Live Scoring
APTA Tour
National Rankings
APTA Network
My Account
Paddle and a Party—The Boston Women’s Open
Charlotte Gilet
December 13, 2011
Newton, MA
Where to begin? One thing is for sure; the play on the courts and in the hut rocked (“literally and figuratively”) and left onlookers in awe. The best part was having so many teams and APTA regions represented. Woohoo!
Welcome Chicago’s Missy D’Alise and Ania Kazakevich, winners of the 2011 Boston Open. Woohoo! Missy and Ania defeated perennial Boston Open champions Jessie Glidden and Amy Stiga. Missy and Ania might be small in size but certainly not in stature, speed, power and grace. And if only all of us could play like Ania, just one year into the sport.
Final Draw in Excel Format Final Draw in PDF Format (Don't miss the slides below)
The quarter reprieve was a battle between last year’s Boston Open finalists Susan Rudd and Wendy Yang who this year defeated Kitty Palmer and Meghan McMahon (photo at right).The reprieve championship was won by a great last minute entry of Ann Knobloch and Natalie Lemieux who defeated Leah Nero and Heather Mahan. (Natalie, we are psyched your first born selected Boston for college so we know you will play the Boston Open for the next three years.) The consolation final was represented by all Region II players with Laurie Holl and Hilary Meyers prevailing over Lisa Grace and Karen Packard. The last chance was won by Region II’ers Asa Nilsson and Barb Horne over Rochester’s Vicki Rizzolo and Tara Bearer; however, Rizzolo and Bearer were certainly the champions on the dance floor.
Sam Adams and Captain Morgan suggested we show appreciation to Wendy Yang for the awesome New Balance shirts so a New Balance “t-shirt pyramid,” was built and collapsed in her honor (photos at left).
Notes about our volunteers:
- Instead of playing this year, Judy Helm offered to be a Hut Commander. I was psyched—someone who knows draws and can text. Judy is the volunteer extraordinaire – a half of a team showed up at her hut and instead of giving the other team a bye she drove home, grabbed her gear and played.
- Wendy and Jong Yang – not only did they provide the fantastic tourney favors, they also provided the Heritage Club courts.
- Paula Fazli and Carolyn McCoy – kicked off the tourney by hosting all the players Friday night at Heritage for a little holiday paddle, then turned Weston’s hut into a winter wonderland and get full credit for spreading the word.
- Molly (of Minnesota) – thank you for keeping me organized and for your constant cleaning of BB – we all hope you had a fabulous birthday.
- Lucy McBride – I suggest you all be nice to her because while you thought she was running Weston she really was capturing the essence—through video and photos—of the GBO 2011 (she can be bribed).
- Thank goodness for AmyLou McBride who actually did what her mother was supposed to do!
An enormous thanks to all the participants, volunteers and Mother Nature for an excellent day. In closing, thanks to APTA representatives Ann Sheedy (Executive Director), Rob Coster (Region II), and Nindy Pike (writer/editor) for coming to the event. Happy Holidays!
Note from Nindy: How do we express our thanks to Charlotte Gilet? We are so very sad that she is no longer living in Region II and that she won’t be running the tournament any more. She did the down and dirty work of coordinating a packed tournament held at four clubs, getting quality “hut hussies” to watch over each site, keeping the troops fed, and enjoying it all the same. As the day went on, her duties shifted. She ordered all the preferred libations, she made sure the wine was flowing long past the end of the tournament, and created an atmosphere where fun comes to live permanently. I don’t know if the Brae Burn Club will ever be the same. Thanks Charlotte!
