Hermosa Beach was bustling with activity on Saturday, May 28. Festival Hermosa drew thousands of visitors to the Street Fair and the warm, sunny weather invited many for a stroll down the Strand or a visit to the beach and the water. A familiar sight on the beaches of this community is Beach Tennis, and the West Coast Beach Tennis Association organized a social tournament for everyone. The event was very well attended and attracted many spectators interested in that relatively new sport, a hybrid between Beach Volleyball and tennis. Beach Tennis is being played on a Beach Volleyball size court with a net that is 5’10”.
Donny Young looks like the quintessential Southern California beach boy – tall, tanned, blond. As a professional tennis teacher, Young spends the majority of his time outdoors. Besides teaching people how to hit a regular yellow tennis ball and win matches, he is an expert in hitting low compression orange tennis balls on volleyball style courts on the beach. Donny is also the founder and manager of West Coach Beach Tennis, one of the newest Southern California Beach Tennis organizations. Loving this sport with a passion has enabled him to not only claim the number one US Beach Tennis player spot, but also to successfully petition local and regional authorities for the right to play Beach Tennis in and around Hermosa Beach.
From the West Coast Beach Tennis’ web site: The game Beach Tennis is already an established professional sport in Europe and has been popular for many years before migrating to the shores of California. It started on the Mediterranean and made its way to Aruba eventually landing on the shores of the USA in 2005. It was founded by an organization called Beach Tennis USA and a pro tour was created. Beach Tennis – much like Beach Volleyball – is doubles only. The game is based on hitting and returning serves, different types of volleys and shots while using footwork in the sand. Anyone can learn and master the basic shots and game strategies in a very short time.
The rules of Beach Tennis can be viewed on the respective pages of the web site of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) as follows:
After a long 3 year battle of petitioning Los Angeles County with emails, phone calls, letters, and going to committee meetings, victory was sweet for the Beach Tennis community of LA’s beaches. County ordinance favoring Beach Volleyball had prevented Beach Tennis from spreading throughout most of the beaches here, and those ordinances are supposed to be changed now. Donnie Young is elated and states “Beach Tennis will now be allowed on the entire stretch of beaches between Malibu and Torrance.” His wife Ginger, a flight attendant with American Airlines, was checking in players and participating in the tournament herself. She points out Donny’s credentials as tennis professional and his history of successfully coaching top touring pros, such as Kimberly Po, Ann Grossman, and Jim Pugh.
One of the outstanding players in the tournament was Yan Lavrovsky, 45, immigrant from Siberia, Russia. Chief Executive of a Biopharm business (R-pharm Overseas, Inc.) during the week, Lavrovsky drove up from the San Diego area to catch another opportunity to play the sport he loves. He plays Beach Tennis for about 3 years now, which makes him almost a veteran of the sport. A 15 year background in regular tennis enabled him to start enjoying Beach Tennis quickly after being introduced to it by San Diego tennis personality Gretchen Magers. Magers runs Beach Tennis San Diego in a similar fashion as Young, with socials, get-togethers, and professional / amateur tournaments.
Lavrovsky prefers Beach Tennis over regular tennis because he loves the beach, the sand, and Beach Volleyball. His proficiency in volleying makes him a Beach Tennis expert player. Beach Tennis is being played in most of the participating countries with special paddles. Many organizations in the US are allowing participation with either paddles or standard tennis racquets. Lavrovsky prefers paddles because “…the future of Beach Tennis is in paddles. Everyone can play with paddles and only tennis players are used to playing with racquets. Paddles are also much better for Beach Tennis beginners.” He played pro-level at an international Beach Tennis event in Aruba last November. Next month he will be participating in an event on Long Island, titled the Long Island Tennis Magazine Challenge.
“I’d like to see some more kids playing Beach Tennis,” says Lavrovsky, and adds “We are competing with other sports that have role models. Beach tennis doesn’t have role models yet.” His 72 year old mother is a good example, however, that the sport is suitable for players of all ages. “Whenever she visits she’s playing Beach Tennis with me.” Lavrovsky would like to play Beach Tennis year round and is a little disappointed that Beach Tennis is not being played in Southern California during winter time.
The May 28 attracted one vendor who likes to add regular Beach Tennis events to his marketing and promotion efforts. Dr. Louis Woelfel is a Chiropractor who put up a tent and offers stretching, injury consultation, and chair massages with the help of his Massage Therapist Heather Vargas. Dr. Woelfel is no stranger to tennis being a player himself and working at times at the West End Racquet Club in Torrance. He states that the majority of potential injuries in Beach Tennis concern the shoulder, the elbow, neck, and lower back. Regular stretching and massages are a good way` of preventing injuries in those areas and Dr. Woelfel is a big proponent of prevention.
After the big “victory” with the Los Angeles County Donny Young described the boundaries within which Beach Tennis will be allowed on Los Angeles County beachesin an email to his supporters and friends as:
- People may play in designated areas which they are researching now with the cities
- In these areas, they are considering putting in permanent courts for Beach Tennis only or where people can hook up their portable beach tennis nets.
- People will now be able to play Beach Tennis on any beach if no one is on the beach and it doesn't conflict with the public or the lifeguards
- No one is allowed to play Beach Tennis on volleyball courts that have permanent nets, but may put up Beach Tennis nets on ones that have poles only.
Today Young and his partner Yan Lavrovsky came in second in the pro paddle event. The winners were Marti Solokis and Roberto Donati. At the end of the day an exhausted but smiling Donny Young puts it all into one sentence: “I want people to play Beach Tennis and have fun.” Looks like all the attendants of the social tournament and some walk-ins really did have fun that day.
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