David MacArthur, who took up tennis as a teenager after being paralyzed, became the first wheelchair player in Northern California to participate in USA Adult Leagues. He posted a 2-1 record in the Mixed league this last season.

"He was my inspiration," said Vyki Shimizu, captain of the AVAC 7.0 mixed team on which the 31-year old played.

MacArthur is on the cutting edge of a USTA trend that includes wheelchair players in able-bodied competitions. The first wheelchair player in league history was Nanette Oatley of Prescott, Arizona, in 2000. Playing on a 2.5 team, she made it to sectionals.

"She had a great personality and was the hit of the tournament," said the Southwest Section's Adult League Director Darlene Demory. "Everyone accepted her very well."

The Florida section also had a wheelchair player in leagues, as well as the Caribbean section and Intermountain has had two. But MacArthur, as a 3.5, is the highest nationally ranked to compete. In the USTA's wheelchair Men's Open division, he is No. 17.

The national USTA determined last year that wheelchair players could play in tournaments for the able-bodied, allowing them their two-bounce, wheelchair rule. So far in Northern California tournaments, no one has picked up the gauntlet.

MacArthur, who works for a San Jose credit union, was paralyzed in a motocross accident at the Baylands Raceway in Fremont in 1987. His back was broken and he suffered spinal cord damage. He was 16. MacArthur took up tennis the next year.

He recently won a wheelchair singles event in the Southwest Sectionals in Tucson and a doubles event in the Southern California Sectionals in Upland. His coach is the award winning Bill Jacobson of Los Gatos. The able-bodied computer packing executive teaches from a chair and was featured in the February/March 2002 issue of the NorCal Call.

"My wife of three years, Tracey, also plays tennis (able-bodied) and she convinced me to join a mixed doubles league at AVAC," MacArthur explains. "Tracey and I won our first two matches. The other match I played was at districts and I lost.

"It takes our opponents a few points to get used to the two-bounce rule, but after that it goes just like any other match.

"The people I have come up against in this league have been very nice and have reacted wonderfully. Most are quick to say how impressed they are in the way I move in my chair. I guess they are kind of surprised at my level of play in wheelchair. Most people have never seen wheelchair tennis.

"It has been a great experience and I hope to do more team tennis in the future."

MacArthur is also a member of the Golden State Road Warriors wheelchair basketball team which won the national wheelchair championship last year in Chicago. He has been playing basketball since 1989.

"We can't wait to get older!" Charlie Hoeveler told his audience at the Hall of Fame induction. "You spend a little time in your age group and then those guys 2 or 3 years younger come along-and they're tough! You can't wait to move up. But it is an extraordinary group of senior players in Northern California. I have made friends for life. I have been very fortunate."

Hoeveler, of Ross was inducted along with former pro tour player, Lafayette's Tom Edlefsen, at a banquet and auction to raise money for USTA NorCal junior programs. Hoeveler holds 18 national singles and doubles titles and 10 Father-Son national titles with son Charles. All of Hoeveler's family attended, including his mother, Jinny, from the East Coast.

Introducing Edlefsen was his former teammate from an extraordinary USC team, Tim Carr, who described his friend as "as good a sportsman as ever played the game," and devoted to it. Carr said that Edlefsen had been struck down in the middle of his playing career by a nerve disease. He recovered after six months of physical therapy and went on to upset Cliff Drysdale at Wimbledon to gain the round of 16 in 1968. He had other wins over Grand Slam champions Roy Emerson, Ilie Nastase and Chuck McKinley.

But it was a night of distributing praise.

"I was not a great player," Edlefsen said modestly, "but I wasn't bad. And I played them all-Laver, Rosewall, Emerson. And nobody was any tougher than Tom Brown."

Brown, Wimbledon and Forest Hills runner-up in the 1940s, was being specially honored that night as was Margaret Osborne duPont who could not attend. Brown was inducted in 1975 and duPont, winner of 37 Grand Slam titles, in 1974.

Over three decades, Brown practiced against top juniors, among them Edlefsen, as he raised the age bar for Open tennis. With his legendary ground strokes he was able to compete with the nation's top ten into his late 40s, before distinguishing himself in national and international senior events.

The retired lawyer from San Francisco received a standing ovation.

Betty Cookson accepted the trophy award for Margaret Osborne duPont and read remarks the champion had sent from El Paso. DuPont noted that the late Tom Stow had revamped her entire game over the course of a year in the late 1930s. It allowed her to push into a championship class where she won Wimbledon singles once and Forest Hills three times.

Attending in a crowd of 170 were a high number of former inductees: Frank Brennan, Tom Chivington, Rosie Casals, Bob and Betty Cookson, Hugh Ditzler, Dick Gould, Ned Mansfield, Clif Mayne and Ed Osgood.

Hall members noted for their absence were Peter Herb (recovering from a hip operation) and Don Jacobus who was off receiving induction into the University of Pacific Hall of Fame. Mike Mee, a USTA vice president, handled the master of ceremonies chores, and Linda Peltz headed the HOF committee.

Jay Potter accepted the Member Organization of the Year award for the Rolling Hills Club of Novato.

(Editor's note: The NorCal Call is happy to introduce this regular feature. Our tournament and leagues departments frequently receive concerned questions about rules and we are here to serve our players. Longtime rules expert Peter Herb of our office answers this unusual one.)

Q. I was playing a USTA doubles match. I hit the ball to my opponent and she hit the ball out. She asked if she could take the point over because a bird flew close to her and distracted her. I said I thought that it's just tough luck and we should get the point (I was very polite, don't worry). I said I wasn't entirely sure though. She said it was our call. Because no one was 100 per cent sure, we agreed to play the point over. Please advise.

Kathy

A. Rule 25 states: "In case a player is hindered in making a stroke by anything not within his control, a let shall be called." Further, paragraph 35 of The Code reads "A let is not automatically granted because of hindrance. A let is authorized only if the player could have made the shot had the player not been hindered." In the circumstances described, I would allow a let. However, if the player saw the bird approaching and could have stopped her stroke to call a let, she essentially waives her right thereafter to call a let. (Explanation: A player cannot have two chances. She cannot have in her mind "if I miss this shot, I'll call a let.")

To the Editor:

I believe there are significant shortcomings with the current USTA rating system, and would like to propose some improvements for discussion among Northern California members.

1. We need more specific ratings. The range of abilities within existing categories (e.g., within 3.5 or 4.0) is too broad. The best players in a rating group can dominate the weaker ones, and the best players in a lower group are often better than the weaker players in the next level. USTA now has ratings calculated to the one-hundreth of a point (such as 3.47, or 4.22), and players should be allowed to know what those ratings are to be able to judge playing levels better, and to recognize when they've improved.

2. We need to understand how ratings are calculated. Specific formulas are used by USTA to make numerical rating calculations. It's only fair to publicize these to allow players to understand how a match (or season) will affect their level. It's also fair for USTA to disclose (even without naming specific players) when ratings adjustments have been made for other reasons, e.g. because a section has done poorly at Nationals.

3. We need more frequent ratings. Calculations should be performed more often than once a year, if for no other reason than to reduce the impact of the single annual rating that now determines (based on "black box" calculations) one's playing options for twelve months at a time. Leagues and tournaments start throughout the year, and could rely on published ratings as of their start date to determine eligibility.

4. We need more opportunities to play rated matches. Ratings can be inaccurate (and more easily manipulated by dumping, or skewed by a big win or loss) when relatively few matches determine a season's results. Organized play such as club championships and summer leagues should be included in determining ratings. Weighting factors could be used to reflect the importance of these matches; e.g., club matches might be worth less than tournament or USTA play. Having more rated results would also reduce the need for subjectivity in ratings, as when players are adjusted based on observations of playoff matches. With more playing opportunities, USTA could also require a larger number of minimum matches for an eligible computer rating for league and tournament play, making those events more fair due to more accurate ratings.

While these are my views on improvements that are needed to the rating system, I am writing to encourage other NorCal members to express their views as well. Are you happy with the rating system as it is, or is something wrong? Why not let other members, and USTA NorCal, know about it?

Carl Danner
415-398-2000 (o)

Carl,

You've made some excellent points, many of which the leadership of USTA NorCal agree with. Let's see how your fellow members feel about this topic.

Bruce A. Hunt
Executive Director

(Editor's note: Please keep replies under 200 words. Otherwise, they may be edited for space. TC)

Do you ever wonder how involved you should be in raising your child within the game of competitive tennis?

Establishing a healthy relationship between young players and parents, given the overwhelming pressure to win, requires your awareness, long-term vision and commitment. A player's potential, self-esteem and happiness depend on it.

Approximately 15% of juniors competing in the U.S earn a college scholarship and play Division I tennis; 2% of these same players make it on the pro tour. This is not to discourage players eager to play college or professional tennis, but a reality check to ensure players are developing a variety of life skills as they learn to play in this competitive arena.

Players can accomplish a great deal on the tennis court and feel good about themselves in the process. However, it requires some specific guidelines.

First, players need to know that it's okay to fail (lose and/or play badly) to learn about themselves, how to establish internal motivation based on the joy of competing over results, and how to stay calm under pressure. This may seem obvious at first glance. We may recall how we, as coaches and parents, also achieved even greater accomplishments after setbacks ourselves. But allowing space for this to occur with our loved ones at critical times takes a special focus on our part.

Let's say your daughter walks off the court after losing to a player you believe she "should" beat. It makes you want to pull your hair out. Now what?

Answer: Ask her where she wants to go to lunch. Stop there. Give her space to emotionally process the match while you work on staying detached from the result of her play. Focus on staying connected to her as a loving parent.

In general, if we send positive feelings toward our young players (win or lose) they will pick up on this. Kids are magically intuitive. The connection between their self-worth and performance is very fragile at this stage. This positive and consistent support will go a long way toward building their self-motivation, confidence and freedom to hit the ball under pressure.

The 20-30 minute period following a loss, in particular, is where parents and even coaches walk a tightrope. We don't want to be so nonchalant that it appears inauthentic. We want to maintain positive body language and wait-oh, so hard to do-until our child gives us a sign that she is receptive to begin processing the match with us.

By not initiating discussion about the match immediately, not showing our own signs of disappointment or frustration, and not trying to coach them to understand their errors so quickly, we provide the players space to do their own exploration. This is invaluable. It can literally mean the difference between a child who develops a strong sense of self, initiative, motivation, confidence, and selfreliance in the future. We would probably all agree that these qualities make both a mentally tough competitor and a well-rounded individual.

Part of the challenge of giving players more time to process demands that we do the unconventional and distance ourselves from winning and losing. By themselves, results provide only information. Detaching our emotions from the "result-gremlin" requires us to re-focus our attention on learning and improvement-concepts that have been literally replaced by our excess focus on immediate results. This does not mean that results no longer matter. Rather, we take a broader perspective. We hold a longer-term vision of their game and help them attain feelings of competency and self-reliance through positive reinforcement along the way. By focusing primarily on the positive aspects of their game, they will also be more open to hearing about some areas that need improvement.

Providing this "space" also means that we allow our young players to take responsibility for their own improvement and scheduling their own practice sessions and matches with their peers. This provides them feelings of self-confidence and motivation-both critical qualities for life and sports. At the same time, it is also in our best interests to seek out coaches who can foster these qualities.

Jeff Greenwald is the world's top-ranked 35s player and No. 1 in U.S. 35s singles and doubles. He is a sports psychology consultant in private practice in San Francisco and is reachable with questions. CLICK HERE to visit his website.

(Editor's note: San Francisco's Olympic Club is one of USTA NorCal's oldest member organizations. Here, John Trauth, a member since 1971 and a member of Olympic Club Foundation board, explains how the prestigious club has given back to the community in an example for us all to consider.)

The Olympic Club is the oldest athletic club in the country, founded in 1860.

Its superb athletic facilities, including golf, tennis and 16 other organized sports programs, regularly produce top-level athletes, many of whom have participated in international Olympic competition.

The tennis facility first opened in 1936 with an exhibition by Don Budge, Gene Mako, Helen Wills and Alice Marble, and the next year was the site of US Davis competition against Japan. Our country's most prestigious golf tournament, the U. S Open, has been held at the Club four times. It not over-stating to say that the Olympic Cub of San Francisco and the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan, founded in 1900, are America's two premier athletic clubs.

Wanting to "give back", the Club in 1992 created the Olympic Club Foundation (initially called "The Winged O Foundation") with the mission to raise funds to support athletic programs for disadvantaged youth. We have greatly exceeded our initial expectations. So far, the Foundation has donated more than $500,000 to support such programs. And we plan to do much more in the future.

A recent example of a Foundation grant was $85,000 to help resurface the Golden Gate Park tennis courts and to support the creation of a new junior tennis program there. The Foundation has regularly provided support for Youth Tennis Advantage which runs free tennis programs in some of the Bay Area's toughest neighborhoods, providing a competitive social arena for cross-cultural interaction and understanding.

Other grants have gone to the Haight-Ashbury's Boys and Girls Club for its swimming pool and program; to the San Mateo County SheriffÕs Activity League for a competitive girls soccer team; to an Oakland Sports-4-Kids after-school basketball program, and so on.

The Olympic Club Foundation make these grants because we believe that participation in organized athletics enriches young lives and develops future community leaders. It is on the athletic field, on the tennis courts, on the golf courses and on the gymnasium floors that young people first learn about sportsmanship, fair play, teamwork and trust. It is often the place where they first feel a sense of accomplishment. Challenged in the classroom, threatened on the streets, it is on the playing field where many young people first develop a sense of self-worth and proficiency. Youth athletic programs have been proven to increase self-confidence, help reduce drug and alcohol use, and boost school retention and performance.

Where do these funds come from? We have an annual campaign, which this year raised $61,000 from the general membership. The Foundation also currently hosts two annual charity golf tournaments on the Olympic Club's renowned golf courses.

In addition, the Club asks other sports to organize annual events to benefit the Foundation. For example, this year the tennis program will raise funds from the residual proceeds from three annual events: the Stratford Memorial Tennis Tournament, which is a USTA-sanctioned 35's, 45's and 55's event held in September; the Member/Guest doubles tournament; and a silent auction of donated items at the club's annual Tennis Banquet in November.

Everyone in the Olympic Club is encouraged to do his/her part to contribute in some way to support sports programs for young people who would not otherwise have the opportunity to compete and grow.

For more specific information on the Olympic Club Foundation, contact Isabella Lanza, Executive Director, at (415) 778-4042.