Pocono Mountain
Highlights
- At the end summer 2001, Doug Goulding, a pro who
had just moved into the Poconos gave a weeklong high school girls summer camp
for 18 girls representing four school districts participated. Goulding covered
stroke development, game strategy, fitness, and nutrition, with a goal to help
kids be better full-time athletes.
- Mitch Weissbein ran a Pocono Saturday tennis
program in 2001, ran matches, conducted an introductory clinic, and gave out prizes for
kids. He introduced last year's number one Pennsylvania high school tennis
player, Sean Montgomery, the PA boy's high school champion, who with help from
Megan Breen, the District girl's doubles champion, and Matt Struble, one of the
two district boy's doubles champion, treated the kids to an exhibition tie
breaker and showed them some of the medals they had won over their high school
careers.
- A Pocono county rec
department, with help from Linda Breen, started a
pilot program in the summer of 2001 with six teams of ralleyball (42 participants) and four teams of
interscholastic team tennis (16 participants) with the intention of continuing
the program in the fall and adding a similar programs for adult beginners.
- A Pocono municipality
started a pilot 2001 program for their summer day camp for disadvantaged
kids under the direction of Pike Tennis Association Program Director Ken
Baumel and staff, who introduced tennis to 300 kids, most of whom had never
played before.
- Also through Pike Tennis,
PCDC, a developmentally challenged site, started a program for adults in a
local municipal Park and Recreation site in 2000 and expanded it in 2001.
Doris Mooney, a local resident, even donated a private court for a barbeque
and clinic to introduce the clients to the benefits of tennis as an activity
for a lifetime.
- Pike Tennis provided an
introductory tennis program for children sponsored by McDonalds of Pike
County.
- Don Budge Program and Pike
Tennis presented two grant/scholarships in two Pocono school districts, one
to Cynthia Olsheski and one to Biago Trama.
Trama played in a post-season 2001 high school tournament held in Luzerne
last year, helped as a student intern in a Pike Tennis program to help a
developmentally challenged teen, helped in Pike Tennis community outreaches
for veterans in affiliation with park and recreation, county, community
development programs, and tournament management.
- In 2001, Pike Tennis
expanded a municipal park and recreation program to support fund raising and
facilities development. Three municipalities are participating actively and
two others are cooperating for current and future outreaches.
- Pike Tennis is planning a
2002 summer student leadership program for tennis players and is expanding
its year-round traveling academy concept for advanced players and touring
pros. The advisory pros, including a former Davis Cup coach and
player, have been affiliated with Pike Tennis for over seven years,
and has included Baldwin Woods and Don Budge, the only American male who has
ever won a true Tennis Grand Slam (four national titles in one year). Budge
passed on in January 2001.
- Pike Tennis has also taken
a more active role in Eastern Pennsylvania District, beyond the
Poconos, by helping to grow tennis through media visibility, communication,
networking, and the development of this website.
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