Passing Shots
Dear Fellow Tennis Coaches,
First, I want to thank Peter Militzer for his dedicated service as President of our association for the past two years. We were fortunate to have someone with Peter’s knowledge and skills leading our organization, and I feel fortunate that he will continue to advise me over the next two years of my presidency.
Many of you attended the MHSTeCA Hall of Fame Banquet Friday evening, February 4, on the first day of the coaches clinic. For those of you who did not attend, I encourage you to consider attending the banquet at future clinics. The food is always great, and more importantly, it is a very special occasion when we honor many outstanding individuals for their contributions to their teams, communities and Michigan high school tennis. It is always inspiring to hear about the special years and special careers of our coaches. At this year’s banquet, Mike Barnes, Steve Bender and Al Kaye received our association’s highest honor when they were inducted into our hall of fame. Gina Mazzolini of the MHSAA received our Distinguished Service Award. Mike Annelin, Tony Fales and Steve Rodia received assistant coach of the year awards. Chris Layson, Dan Bittner, Matt Brown and Steve Stanley received girl coach of the year awards. Mark Dubiel, Al Nelson, Kevin Gilligan and Jim Niebling received boy coach of the year awards.
Those of you who attended Gina Mazzolini’s “State of the State” session at the coaches clinic in Troy, MI and filled out an attendance form, fulfilled the requirement to attend a live or online tennis rules meeting. If you are the head girls coach at your school, did not attend Gina’s session and did not participate in an online meeting in the spring, you need to complete an online rules meeting no later than April 12, 2011. Your athletic director can provide you with the necessary information to log on to the MHSAA website and complete the meeting.
I strongly encourage you to enter your line-ups and the results of your dual matches and tournaments on the MHSAA website. This is a great way to share results across the state. If you enter your results on the MHSAA website now, you will be prepared for when we are eventually required to enter results online.
This year’s National High School Athletic Coaches Association annual convention will be held in Michigan for the very first time. The convention runs from June 18-22 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids. There will be opportunities to earn college credit, to attend presentations by nationally recognized speakers and to meet coaches who have been nominated for national coach of the year honors.
Thank you for all of your efforts to make high school tennis great in your community and across the state.
Sincerely,
Joe Gentle
MHSTeCA President
North Muskegon High School
Home Phone: 616-607-8563
E-mail: gentlejo@nmps.k12.mi.us