ANOTHER “SENIOR MOMENT”

By Charles E. Vasoll

New this year from the APTA for the “oldsters” is a 95+ tournament tour with BIG DADDY CUP as the ultimate prize. The final will be played before the National Championships at Pelham, New York in March. It is promoted as an opportunity to give “seniors” one more chance to get a “national ranking” or to win a “big one”. Unfortunately, I believe the organizers had a “senior moment” when they developed the concept.

As stated in the September issue of Platform Tennis, the total team age has to equal 95. Beneath that in parenthesis is the catch. It states “(no minimum age per participant)”. That to me is a “senior moment”. It means that national ranking players even as young as 30 can join this tour with a 65 year old. I ask, “How does this encourage senior players to compete?” I recognize that it opens a large number of potential partners but is this “senior platform tennis”?

Many years ago the Long Island Platform Tennis Association conducted its senior championship, known as the “Julian Trivers Invitational”, as a 95+ event. It had a minimum age of 45. That required the second player to be a minimum of 50. One year LIPTA conducted the APTA 45+ Championship and thereafter changed the qualification for its Trivers tournament into two divisions, 45+ and 55+. That is the way it is now and will be played as a closed (LIPTA members only) on December 9th.

The point is that with a minimum age of at least 45 the team must be what the APTA regards as “seniors”. With no minimum age, the field is wide open to non-seniors. Let’s do it right. Let’s make it really a “senior” event with a minimum age of 45.

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