Alpine Regional Tennis Association

From our Ga***rd Coach Dave Johnson:
Former Ga***rd player Michael Fernandez continues his ascent in the world of junior tennis! Michael is now the number one player in the country for the high school class of 2023! Who could have imagined a young kid participating in ARTA’s youth programs would grow to be the number 1 high school senior in the country? Congratulations Michael! Your hard work and dedication to the game is inspiring to your hometown tennis community!!!

Ga***rd’s favorite Tennis Son, Michael Fernandez continues to make huge strides in his tennis career that began right here in Ga***rd. Michael (17) recently won an ITF International Tennis Federation Doubles Tournament in Panama. This tournament featured top juniors from all over the world! Michael and partner Rajat Shirur took out the #1 and #2 seeds and didn’t drop a set throughout! This was Michael’s first International Title! He also made it the semifinals of the Singles Tournament…. Great job Michael, ARTA and Ga***rd Community salute you!!!!

Thanks to all our wonderful customers who support ARTA each year with their orders for Holiday Greens. Wishing all a safe and blessed Thanksgiving and holiday season.

What a crew!! All the greens and garlands done in record time Friday night for order pickup this morning! 👏🏻👏🏻👍💗

Here are just some of the helpful crew for the Holiday Greens sale last year.

Hey Ga***rd area: Our annual ARTA fundraiser of long lasting Holiday Greens sale deadline is next Sunday, Nov 13, so if you wish to order beautiful wreaths of varying sizes, garlands, etc, visit www..ga***rdtennis.com.
We APPRECIATE every single order to support our Mission: to foster interest and skill development for the lifelong sport of tennis for people of all ages in northern Michigan.🎾

For the record....November 1, 2022 and we are still on courts in Ga***rd! It's going to be another beautiful week to keep playing!

Photos from Alpine Regional Tennis Association's post

The 2022 Governor's Cup in Traverse City is a wrap and what a success for Ga***rd teams! Saturday 10/15 Constanza Morales and Tamara Mankiewicz ROCKED it in the 3.5 Ladies Doubles winning each of their matches all day to the hard-fought finals, with long rallies and tie breakers. The other talented team won, but Team Morales and Mankiewicz made them earn it.
Doubles team Anjuli Hawkins and Sheila Simpson gave their 3.5 matches against strong opponents a good run, and ended up winning the Consolation bracket medals.
The next day 10/15, Mixed Doubles teams Jeff Vezina and Tamara, and Anjuli and Dan Hawkins played in Round Robins, with team Hawkins winning 2nd place.
YAY teams Ga***rd!

As we say goodbye to summer the 2022 ARTA Mixed Doubles Tournament was played on Saturday September 10th. Mother Nature was extremely generous with sunny sky's, light wind and temps in the upper 70's. Nine teams consisting of one male and female battled throughout the day in this eighth edition of the annual tournament. New champions were crowned as Anjuli Hawkins and her brother Dan Hawkins dominated the competition without dropping a set. The finals saw Anjuli and Dan triumph over Escanaba's Tom Penegor and his daughter Tamara in straight sets for the championship! The Consolation Bracket for third place was won by Eve Elden and Mark Cromell over a game Rachel Chapko and Dave George. A big thanks to everyone who participated in the tournament and supports ARTA in their mission to grow tennis here in Otsego County and Northern Michigan.

The inaugural ARTA Youth Tournament is officially in the history books! It was an exciting start on Saturday, August 13, but after only 2 matches, the rain came and halted play despite everyone's best efforts to continue. A few days later, all participants were able to rearrange their schedules and the excitement continued on a beautifully hot summer day. Despite the tough conditions and back to back matches for many, all players battled hard and champions were eventually crowned for each singles/ doubles division! A big congratulations to the winners and a special thank you to all parents and youth that braved the elements with patience, positivity and determination. Prizes were awarded to all participants and medals were given to each winner. It has been a fantastic outdoor summer season and the ARTA Youth tournament was a fun way to finish the summer season!

Come join another FUN tennis event in Ga***rd!

Thanks to all who made the 1st annual Moxie tournament a competitive FUN event!

Saturday July 30th

Under blue skies and warm temps the inaugural Moxie Women's Doubles Tournament was played at the Sportsplex Tennis Center in Ga***rd. 8 teams battled throughout the day in a modified format featuring "no ad" games and 10 point tie-breaks in deciding third sets. The number one seeds of Eve Elden and Julie Regan gave an impressive performance without dropping a set throughout the tournament. The number one seeds defeated three seeds Anjuli Hawkins and Sheila Simpson 6-1, 6-3 for the championship. The match of the day took place in the semi-finals where second seeded Laura Hansmann and Tamara Penegor lost a very tight and exciting three set match to third seeds Hawkins and Simpson 6-1, 5-7, T11/9.
The consolation match for third place went to Connie Tithof and Hannah Blume who defeated Hansmann and Penegor in a tiebreak 10/6. Alpine Regional Tennis Association, who sponsored the tournament, congratulates all of the participants and looks forward to promoting the tournament for many years to come!
ARTA extends Special thanks to Cathy Johnson and Coach Dave Johnson for organizing the event to run so smoothly, and to Karen Savage, northern Michigan TSR who traveled to spend the day for the event and brought surprise gifts for prizes.

Another fun new tournament...this one for area Youth...is planned for August 13. ARTA is rockin activities this summer!

The first annual "The Moxie" ladies doubles tournament is this Sat July 30 and it's going to be competitive FUN! Glad we won't be wearing those fashions tho😅

Cheers to all the competitors in the 2nd annual "The Roper" Mens Tennis Tournament at the Otsego County Sportsplex Tennis Center, held Saturday July 9.
Left to right: Rod Regan, Charlie Simpson, Mike Ziska, Dan Hawkins, Event Organizer Dave Johnson, PTR, John Thompson, Mike Turnbull, Jeff Vezina, Jim Driver, Paul Hartmann, Christopher Roper, John Mock. Not pictured: Dave George

The second annual Roper Mens Tennis Tournament was held Saturday July 9. Under near perfect weather conditions six teams battled for the title and an opportunity to hoist the coveted ARTA Champions Cup. After teams battled all morning the top two seeds found their way into the finals without dropping a set. The stage was set for top seeds Dan Hawkins and his partner Jon Thompson to go to work against the second seeded team of John Mock and Mike Turnbull. The fans on hand were not disappointed. Dan and John turned in a dominating performance in the finals knocking off Mock and Turnbull 6-1, 6-2 wrapping up the championship!

It was Great to have Christopher Roper from Ann Arbor join the event with doubles partner Mike Ziska, cheered on by fans that included his wife Jen, sister Jamie and her husband Gabe and their two young children from CA. Christopher and Mike battled Jeff Vezina and Rod Regan for the 3rd place Consolation prize. Congrats to Jeff and Rod for that win.

Christopher presented ARTA with a surprise, generous check for $1000 on behalf of his family for remembering their father Mike with this annual tournament. We are so grateful for their gift!

ARTA President Sheila represented ARTA as one of the nearly dozen nominated non profit organizations at the May10 Otsego Community Foundation's '100 Women Who Care' event. Donors each gift $100 and together raised $16,000! ARTA was one of the 4 finalists randomly selected to present information to the large gathering about their organization, before people vote to award $5000. While we were not the 1st place worthy winner (The Last Resort to support those recovering from addiction), we appreciated the opportunity to share all the ARTA successes, events and programs for youth and adults, and current ARTA goals to the room full of attendees.🙂

Be sure to check out our updated website to see all of the exciting tennis programs going on this summer! We have something for all ages. Click below to go straight to the page!

https://alpineregionaltennisassociation.com/tennis-programs

The windscreens are up at the Otsego County Sportsplex Tennis Center! And you thought it just magically happened? Here are just a few of the mighty volunteers who got the job done in 2 hours Sunday!

What a beautiful, fun night for the free USTA Midwest/ARTA Play Tennis event in Ga***rd MI! Thanks to all the kids, parents and other players who came out. The smiles on court throughout the evening were a joy to see....and the talent just keeps emerging! Check out www.ga***rdtennis.com for other fun tennis happenings throughout the summer.

More tennis fun ahead! If you are over 18 and want to learn the game...or perhaps used to play in the past and want to brush up your skill...the START/RESTART if for you! Taught by our gifted tennis Pro, Dave Johnson.

ARTA Summer Youth Tennis Programs are here! Sign up today at the link below! It's going to be a fun summer of tennis!
https://alpineregionaltennisassociation.com/youth-tennis-program

Play Tennis Midwest - Friday, May 13

Here are just a few pictures of the Community Center fun

Coach Dan Hawkins continues more tennis fun in April for youth, High Schoolers and adults at the Otsego County Community Center! Checkout his April flyer for details!

Michael Fernandez, who got his tennis start in Ga***rd with Coach Dave Johnson, continues his ascent in the world of junior tennis by winning the Eau Claire Wisconsin USTA Level 5 18s last weekend at the Menard Tennis Center. Michael,17, was dominant throughout the tournament serving up a ton of Aces!! Well done Michael! ARTA and Northern Michigan Tennis are very proud of all you have accomplished.🎾

Fabulous Tennis Fun last night for all ages at the Community Center! Come join us Feb 18 and 25 for more fun with Coach Dan!

More tennis fun happening to keep growing your skills. Thanks, coach Dan!

Well we are having blizzard conditions here in Northern Michigan today! But mentally I'm out on court and it's 75 and sunny lol. Wanted to pass along a few thoughts and pics regarding the serve toss. The serve is really the only shot that you have full control over but can be difficult if the toss isn't consistent. One of the biggest issues I see in recreational players is short arming the toss. The tossing arm/hand should continue up even after the ball has left the hand at about eye level. I have attached some pics of players I have photographed along the way. You will see that this extension is one thing they all have in common. By letting the arm/hand continue straight up you can achieve a very consistent placement of the ball which will lead to a much higher serve consistency. The pics really point this out!

Coach Dave