both singles and doubles. The multi-person event will be reserved to the after-party and is strictly BYOS&H (Bring your own swings and harnesses). Last year we came in second place, but with the home court advantage we have a real shot at victory! Should we not win, there may or may not be a contingency plan already in place to acquire the trophy through a clandestine operation, but lets hope it doesn’t come to Conall streaking across Cambridge to cause a distraction while Mike Dineen quietly drops the trophy into his strangely inconspicuous beach bag.

If you would like to play on the Atlantic Cup team or simply want more information please email me at brianjfrasier@gmail.com. Spots will fill up quickly, and I’d like to get some practices going so please do so quickly!

Best wishes,
Captain Chlamydia (aka Brian)