About Us
Scott Nelson, Webmaster
A Software Engineer by training, and a tennis enthusiast since some upstart kid named Jimmy played Rocket Rod in Vegas for $100 Grand – “Winner Take All” – I have loved to read about, watch and mostly just play tennis.
As we’ve stated – we cannot possibly know the best local tennis information everywhere so please contact me directly if you are a tennis professional, tennis business – pro-shop, stringer or just a player like me and have something of interest to share about what’s happening in your area. Together we can make this a respected, reputable source of solid information for tennis players everywhere.
For questions regarding MyTennisBlog.net please contact me directly via my email below.
Steve Wilkinson
Steve Wilkinson was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame May 26 in Athens, Ga., at the 2010 NCAA Men’s Tennis National Championships.
Wilkinson took over the Gustavus tennis program in 1970. His teams compiled a 334-1 record in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Conference and 929 wins overall, the most victories in the history of collegiate men’s tennis. Wilkinson’s squads have won two NCAA Division III and four ITA national indoor team titles.
Recognized as one of the most prominent coaches in collegiate tennis history, Wilkinson has been involved in numerous national tennis organizations having served on the executive committees of the United States Professional Tennis Association and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, and on national committees of the United States Tennis Association. He was inducted into the Iowa Tennis Hall of Fame in 1974, the Northern Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 1983, the United States Tennis Association Missouri Valley Hall of Fame in 1999 and won the International Tennis Hall of Fame Educational Merit Award in 2010.
In the summers, Wilkinson and his wife, Barbara, run the Tennis and Life Camps on the Gustavus campus. The Tennis and Life camps are considered to be among the finest tennis camps in the country. He played collegiate tennis at the University of Iowa where he finished second in #1 doubles at the Big Ten Championships during his senior season. After college, he played competitive tennis for many years and was ranked #1 in the United States in the 45, 50, 55, and 60 and over divisions. Wilkinson has represented the United States in the Dubler Cup, Perry Cup, and Austria Cup competition winning the world championship in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1989 and finishing second in Berlin, Germany in 1992.
Page Love, MS, RD, LD, CSSD, President
Nutrifit Sport Therapy Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, was founded in 1992 by Page Love, a leading expert on sports nutrition and eating disorders in the southeastern United States. In addition to consulting with individuals, athletes, teams, and companies in her practice, Love is an outstanding public speaker, providing presentations about nutrition and fitness for a variety of events. She also lends her considerable expertise to reputable nutrition-oriented companies as a media spokesperson.
Page has appeared on CNN Headline News, CNN’s On the Menu, Discovery Health, Fox News, Good Day Atlanta and interviews have been published in Men’s Journal, Peachtree Morning, People Magazine, Tennis Magazine & Women’s Sports Illustrated. Some of Page’s clients include the The Atlanta Braves of MLB, the USTA, the WTA, Wilson, Gatorade.
Scott Mitchell, USPTA-P1
Scott, a former #1 mixed doubles player in the U.S. is currently the Head Tennis Professional at Charlotte Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2009 Charlotte Country Club was rated one of the top 14 Country Clubs in U.S. Scott is certified at the highest level by both the USPTA and the PTR as well as being a National Tester and Clinician for the PTR. Scott has been nominated for many awards over his career and 2009 is no exception as he was awarded the PTR Clinician of the Year award. He has also been nominated in recent years for the 2010 USPTA Southern Professional of the Year, 2007 USPTA North Carolina Professional of the Year and 2007 PTR Professional of the Year, 2005 USTA Georgian Professional of the Year and many other great awards. He is also a certified referee and umpire by the USTA.
Contact Scott | Posts by Scott | Scott Mitchell’s Facebook Page
Shaun Goodsell President The Mental Edge
With a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology and his undying love for athletics and young people, Shaun has combined his academic background, his innate love for working with kids and adolescents and finally, his passion for sports in general to create The Mental Edge. A company which not only guides athletes toward a higher ground in measures of performance, but also in their every day lives.
Shaun has worked with LPGA Golfers, National Championship Hockey Players, Professional Triathletes, State Champion Football and Hockey Players, as well as those athletes who simply want to make “the team.” Every athlete deals with certain mental interferences and life impairments no matter what level they may be at competitively.
We are looking forward to his ability to share some tips and techniques to help all of us overcome “don’t double fault”
Mark Stingley, USTPA
Marc Stingley is the Junior Tennis Director at the Fred Wells Tennis & Education Center. He is the 2009 Professional Tennis Registry Member of the Year for Minnesota as well as the 2009 Junior Development Coach of the Year for the Northern Section.
He has worked as a national coach for the Northern Section for the past six years, and continues to work with some of the Northern Section’s top junior players.
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Contact Mark | Posts by Mark | Fred Wells Tennis & Education Center
Andy Dowsett,PTRUK Academy Professional
I have spent the last 10 years teaching over 2000 coaches/people to become qualified coaches as well as writing the education programmes to continue their knowledge.
I was awarded International Clinician of the Year in 2007 by the Professional Tennis Registry UK (PTRUK) and Professional of the Year in 2000 by the PTRUK.
I am director of coaching Brentwood Hard Court Tennis Club in Essex, England and run the websites andytennis.co.uk and psycheuk.com.
I have authored two books on tennis psychology and written, lectured in America, UK, Italy and Norway on the subject of tennis psychology and specialize in all aspects of tennis coaching and playing as well.
I manage to attain an over 35′s world ranking of 447 in 2008
Nick Pinkelman Explosive Edge Athletics
For the past year and a half Nick has been the Assistant Athletic Performance Director at Explosive Edge Athletics which serves as the training location for many of the top athletes in Minnesota, ranging from high school to professional/Olympic in various sport disciplines. Explosive Edge Athletics also consults for coaches at several of the top high school and collegiate programs throughout the Midwest. Prior to Explosive Edge Athletics, Nick served as a Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Los Angeles Angels organization. He also has experience working at the NCAA Division one level with the University of Minnesota; working with Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey, Men’s Basketball, Men’s Track and Field, and Men’s and Women’s Golf. His research is focused on sport specific rotational movements and the correct application of explosive-ballistic training to them.
New Balance
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Product Manager for Training & Tennis shoes at New Balance will provide some very interesting insight into the tennis shoe and how the right shoe can possibly elevate your game to new levels. New Balance began as a Boston-based arch support company in the early 1900′s, developed into a specialized shoe manufacturer in the 1970′s, and has grown to become a leading global athletic products company. Today New Balance is a family of brands including New Balance, Dunham, PF Flyers, Aravon, Warrior and Brine.
Since the days of selling arch supports to police officers and waiters, New Balance has been a brand concerned with meeting the needs of the everyday athlete. Part of producing superior footwear and athletic apparel is manufacturing it to fit all widths and sizes, because a better fit produces better performance.
To ensure the best fitting, best performing shoes and apparel, we focus on improving our technology and production methods. We have maintained five manufacturing facilities in New England where we continue to rely on the skills and teamwork of our American workforce to produce a percentage of our athletic footwear. We have also remained strongly committed to a core set of company values that include integrity, teamwork and total customer satisfaction.
Contact Kevin | Posts by Kevin | New Balance
Ted Kopren Founder ProSense Tennis
United States Professional Tennis Association – Level P1 Certification
Wrote “Powerful Serving Secrets” in 1995 which incorporated the NLP approach in the training system. Vision being one of the five senses, was addressed.
Masters Degree 2000 –St. Mary University of Minnesota
Paper “Teaching Visual Skills in Tennis: A Sensory approach to Learning.
In 2005 trained with the “Focus Coach” system, a computer/eye tracking system to measure and teach focusing skills and apply to on court play.
Used “HAL” in 2005 – “Hit And Learn” vision teaching system for teaching visual/kinesthetic connection to improved tennis play.
Owner, ProSense Tennis, Inc.
2005 – 2009 Researched, developed, and patented three specific lenses for accelerating visual skills used to improve tennis play.
Developed and wrote Learned Optimal Visual Excellence Manual for Tennis Players with a Vision.
Experience in 2009 with the “Eye Port” eye training device developed by
Jacob Liberman O.D, Ph.D.
Presentations:
USTA Northern 2000
Mission Eye Possible
USPTA National Convention 2003
Teaching Visual Skills on Court (Speech Contest)
USTA Northern 2010
Practical Drills for teaching Visual Skills in Tennis.
I am excited to share some of these visual skills with you to bring more dramatic improvement to your game.
Platinum Tickets
Chico Bonner of Platinum Tickets has been proudly providing excellent customer service to clients all around the world for 28 years! Whatever your ticket needs for any event, in any city, on any date – including all theatre, all sporting events, all concerts, all music festivals, the Olympics, the Superbowl…we can get you up front for the event of your choice! We specialize in Tennis Tournament packages for tournaments like the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Wimbledon, the US Open, and the French Open. Platinum Tickets – offering Platinum Seating for Platinum People with Platinum Service. Our sales staff is ready to help!
ProShop Bud
I think it would be appropriate to call Bud a Tennis Gear Geek…. Tennis has been Bud’s life for as long as he can remember, not only is he a tremendous tennis player himself….
His knowledge and expertise in Racquets and racquet stringing has been utilized by so many tennis players and tennis legends, Bjorn Borg, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, World Team Tennis, just to name a few…. Dating back to when Cigarettes were allowed to sponsor Tournaments… like the Virginia Slims Tournament… yes Bud was there. Stringing racquets for the stars. He’s been stringing racquets since he was 12…. Probably would’ve been earlier, but the darn string machines had 40-50 pound step weights, and being only a 60 pound kid, it was impossible to lift.
Bud is now the owner of the Pro Shop at Los Caballeros Tennis and Sports Club and will be sharing with us some important ways to get the most out of our tennis gear and our stringing…. And if it is outdated, can give us some down-to-earth information that we can use to get the equipment that is right for us!
Bud… the guy that likes to get “strung out”
Annette Walbon & Scott Nelson
Independent Associates with USANA Health Sciences, the official supplier of the Sony-Ericsson WTA Tour.
We have been playing tennis longer than we can remember. ….USTA members for almost that long and for many years have partnered with USANA Health Sciences, a premier Nutrition company… to ensure that we get to live long enough to finally get good at this game. We have six children that have gone off and left us and now Scott and I have each other…. And Tennis.
USANA Health Sciences has been part of our lives for the last 11 years. We love what we do, the education that we get and the people that we meet.
Click here to watch the quick presentation we put together to give you an overview.
We would love to hear from you if we have made a difference in your tennis game or enjoyment of it – because that is our goal!
Contact Annette | Contact Scott | Posts by Annette | Posts by Scott | USANA
Roxor Eyeware
Craig Devere of ROXOR Eyewear will offer insights into what makes for the best in eyeware with respect to clarity advances quality of vision to a new level of refinement. Our lenses are dedicated to the highest performance and ultimate wellbeing of the human eye. Wearing ROXOR unveils a beautiful vision of true color, clarity, and exceptional detail. The visual transformation that occurs with ROXOR is amazing, a WOW moment that lasts forever.At ROXOR we believe that seeing well is a requirement of looking good. Discover ROXOR, see the best of everything, and look great.
Contact Craig | Posts by Craig | Roxor
Cindy Mitchell Massage Therapist
Cindy Mitchell is our resident on Muscles and Connective Tissue. As a Massage Therapist she travels in the Newport Beach, Laguna Hills and Huntington Beach CA area. With over 1400 hours of schooling and thousands of hours under her belt… Cindy will be providing us with much needed information about our muscles…. After all, a healthy fully functioning muscle is key to injury prevention and more importantly peak performance.
Cindy is no stranger to Sports Massage….in fact …she specializes in sports therapy. Some of her more recent regular clients are young high level athletes. One fifteen year old soccer player was scouted and is now playing in Germany. He attributes her massage with helping him through his tryouts. He said he felt like he could ‘fly’ after a massage. Another young athlete is a fifteen year old swimmer who just got back from Nationals. She is ranked the tenth fastest in the United States! Cindy thoroughly enjoys working with these athletes!
She herself is an avid cyclist, swimmer, kayaker and hiker and currently lives in Newport Beach, CA
Patti Berg - Tennis Tease
Tennis Tease, launched winter of 2005 by player and enthusiast Patti Berg, features women & girls’ tennis apparel. T-shirts, jackets, tank tops and vintage bamboo t-shirts are offered for women and “flower power” t-shirts for girls. Patti created Tennis Tease because she was tired of showing up on the court with the same outfit as her opponent. Although she’s very competitive she also likes to have fun on the court. “Our gear gets you noticed…Tennis Tease is fun, functional and ahead of the curve and guaranteed to put a smile on your face.”
Our best-selling t-shirt features sassy sayings such as “Love means nothing to a tennis player” and “Which part of “out” do you not understand?” Fabric content is 95% cotton/5% spandex and t-shirts and tank tops come court-ready in a cool, clear tennis ball can.
Joachim (Jo) Baecker
Jo Baecker (Pronounced “Becker”, as in Boris), has been playing recreational tennis since 1972. In between all those years, he’s also managed to squeeze in a music career, an engineering career and a graphic design career. Sometimes all at once. (Stand-up comedy career? Not so much.) He also enjoys downhill skiing, golfing, writing, and is a native German speaker (as in ‘Boris’). He lives in the Minneapolis area with his wife Juli and three stepchildren: Nick, Zack and Mari. Please remain seated until his essays come to a complete stop.
