2016 Notice of Annual Meeting

Posted March 3rd, 2016

Notice of Annual Meeting May 5, 2016

The Annual Meeting of the American Platform Tennis Association will be held on Thursday, May 5, 2016 at the Indian Hill Club, Winnetka, Illinois, 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 members at this meeting. For those of you who cannot attend the meeting, we offer the opportunity to vote by proxy, either by clipping and mailing the form below or by casting your vote after receiving an emailed proxy.

At the May 5, 2016 meeting we will see the retirement of Katie Bliss and Nathan LeFevre . Proposed for re-election are Freddy Goldenberg, David Lee, Shannon Vinson. Proposed for election are Dan Englander, Ron Erskine, Cam Lanphier, Anton Mavrin, Pete Rose, Reb Speare, Gerri Viant. (Bios are available in the new edition of Platform Tennis Magazine and will be posted online in the near future.)

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

Please take time to vote.

2016 APTA Proxy

Mailed, emailed or faxed proxies must be received by Wednesday, May 4, 2016.

2016 APTA Board Candidate Profiles

Dan Englander

Dan began playing paddle in 2010 and currently plays in the LIPTA (Long Island) league for Cherry Valley Club in Garden City, New York. Dan loves the sport and has been playing tournaments with Rob Janecek.

Like most (former) tennis players, Dan enjoys the social aspects of the game, and the fact that you can improve at paddle even as your physical skills decline. Dan lives in Upper Brookville, New York, on the northern shore of Long Island. He has been married to his wife, Julia, for 18 years. They have five children: Jules (15), Harry (14), Charles (11), Hannah (10) and Edward (8). When not playing paddle or golf, or running around after his five children, Dan works in the investment business.

Ron Erskine

As a sports marketer for over 25 years, Ron has worked with organizations such as the NBA, the USTA, and the ATP/WTA Tour. He now focuses on sponsorship and sales for the USTA/US Open.

Ron grew up in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and played on the same high school tennis team as long-time platform tennis players Andrea Noyes and Mike Gillespie, with whom he played junior platform tennis. After attending UNC Chapel Hill for tennis, Ron played professional tennis. He re-engaged with paddle in the late 1980s in the Washington, D.C., area thanks to locals like Burke Hayes and Tom McAvoy. After he moved back to the New York area in the early 1990s, he and Gillespie reconnected, earning a top-five national ranking.

One of his greatest claims to fame is to have had both thumbs fractured during tournament play—the left one thanks to a George Zink forehand from across the net and the right one via a Gillespie slash overhead from the same side of the net at Nationals. He and Gillespie are the current Men’s 50+ Nationals champions, having won four years in a row. For the past 20 years, Ron has played in the North Jersey League as a member of the Upper Ridgewood Tennis Club. He lives in Ridgewood, NJ, with wife Kate, son Timber (a member of the Bucknell tennis team), and high-school-aged daughter Kolby.

Fredericka “Freddy” Goldenberg

Freddy grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, where she learned paddle as a teenager from Onwentsia Country Club pro Rod Workman. Although tennis was her first love, paddle was a family affair. Leaving the cold confines of the Windy City to attend college at the University of North Carolina and later moving to Atlanta, Freddy thought her paddle days were over. However, a chance meeting between her brother, Brian Uihlein, and Georgian Peter Lauer reignited her passion for paddle. Discovering that paddle actually existed in Atlanta (albeit two single courts), she jumped on board Peter Lauer's mission to make it a viable paddle city.

Over the next ten years, she has helped grow the sport of paddle in Atlanta, focusing her efforts on introducing the sport to women in the Atlanta area and pursuing public-access paddle opportunities. In 2011, she captained the first-ever Region VII President's Cup team. In 2012, she served as tournament director for the first-ever Women's Peachtree Invitational. In December 2015, a brand-new three-court facility opened at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center, the culmination of a two-year project to bring public-access paddle to Atlanta. Although great strides have been made, she shares Peter Lauer's ultimate goal: to have Atlanta hosting a President's Cup and Nationals in the near future.

Freddy resides in Atlanta with her husband, Gregg, and their two elementary school-aged daughters. She works part-time for Uline, the family business.

Cam Lanphier

Cameron Lanphier, an avid member of the small, but very active, West Coast paddle community, has been a driving force for platform tennis in California for over twenty years. She became really hooked when she traveled to Chicago for her first President’s Cup and Nationals in 1998. Cam has served as the Captain of the Region VI President’s Cup team for the last three years. She is currently the President of The Lagunitas Country Club, the only club in California that has platform tennis. She has helped organize numerous tournaments there, bringing in paddle players from all over the country.

Cam has a deep commitment to her community, having served as President of the local school board for many years, as well as leading several other civic organizations. Cam grew up in Pelham, New York, where she first played paddle. She attended Williams College, where she majored in math and played field hockey, squash, and lacrosse. She currently resides in Ross, California, with her husband, Edward. They have four grown children who live all across the country, one grandchild, and a playful black lab named Bailey. When Cam is not playing paddle, she teaches Calculus and Geometry at The Branson School, hikes the trails of Marin County, or knits hats for her new grandchild.

David Lee

David Lee has been an avid platform tennis for over 10 years. A member of the Milbrook Club in Greenwich, CT, David captains the Division 1 team in the Fairfield County Platform Tennis League. He has also been an active participant in the broader platform tennis community. He is an active tournament participant, having played in four National Championships, albeit without great success. He is a certified APTA umpire and a member of the organizing committee for the 2014 Mixed National Championships and the 2016 APTA Men’s and Women’s National Championships. His proudest platform tennis moment was being a member of the winning Region II President’s Cup team in 2014.

This will be David’s second term on the board. He serves on the APTA Fundraising and Endowment Committee. David believes strongly in the growth of the game and hopes to help drive this growth throughout the United States. In the off-season, he is an avid tennis player and golfer. He is also known to enjoy a nice bottle of wine and play a little poker as well. He currently resides in Darien, CT, with his wife, Jenny, and their two college-aged daughters.

Anton Mavrin

Eight years ago, Anton began playing platform tennis as an alternative to indoor tennis in the winter. He started with pick-up games at Huntington Country Club on Long Island, continued with league matches on Thursday nights, and then tried a regional tournament. He and his partner lost in the second round but from that moment on, he became passionate about the sport.

Anton is honored to serve as the Chair of the APTA Clinics and Exhibitions Committee. He has been a part of the program since 2009. During this time, he has run APTA-sponsored clinics and exhibitions, assembling coaching teams that covered Montana to Florida and places in between. Anton is looking forward to using his experience with the program to contribute to its continued success of growing the sport around the country.

Anton started playing tennis at the age of seven in Uzbekistan. After his junior tennis career, he accepted an athletic scholarship at University of Alabama. Anton graduated with the major in Organizational Communication and the minor in Psychology. His teaching route begun as an assistant at Lloyd Neck Bath Club, LI, to Head Racquets Professional at the Village Club of Sands Point, LI, to his current post as Director of Platform Tennis and tennis professional at Wee Burn Country Club in Fairfield, CT. Anton is a PPTA and USPTA-certified Elite professional, currently ranked in the top fifteen with Patricio Misitrano. He resides in Stamford, CT, with wife Anastasia.

Peter Rose

Pete was introduced to platform tennis in 2006 by a savvy paddle veteran looking for a “ringer.” He became hooked on paddle, finding it was a lot more fun than tennis and had a great social dynamic associated with it. His participation continued to grow as he played in the Chicago Charities Platform Tennis League and grew in to a tournament player. Pete has served in various paddle capacities as a member of Glen View Club, President of Region V, and the APTA Player’s Committee Chair.

Born and raised in Chicago, Pete was a four-year tennis letter winner and captain at the University of Iowa. He currently lives in Winnetka and has three young children (William 5, Emma 3, Eleanor 2) and a remarkable and paddle-supportive wife, Emily. Pete is involved in a family business that produces a variety of value-added proteins for customers throughout the world. He looks forward to joining the APTA board.

Reb Speare

Reb started paddle playing in the late 1970s and got involved with the local paddle organization in the Philadelphia area (MAPTA) a few years later. He previously served on the APTA Board from 1987-1994, and was Vice President from 1993-1994. He also served as President of MAPTA during this time. While he stopped playing tournaments in the late 1990s, his best friends remain the people he met through paddle.

As Reb stepped away from competitive paddle, he became very involved in community programs and organizations. His background as an attorney and experience as a director, governor, or trustee on a variety of education, sports, health, and arts foundations and boards are a good fit for the APTA, as it continues to grow the sport while retaining the camaraderie and sense of community. Reb currently resides in Wallingford, PA, with his wife Virginia. They have three children and one grandchild.

Gerri Viant

Gerri is extremely honored to return to the APTA Board. Previously, she served from 1989-1990. Born and raised in Adelaide, Australia, Gerri’s introduction to paddle came as she was backpacking around the world. Gerri never returned to live in Australia, and platform tennis played a huge part in her decision to stay in the USA.

Gerri was one-half of the winningest team ever in the history of women's platform tennis with nine Women's Nationals titles over a 13-year span. Gerri also won two Mixed Nationals and two Women’s 40+ National titles. In addition, Gerri is a member of The Platform Tennis Hall of Fame, a charter founding board member of the PPTA, a National Tester, and a former APTA Women’s Players Committee member. Gerri is a founder and owner of Performance Paddle Camps, which pioneered the idea of a traveling camp for platform tennis and helped to grow the game by offering high-level instruction, training for pros, and promoting the game in areas of the country where there was little paddle teaching. She is also a frequent contributor to Platform Tennis Magazine and a live-stream commentator and Chair of the Live Streaming/Broadcasting Committee for the APTA.

Recently retired after 32 years as the Director of Racquet Sports and Manager of the Nyack Field Club, Gerri resides in Upper Nyack, NY, with her strongest supporter, wife Michele. Gerri is looking forward to giving back to the sport in a different medium, and promoting and participating in the growth of the game that she loves.

Shannon Vinson

During the first two years of Shannon’s first term on the APTA Board, she served as the Chair of the Grants and Loans committee. This past year, her role has grown into serving as the Chair of the Growth Super Committee. She has also developed and is heading up the new National Corporate Sponsorship efforts and is serving as the National Championships Tournament Liaison on the Tournament Super Committee. Within this past term, she also co-chaired the 2015 National Championships, held in Chicago. Prior to joining the APTA board, Shannon was heavily involved in the Chicago league and is a past team captain, club coordinator, league facilitator, and President of the Chicago Women’s League. She has also served as a co-chair to the many tournaments in the Chicago area, including the 2011, 2012, and 2015 National Championships and continues today on the executive board of the Chicago Platform Tennis Tournament Committee (CPTTC).

Shannon is an avid local league player, plays in as many APTA tournaments as time away from her family permits, and since 2008, she has been a member of the Region V President’s Cup team. Shannon lives in Winnetka, IL, with her husband, Scott, and their two teenage children.