End of Summer

September 10th, 2009

The summer is gone and gone with it are the hectic tournament schedule, the airports, the suitcases, and the numerous tennis sites. I wish the heat were gone too, but since we live in Houston we will be "blessed" with high temperatures and murderous humidity for another couple of months. In the meantime, training in the academy continued with the regular high intensity and the unusually dry summer allowed for continuous practicing. The full day program had really wide acceptance and results followed.

At the summer grand slam, Texas state champion Ben Chen solidified his number 1 spot by winning the boys 18's title. In the same division Alex Van Velzer and Jose Martinez showed that they are ready to walk in Ben's shoes. As you know, Ben is taking his tennis skills to the University of Texas in Austin, where without a doubt he will be equally successful. Good luck Ben!!! At the same event, lack of tournament play was the only reason Aron Pierce did not sweep both singles and doubles in the boys 12s - he came in third while winning the doubles title with fellow Houston Tennis Academy player Cole Lawson. Cole, on the other hand, continued his progress throughout the summer and swept the field at the Austin MZ in both singles and doubles.

The Houston Tennis Academy girls' results were equally solid. Kim Anicete sweeped the field at the Arlington MZ girls 18s and had a strong showing at the Texas Open beating out fellow student Ariel Morton for the 3rd place. At the same event, in the girls 16's division, Farris Cunningham and Mariam Zein, proved that Houston Tennis Academy girls are a force to be reckoned with. Ariel, on the other hand, had her best showing of the summer at the El Paso national open where she beat the number 3 ranked player in the nation on her way to the 3rd place.

On the lighter site, Koko took his first long vacation for the last 12 years. On his honeymoon, he showed tremendous effort and complete dedication to laziness - the result: net gain of 25 pounds! Wow way to go Koko! If dropping pounds were as easy as putting them on............

This is the short summary of the summer! We are leaving you to enjoy(at least we do) our new website...and remember: Stay humble and stay hungry.