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Queens
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Beach Tennis Anyone?
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August 31, 2006
A
group of New Yorkers is behind the launch of a new sport which includes
some serve, some volley and some sand. NY1's Roger Clark filed the
following report.
Tennis is played on grass, clay, and artificial surfaces. So, why not on sand?
"Yeah, definitely," says pro beach tennis player Eduardo Gil. "Volleyball did it, and why not tennis volleyball."
Actually, it's Beach Tennis. The game is an infant in the world of
recreational and professional sports, brought to America by a New
Yorker traveling in the Caribbean.
"The version that you see here came from Aruba. We discovered it
about three years ago," says Executive Director of Beach Tennis USA
Alex Querna. "Our founder Mark Altheim was on vacation, saw the game,
and three years later brought it to the U.S. We launched it last year."
In its second season, Beach Tennis USA held a ten city national
tour this summer. The final stop is this weekend in Long Beach, Long
Island for its own sandy US Open Championships, with $15,000 in prize
money up for grabs. I got my introduction to the game at water taxi
beach in Long Island City, with pros like Nate Chura, who is also a
teaching pro at Prospect Park Tennis Center in Brooklyn.
"This is still a discovery period in the game," says Chura. "I
think that's what makes this game so exciting as a player, because you
are really building a new game. You are starting the foundation of the
game."
You don't need much equipment to play beach tennis, you have your
basic old fashioned regulation tennis racquet. The ball is a little
different though; it has half the pressure of an official tennis ball.
And you are probably wondering how the ball bounces on the sand. It
doesn't. The idea is to keep it in the air and make the other player
miss. Even more of a challenge is launching a brand new sport, which
the New York based Beach Tennis USA Crew is still working on.
"Take it to the people," says James Russo, Vice President of
Marketing for Beach Tennis USA. "We've been putting on events around
the country for the last two years, and the response has really been
incredible, from tennis players and just beach goers in general."
To learn more about the sport log on to www.BeachTennisUSA.net.
- Roger Clark
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 Ruschell Boone
Ruschell Boone is NY1's Queens Reporter. She joined NY1 in June 2002. |
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