SENIOR MEN’S TOURNAMENTS GO TO THREE DIGITS

Rich Lombard, Senior Men’s APTA Tournament Director, brought to my attention, in a brief conversation, that many senior men’s tournaments in the mid west regions are 90, 110 and 125 events with the ages of the partners required to total the specific formula for the tournament. He pointed out that many of the traditional age competitions were experiencing low entry levels and the new total partnership age was an attempt to increase the size of the draws. This would happen because the field of possible partners is larger when both members of the team don’t have to be in the same age category such as 45+, 50+, 55+ etc. Instead they can be a 45 and 65 for a 110 tourney or 55 and 70 for eligibility in a 125 contest.

This trend is also spreading east. I recently received a notification about three 125 Combined Age tournaments in Connecticut. Further, these tourneys are one-day competitions and will be played on Fridays. The first is in Darien at the Wee Burn CC on November 18th, the second is in Old Lyme at the Old Lyme CC on January 13th and the third is in Greenwich at the Round Hill CC on February 10th. Since I was not sure, I sent an e-mail to Peter Gogolak, Tournament Coordinator, inquiring whether there was a minimum age for the youngest partner. I envisioned an 80-year-old with a 45-year-old as maybe being “unfair competition”. He kindly replied that there were no minimum age requirements. I immediately began thinking about a 50-year-old partner who, incidentally, would still be willing to play with this 75 year-old even though he would never see the ball except to receive serve!

Here on Long Island we faced a different dilemma some years ago. We had a Julian Trivers Memorial Senior Men’s tournament which was a 90+ combined age contest. One year we conducted a Senior Men’s 45+ National Championship and the LIPTA Board of Directors decided that the Trivers event should follow the APTA Senior age guidelines. The eligibility was changed to two events, a 45+ and a 55+. That worked for a while but then the number of entries began to decline. Instead of a “closed” tournament for LIPTA members, it was opened to all APTA members. That did not fare very well and three years ago LIPTA returned to making it a “closed” event once again.

What is the lesson in all of this? I believe the governing bodies have to understand and accept two propositions about our sport. First, although the cost of dress and equipment is low, the most likely place that you will find courts and be able to play is in private clubs where the cost for membership can be beyond the ability of both the young (45+) and the older (65+) to pay. Second, because of the low birth rate in the 1930’s, there are a very limited number of men age 65 to 75 available to be contestants. For the next few years, the APTA and local associations probably have to adapt to smaller draws for their Senior Men’s competitions.

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