WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., August 5, 2009 – Test The USTA announced today that the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas, has been named as a USTA Certified Regional Training Center as part of its continuing expanded efforts to develop future American tennis champions.  The John Newcombe Tennis Ranch joins the Austin Tennis Academy, which was named as a USTA Certified Regional Training Center in May, creating a Regional Training Center network to better serve the junior tennis community in the Texas Section.

“We are thrilled to partner with the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in Texas which has a history of developing some of the country’s finest players,” said Martin Blackman, Senior Director, Talent Identification and Development, USTA Player Development, who oversees the USTA Regional Training Center program.  “John has some of the game’s top coaches on his staff, and our Regional Training Center program will allow us to share the USTA’s coaching philosophy while also learning from the coaches who are developing some of the top talent in Texas.”

The USTA Certified Regional Training Centers will expand the USTA Player Development program’s reach throughout the country by partnering with academies, clubs and tennis centers that have a proven record of identifying and developing tennis players.  In December, the USTA named the Racquet Club of the South in Atlanta and The Junior Tennis Champions Center in Maryland as its first two Certified Regional Training Centers, and in addition to the Texas network, the USTA named multiple sites in Chicago as part of a Midwest network last month with one more site still to be announced.  The USTA plans to name between eight to ten more Certified Regional Training Centers throughout the country over the next five years.

“We are extremely excited about our relationship with the USTA,” said Newcombe, winner of 26 Grand Slam titles during his career.  “We look forward to working closely together to assist in developing the finest young tennis talent in America.”

In addition to continuing their already existing programs, the USTA Certified Regional Training Centers will also host USTA Player Development camps for players, ages 10-14, in their respective regions.   These players will be selected in conjunction with the USTA National coaching staff and their respective USTA Section Coaching Commission.  The Centers will also help identify talent in players as young as 6-years-old, run programs using the QuickStart* format and host QuickStart tournaments for players 8-and-under and 10-and-under.

“We feel honored to partner with the USTA,” said Jeremy Fieldsend, President and COO, John Newcombe Tennis Ranch.  “They are true professionals in every sense of the word and we look forward to a long and rewarding relationship.”

The camps will be staffed by the top coaches at the USTA Certified Regional Training Centers with assistance from the USTA national coaching staff.  The coaches at the USTA Certified Regional Training Centers will also work in conjunction with the USTA Coaching Education program by working with and training the top coaches in their region and USTA Section.  Additionally, the coaches will attend training sessions at USTA National Training Centers.

The John Newcombe Tennis Ranch is located in New Braunfels, Texas, and has been in existence for over 40 years.  The world class tennis academy uses every aspect of tennis training to develop a player’s full potential with a strong emphasis on match play and tournament competition.  In addition to

Newcombe and Fieldsend, the Ranch’s management team is comprised of Director Phil Hendrie and Assistant Directors Jimmy Brown and Graham Miller.

The new USTA Player Development unit has been created to identify and develop the next generation of American champions by surrounding the top junior players and young pros with the resources, facilities and coaching they need to reach their maximum potential.  The Player Development program is based at the USTA Training Facility in Boca Raton, Fla., and also utilizes the USTA West Coast Training Center in Carson, Calif.  Last year, the USTA began implementing its Certified Regional Training Center program as part of its expanded efforts to develop future American tennis champions, which will expand the USTA Player Development program’s reach throughout the country by partnering with academies, clubs and tennis centers that have a proven record of identifying and developing tennis players.  The USTA expects to name approximately ten more Regional Training Centers over the next five years.

* QuickStart Tennis is a new play format that has been developed to help kids ten and under play the game of tennis.  To make the game more accessible to children, several elements have been modified including the court size, the racquet size, the balls, the scoring system, and even the net height.

It was another successful showing by the John Newcombe Tennis Academy students at the Texas Summer Grand Slam in College Station.  The USTA Texas summer sectional, which is annually one of the largest tournaments in the nation, features the top Super Championship level players in the state.  Newks was well represented by academy students, players, and coaches, taking home a number of trophies and awards.

 

Victoria Yu took fourth place in the Girls 12s singles draw.  A ninth seed, Victoria had a great week, not dropping a set until the semifinals.  We are looking for great things from Victoria in the future, as she continues to produce stronger and stronger results with every tournament. 

 

Team-Family-Team! – Jason Potthoff

Teal Vosburgh upheld her spot as the number one seed by taking home the championship trophy in the Girls 16s.  Teal, who was battling through a minor injury sustained the week before the tournament, played three three-set matches, showing her toughness and determination by dominating the final set in each of them.  As a result of her championship performance at the Grand Slam, Teal is now ranked #2 in Texas in the Girls 16s.

 

Tanner Brown dropped only 21 games and not a single set in the entire tournament en route to the Boys 16s championship.  The Grand Slam title caps off a year that saw Tanner make a ton of improvements to his game, and he now finds himself as the #1 ranked player in the Texas Section Boys 16s.

 

Newks Academy students Tyler Brown and Bryan Welnetz closed out their Texas Section junior careers by facing each other in the back draw final of the Boys 18s singles.  Welnetz, who will join the men’s team at Penn State in the fall, took 5th place with a victory in the last in a series of tough matches between the two players.  Brown earned a 6th place finish, and will now move on from a successful junior career to join the college ranks with the UT-San Antonio team in the fall.

 

Samantha Adams teamed with Blair Shankle of Comfort to capture the Girls 18s doubles championship.  The Adams-Shankle tandem continued their domination of the Texas Section doubles tournaments this year, beating a number of great teams in the Grand Slam, including Samantha’s sister and University of Incarnate Word signee Alex Adams and fellow Academy teammate Lilly Kimbell in the semifinals.

 

Kimbell also had a great week beyond the semifinal showing in the doubles.  Lilly won the Girls 18s title in routine fashion, dropping only one set during the tournament.  Now ranked among the top 10 girls in the United States, Lilly also took home a number of awards from the USTA Texas Section during the banquet on the second night of the tournament.  Kimbell was the recipient of the Chuck McKinley Award, given to the highest nationally ranked player from the Texas Section for the previous calendar year.  Lilly also won the Mary Lowdon Award, given to the Girls 18s player who most strongly exhibits the qualities of sportsmanship, citizenship, commitment, and athletic accomplishment.