Thursday, September 17, 2009

The City of Conway, Arkansas Has a New Tennis Association

A new tennis association has formed in Conway, Arkansas called The Central Arkansas Tennis Association ( CATA ). The CATA was formed to promote the growth of tennis. Recently, Central Arkansas Tennis Association of Conway held its first meeting with several players and parents of players in attendance.

Anyone interested in getting involved may email: tennis@pinnacletennisacademy.com or call the office at 501-570-6755. CATA will hold its next meeting on September 25, 2009. This meeting is scheduled to put together a calendar of events, elect officers of the CATA, and cover a broad range of topics including the state of condition in the tennis community.

At its first meeting, a new Conway Tennis League was implemented for players who want to compete year-round. The league is FREE and is an excellent opportunity to meet other tennis players in the community. For registration go to- http://www.pinnacletennisacademy.com/id17.html

70 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the best news around town! The trash that has gone on for so long in the local tennis community has been overboard. Noone has been knowledgable or can get along. I have tried to get involved but if you aren't within the little clique then forget it. I evidently didn't fit the mold.
I have been an avid tennis player for years and know quality when I see it. The past years of living in Conway have been very frustrating. We moved here from a large tennis community where there was competition but people got along. And they knew tennis!
I sent you my information and can't wait to get involved! FINALLY Conway has a group who is not out for only themselves while not knowing diddly about tennis but simply looking to make a buck! Thanks guys!

Conway Mom said...

I know you guys are modest and lowkey but in addition to thanking you for forming a tennis association I also would like to thank you for getting the windscreens put up around town. Even if you don't post this I want to thank you personally for investing your time in helping our community by upgrading the courts as well as helping out the juniors with a free program. Don't think you're not noticed and appreciated! You both very much are!

Anonymous said...

This is great news for Conway. The other CATA did a few good things around town, but I knew something went awry when the head of it, someone named Pete or Peter, started advertising and promoting running and marathons instead of tennis. The more appropriate thing to do would have been to form a running club to promote running events.

Anonymous said...

Ya'll are a fun group to be with and thanks for getting my son involved with a sport that he really enjoys.

Anonymous said...

The free junior program has been a blessing to my children. A hispanic women in the area offered to teach tennis to the children in my neighborhood, but it was not in our budget at that moment to pay such an enormous fee to this women for my children to start taking tennis lessons. You donated your time and energy in offering such a fine program to my children. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

I want to thank you for letting us use your ballhoppers and basket of balls at UCA. Recently, I noticed that the tennis equipment wasn't in the storage building and heard rumors that the equipment was either missing or stolen. Please let me know if I can do anything to help you recover your lost equipment. Your kindness and generosity is not unnoticed!

Anonymous said...

I have always wanted to tell how much I appreciate you helping in the tennis community. Time has passed by from the day I witnessed you helping with a tennis program and a lady approached you ranting and raving about something silly. I knew you were embarrassed by such rude behavior but it comes with the job. I about fell out when someone told me that it was a city of conway alderman's wife doing the screaming.

Anonymous said...

You guys are a breath of fresh air to our tennis community. Once I heard that one of you trained under the Dennis Van der meer school of tennis, I knew the quality of instruction would go up in our area. Some lower quality tennis players do not recognize these attributes. Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

GUYS,
I SAW AN OVERHEAD SESSION BEING TAUGHT AT OUR LOCAL COLLEGE. I WAS AGHAST THAT THE COACH OF THE COLLEGE LET THE COLLEGE TENNIS PLAYER CONTINUE TO HIT AN OVERHEAD WITH A FOREHAND GRIP. IT WAS EVIDENT THE COACH DID NOT KNOW HOW TO TEACH THE PRONATION OF THE FOREARM IN HITTING AN OVERHEAD OR SERVE WHEN USING THE CORRECT GRIP. THE COACH LOOKED VERY OLD AND SHOULD HAVE KNOW BETTER BY NOW!

Anonymous said...

I know what coach you are taking about. He has been protecting his turf in Conway for years. He even ran down Thomas Anderson, the pro in Little Rock who is one of the most reputable coaches in LR. I hope ya'll yank the covers off such a pitiful bunch of knowitalls who know very little about the game.

Anonymous said...

The most hard working coach in Conway was Coach Denise Bradley. When she quit teaching, the quality went down. I noticed maybe one junior playing from Conway in the Arkansas Jr.Qualifying this summer and he was in the 18s. The lazy self-serving pros in Conway should have had juniors playing in the 10s, 12s, 14s, 16s. It is about time the real state of the tennis community in Conway was being brought out.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to here more on the state of the tennis in conway from some more of you. Good, honest assessment with no bashing!

Anonymous said...

check this out on the state of tennis instruction in conway- one dude is a 3.0 named rowden. Can you believe this? The depth of instruction must be pretty shallow from a 3.0, don't you think?

Anonymous said...

At Hendrix College, I about passed out playing with some friends when a sincere maybe 14 yr. old girl was needing help on her serve and volley. The forehand volleys down low were dumped repeatedly in the net. Well duh? She was in the forehand grip with a closed racket face. Service problems? She had the wrong grip also with the ball and the racket not starting together at the same starting place to begin with. It's hard to sync a service motion if your arms are not in sync. Go figure on the instruction level of tennis in Conway!

Anonymous said...

Talking about Conway's state of tennis- Jonesboro is similiar in size to Conway and has a great public tennis court facility. Plus the town has three different facilities with indoor courts. What's the deal with several million dollars spent on baseball fields and nothing on tennis? I heard two alderman have lived here forever named Grimes and Vaught who play tennis and they never saw the need for more courts. Are these alderman wanting tennis cramped so one facility handles the tennis affairs? An interesting question for the public!

Anonymous said...

Guys,
Looking over the state of tennis in Conway, I noticed an officer of the old CATA, conway area tennis association and noticed one of its honchos named Warriner or something was a 2.5 player and never won a match. Fine, knowledgeable leadership here!

Anonymous said...

A few comments on the pro situation.
Who in their right mind would knock Thomas Andersson? He is an incredible player as well as instructor. The dude is known all over! One word: jealous!
Next the whole USPTA thing is a total scam. One is a 3.0 player who played mixed dbles with his 2.5 wife and lost all but one match which went to a tiebreaker and they (i mean she) somehow pulled it out for them. Another who took it says she was on the Davis Cup and Federation Cup in Mexico. The Davis Cup is only for men! I looked her up on the Federation Cups website which lists all past players and guess what? She isn't there! LMAO!! What a joke!
Too many phony resumes out there!

Anonymous said...

Dudes,
I researched teaching pros in your area and found the girl Z.Galvan played community college tennis for a couple of years with a short stint at D-I. Big whoop! If she was that good that she claims the D-I's would have been after her, not the community colleges. As far as Harold Henderson, no college experience, no junior exp., just played as a hobby when got older and got a D-III gig with no real instructional experience.

Anonymous said...

KIND OF FUNNY HOW SOMEBODY ASKS FOR HANDOUTS AND TURNS AROUND TO CHARGE THE LITTLE KIDS. TALK ABOUT GIVING FOR THE GAME! LOOKS THEY ARE ON THE TAKING!

Anonymous said...

This is too funny! Resume padding by the Zarina Galvan girl is all I see!

Anonymous said...

Breaking News on Zarina-Gate:
USTA Georgia said Zarina LIED about her self-rate of 4.0 in USTA GA Team Tennis and was BANNED from tennis for one year. Some former players said to not let her hide behind her religion and look out Arkansas for some of the same stunts.

Anonymous said...

Hey Guys,

Just logged on and want some of the carcass too. No D-I college wanted Zarina Galvan McCarthy out of high school so she had to attend a Community College in CA. She's not the star athlete she paints her resume out to be. Lied to USTA and lied on her resume. Hey, at least she is consistent at something like lying because she is not very consistent from the baseline.

Anonymous said...

Just moved to Conway and played some tennis with some ladies. One of the courts next to us was a lady named Leann Warner who is all knowledgeable about tennis when you talk to her and says she runs the old CATA. However, I checked her tennis resume and she never wins at 2.5. Come on Conway, let's set our standards a little higher than that!

Anonymous said...

I have been involved in tennis recruiting for D-I schools. If you are anywhere on the map in the high school tennis scene, a D-I school will find you. If that Z. Galvan was a great high school player, the D-I schools would have been all after her not some community college!

Anonymous said...

This might help to get more things done about tennis in conway-
city council roster:
andy hawkins
david grimes
mark vaught
shelley mehl
jim rhodes
mary smith
theodore jones
shelia whitmore

Check on their voting record and all the waste in govt. LogCabinPaper reported $20,000/mo. to maintain ball fields.
now mark vaught will be hard to get a hold of because he blogs all day and listens to limbaugh the rest of the day. that is why he weighs 300 lbs. I think his wife, penny does all the work while he lays up and eats ice cream!

Moderator said...

Moderators want the conversation clean and for everyone to play fair. They want to post all comments if they are clean and appropriate.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Guys,
I wouldn't even know this blog exists in bloggerland considering it is so vast. I work for the city of conway in planning and my co-worker is the president of the old CATA. The girl I mean guy spends all his time on the computer writing on tennis blogs while at work- 1000 posts on tennis warehouse, etc. Is this a waste of citizen's tax dollars? I am busting my gut posting plat info while he is posting on blogs. He has a higher position than mine, but I am doing all the work while he plays on the computer.

Topspin92 said...

I am excited about the upcoming meeting of the new CATA. Thank you for forwarding the business agenda concerning the CATA calendar of events, election of officers, and the state of tennis in Conway. Tennis is my passion, and I look forward to getting involved.

Anonymous said...

I am new to USTA League tennis and have been reading your blog because of your no-nonsense point of view about tennis. I have a question- How does someone get a 1-year suspension from league tennis such as the Zarina Galvan-McCarthy situation when she played tennis in Georgia before moving here?

Anonymous said...

Where and what time is your next CATA meeting?

Anonymous said...

Curious about the banning of Z. Galvan-McCarthy also... The Usta takes violations of the code of conduct and ethics seriously. Committees are set up to handle cases with a vote of its members. To be banned for a year must be a serious offense for each committee to pass down such a hard sentence.

Anonymous said...

While your talking about latinos, don't you think Jennifer Lopez is a hottie!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Mary Jo the ESPN Tennis Analyst is latino and smokin hot also!

Anonymous said...

I am a mother who was affiliated with the old CATA and was recommended by it to enroll my child in Galvan-McCarthy's tennis program. I was saddened to find out her past history of deception to the USTA and others. I will never put my child in her program again because the game of sports is to teach about honesty and rewards by hard work!

Anonymous said...

Been noticing comments on tennis instruction/coaching and pulled up more info.
Harold Henderson, coach of Hendrix College-DIII school, is known as a tennis guru in Conway.
Hendrix finished 10th place in SCAC Conference tournament(at the bottom)in Men's Tennis. Women's Tennis- 8th place(near bottom).
Is guru?

InsideCollegeSports said...

Check this out on Coach Harold Henderson's Hendrix College team record over 10 year period-
Wins= 193
Losses=418
Winning Percentage= .315

How does he keep his job with a record near the bottom of the SCAC Conference? Check link-
http://collegetennisonline.com/Tennis/Conference.aspx?confId=144

Anonymous said...

watchn ur blog regularly & noticed the truth hurts but dont c bashn here.
henderson's hendrix record stinks! winning % is .231, .262, .242, .263, .296, .238 over last 6 yrs.
how does the guru keep his job? he's a guru not at tennis skills but suckering hendrix n2 keepn him on payroll!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

i thought a losing record was below .500 ! If Harold Henderson's record is close to .250, then he is losing twice as badly as a loser just below .500. Big loser does not equal Guru.
Alumni are usually mad at below .500 teams.

Anonymous said...

Did any see that Harold Henderson is an ATA employee? Serves on grievence/disciplinary committee. He is the one that let Lindsey Prince-Berardi play as a 3.5 & got DQ'd to 4.5. Smells fishy!

Anonymous said...

Great sleuthing Job! The infamous Leslie Pfeiffer & Harold Henderson have a cozy relationship. Now it makes since about the backdoor dealings in the tennis circles.

Anonymous said...

Yep, Harold's awards as a teaching are due to teaching students to serve/overhead smash in forehand grips, volleying in wrong grip, backswings down and then up( instead of up and then down), out of sync racket arm and ball toss arm, etc OR due to Pfeiffer connections. Go Figure!

Anonymous said...

Check out the wording of the profile Henderson wrote out for himself for his USPTA award...." 14 years as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Arkansas District of the United States Tennis Association " . In simple terms the ATA or Arkansas Tennis Assoc. not the Ark. District of the Supreme Court. What a self-promoter?

NOTaguruorfedcupplayer said...

Reading about the V.I.P's of Conway tennis reminds me of a saying a very wise person once told me-"The higher up a monkey climbs the more he shows of his behind."
I am always thankful for my peon status and will do all to ensure it remains.

Anonymous said...

Kids had a workout with rowden. He demonstrated the inside out forehand to the students. After about 15 or 20 shots, rowden made an inside out shot for the students. He jumped up and down, gave a fist pump, and the buttons on his shirt almost popped off. A huge grin came across his face as he told the students that not many 3.0 players can make this shot as consistently as he can!

Anonymous said...

The most hilarious workout my children had with rowden was the serve. Rowden was trying to demonstrate it for the kids and continously dumped it into the net. Finally out of frustration, he went to the storage room by the courts and pulled out a milk crate and stood on it and hit the serve over!

Anonymous said...

More on Zarina-Gate:
(1)Zarina attended junior college(Community College) out of high school not in San Diego or LaJolla as she has said but ElCajon(2)Coach at Nebraska verified that he did not recruit her directly out of high school but from a community college(3) The Georgia District of the United States Tennis Association did suspend her for 1 year from any USTA event.
Tennis players are clamoring for an apology from Zarina for her misbehavior!

Anonymous said...

Question for Conway Residents- Why does Jonesboro have a nice public facility called Allen Park and Conway has a few playable courts? Jonesboro is similar in size. Does Jonesboro have brighter aldermen?

Anonymous said...

my tennis buds say we ought to have a poll to see if this zarina gal should make a public apology?

Anonymous said...

Dear Aldermen of Conway,
My wishlist is for Conway to be on the cutting edge of society and provide the tennis community a nice tennis complex like other communities are receiving. Newer residents in Conway and the older residents deserve better service from their mayor and aldermen. Even Ft. Smith, Arkansas added new tennis courts to Creekmore Park. Please quit trying to compete with Greenbrier with baseball fields and try to modernize our town with quality improvements.

Signed,
Citizens Asking for the Removal of Inept Mayor and Aldermen

Anonymous said...

i've polled my circle of tennis friends and the tally of whether zarina should apologize is

for apology= 14
against apology= 3


i wish others would log-on with their votes.

Anonymous said...

WE PLAYED A DOUBLES MATCH AND THE POLL AMONG THE FOUR OF US WAS-

FOR APOLOGY- 3
AGAINST - 1

Anonymous said...

FINISHED A SINGLES MATCH TODAY AND BETWEEN THE TWO OF US THE SCORE WAS

FOR ZARINER APOLOGY- 2

AGAINST- 0

Anonymous said...

The women on my 7.5 combo team were talking about the Zarina Galvan-McCarthy resume padding and Usta banning and reached the conclusion that she should apologize with the score being 6-0 with 2 abstaining because they were not familiar with the situation.

Anonymous said...

Polled my doubles group playing indoors about Zarina apology and score was 3-1 in favor of an apology!

Anonymous said...

Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir,
Your discussions about the tennis community are informative. I was informed that some comments may not be true, but the president of the old CATA named Jason told me that the Zarina gal definitely hit them up for funds along with the ATA in order to self-promote herself and USTA tennis programs. It looks like to me that it is another story that the truth hurts. Keep up the good reporting on the Game of Tennis!

Signed,
Overheard Smasher

Anonymous said...

Yeah that Jason is a real hoot, he can not even get his association together. They are so disorganized and can not even hold regular meetings. I went to the Block Parties and they were so chaotic and no structure. Can you believe they actually turned the Basketball Court into a tennis court. They were actually playing tennis as well, I mean come on these people know nothing about tennis. When will your next meeting be as we need an association.
;)

Anonymous said...

Hey New CATA:

we are anxious to hear of the winners of the 2009 awards that we voted on. please let us know.

Anonymous said...

More News on Conway Tennis- I went by a house and noticed all these kids, and a housekeeper ran inside to check on the kids. All of a sudden, the housekeeper dashed to her car with a tennis racquet in hand leaving the kids inside. I asked the neighbor I was visiting what's up with that. He said she teaches a tennis class or something.

Anonymous said...

I HAVE HEARD OF THE SAME RUMORS. THE ZARINA GAL BORROWED EQUIPMENT FROM THE ATA AND HIT THEM UP FOR MONEY TO PROMOTE QUICK START AND CARDIO TENNIS. NOW SHE IS STAYING CLOSE THE OLD CONWAY CATA TO SEE IF SHE CAN GET THEM TO GIVE HER MORE HANDOUTS. SHE IS LOOKING FOR ANY WELFARE PROGRAM THAT SHE CAN FIND!

MOTHER NOT FOOLED BY LYING CHILDREN said...

FROM: ANOTHER DISAPPOINTED MOTHER
TO: ZARINA GALVAN-MCCARTHY

IF YOU READ THIS BLOG, I AM WRITING ABOUT THE FIT YOU THREW WHEN YOU DIDN'T GET YOUR WAY BY USING DECEIT AND DECEPTION. I AM VERY DISTURBED ON FINDING OUT THAT THE ALLEGATIONS ARE VERIFIED AND TRUE AFTER CONTACTING USTA AUTHORITIES. HOW CAN YOU STILL TEACH TENNIS WHICH IS A GAME OF ETHICS WITH ENFORCEABLE CODES. I WANT AN INSTRUCTOR THAT TEACHES THE GAME PROPERLY INCLUDING CODE OF CONDUCT AS WELL AS PROPER LINECALLING. YOU ARE WILLING TO BREAK ALL RULES. I AM GLAD TO BE AN AMERICAN THAT HAS A RULE OF LAW THAT IS ENFORCED. SOME COUNTRIES ARE KNOWN TO BE RULED BY DECEPTION WITHOUT REGARD TO THE RULE OF LAW. SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!

Anonymous said...

I checked on the New CATA 2009 Awards and they will be announced next week since the tally is finished.

Anonymous said...

played singles and the apology on the zarinagate episode is

for votes= 2
against=0

Anonymous said...

Any more whispers on the New CATA awards? Very anxious to see who the winners are!

Anonymous said...

DITTO ON THE ZARINA APOLOGY POLL-
MY DOUBLES GROUP VOTED 4-0 FOR AN APOLOGY!

Anonymous said...

You guys are great for the tennis community. The old CATA run by Pete Tanguay and others was just a front for Henderson at Hendrix to forward ATA funds to Conway Area Tennis and limit the growth in that area by allowing a few inexperienced tennis instructors to get their hands on a little money( as in receiving a handout )!!! Tanguay always hung around the tennis community to get website business. I read the comments under your article St. Vincent Pro Tournament and the comments hit the nail-on-the-head on Tanguay!

Anonymous said...

hey guys,
i have a question for ya. in georgia, a lady teaching pro had on her resume that she was the the #1 player in a third world country. does that make a good teaching pro/player etc? i heard she was the only tennis player that owned a racket and tennis shoes in that country!!!!

Anonymous said...

Guys,
The Zarina Galvan MccCarthy is a hoot. I think she taught her husband Erick McCarthy how to play tennis. He has no college tennis background and is just a hacker. I have never seen him play but someone said that Zarina is too embarrassed to play mixed doubles with him in a tournament because he was so bad. Interesting that she now wants him to run EZ Tennis and Lifetime Fitness for her!!!

Anonymous said...

The best tennis program in the Maumelle & Conway area is offered by PinnacleTennisAcademy.com . Their FREE introductory tennis lessons for adults and juniors is an excellent way to get started playing tennis!

Anonymous said...

The comments about Pete Tanguay in your article, "St.Vincent Auxiliary New Outlook Pro Tennis Tournament...." speak a lot about how people use other people to promote their business.

Anonymous said...

On a different subject but one thing that perturbs me about Mark Vaught. When I am outdoors playing tennis or simply walking the nature trails, I nearly step in dog mess carelessly left in the pathways. This mess reminds me of Mark Vaught and how he left the city of Conway in financial shambles! Vaught is now running for a Faulkner County position. While at his city position, Vaught left a huge dookie mess for others to clean up at the city offices. Now, he is trying to wiggle his tail into a county office position. Soon, we will have another big dookie pile left by him at the county level! His incompetency at any public office position creates financial disasters wherever his is at. I hope he never gets a public position anywhere!!