Submitted by Mike Reed
The 2012-13 platform season in the Greater Boston area turned out to be a great year of expansion. The area used to have just 1 teaching paddle pro and now there are 6 which has greatly increased the amount of play in the area. The men’s Greater Boston Platform Tennis League has formed a Board, capably led by Amin Khadduri from Brae Burn Country Club, added a new club to the A league and had the first official C league this past season.
A website was added in this past season for teams to report their official match scores and help with the ranking of teams. Several clubs in the local area have added platform courts and one club was grateful to the APTA to receive a grant to be able to refurbish their courts. The Boston Open held in January and hosted by National Champion Johan DuRandt was the 2nd highest ranking tournament in the country this past season just behind the Nationals.
The 26th winner of the Burke Cup, the A league champion, was The Country Club from Brookline, MA (pictured above) as they barely got by Concord Country Club in the final match. TCC had an undefeated regular season record. The B league champion was Cape Ann Platform Tennis and the C league champion in their inaugural season was Weston.
The GBPTL Board will meet soon after the season to review their progress and certainly plan more enhancements for next season. Garrett Gates, from Gilfoy Platform Club, has already made arrangements to have summer play in the Boston area complete with a website to schedule and rank matches. Is it possible that a Nationals tournament may someday be played in the Boston area? Stay tuned.
