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40 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | NOVEMBER 2014 | SPORTS & OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES (L-R) Hailu Kinde, Padoo Peralta, Philip Harris, Diego Santos, Jim Cochran, Syed Ali and Paco Michael Rothberg has done a wonderful job in the past, writing and gathering stories for our players, but he has passed the torch to me, Diana Johnson Ali. I hope to provide fun and interesting stories about the sport of paddle tennis. Last February, while touring our Four Season's Lodge Facility, we noticed people playing a game called Paddle Tennis on a smaller tennis court. We had never seen it played before, but it looked like it would be a lot of fun and good exercise. So we joined the play after being offered loaner paddles. It is fun, and there is always laughter and camaraderie. Since I knew nothing about the game, I thought it would be interesting, to read about its origin… History of paddle tennis The Reverend Frank Beal developed paddle tennis in 1898 as an activity for children. He viewed the game as an introduction for children to learn to play tennis. His original paddle tennis court was 18 x 39, one half the size of a regulation tennis court. Beal's version used a sponge-rubber ball and a wooden paddle. The smaller court and short-handled paddle appealed to the kids. In 1922, the first paddle tennis tournament was held in New York and in the late 1920s the game of paddle tennis grew in popularity, even with adults, spreading to other cities, including Los Angeles and surrounding areas. Around the mid 1930s Murray Geller, chairman of the USPTA Rules Committee decided an official "adult" court size to be set at 20 x 44 (the same size as a badminton and pickle-ball). By the late 1950s the game's popularity was soaring with well known tennis players, like Althea Gibson and Bobby Riggs, playing the sport of paddle tennis. Then in 1961, after some controversy, the courts were lengthened on each end to make the courts now 20 x 50, the standard dimensions used today. Other changes were implemented, the sponge-rubber ball was replaced with a deadened tennis ball (that has been punctured with a needle). The nets were slightly lowered, and the overhand serve was eliminated to only one underhand serve, rules that are being followed to this day. The above history was taken from information provided by the current USPTA, based in California. So for now, welcome all, good play, good times and good exercise. ~ Diana Johnson Ali Paddle Tennis (L-R) Terry Miller and Niles Sunstrom

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