MAPTAPaddle.com

Happy New Year to you and your families! We begin the New Year with some great news... our very own Thomas B. McAvoy IV, affectionately known as Tim, has been elected to the APTA Hall of Fame! I can think of no more deserving a person to receive our sport's highest honor. On behalf of all MAPTA members, CONGRATULATIONS TIM!

This weekend, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the PA States tournament. This tournament has featured so many memorable finals over the years and this year's event will no doubt prove to just as exciting. We have attracted over 110 teams for the men's and women's events which is by far the best turnout ever... paddle is indeed alive and well within the MAPTA community.

Our Juniors will have opportunities to participate in three wonderful events in January including MAPTA Adult/Child on January 15, "Night of the Stars" on January 24, and Junior Nationals on January 28. Please spread the word to all parents and juniors and encourage their participation. Please note that the Adult/Child will be fully funded by MAPTA and for the first time will have NO entry fees!!!

Thanks to you and your support and commitment to promoting and growing PADDLE and a special thanks to all of our tournament chairs and their staff for making our 2011/2012 tournament season possible!

Hope to see all of you around the courts this weekend,

Jeff
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Junior paddle is building major momentum in the Mapta region. Led by Ann Oshea with help from Eric Neeson, this last weekends event was something to see! There were 24 teams in the 2012 competitive draw, and there were 14 teams in the non-competitive round robin at Overbrook.

Winners of the main draw were Doug and Stephanie White and the runners up were Bryan and Andrew Aprahamian. Tim and Wil McAvoy won the consolation draw, William and son Patrick DeLaney won the Consolation Reprieve, and Norm and Derek McAvoy won the Quarter Reprieve. ! Congrats to all!!

It was a beautiful day for paddle at Overbrook Golf Club and the surrounding clubs as 112 participants competed for both the ladies and Men's Chaos titles!

In the end it was Andy Sorrentino & Mike Mcgrath defeating Jeff lyon and David Hissey to claim this year's Men's title.

Cooey Lyon and Laurie Hissey claimed the ladies title over Karen Kochis and Jacquelin Williamson

The atmosphere was great, the paddle was even better, and the favors were a big hit! The party during the ladies and men's semifinals and finals was outstanding and the food was top notch as well.

Tournament director and Head Pro at Overbrook Steve Hall commented: "This year's tourney ran as smooth as I can remember one running. The weather was beautiful and it was great to see the paddle community come together at the end of the day and have some drinks and watch the incredibly talented semifinalists and finalists compete for the titles".

A special thanks to Kim Bailor, Eric Niesen, Andrew Ray, Rosario Gonzalez, Joe Tadduni, Danny Albornoz, and Rob Dewey for all their help during the day and the days leading up to the tournament. I am blessed to have such a great supporting cast!

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D1nation - week 9 - by Keith Studnick

Holiday Edition

Twas the last match before Christmas, and all through the town.

The D1 boys were playing, for a shot at the crown.
Their rain gear was on, as the sky were all gray.
And the boys from Vic Mead boy did they pray.

The Wallingford men were ready all snug in their little shack,
While visions of keeping their lead on the rest of the pack,
Merion came to town and imparted some pain,
But how many pros? Coach Derek said in distain.

Kennett traveled to Wanesborough's halls,
For a taste of Mark Rays famous meat balls,
Much to their dismay, there were none in the pot
The result of the the match put WCC in the Top Spot.

Martins-1 has the pickle ball king,
Whose play this year could be the spring,
For Greenville was looking to hit a home run,
But traveled back home with points equal to none.

Over at Overbrooks palace, the Mink came to bang
Overbrook did everything they could do to hang,
The Mink was missing a few, but brought their A games,
And took this contest by a total of 7 games

P-Country losers of four of the last five,
Needed to show Martins-2 that they can still thrive,
P-Country not only did they win, but they had a sweep,
All that could be heard from Dan was bleep, bleep, bleep

Santa had some time to bring some good cheer,
He came to hang out to enjoy a frosty beer,
As Vic Mead battled this night with P-Cricket
with Vic Mead cashing in their very first victory ticket

As the D1 boys rested their paddles for the night,
They hoisted their beers and turned out the light,
The next two weeks are off for holiday celebration
And maybe some well earned paddle vacation

See you in the a few weeks, it is the last call
Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and Good Health to us all

Standings after 9 Weeks

Standings after 8 Weeks Matches Remaining
Top 6
Waynesborough - 17 pts (Merion Pcricket)
Wallingford - 15 pts (Pcricket Overbrook)
Aronimink - 13 pts (Martins1 Vic Mead)
Martins-1 - 12 pts (Aronimink Martins2)
Merion 11pts (Waynesborough Pcountry)
P-Country 10 pts (Kennett Merion)

Bottom 6
Greenville 10 pts (Martins2 Kennett)
Martins-2 - 9 pts (Greenville Martins1)
P-Cricket 8 pts (Wallingford Waynesborough)
Kennett 8 pts (P-Country Greenville)
Overbrook - 7 pts (Vic Mead Wallingford)
Vic Mead 4 pts (Overbrook Aronimink)

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Ask the Rules Guru Crossing to the Other Side

Dear Rules Guru,

We had a very strange point the other day. My opponent hit a shot that bounced close to the net, spun sideways, hit the door and spun back around into her side of the court. I chased the ball to the net post, reached around the net and hit the ball back to end the point. After getting over our surprise at what had happened, we couldnt figure out who won the point. Was that a legal shot? Am I allowed to go around the net post like that? What about the ball bouncing off the door?

Sincerely,
Befuddled Ball Chaser

Your shot was legal as long as you didnt touch any part of the net or the net structure, step in bounds on your opponents court, or interfere with your opponents.

This section of Rule 18 tells you what you may do:
If in rushing forward to retrieve a shot, a player's momentum carries him/her past the net post onto the opponents' side of the net, this is not loss of point unless the player actually steps inside the opponents' court or interferes with one of the opponents.

This section of Rule 18 tells you what you may not do:
A team loses the point ifa player or anything the player wears or carries touches the post, net, net hand crank, cord, band or center strap, or the court surface on the opponents' side of the net, within the boundary lines, while the ball is in play.

Rule 2 (Court Fixtures) and Rule 19 (Ball Touching Court Fixtures) tell you why its legal for the ball to bounce off the door. According to Rule 2, doors are considered court fixtures and according to Rule 19, If the ball in play touches a Court Fixture (as defined in Rule 2) after it has hit the deck within the boundaries of the court, the ball remains in play and may be returned, so long as it has not hit the deck a second time within the court or the playing area.

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