The Starting Line

Message from the Editor

Happy February — the month to celebrate Groundhog's Day, Past Presidents’ birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and most importantly the winter season of Visionary Tennis Leagues. After last fall's exciting season, we are moving forward with an even stronger, larger league at all levels of play.

May the next six weeks be as challenging, exciting and rewarding as the past. As an added bonus, Visionary Tennis will welcome doubles leagues this summer. As most of you know, doubles leagues account for close to 90% of all tennis played in Atlanta. We aim to bring doubles players the same excitement, the same competitiveness, the same fun that all of you enjoy in our singles leagues..

Visionary Tennis continues to encourage everyone to go out there with the attitude that you can all be winners. My motto to all — work hard, play hard, and just have fun!

And speaking of fun ...

Congratulations to Joan “cosmopug” Hicks — January’s PlayerPoint GRAND PRIZE WINNER! She’s ONE THOUSAND PLAYERPOINTS richer these days!!

Have a great season, everybody!

MiMi Cain
VISIONS Editor

From Player Services

Welcome to the EXCITING Spring Season.

First match deadline is February 19th — watch your match deadlines closely, schedule your matches early and have a great season!

New website feature #1: The Playzone Tour

A little confused when you first log into the Playzone? Want to understand how to navigate and use its many features?

We have added a great animated tutorial to help you read your schedule, post your scores, find your opponent's contact information, use the online calendar and much more. Look for the HELP/GUIDE button on the left after you log in.

New website feature #2: Map It with Google!

Finding your way to an unfamiliar facility just got a whole lot easier.

Say you've just found the address of an opponent's home facility as listed in his or her Player Profile (by clicking on that person's name in the MY LEAGUE section). That’s all well and good, but where exactly IS that facility? Just click on “Find this facility” and then "Map it with Google!" for a quick and easy answer. You can even use Google to give you driving directions all the way from your front door!

Congratulations to January’s PlayerPoint Challenge winners:

Shirine Anderson Myra Bakke Ruben Basulto Christopher Berney Tim Berryman Andrew Bonar Kim Chastain James Gleghorn Erin Godfrey Gary Greene Vivian Howard Melissa Jenkins Cee Jai Jones Angela Kenison Laura Le Blanc Denise Lumpkin

Harlon Matthews Jody Nicholson Kym Perry Martin Rice Jason Rohr Michael Romaine Alejandro Ruiz Mark Seaver David Summers Michael Thimsen Brian Titus Sulinda Walker Karen Whitlock Bobby Williams Dave Zimmer

JANUARY'S PlayerPoint Challenge GRAND PRIZE WINNER OF 1000 PlayerPoints:
'Joan “cosmopug” Hicks

Look for your February Challenge coming soon to your inbox.

Player Feedback

[We were really pleased to read this player’s comments, as they strike a chord with what we have set out to do here at Visionary Tennis — namely, to make your leagues the most exciting and rewarding they can be. It’s nice to think that perhaps we’re on the right track!]

Rocket
Player Services

Our Partners, Sponsors and Supporters

Nothing of real value can be accomplished all alone — it takes the hard work and support of many! Visionary Tennis would like to extend warm thanks to all those who have helped us turn the vision of America's most exciting tennis leagues into reality.

Advertise in VISIONS!

Reach a wider audience of tennis players and fans through this newsletter! Visionary Tennis welcomes all inquiries and will help style your promotion to best suit your needs. For more information, please contact Mimi Cain at 770-329-1219, or email mimi1951@comcast.net.

Lifestyle & Leisure

Chef of the Month — Philippe Haddad — Country Club of the South

It appears that Atlanta is a Mecca for chefs who just happen to love tennis. Maybe it's their way of releasing their inner energies; after all, most chefs spend upwards of ten hours per day in their kitchens, sometimes seven days a week! Tennis can be SUCH a good outlet for them.

Chef Philippe Haddad is the chef at Country Club of the South in Alpharetta. Born in 1961 (in Ghent, Belgium), Philippe began his culinary journey at an early age. By the time he was 12, he had more than a passing interest in the culinary arts. At age 14 he enrolled in a preliminary cooking school that was his prelude to being accepted to Ter Duinen, the most renowned hotel school in Belgium. After graduating, he went on to train with Master Chefs not only in Belgium's capital, Brussels, but also in England and France, working in several Michelin Star restaurants alongside some of Europe's finest chefs.

By the early '80's, Philippe decided to move to the U.S., and in 1983 found a new home in Atlanta. He worked first for Club Corporation of America, then served as Executive Chef to Atlanta's celebrated French-Russian restaurant, Nikolai's Roof.

His love of sailing soon eventually pulled Philippe down to the tropics, where he spent three years at the St. James Club Resort in Antigua before returning stateside in 1997. He held the post of Executive Chef at The Abbey until 2000 when he opened “Philippe's Bistro”, Atlanta's first authentic Belgian bistro. This successful restaurant is now the home to Chef Paul Albrecht (and renamed, appropriately,“Paul’s”). Philippe and Paul continue their friendship both on and off the courts.

Some dreams do come true; cooking and tennis seem to be the perfect recipe for success in any country!

Restaurant of the Month — Mambo Italiano

"Recreating the unmistakeable experience of authentic Italian dining in a casual, vibrant atmosphere that will leave a lasting impression saturated with vision and tastes of Italy."

Established in 2004, Mambo Italiano is an authentic wood-burning brick oven pizzeria located inthe Forum Shopping Center in Norcross, Georgia.

At Mambo Italiano, the look is stylish but relaxed, with an open kitchen, black and white checkerboard floors, dark wood booths and a few clever touches, such as a Vespa parked at the door and clocks that give the time in Rome, Ga., and Rome, Italy.

The menu eschews cuteness for straight-up trattoria-style fare, with a mix of starters, salads, pasta and crispy thin-crust pizzas from the wood-fired oven. Flatbread sandwiches are served until 4 p.m. every day. There are nightly dinner specials, and entrees include filet mignon with spinach and mashed potatoes, eggplant Parmesan, and chicken or veal marsala.

Come visit us at 5165 Peachtree Parkway, The Forum Shopping Center, Norcross, 770-441-3200. Hours are Monday - Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
www.mamboitaliano.net

So are you controlling everything you can? Are you leaving as little to chance as possible? Have you been considering the exercise program you want to use to control your fitness level?

In today’s issue we are going to examine a program I have developed and used successfully for over two years that has enabled me to come back from a disabling knee injury and develop a fitness level that has served me very well in tournaments. Best of all? It’s simple.

But first, let me share a story with you.

In the last tournament I played, I ran into a man in the second round who was fifteen years younger than me. We had both played matches earlier in the day, his lasting nearly two and a half hours and mine almost two. By the time we were done, he had beaten me 6-2, 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-4) in a match lasting three hours and forty-seven minutes. That means I was on the court that day for almost 6 hours and he was out there closer to SEVEN hours. As I congratulated him, I noticed that the movement problems he'd been having during the last few points of the match were now getting notably worse. By the time we got to the parking lot, he could not stand on his own and was cramping.

When I asked him if the cramps were moving into his lower back or abdomen, he said they were.

If this happens to you or someone you know, do what I told him to do immediately. Get to the emergency room!

Although he was still sweating and did not appear to have any other symptoms of heat stroke, this type of cramping can affect your breathing, and even cause your internal organs to shut down -- especially your kidneys. When the doctors found his kidneys had stopped producing urine, they decided to keep him there overnight. This immediate care and attention was exactly what had been needed, and by the next day, he was back on his feet.

This was his first tournament ... and a difficult lesson. He had won a hard-fought match and deserved to move on to the semifinals with a shot at the finals. But because of his poor preparation, he had to default.

A person has to be in shape to play these things. The temperature that day may only have reached 78, and humidity just 50%, yet this man cramped. In contrast, I was a little stiff but otherwise ready to go. How? In addition to following solid, proper hydration techniques (which I will share in the next issue), proper conditioning is a must. Here's my own program:

Start with a 10-minute-interval stationary bike ride at a level that will get your heart rate up to 130-150. Then do the following circuit with no pause between any of the exercises. All exercises should be maxed out at 13-15 reps.

	Day One lat pull-downs/seated bench press/reverse fly/seated fly/seated rows/shoulder raises/shoulder press/bicep curls/tricep curls/inverted dumbbell raises x 2/internal dumbbell shoulder rotation x 2/external dumbbell shoulder rotation x 2/knee-bend sit-ups/side twists in abdominal machine/medicine-ball sit-ups Finish with another 10-minute bike ride. This should take you 45-55 minutes to do.
	Day Two Stationary bike as day 1. squats/leg curls/leg extensions/abduction machine/adduction machine/calf raises/leg press/lunges with 10-pound dumbbells/20 polymeric hops side to side/box jumps landing and starting on toes/jump rope 5 minutes End with the same abdominal exercise and 10-minute bike ride as day one, and end both days with your favorite stretching exercises.

Take notice that there are two exercises for each body part and that you never do the same exercise twice on the same day except for dumbbell shoulder raises and rotation. During the off season, each day should be done twice per week, and once per week in season.

This program hits the protagonist and antagonist muscles groups, one right after the other, and develops muscular strength and endurance simultaneously much like tennis. Remember, the key here is that once you start you do not pause between each exercise.

Please -- if you have not been training for awhile, ease into this; it's harder than it looks. And if you have never trained, get yourself a trainer to step you through and model each exercise.

While this routine may not be for world-class athletes, it is perfect for someone like me who wants to get into great shape, protect my joints, and still have time and energy left to do other things. Follow this routine and after a couple months you’ll be much more fit ...

... and much harder to beat the next time I see you On Court!

Jay Jordan

Somewhere along the path of ‘growing up’, the essence of play becomes more and more elusive, like a dream’s receding memory. Many of us give in and allow the sheer fun of life to be discredited, forced to cower behind a wall of ‘reasonable expectations’.

But once in awhile, something rekindles that spark, awakens that child to come out and play. It is that moment that gives us all hope.

Visionary Tennis is all about that moment, and about bringing it back to you again and again and again. We want you to play. We want to remind you that ‘playing tennis’ really is just that. It’s not a job, it’s not a discipline —
it’s a game.