Hunter Reese of Georgia and Catherine Harrison (pictured left) of Tennessee won the Southern Junior Closed Boy's 18s and Girl's 18s Tennis Championships at Burns Park Tennis Center in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Hunter Reese defeated an injured Garrett Brasseaux of Louisiana 6-4, 6-0 in the Boy's 18s finals. The most interesting match was in the Girl's 18s in which Catherine Harrison defeated Whitney Kay of Georgia 6-2, 7-6. Harrison played an aggressive backcourt game by ripping two-handed forehand winners from all over the court. Kay was forced to play defensive tennis most of the match and rely on Harrison to commit unforced errors in order to win points. It was a very fun match to watch with the two contrasting styles of play. The finalists were blue-chip college tennis recruits receiving attention from top college programs across the nation.
A list of Arkansas juniors that performed well in the tournament included Ryan Hudelson, Mario Martinez, Grant Adams, Kaitlin Ray, Lindsey Liles, and Darby Brandon. Other Arkansans participating in the event included Amy Andersen, Bishop Bass, Caleb Fackler, Forrest Hickey, Robert Hodous, McKenna Kraus, Seth Laster, and Caleb McReynolds.
20 comments:
Too bad for Brasseaux with the injury and all. Would have loved to see the final with a healthy Brasseaux.
I was so thankful I got to watch such incredible tennis at this tournament! You youngsters are an inspiration to all of us. Your fighting spirit, beautiful shots and hard work are superb! Great representation of the quality of jr. tennis in the South!
It's however very sad that the seeding had such huge flaws. These seeding mistakes can have huge impacts on the lives and futures of these junior players. Poor seeding is extremely avoidable so it would be interesting to find out who overlooked it.
It's customary the tournament director does the seeding. If that is the case then AR should check into the director they now have at their Burns Park facility. It only takes a quick google to get a glimpse inside how this individual thinks.
Gus Rivera came to NLR Burns Park in 2008 from LA. Here is his Facebook page prior to relocating there. How in this world was it overlooked? It speaks volumes!
Gus' FaceBook page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2230650177
Re: Gus FaceBook page
Note his photo and the mirrored glasses. Personally I don't trust anyone who feels the need to hide behind mirrored glasses and cover their face with a ZZ Top beard.
The photo of the cigarettes was no less than shocking as well as its headline. The fact there was constant bashing of AR and implications Arkansans cannot read or write was very insulting. It was only enhanced by the fact the man himself had no grasp of the English language as revealed by his constant grammatical errors.
To think this was written just prior to his being hired by the ATA is unbelievable.
To make matters worse he states he is going to make his own rankings as USTA isn't capable of doing so and lists his website as LA's USTA website. Someone should notify them as well as USTA asap! This is definitely not good advertisement for either or the sport of tennis itself! This is a person who should be reprimanded severely by all USTA, USPTA and more.
The fact he believes he "knows all" and makes his own rankings might explain some of the severe seeding mistakes as he evidently thinks he has a better grasp on it than the ITF as well as National and Southern USTA.
I've had a number of problems with Gus and am one who is by nature a person to stay in the background and the less commotion the better. I don't understand how it started but it's now to the point he refuses to speak to me or look my way even though I always speak when I see him and greet him nicely.
I initially thought the problems were his ignorance and lack of experience but quickly learned it was far deeper.
The last straw was when kept putting charges on my debit card. I hadn't been to Burns in months yet there would suddenly be several charges when I read my bank statement. When I asked him about each charge he said no charges showed up on his end or on Burns records.
I brought him my statement as that was my only way to get refunds. I now however have a new card that will never be used at Burns as they are on a cash only basis. I also still wonder where the $ really is as he always stood by his statement that the charges were not on Burns' statement.
Hopefully this serves as a warning to all!! Be careful!
Let me lastly inform of two times being charged for times I wasn't there yet he insisted I was. His last jab was an attempt to charge me an indoor court fee when he saw me put down my bag down on the outdoor courts prior to going inside to pay.
BEWARE!!!
Gus was a huge problem for Burns however the real problem is Leslie Pfieffer. As the ancient Chinese proverb says. A fish stinks from the head down.
Gus is now gone and his replacement will be here shortly. A big sigh of relief for Central AR tennis players.
The seeding errors as well as many, but not all, of the other problems stem from Pfieffer. Gus only enhanced yet also brought to light the "seediness" that goes on within the ATA as well as Southern.
Many areas are forming leagues of their own in order to avoid the USTA rifraf with great success. An option for AR players?
I guess there will be no more bashing of Gus Rivera acting as the Tournament Director of this great tennis event. Gus was fired at Burns Park. The new BP director is probably going to be the best hire in a long time. The new director is coming from AZ and was well groomed in running a large tennis facility under the direction of a well respected tennis director.
The biggest loser in the tennis community is not Gus Rivera, but the people who supplied his smoking habit. Losing his steady flow of revenue stream in their pocket, the dealers will suffer the biggest blow with him being fired.
Who was in charge of the Boy's 18s draw?
The biggest complaints from the parents and players was the stupidity of leaving the finalist Garrett Brasseaux out of the seeding!!! Pure laziness of not checking the ITF play of Brasseaux by Tourney Director. Some players might miss Kalamazoo because of this major mistake in the making if the draw.
Rivera, Bodie, or whoever made draw didn't do the due diligence instead of the easy clicking of the ranking buttons.
Somebody said that Leslie Pfeiffer and Cindy Curtis were in charge of the draw and forgot to seed Garrett Brasseaux. Another reason for the removal of Leslie P. Several parents are ticked off that this seeding goof might cost their children from getting into Kalamazoo.
Last year Brassaeaux won the tournament as the #2 seed! Leslie Pfeiffer can't remember who won last year? Check for yourselves:
http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Results.aspx?T=69571#3
This year Brasseaux is unseeded and runner-up while playing injured in the finals!? Just who all had input in the seeding? Other parents said Southern had a say but with Leslie Pfeiffer acting as tournament director the blame clearly goes there.
The ATA Board of Directors should be paying serious attention to all her errors. Had it been their little Johnny or Suzy affected by Leslie Pfeiffer's seeding screwup or their loss of a scholarship because they didn't play Kalamazoo I would bet they would most certainly be upset with Leslie Pfeiffer's grave mistakes.
She is not doing her job even adequately and due to her lack of attention to such important details she has affected a great number of lives, careers and more. Frankly, we will never fully know the negative impact she is having on the state of AR. When players from AR as well as 8 other states across the South come to play the most important tournament for them in the Southern region all t's should be crossed and i's dotted. It's huge whether or not these kids get in Kalamazoo and get attention from college scouts.
This a major screw up by Pfeiffer once again. This is more than just a poor reflection on her. It's also a very poor reflection on Southern as well as USTA. Seeding is extremely important and not to be left to the inept. Immediate action should be taken by USTA/Southern to ensure this will never happen again. The one solution being to clean up and clean house at the ATA. It's now become a joke.
guys, ya'll are on track about the major doof by leslie pfeifer in the seeding of the southern boy's & girl's 18s. mr. kay, the father of whitney kay( winner of 11 gold balls ) and casey kay ( a five-star or blue-chip college recruit ) detailed the same problems with the draws. when will the arkansas tennis association and its board face up to these facts? Who on the board of the ata has leslie's back?
usually its another inept person as she is that is failing to listen to the paying public about these major mishaps!
It is time to let Leslie go if she can't remember who the finalists were from the previous year. Old age and forgetfulness go together. She definitely messed up lives of some hardworking junior tennis players by the major blunder in not seeding Brasseaux!
I've heard you guys are always having trouble in AR with your state tennis association- Arkansas Tennis Association (ATA), particularly your director. With the salary of said executive director the one and only Ms. Leslie Pfeiffer your tennis community should have no problems with receiving quality service and she should be watching things carefully.
Her salary of over $91,000 in 2008 should pay for quality work.
(see IRS form 990 page 7 of link below)
http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990_pdf_archive/237/237372183
/237372183_200812_990O.pdf
That's good money to be making in an economic crisis wouldn't you think?
Birds of a feather flock together- makes since over leslie pfeiffer choosing gus rivera, a big cigarette smoker such as herself and a little shady in dealing with others!
man up people and use your names
good point Nicholsons. I don't think the moderator wants people posing as other people so you need to have a blogger account to post. i've not gotten around to it yet.
other than that you're right. i'd love to see who knows all these tidbits!
hold on a sec Nicholson Family. i just tried to read your profile and it's hidden. man up and show us who you are. i know lots of Nicholsons. what's up?
I saw where Catherine Harrison was a finalist at the Orange Bowl. Great player! The girl's draw was not as poorly made by the tournament director Leslie Pfeiffer as the boy's draw. The boy's draw had major problems by leaving Garrett Brasseaux out of the seeding. Who doesn't know of Brasseaux in the Southern tennis world? Leslie Pfeiffer the Executive Director of the Arkansas Tennis Association.
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