Alumni – Page 5 – AUSTIN TENNIS ACADEMY

Multiple Awards Earned By ATA College Prep Alum

Leadership and how to be a good leader is one of the core lessons coaches at Austin Tennis Academy and teachers at ATA College Prep want their students to learn; and those lessons were not lost on Chase Bartlett. As he gets ready to graduate from St. Edward’s University, Bartlett is being recognized for his leadership on the tennis court as well as on campus.

SEU Athletics announced Chase Bartlett is the recipient of its OUTSTANDING MALE SENIOR AWARD. According to the university, an education from St. Edward’s stands for a tradition in academic excellence, diversity, collaboration and service to others. The Athletics Department wants to enable student-athletes to represent those traditions through academic excellence, teamwork, leadership, good sportsmanship, the courage to take risks and community service. The outstanding senior award is presented to the male and female student-athlete who has best personified the sum of these values.

“Chase is the dream athlete,” said Men’s Tennis Head Coach Estevam Strecker. “He is coachable while being extremely hands-on with his own success. His ability to dissect his own game and apply the information into a plan is unparalleled. He is a great team leader, being vocal when he needs to and being a great listener when asked. For the past four years, Chase has made a huge positive difference in the program and his legacy will be felt for years to come.”

Bartlett’s leadership on campus has been widely noted. He was elected president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for the last two years. He also completed over 150 hours of community service during his time as an SEU student.

SEU Athletics also announced that Bartlett earned the 2020 Emma Lou Linn Outstanding Scholar Athlete Award for having the highest cumulative GPA among all graduating male student athletes at SEU. He’ll graduate with a 3.99 GPA.

Back in April, Bartlett received the University’s 2020 Presidential Award along with eleven other students. The Presidential Award is given to outstanding seniors from the undergraduate, graduate and New College programs who embody the principles of the university’s Holy Cross tradition and mission, and have demonstrated excellence in leadership, academic performance and service to the university and other communities.

The Frisco native was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete all four years. Bartlett was a member of St. Edward’s Honors Program, Martin’s Scholar’s Program, Religious Studies Honors Society and Alpha Phi Omega.

On the court, Bartlett guided the men’s tennis program to a No. 6 ranking in a shortened 2019-20 season. He earned two All-America honors this spring, receiving mention for his abilities in both singles and doubles competition. He helped the Hilltoppers to two conference titles and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. Bartlett also qualified for the ITA National Tournament twice.

It’s About More Than Hitting Tennis Balls (updated)

An Austin Tennis Academy Alum is behind one of the latest volleys launched in the battle to get St. Edward’s University to reconsider the decision to eliminate six of its athletic programs. Chase Bartlett is an exiting senior who played on the SEU’s Mens Tennis team, which is one of the programs scuttled amid financial concerns engendered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Bartlett posted a video on his FaceBook page which he called an Open Message to the President of St. Edward’s University and its Board of Trustees. After that message became public, Coach Jack Newman responded with a supportive message to his former primary student. “My initial reaction was one of pride,” said Coach Newman. “As a coach, you do not get to see the results of your work until long after that work has concluded. I felt pride at any impact I might have had on his character that led to this message.”

Coach Newman points out the two of them had spoken about opportunities Bartlett’s teammates might have in regards to transferring, but did not know his former student was going to post the message. “He did not consult with me about it other than a conversation about his teammates, but I am happy about that. Our goal as educators is to produce independent thinking and acting adults. Mission accomplished!”

“As an exiting senior, Chase has his life planned out for the next step,” said Coach Newman. “His speaking out is really for his teammates and future students of SEU.” Coaches, players and alumni of SEU have banded to together in hopes of uncovering a different solution. One of the school’s golfers, started a petition to reinstate the six programs, and Bartlett encourages people to sign. They want to get 25,000 signatures, and that’s more than six times the size of SEU’s student body.

**UPDATE*** St. Edwards has now outlined a possible way to bring back the six teams, however, it requires each team raise an enormous sum of money before May 31. For the golf team alone, $2.3 million; similar amounts are required of the other five teams, including tennis.

The fundraising requirements don’t stop there. After the $2.3 million by the end of May, the golf programs would then have to raise around $3 million per year over the next five years to permanently endow the programs.

A website has been created for making donations towards the teams’ fundraising efforts; nearly $30,000 has been pledged as of 1:00 pm on May 2 (when this story was updated). Click here to go to that website if you would like to make a donation.

There have been at least 9 students from ATA attend St. Edward’s over the years, including Tommy Collins, the Head of English at ATA College Prep. Both the Men’s and Women’s Tennis coaches at St. Edwards are former ATA coaches. “Coach Estevam Strecker and Coach Kendall Brooks are outstanding human beings as well as terrific tennis coaches,” said Coach Newman. “It saddens our entire community their teams got cancelled.”

“This decision at SEU should give many college coaches pause. Coach Strecker and Coach Brooks are exemplary coaches with programs that have improved each year for the past 4 years. Their rankings are the highest they have ever been. If these two coaches’ programs can be cut, I would think other coaches would feel some trepidation about the security of their own programs.”

Coach Newman admits he’s concerned that many more college tennis programs are in jeopardy. He believes current players will find it more difficult to get a spot, especially at D1 programs where last year’s seniors can return for another year without penalty. This new reality is just one of the reasons Coach Newman is working overtime, continuously reaching out to college coaches in hopes of ensuring as many ATA players as possible will achieve their dreams of playing collegiate tennis.

Anyone who spends any amount of time at ATA knows Coach Newman and his staff develop much more than just the skills needed on court in their players. “Tennis is a tool to shape lives,” said Coach Newman. “Our goal is to help students learn valuable lessons through training and competition that we hope will serve them in the bigger world outside of tennis.”

Coach Newman Updates The ATA Community

Dear ATA community,

Like most of you, we have spent the last three weeks recovering from a punch in the collective stomach. While the shelter-in-place order did not catch us by surprise, it, along with the severity of the COVID 19 virus crisis, was still a shock to everyone’s system.

Our number one priority remains the health and safety of our entire community.  My personal goals and focus right now are as follows:

1. Don’t get COVID 19 personally. I am, as well as some of our older patrons and coaches, in the high risk age group over 60 with pre-existing health issues.
2. Don’t spread COVID 19.
3. Do things that will allow ATA to continue long term after this crisis period. Keep our coaches, teachers and staff financially sound.
4. Keep our academy players in a rhythm, getting better in all areas so when they can compete again, they are ready to do well and excel in all areas of their game.
5. Provide our younger, non-academy players as much support as possible.

Without a doubt the COVID 19 pandemic has forced players, parents, coaches and society in general out of rhythm and purpose.  Since we are not on court there are challenges, but there are plenty of things to improve, as our mental training sessions this past year has taught us.

We feel the number one thing we should be doing is help create rhythm and purpose for our players. By having our fitness and academy meeting at our normal time, doing our normal things, we hope to bring at least some level of normalcy to our players.  And they have responded, virtual attendance has been close to 90{37ef6ac642fae6f93f343032eb62785d28fa7a25a4a4f0267a12512c541c53a9} of ATA players.

I am so proud of how our coaching staff has responded to providing quality virtual improvement, team camaraderie and fun these past weeks.  And we are prepared to continue providing as the crisis continues.  There is great value in helping our players have rhythm.

Our messaging to players has been along this line: “Our goals have not changed. We need to act like pros: we get up and make our beds; we get ready to do amazing at school; we get ready to push it in fitness with Josh and Dio; we have a short break and then we have academy practice, same rhythm, same timing as if we were on the court. We are getting better as tennis athletes every day because we are on a disciplined path.”

Our fitness and academy sessions have another set of objectives. We want our players to:
* Feel Safe
* Feel the ATA community sense of Belonging
* Think Positively and have hope about our Futures

We are trying to act as agents of ongoing purpose for you and your tennis players. It’s incredibly important to have a collective purpose for our community.

One of our goals is to have our players making good decisions. The more stress we are under, the worse our decision making. By creating rhythm we are reducing stress, and this helps our players make better decisions.

Players recently heard from Dr. Jim Loehr. He is a great believer in the power of story. In every story, there is a villain and then some sort of massive action to conquer the villain. The story arc is that we don’t have a court because COVID 19, the villain has stole it. What is our massive collective action going to be to defeat that villain and come out of this stronger and better? By staying in rhythm and working hard together, we will defeat the villain of our lives story. Stay focused on your long term goal.

The current news coming out stated Texas Governor Abbott is working on recommendations on how to safely reopen businesses. We will be following the guidelines and hope to be back on the court and in the gym soon. I know our team would welcome that. We are hard workers who want and need to get back to work on the tennis court. However, we do not want to do anything which endangers our students, staff, families or community.

I imagine our come back will be staggered with private lessons resuming in person first, utilizing the precautions we were following before the shelter-in-place order took place, as well as the addition of face coverings for coaches and students. With modified group training to follow as safety dictates.

At this time, we are not sure of the timeline, but will keep you up to speed.
In the meantime, please help your ATA player attend our virtual sessions. There are great things happening in these sessions. Feel free to attend yourself, especially our fitness sessions, exercise does everyone good.

In fact, parents are invited to join Coaches Josh and Dio in a collaborative fitness session with the SotoTennis Academy in Spain. The livestream called Fitness Aces happens on Tuesday mornings at 9 am. You can watch it live on ATA’s FaceBook page or view at a later time which works in your schedule. Here’s a little video teaser.

From our entire staff, we wish to send safety, health and happiness to everyone in the ATA community.

Hoping to see you at ATA soon,
Coach Newman

Jack Newman
CEO
Austin Tennis Academy.

Coach Jack Newman Announces ATA’s Plan

The City of Austin and Travis county have issued shelter in place orders. All non essential businesses are ordered to close. ATA closed as of the deadline last night.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this over the past few weeks as we anticipated this response to the COVID 19 pandemic and have the following thoughts:

I believe each and every one of us should follow the shelter in place order for the prescribed 2 weeks. This is a challenge for everyone on many fronts. I think it is easy to take for granted no one we know personally has gotten sick or died, yet.

However, I believe this virus is bad news and the sooner we limit its scope, the longer we postpone it getting really, really bad, like in Italy or now New York. The more we flatten the curve the longer we give the big brains in our society a chance to come up with a vaccine and/or anti-virals, the quicker we will be back on the court and our economy will prosper again with minimizing sickness and death.

We take pride in developing citizens of significance. We put ourselves out in the public with our students, parents and colleagues in the coaching community as leaders. If we violate this order, what kind of example are we setting for our students? That in a crisis, we know more than the experts? That our lesson income is more important than the health of someone’s elderly relative living with them? That two weeks of training is going to make the difference in one of students junior tennis career? I think this is a perfect opportunity for us to walk the walk of being a good citizen. For the good of all our neighbors we will stay home for two weeks. I think in two weeks we will have much more information than we have today and can make better decisions at that time on how to move forward. I would rather err on the side of caution than take a risk with the health of our students and their families or our coaches and their families and for that matter anyone in the ATA community.

Some of you may have a different opinion about COVID 19 and your response to the shelter in place order, I can respectfully disagree.
I’m pretty sure not many businesses can take more than a 2 week break, maybe 4, but after that I think everyone will be reassessing where we go with this pandemic. Like all small businesses, ATA has a limited amount of cash. Like all workers, ATA coaches need to teach to provide for their families. The question I have wrestled with is this: how much is a life worth? If by sheltering in place, not getting infected and thereby not infecting anyone, do I save lives.

The things I see in Italy and now New York scare me.

I am willing and I am asking ATA coaches to be willing to give up 2 weeks to protect folks in our community. Two weeks now might mean a lot more than two weeks in a few months. We are not offering any group or individual programming at ATA this next two weeks, the pro shop, gym, ball sheds and restrooms will be locked.

It’s going to be a rough few weeks, but I think in the next two weeks the government will get it’s act together and ATA and all of us individually will be able to take advantage of the trillions of dollars that are going to be fed into the economy for small businesses and individuals.

We are still working on obtaining more capital so that ATA can continue to function in case of a longer shutdown. And, we have already completed all the paperwork to apply for SBA disaster relief loans once that is rolled out. I will keep you up to speed on our process to obtain more capital to weather this storm.

I am committed to supporting our coaches who need financial help to weather the pandemic as it goes through Texas and their income is impacted by this shelter in place order. I am committed to having ATA come out of this massive health crisis better than we were before. We have begun getting virtual tennis going and will continue to grow that while we are not on court.

I am super proud of the way we have handled this crisis so far: our health and safety protocols and social distancing have been great. This two-week break is another element of trying to do things right and do the right thing. We have attempted to operate ATA this way from Day 1.

We have a chance to get some new exciting things going at ATA, lets get pumped about WHAT WE CAN DO. Let’s accept the challenge and see what we can do from home.

All my best,
Coach Newman

Coach Newman Gives Update Concerning COVID-19

Dear ATA Community,

I am sure you are concerned about the COVID 19 virus pandemic which is now in it’s infant stage in the United States. Italy is a few weeks ahead of the United States in the virus spread. Here is an article from The Lancet. And here’s another article regarding COVID 19 that has some really good information as well as links to other articles which you should read.

Over the past two weeks, I have been in regular communication with Dr Daniel Roe, who is an Austin ER doc and on the front line of this pandemic.
His advice is to create as much social distancing as possible. We are in a position to alter the impact of the COVID 19 virus on our health system by social distancing.

Everything I am reading says we are in a cusp moment over the next two weeks that could make or break our health care system’s ability to handle the people who are hit hardest by getting the virus. I think about my two older brothers who have health issues and I think of Hayden Hobbick who has a compromised immune system because of losing his spleen in his recent automobile accident. I feel a strong level of responsibility to make decisions that insure our health care system can adequately manage the Tsunami of sick people that is headed it’s way.

Here are our initial responses:

– We are cancelling our morning camp and afternoon Academy practice for the following week. The weather forecast is for wet weather and that would mean having kids inside which is a good environment to have an asymptomatic kid with COVID 19 infect quite a few others. We must do things to flatten the curve.

– We will take this week to see how much spread of the virus there is then make a decision on the following week.

– We are working on private lesson protocols which would include keeping 10-12 feet apart and no handling of tennis balls. We encourage kids to contact their primary coaches to do private lessons. We encourage families to play tennis together and our facility will be open for your use.

– We will continue with aggressive, multiple times per day cleaning of surfaces.

We encourage each of you to educate yourself concerning the following, all of which are explained in the article above: what it means that COVID 19 is a novel virus, understand the idea of exponential spread (click here for an explainer), understand the concept of personal risk vs. systemic risk, understand the idea of mitigation and how social isolation impacts the spread of the virus.

This is an unprecedented time. We are living through a moment in time that will be captured in the future history books. Let us all be aware of our responsibilities to the communities we serve.

Respectfully,
Jack Newman
CEO
Austin Tennis Academy

Official Statement on Suspension of Events

Due to the heightened concerns surrounding the COVID-19 virus, effective immediately the USTA will suspend all USTA sanctioned products and events, including Adult and Junior Tournaments, League Tennis, Junior Team Tennis, USTA Schools programs, Tennis on Campus, Wheelchair Events and USTA Pro Circuit Events. The health and safety of all players, staff, fans and volunteers are the foremost concern. This suspension is in effect through April 20. The USTA’s goal will be to reschedule events where possible following this suspension period. Additionally, recognizing the evolving and fast-changing nature of this situation, the USTA will continue to monitor and assess conditions to make future determinations about events and activities taking place after April 20.

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., and the USTA National Campus, in the Lake Nona area of Orlando, Fla., will remain open to the general public for play and instructional opportunities. However, all group activities will be limited in the number of participants. Any patron who wishes to cancel participation in a scheduled activity should contact the specific location for refund information. Additionally, the fitness facilities, showers and food service at both facilities will be closed. These policies will be in effect pending additional guidance or directives from each local governmental agency and the CDC.

Click here for tips and recommendations for facilities and players, regarding COVID-19 from the USTA.

Coach Newman Addresses the novel Corona Virus, Covid-19

Dear parents, players and patrons,

Like you, I have been tracking and thinking about the novel Corona Virus COVID-19. We have been discussing our plan of action for the past few weeks, consulting local health professionals and our advisory team as well as seeking the input of parents.

I wanted to share with you our plan of action concerning the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff.

First of all, young people seem to be fairly safe from COVID-19. Those who get the virus recover from it without much difficulty. However, from the CDC, those with higher risk are: older adults, and people who have chronic medical conditions like Heart disease, Diabetes, or Lung disease.

We want to be responsible members of our community and help slow the spread and reduce the impact of this virus if we can. As of today we will be implementing the following measures:

Any staff or student who is sick should stay home or will be asked to go home if showing symptoms of virus.

Mandatory hand washing. We are asking coaches and players to wash their hands before and after practice. We will also be providing hand sanitizer wipes and gel.

We will continue cleaning and disinfecting surfaces 2x per day.

We will replace handshaking with elbow bumps or racquet touches.

We will continue to monitor state and local health departments for information regarding any COV-19 outbreaks in our local community.

Although we do not foresee this occurring at this time, the possibility of temporarily canceling school or tennis programing might become necessary to help curtail the spread of the virus. We also respect the decision parents need to make for the health and well-being of their children and extended families.

We will be looking to local health officials to determine if, when, and for how long to take any further steps.

Some common sense advice from Coach Dio:

1. Drink plenty of water. Half of your body weight in ounces
2. Go to bed on time. 1030 pm-2:30 am = immune system repairs. 2:30am-6:30 am = your physical body repairs.
3. Exercise, but don’t over exercise
4. Eat healthy foods. Choices!
5. Think positive
6. Practice breathing- calm down
7. WASH HANDS!!! For 20 seconds with SOAP

It’s not time to fear; it’s time to prepare our immune system! And that should be done everyday.

We will keep you advised as we know more about our local situation.

I have attached a PDF of LTISD Superintendent Brad Lancaster’s email to his community that I think makes good common sense.

Let me know if you have any questions or concern.

Sincerely,
Jack Newman
CEO
Austin Tennis Academy

Register Now For Free Webinar

Have you walked away from a conversation with your young athlete and thought, “That didn’t go very well.”? Or perhaps you and your spouse would like to have more constructive and less defensive, talks with your kids about lots of things. This webinar will give you specific strategies for improving family communication.

Learn which topics to discuss and which ones to avoid
Discover how to balance a conversation between two toxic traps
Master the art of connecting with your kids through meaningful dialogue

The How to Improve Sport-Family Conversations webinar will be held on Thursday, March 19 at 8:00 PM CST. It is slated to last 45 minutes as well time for as questions and answers. This month’s Life-Skills Webinar will be hosted by David Benzel, founder of Growing Champions for Life.

Click here to register and save your spot for the event.

Josh Rifkin Earns MTPS Designation

Austin Tennis Academy Coach Josh Rifkin passed a rigorous educational curriculum testing theory and practical applications to become the International Tennis Performance Association’s newest Master Tennis Performance Specialist. MTPS is the highest possible tennis fitness designation in the industry reserved for tennis-specific specialists with significant experience, expertise, and contributions to the industry.

MTPS’s curriculum includes extensive Pre-Work, a 3-day extensive practical program with quizzes and presentations, and Post-Work demonstrating the applicant practically applies the knowledge. Coach Rifkin is one of less the one-thousand people world-wide to achieve the MTPS designation.

The IPTA offers three levels of tennis-specific certification: Tennis Performance Trainer (TPT), Certified Tennis Performance Specialist (CTPS), and Master Tennis Performance Specialist (MTPS). “Josh has demonstrated he is a leader in this industry and possesses extensive tennis-specific knowledge and expertise,” said Dr. Mark Kovacs, Ph.D., FITPA, CTPS, MTPS, CSDC*D, the iTPA Executive Director. ‘Training tennis players requires specific knowledge about the unique movements and demands of tennis which is different to most other sports, and the iTPA has the role of bringing the most credible information, backed by science, to educate and certify individuals who work on improving physical performance and/or preventing injury.”

Coach Rifkin joined the coaching team at Austin Tennis Academy in 2016.

ATA Family Selected USTA Texas Family of the Year

Congratulations to the Ross Cockrell Family on being chosen as the 2019 USTA Texas Family of the Year. The Cockrells, Ross Sr, Jaclyn, Ross Jr., Stacie, and James, received the prestigious award during the Awards Banquet at the USTA Texas Annual Meeting being held over the weekend.

Every year, since 1975, the USTA Texas has selected a family to honor for contributions to Texas tennis. The family represents the development and promotion of tennis on and off the tennis court on a local and/or statewide basis.

In receiving the award, The Cockrells automatically become a candidate for the Ralph W. Westcott USTA Family of the Year Award.

CATA College Tennis Scholarship Deadline Approaching

Every year the Capital Area Tennis Association, a non-profit tennis organization, gives out upwards of $14,000 to senior tennis players looking to attend college.

The scholarship deadline of February 28th is creeping up fast, and we don’t want our hard-working seniors to miss out on this opportunity!

CATA’s Scholarship Committee evaluates each application on the basis of tennis involvement in conjunction with the student’s scholastic achievements and involvement in community services. The committee then submits its recommendations to the Board of Directors for approval. Funds are presented at the CATA Annual Junior Awards Banquet or sent to the recipient’s home. Scholarship funds are acquired from various CATA offered programs.

According to CATA, online application is preferred. Click here for the application link.

Get In The Know About The Changes Coming In Junior Tennis

There are many changes occurring in the competitive tennis system, here is your chance to be brought up to speed by some of the experts in the field.

Please join ATA’s Coach Brian Notis, one of the most experienced tournament directors in the country and a member of USTA committees dealing with these issues, Coach Jack Newman, and Julio Godreau, head of competitive tennis for the Texas Section of the USTA, next Thursday evening, 6-7pm in the main College Prep room on the ATA campus.

Here’s a look at what will be covered:

2020 Schedule – increased offerings, especially for Champ players
Players who qualify no longer need to wait till the next month to play their first tournament at the next level as long as they haven’t missed the entry deadline. They must be eligible for that level at the time of the entry fee (you can’t enter hoping you’ll qualify).
Quick note on increased entry fees
Quick note about player retention and the complexity of the TX competitive system
New Age Up Rules – 60{37ef6ac642fae6f93f343032eb62785d28fa7a25a4a4f0267a12512c541c53a9} instead of 35{37ef6ac642fae6f93f343032eb62785d28fa7a25a4a4f0267a12512c541c53a9} – more players staying in supers, more players staying in champs
New System – 2021
Common ranking, common point chart
Net Gen Pathway
Variety of Event Offerings
Transition from 2020 to 2021 in terms of Ranking (Shadow Ranking)
Explanation of L1 through L7
Benefits of a simpler system
Coach Newman’s Recommendations – what does all this mean for you?
Questions

Update Your Contact Information

2020 is going to be an exciting time here at Austin Tennis Academy, and we want to be able to connect with all those who’ve called ATA home over the years. We do our best to keep our records up-to-date in order to stay in touch with as many alumni as possible, however, contact information can often change. So, we’re asking for your help in updating our files.

Whether it’s only been 6 months since you headed off to college or 18 years ago since you took part in ATA practices — we’d love to have your current contact information. All you have to do is click here and complete a short form. Once you hit the submit/subscribe button, your information will be sent to us and imported into our database. We take your privacy seriously; your information will be for ATA use only.

This year will mark the 20th anniversary of our Scholarship Shootout; we’ll be launching a monthly newsletter in February which will include a featured article called Alumni Spotlight. These are just two of the things we’re excited to share over the coming months, and we want to make sure we can get in touch to do an interview as well as keep you in the know as a valued member of the ATA Pack.

Again, thank you for your time and we look forward to hearing from you!

ATA Master Calendar Added To Website

Finding out what events are happening when at Austin Tennis Academy just became a little bit easier.

We’ve added an ATA Master Calendar to our website. To get to it, simply place your cursor over the ‘About’ tab, located near the top, and a drop-down menu will appear; ATA Master Calendar is the third item in that list. Just click on it.

Some items, such as tournaments, are listed as all-day events, while other items are noted by a specific time. Clicking on any event, opens a window that sometimes will contain additional information or helpful links.

The ATA Master Calendar does not replace the CP Calendar. However, events listed on the CP Calendar are also listed in the ATA Master Calendar.

Events are continuously being added to the calendar or updated, so feel free to check it often.

Dual Match This Friday at ATA

Come on out to Austin Tennis Academy Friday evening to watch our juniors compete against players from St. Edward’s University in our annual dual match.

The competition kick offs with doubles action for two out of three sets, no ad scoring, followed by a set of singles for 11 men and eight women. Players start warming up at 4 with doubles getting underway at 4:30. Singles matches will follow.

This event is a great reminder of our relationship with the Men and Women’s Head Tennis Coaches at St. Edwards, Coach Estevam Strecker and Coach Kendall Brooks, who both started out at Austin Tennis Academy.

We hope you’ll come out to cheer on the players and make some noise!

Please, Take Note

In light of the holidays, we’ve made some adjustments to the hours the ATA Pro Shop will be open starting Monday, December 23rd through Friday, January 3rd. For your convenience, we’ve listed our Holiday Hours just below.

Monday, December 23: 9 AM – 3 PM

Tuesday, December 24: 9 AM – 12 Noon

December 25-26: Closed

Friday, December 27: 5 – 9 PM

December 28-29: 9 AM – 2 PM

Monday, December 30 – Friday, January 3: 8:45 AM – 4:15 PM

Please be aware these hours may vary or our Pro Shop may close during inclement weather.

Happy Holidays!

Learn How To Respond Effectively

Some of the most important relationships in our lives can also produce
some of the most uncomfortable conversations and emotions. Why is that true? If you feel like a particular person brings out the worst in you, there’s probably a good reason.

Would you like to know how to handle these situations in a more productive manner? That’s the focus of this month’s Life-Skills Webinar on Thursday, December 19, hosted by David Benzel, Founder of Growing Champions for Life.

Join us for this session so you can teach your children how to handle their buttons. You will learn:

How to separate the symptoms from the real issue
What fears are compelling unhealthy words and behaviors
How to keep it from happening in the future
Specific agreements you must make with yourself

David will connect the key life skills of the lesson with winning on the court, and in life. The live webinar will begin at 8:00 pm CST on December 19; it will be 45 minutes in length plus Q&A. Plus, Power Point materials are loaded with practical information worth saving for future reference.

Click here to register to reserve your spot!

ATA Sweeps at JTT 18U National Championships

BY: Dan Pryser/USTA

The Austin Tennis Academy, representing the USTA Texas Section, swept the 2019 USTA Junior Team Tennis 18U National Championships, capturing both the advanced and intermediate national titles. The event was held at the McFarlin Tennis Center in San Antonio, Nov. 14-17.

The 2019 USTA Junior Team Tennis 18U National Championships brought together the top 32 teams at intermediate and advanced levels from various USTA Sections throughout the country.

Both Austin teams won their respective pools to advance to the national semifinals, where they cruised to the championship matches. In the advanced final, the Austin team knocked off a team from Los Angeles, 59-24, while the other Austin team defeated a team from Potomac, Md., 52-36, in the intermediate final.

This is the second consecutive year that both 18U Austin Tennis Academy teams reached the finals, as the advanced team secured back-to-back national titles while the intermediate team improved upon last year’s national runner-up finish.

The advanced team is coached by Brian Notis and features team members: Juandedios Abboud, James Cockrell, Anushka Dania, Megha Dania, Nico Jamison, Lawrence Li, and Caroline Wernli.

The intermediate team is coached by John Schoenmakers and features team members: Austin Beckham, Alexandra Malysheva, Keana Moon, Kael Peterson, Jordan Phillips, Jonathan Snell, Clark Sweeney, and Sydney Williams.

Established in 1991, USTA Junior Team Tennis provides youth with all of the health and social benefits of tennis in a coed, fun and competitive team environment – all while allowing participants to compete with and against individuals of similar ages and skill levels.

With more than 85,000 players competing nationwide, USTA Junior Team Tennis brings players together to enjoy camaraderie and teamwork, providing a fun environment for kids to learn that succeeding is really more about how they play the game – win or lose.

CATA Honors Two of ATA’s Finest

The Capital Area Tennis Association will present the Carol Welder Contribution to Tennis Award to ATA’s Owner/CEO Jack Newman and Brian Notis, Director of Junior Academy/Tournament Director. This award is selected by the CATA Awards Committee and given to the outstanding individual(s) widely known to devote numerous voluntary hours, time and energy to the growth of tennis at all levels and is recognized by their tennis community for their exceptional and selfless dedication and devotion to tennis.

The Capital Area Tennis Association serves Austin and the surrounding metropolitan area as a non-profit community service tennis organization. CATA’s membership is composed of tennis enthusiasts who are dedicated to fostering national and international amateur sports competition through junior and adult programs that promote the sport and its benefits.

Carol Welder will present the award to Newman and Notis during the CATA Annual Membership meeting on Sunday, November 17th.

HOW DO YOU HANDLE ADVERSITY – LIKE A PRISONER, SETTLER, OR A PIONEER?

BY DAVID BENZEL

Any cyclist will tell you that riding downhill or downwind is a lot of fun. It’s possible to go fast with little effort. However, if your life depended on the strength and endurance of someone on a bicycle to reach emergency help in the shortest time possible, you’d want to choose a cyclist who has spent a lot of time riding uphill or into the wind. They are the ones who have overcome the adversity of incline and resistance and are therefore the strongest cyclists. The trials of their training have given them an edge, both physically and psychologically.

However, not everyone responds to adversity the same way.

There are generally three camps of people when it comes to facing adversity. And the different responses can help to explain the varying degrees of success experienced.

There are Prisoners, Settlers, and Pioneers. Let’s take a brief look at each one.

Prisoners

Are most likely to GIVE up
Are conquered by fear, controlled by anger, and captured by circumstances
Use language like “I can’t” and “It’s impossible”
Perform at minimum levels, or just enough to get by

Settlers

Are most likely to COVER up
Are satisfied with today, and with themselves. They are happy to be comfortable
Use language like “It’s good enough” and “That’s as far as I can go”
Will give some effort, show some drive, meet the minimum requirements, but never excel

Pioneers

Are most likely to CLIMB up
Learn continuously, changing strategies & habits, and strive to meet the needs of the team or the cause
Use language like “I choose to…” “We can…” and “Just do it”
Show a sense of urgency, embrace challenges, and are always driven to improve

Where do most of your reactions to adversity fall? How about the people on your team?

In the book, Adversity Quotient, Dr. Paul Stoltz identifies three factors at the root of most responses. They are genetics, upbringing, and faith. And he asks these questions to help establish how much each aspect influences you.

Did your parents supply you with enough of the Pioneer genes that you automatically respond to adversity by working hard to overcome whatever it is?
Did your childhood environment provide you with real-life examples of people triumphing over their obstacles so that your response is “I am the kind of person that does that too.”?
Have you developed a positive, optimistic, hope-filled belief that the right attitude, coupled with hard work, always pays off with a victory or a lesson learned?

As a leader, you don’t have control over “nature and nurture” that your followers experienced growing up. However, you can provide a simple PROCESS to grow their faith in the PIONEER response. This mindset will equip them with the tools to face adversity like a pioneer.

Teach them to have this internal conversation when faced with adversity:

1. Listen to your first response and ask yourself, “Does this kind of thinking help me generate a Pioneer approach to this obstacle, or is it a pity party?”

2. Next, ask yourself, “How can I reframe this or look at it differently to gain a new perspective?”

3. Finally, say to yourself, “I wonder what options are available to me that will propel us over, around, or through this obstacle.” To wonder is to activate the creative part of your brain, where “Ah-ha” type ideas come from.

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