2009 APTA Annual Meeting & Election of Directors

Notice of Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the American Platform Tennis Association will be held on Friday, May 8, 2009, 6:30 p.m. at the Head of the Bay Club in Huntington, New York in order to 1) Elect Directors to serve for the term of three years (in accordance with the APTA By-Laws) and until their successors are elected and qualified, and 2) To act upon such matters as may properly come before the Board.

Vote

Your APTA Board of Directors reorganizes each year following the Annual Meeting. Board Members are elected or re-elected by the membership at this meeting. For those of you who cannot attend the meeting, we offer the opportunity to vote by proxy, following the instructions below.

At the May meeting, we will see the retirement of Scott Bondurant, Nancy Budde, Beach Kuhl and Mark Fischl. Proposed for election are: Hendy Dayton, Amy Halstead, Aila Main, Tim McAvoy and Fritz Odenbach. Biographies for these candidates appear below.

This group is charged with making decisions about the rules, regulations and finances of the APTA.

Please take time to vote.

Proxy

Mailed, emailed or faxed proxies must be received by Thursday, May 7, 2009.

2009 Board Nominees

	Tim McAvoy , a Phoenixville, PA native, graduated from Penn State in 1980, worked 18 years with GlaxoSmithKline and the past 10 years with Marvin and Palmer Associates — an institutional money management firm. Tim was introduced to platform tennis by his mother, Lucie (1992 Hall of Fame inductee), and has been playing competitively since 1982. Tim has been a member of the Region III men’s President’s Cup team over the past 25 years and is a former Men’s 45 and Mixed Doubles National Champion, with John Adams and Diane Tucker, respectively. Tim served on the APTA Board from 1999-2006, was a founding member of the Platform Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame Foundation and currently serves on the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame Selection Committee. Tim also serves on the Philadelphia MAPTA Board. Tim and his wife Nancy, have four children: Tom (20), Jen (18), Lindsay (16) and Wil (14) and three dogs. Tim is a Stage 4 Hodgkin’s cancer survivor and an active member in cancer related support activities like Relay for Life. One of his core beliefs is that attitude is everything: “10% of life is what happens to you and 90% is how you choose to deal with it.”
	Aila Main has been an avid player for over eight years, and regularly plays both women's and mixed events. Like so many in the game, she made the transition from the tennis court to the paddle court, and became hooked. She and her partner, Kerri Delmonico won the Women's Nationals in 2005, as well as several other tournament titles over the years. She just recently won the 2009 Mixed Nationals title with David Caldwell. Aila is currently the National Women's Ranking Chair, and serves on the paddle committee at her home club on Long Island, The Creek. She is thrilled to be involved in the paddle community, and looks forward to many more years on the court. Aila lives in Manhattan with her husband Tim and daughter Sophie.
	Hendy Dayton was introduced to paddle as a young girl in Greenwich, CT.  Her grandfather, Clifford Couch, won the Men’s National Championships three times including the first Men’s title in 1935.  He was a finalist in four other Men’s Championships and was inducted into the APTA Hall of Fame in 1965.  The love of the sport was passed on through the generations and Hendy competed as a young girl in Greenwich and at the Junior Nationals in Pittsburgh.  She also played at Williams College and in New York on the skyline courts on 28th St. Moving to California 20 years ago limited her paddle fun until she discovered the wonderful paddle community at the Lagunitas Club in Ross.  Since joining the club as a paddle member, Hendy has competed with her partner, Wendy Battey, in the Women’s Nationals in 2006 and 2007, the Sound Shore Invitational in 2006, the Chicago Charities in 2007, and the LCC in 2005, 2006 and 2007, as well as the Norcal Mixed which she won with Tom Mayes in 2007.
	Amy Halstead has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Penn State University and a graduate degree (MBA) from Lake Forest Graduate School. She is a long time tennis player and was fortunate enough to discover the game of paddle and have played for the last 3 years in the Chicago area. As her passion for the sport evolved, she volunteered to be a Facilitator in 2005 for the Chicago Platform Tennis Charities women’s league. In 2007, her tennis and paddle facility was closed, demolished and turned into a residential housing community. The owner kindly donated the three paddle courts to the local Lake Bluff Park District but the Park District was apprehensive that the community would not support it. Amy formed a paddle association by enlisting a group of five people to prove to the Park District the level of interest of paddle in the community. Eighty-five people committed to a paddle membership and after months of work the project was approved. Amy continues to assist the Park District and paddle pro to create/refine a program, build and field men and women’s league teams, build a facility, and increase membership. She is also the Club Coordinator for both the Men and Women’s leagues. Amy has 18 years of sales, sales training, marketing, and sales management experience. She is single with two dogs and lives in Lake Bluff, IL. Her interests include paddle tennis, tennis, golf, co-ed softball, socializing, movies, and membership of the Healthcare Business Women’s Association
	Fritz Odenbach started playing platform tennis with his dad and two brothers during his college breaks back in Rochester NY in the mid 70’s. The family battles were some of the most heated, toughest paddle matches ever to be played. In 1978, his family built Shadow Lake Golf and Racquet Club, which had to include paddle courts, of course. The growth of paddle in Rochester took off. The city now boasts 800 league players and 28 courts in the Rochester area, including five at Shadow Lake. Fritz is a glutton for punishment by chairing four APTA Nationals (1988, 1996, 2000, 2008), as well as running 30 consecutive years of the Shadow Lake Invitational. In addition to running the Rochester interclub league and Rochester Paddle Championships for over 15 years, he has a passion for sailing. He chaired several international events, including the 1991 Soling World Championships with Olympic teams from over 18 countries. Fritz has also competed in three Olympic Trials for sailing. After over 30 years of promoting and competing in platform tennis, he loves the game more than ever and wants to continue to help in the growth of the game. He has been blessed with great partners over the years like Mike Stulac, who carried him into the National Semis in 1999 and 2000; Rusty Wright, who did more than his share to help Fritz win the National 45’s in 2006; and his wife Sandra who, in 2007 won the NYS mixed title along with being a finalist in the National Husband-Wife Championships in Chicago. They live with their four kids in Rochester. After over 30 years of promoting and competing in our sport, Fritz loves the game more than ever and wants to continue to help out in any way he can to support the APTA and the game of platform tennis.