AGENDA ITEMS FOR BOARD MEETING
OF APTA DIRECTORS – WHAT HAPPENED?

By Charles E. Vasoll

In the April 2006 issue I suggested a number of items that I believed the Board of Directors of the American Platform Tennis Association should address at their Board meeting following the Annual Meeting in May. (see April 2006 article)

They were:

(1) Financial support for the Platform Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame Foundation.
(2) Training and experience for a nationwide supply of qualified umpires.
(3) Study of the provision for Term Limits of Directors.
(4) Regulation of court design.
(5) Elimination of “flocking” on the ball.

It appears from my conversation with President Mark Fischl that only one of the above suggestions was given any attention. The Board did act to provide regulation for a “gap” in the side service line at the back line of the serve line. The purpose of this design is to improve the view of the serving area to enable the players to properly call an opponent’s serve in or a fault.

Court builders had initiated this improvement on their own many years ago and now it is a formal part of the court design. It is my understanding that it is not mandated at present because all courts would have to be repainted in this area of the court. It is my suggestion, however, that this could be tackled by the maintenance staff at most clubs and public facilities. I did not see any mention of it on the APTA web site. Maybe the magazine will cover the proposal although by the time the magazine is delivered, play will undoubtedly already be underway.

This is a good step forward by the governing body but I feel more needs to be done. My club has painted its courts in the “purple and green” color motif. I am not opposed to progress if it can be demonstrated that a change has merit but it should be the province of the APTA, not the court vendors, to make this decision.

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