30 OTA players – not to mention 4 coaches – traveled to Little Rock to sit in the rain… I mean, for the Arkansas State Closed.  Actually the rain wasn’t so bad.  While it made the Saturday schedule jam-packed, and Sunday DID last a little longer than usual, it was still the coolest Closed anyone there could ever remember!!

To be honest, the real beneficiaries of the weather were the spectators.  Our players are in such good shape that they were generally able to physically handle everything the weekend threw their way, and could have handled the usual Closed heat as well or better than the rest.  The final day showed that, as even when it got a little warmer, we closed out the tournament with a flurry of wins.

Here are the top finishers from the weekend:

Ella Coleman – G 10s – Champion in Singles and Doubles

Brooke Killingsworth – G 12s – Champion in Singles and Doubles

Emma Baker – G 16s – Singles Champion, Doubles Finalist

Ryan Hargrove – B 16s –Singles Finalist

Emily Anne Gean – G 14s – 3^rd place

Kyle Henry – B 18s – 4^th Place in Singles, Doubles Finalist

Harshit Dhayal – B 10s – 5^th place

Matthew Freeman – B 12s – 5^th place

Catherine Nettle – G 16s – 5^th place in Singles, Doubles Finalist

Kruti Shah – G 16s – Doubles Champion

Lexi Beaver – G 18s – 5^th place

Dylan DeLuca – B 18s – 5^th place

Clearly, our girls were the stars of the tournament this time!  To win 3 of the 5 girls divisions – and to place in all 5 – is a pretty rare event at this tournament.  (We were actually close to having a girl in the finals of 4 divisions, as Emily Anne narrowly dropped a third set breaker in the Girls 14 semis!)  In all, over a third of the players we brought placed in their divisions, and we are happy to see the group’s effort and dedication this summer pay off.

Thank you to all of the players and parent who attended, you represented yourselves and OTA incredibly well!!!

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Our 4^th Annual OTA Team Event was quite possibly our most FUN ever!!  4 teams duked it out for the top spot, and in the end the Screaming Banshees avenged a 1 point Day 1 loss to the Street Fighters to take the top spot.

Your 2013 Champions – The Screaming Banshees:

Dylan
Hunter
Ryne
Kruti
Brooke
Will
Ella
Arjun

As usual, the fun continued off the court as well, whether in cheering for teammates or playing at the pool.  Thank you to everyone who participated, it was a blast!

At the Wichita ITA Event last weekend, OTA sent 7 players: Lexi Beaver, Catherine Nettle, Emma Baker, Colton Cheek, Kyle Henry, Andrew Miller, and Jack Neal.  For those that don’t know, the ITA series is a collegiate-focused tournament schedule, where most players are either incoming or returning college players.  We came away with 6 wins as a group, which is not bad for a group of high schoolers playing with the big kids! 

All of our girls won a singles match, and Emma added a doubles victory as well.  Kyle won two rounds (including one over a Division I player from Dallas), and lost 3^rd set breakers to players from the Big 10 and Big East conferences.

Overall it was a very good tournament for the group, and we had a great time, too!  A movie night, separate coaches and player rooms, and (most importantly) a restaurant that served grass-fed beef… what more could we ask for???  How about our mental training coach coming along to observe the group in action?  Check.   Jason showed up for both days, offering many quality insights to Christy and Jared about all of our players.

We’ll be planning on this again next year, so keep it in mind – It’s a great experience!!

Just a few things to catch up on over the last couple of weeks… we’ve had a lot going on!!

• A rainy Aquafina: Lexi Beaver, Catherine Nettle, Hayden Swope, and Carter Swope all made the trip to Jackson, Ms, for the STA L3 Aquafina.  While many of the final rounds were rained out, all of our OTA players won at least one match, highlighted by Lexi’s 3^rd place finish.  That is her 3^rd top 4 finish at STA L3 tournaments… in April.

• Local rain, too: Also, we had very good OTA participation for the Fayetteville Summerhill tournament.  Many matches were shortened, but the tournament managed to get finished.  Here were our top finishers:

• Andrew Miller – 1^st Boys 18s
• Ryan Hargrove – 1^st Boys 16s
• Harsh Dhayal – 2^nd Boys 10s
• Catherine Nettle – 1^st Girls 16s
• Kruti Shah – 2^nd Girls 16s
• Avery Hargrove – 1^st Girls 14s
• Mary Houston – 2^nd Girls 12s

• Making his name: Carter Swope was invited to participate in the Southern Regional Tennis Camp in Atlanta last weekend.  The camp is for the top 24 players in each age division (8 and under for Carter), and is a rare invite for players from Northwest Arkansas.  (Although not so rare if you live in the Swope house… Hayden is shortlisted to make the 10 and under camp!)  Tough to tell from the picture, but I’m thinking he had a good time!!

• Gone but not forgotten: One of our OTA alums is doing very well in his new home.  Griffin “Crime Dog” Clark recently helped his new high school team lock up the city championship.  We are very happy for his continued success, but even more so that it is important for him to share his successes with us.  We hear he’s getting some nice compliments on his technique and oncourt behavior… in other words, he’s the same old Crime Dog!  Here is a great article on his team’s championship: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/841435_Wirth-the-wait–ManheimTownship-outlasts-Hempfield-for-L-L-team-tennis-title.html

• A reminder, summer sign-ups are here!  Head over to the Registration page under our Programs tab, it’s easier than ever!!

Another Southern Level 3 tournament, another successful OTA weekend!  We were very impressed with our overall play, and hope you can all see the progress you’re making.  It was great having 28 players to watch, as it gives us a great feel for where we are as a program.  And, with 3 finalists in one Level 3 tournament, we tied our record… for the second straight tournament!!

Here were our top finishers:

• Brooke Killingsworth (Girls 12s), Hayden Swope (Boys 12s), and Dylan DeLuca (Boys 16s) all made the finals… and all got second.  Oh well, next time!  Dylan made it for the second straight tournament, avenging his loss in last month’s Polar Bear final in the semis.  Hayden gutted out one of the most physical matches of the tournament in his semis, taking down a kid who crushed him last fall.  And Brooke lost a tough 3^rd set tiebreaker in the final – on her 11^th birthday!

• Avery Hughes (Girls 12s) was our other placer, finishing 4^th.  In addition, Colin Clay (Boys 10s) and Catherine Nettle (Girls 16s) won out in consolation.

In addition to our top finishers, here were some standout moments from the weekend:

• For the most part, our attitudes were incredible!  OTA players demonstrated discipline and self-control, without sacrificing passion and fight.  It made us proud as coaches to watch them.  But this weekend was impressive in a slightly different way – we stayed above the fray in many moments where we could have just responded in kind.  Brooke was treated about as rudely as possible by one of her opponents, and never took a shot of her own, just ignored it and went about her business.  Hayden witnessed an absolutely epic meltdown by his opponent, and simply grabbed his stuff and walked away.  All over the grounds, we witnessed OTA players refusing to sink to lower levels of behavior, and we were just thrilled!

• Jack Neal HAS to be singled out, though.  One opponent insulted and screamed his way through their match.  Jack never did more than chuckle and shake his head before walking away.  Great, right?  No… amazing!  Because Jack used to go ballistic over any slight, real or perceived.   For some people, it’s easy to ignore things.  In a way, it’s even more rewarding when you know how hard it used to be for someone to do that.  Way to go, Jack!

• Mary Houston had an entire city (it felt like) against her in her 2^nd round match.  Parents (not hers) were calling out wrong scores, coaching, and generally cheering obnoxiously against her throughout the match.  Let’s just say the umpires – while they normally do a great job – were a bit overmatched in this case.  Not only did Mary have the courage to fist pump and fight her way to victory… but she did it at age 10.  Incredible.

• And finally, there was a poignant, bittersweet moment in the Girls 12s semis.  Brooke and Avery met up and had an absolute battle.  For those that haven’t played, it is a difficult situation playing a good friend, doubles partner, teammate, or major rival.  It is even harder to play someone who is all of those!  Our girls showed each other the respect to play as hard as they could, without holding back or whining or making excuses.  They were fist-pumping, crying “come on,” and practically diving for balls all over the court.  When the dust finally settled, with Brooke narrowly taking the 3^rd set breaker, they came to the net and Avery immediately embraced Brooke.  It was a devastating loss for her, yet she had the maturity and dignity to congratulate her friend.  And for Brooke, it was a huge win, yet her celebration was muted to say the least.  Before their next match, I saw them walking through the trees at Rebsamen together.  Laughing.  That is what it means to compete, and that is a true OTA attitude.

So thank you all for a great weekend, we appreciated all of you!  See you at practice, and next weekend in Shreveport…

As if Kennedy Coffee weren’t already the coolest coffee place around, it just got a whole lot cooler… Coach Drew has his art on display until May 5^th!!

When you get a chance, stop in for a mango smoothie with oj (Antea’s favorite), a Green Monster (Christy and Jared’s favorite), an 8 oz Americano – with 3 Splendas (that would be Abbey), a spiced chai latte (Drew), or just a nice, warm cup of joe (keep it black, keep it paleo!!).

Seriously, it’s a really awesome display, you guys will love it!

What a great weekend we had for our 8^th Annual OTA Championships!!  Thank you all so much for participating, it was a fantastic showing from our entire group… as usual!  We’d like to thank our sponsors Coppertone and Nestle for providing sunscreen and water.  Also, thanks to our Process Communication Model trainer, Jason Leal from Talknotch (pictured to the right, no doubt waist deep in PCM theory with Christy!), for coming down to see the kids perform and share his insights with our coaches.

This year’s overall champion was Jordan Sheppard, who won after appearing in the finals for the second straight year.  Jordan is the last of the “Original 7” members who began with us on a January day a little over 7 years ago.  (We got a little nostalgic, so you’ll see some “old school” pictures of him below!)  In this, his 8^th and final try, he overcame a very game Grady McCain, who pushed him to the limit before Jordan pulled out the final tiebreaker, 16-14.

In addition to securing his first OTA Championship, the win also vaulted him to the top of the leaderboard in this year’s OTA Player of the Year race.   It came down to the final day, but with Luke Lundstrum barely dropping a 3rd set breaker to Grady in the semis, Jordan clinched it by simply reaching the finals.  So a big congratulations to Jordan, for taking home both titles in the same day!

Two other awards were given out, and they are some of the toughest ones to judge… which is a really good thing!  The Sportsmanship Award went to Veronica VanderMolen, and the Fight Award went to The Richie Joshuva.  We had lots of great choices for both awards (in fact, the Fight Award truly came down to the final match between The Richie and Srikar Chikkala), but in the end we felt that Veronica and The Richie were most deserving.  Congratulations to both!

So thanks again for coming out and showing your OTA pride, it’s this type of event that truly shows what kind of family we are!  We appreciate the incredible attitudes from all of our players and parents alike.  Playing against your friends is sometimes the toughest thing to do, but you all managed it with the class and dignity we’ve come to expect.

Great job to everyone, we’ll see you this week!

2013 OTA Championships: 

Rafa Division – Jordan Sheppard def Grady McCain

Djoker Division – Hayden Swope def Kruti Shah

Federer Division – Jake Keefauver def Tripp McConnell

Murray Division – Agnibho Roy def Carson Nettle

Stephens Division – Carter Swope def Grace Coleman

Isner Division – Ella Coleman def Andrew Schweitzer

2013 OTA Player of the Year – Jordan Sheppard

• OTA Championships Winner – Jordan Sheppard
• Highest Southern Ranking – Hayden Swope (11^th in the Southern Section, Boys 10s)
• OTA Doubles Champion – Jordan Sheppard/Srikar Chikkala
• OTA Team Event Champions – Luke Lundstrum, Nathan Street, Jack Neal, Hans  Corbell, Sammi Cowan, Tony Kopek, Tripp McConnell
• OTA Shoot-Out Winner – Dylan DeLuca

Hall of Fame

OTA Champions:

2006 – Abbey Sharpe def Andrew Todd

2007 – Abbey Sharpe def Retz Chapman

2008 – Abbey Sharpe def Martin Tabler

2009 – Martin Tabler def Abbey Sharpe

2010 – Daniel “DJ” Joshuva def Caleb “C Mac” McReynolds

2011 – Reed Churchill def Kyle “Holiday” Henry

2012 – Kyle “Holiday” Henry def Jordan Sheppard

2013 – Jordan Sheppard def Grady McCain

Player of the Year:

2013 – Jordan Sheppard

Collegiate Players:

Abbey Sharpe – Drury University

Martin Tabler – University of Arkansas-Ft. Smith

Caleb “C Mac” McReynolds – Harding University

Rob Hodous – University of Texas-Tyler

Varun Shah – University of Charleston

Colton Cheek – John Brown University