6 ATA Players Honored at CATA Awards Banquet

On Sunday May 22, Coach Newman introduced Payton Holden at the Capital Area Tennis Association (CATA) junior awards banquet and Payton was awarded the player of the year award.  Also, Sydney Gaskamp and Emily Cotton received CATA scholarships, Chase Bartlett and Kristin Kerrigan were ATA’s award winners and Marcus Sweeney was recognized as MVP for the Westlake High School team.
Coach Newman said that, “being able to introduce Payton Holden at the banquet was a great experience for me as many young players from Austin got to be inspired by Payton’s accomplishments.  And we got to showcase in front of the entire Austin tennis community what a player from ATA is capable of doing.” The following is what Coach Newman said to introduce Payton.
I have been coaching Payton since he was 9 years old.  Here are some interesting stats for you about Payton.
Payton champed up at the Georgetown ZAT in May of 2007, he was 9 years old and 1 month.
He supered up at the Laredo CMZ when he was 10 years old and 6 months.
He won his first SCMZ 4 months later.
In his time as a junior tennis player he has won a superchamp major zone in both singles and doubles in every age group.  He has won an excellence tournament in every age group, he has also won the summer grand slam in both singles and doubles.
Since he was 12, he has been ranked in the top 50 in the United States in each age group.
In his career, he has lost 386 junior tennis matches and won 650 junior tennis matches for a total of 1036, not counting this weekend in Houston.  That’s 10 year’s of 100 matches per year since he was 10 years old.
He is a phenominal athlete who can make any shot.  He had mastered the tweener by the time he was 11.  His volley skills are the best I have seen as a coach in 30 years of coaching elite level players. 
The thing that separates Payton from many other tennis athletes is his consistency.  He has rarely missed a practice or lesson in 8 years of training.  His practices are still very high level, high intensity and I believe he will be as successful a college player as he has been a junior player.
Payton could have played tennis for any College or University in the United States, he chose to play for Princeton, furthering both his tennis career and maximizing his college opportunity through being an elite level athlete.
Needless to say I am completely and utterly proud of him.
Finally, if you knew him when he was younger, you know he has gone from being one of the best players in Texas with the shortest hair, to being one of the best, with the longest hair.

Congratulations to all the ATA Winners!!!

ATA Regional Host Site for Oracle/ITA Junior Masters Championships-Powered by UTR

ATA will be a regional host site for the new Oracle/ITA Junior Master Championships, which is powered by the Universal Tennis Rating system. The inaugural Oracle/ITA Junior Masters Championships will take place during the summer and fall of 2016. Austin regional tournament at ATA will take place August 20-21, 2016.

Pepperdine

The regional events, for girls and boys, will take place at 12 sites around the United States and will be held in August and September of 2016. The top 16 UTR-rated boys and girls who register in each region will participate in compass draws in those regional events with the winner of both the girl’s and boy’s events progressing to the October 13-16, 2016 Oracle/ITA Masters in Malibu, California – hosted by both the Malibu Racquet Club and Pepperdine University. The regional winners will receive up to a $750 travel/hotel stipend to play in the Masters Championships in Malibu. One woman and one man from each Division I Conference will also be invited to the championships to compete in both their respective singles as well as a mixed doubles competition.

Click here to read more on Oracle/ITA/UTR partnership and more about the tournament and how to sign up.

Coach Newman Quoted in UTR Article

ATA CEO Jack Newman was recently quoted in an article,”The Tennis Coach’s Toolbox” the Universal Tennis Blog about the Universal Tennis Rating system. Coach Newman, has been using UTR for ATA’s practice ladder since August of 2015. Newman describes the process as

“I update my ladder on Mondays. Kids are excited to see their progress, parents are clear how players are distributed in practice (by similar UTR) and coaches get to work with players on the same level. Everyone is happy.”

To learn more about the Universal Tennis Rating System click here to read the entire article

ATA Alumni Morgan Barnhill Named Academic All-League Team

ATA alumni Morgan Barnhill was named to the 2016 Academic All-League team. Student-athletes were voted for and chosen for the honor based on their academic and athletic performances this season in the Summit League Conference. Barnhill, with a 3.8 GPA as a finance major and marketing minor, posted a 14-7 singles record and an 18-2 doubles mark during the season. Click here to read more.

3 ATA Players Competing at State

In the Class 6A state tournament, Tyler Anson and his doubles partner Brendan (pictured above) will be playing for Lake Travis High School and Roger Chou will be playing singles for Westlake High School. Meghan O’Malley and partner Gabriella will be playing doubles for Vandegrift High School in the class 5A state tournament. Play begins Monday May 16th in College Station click here to follow their results.

Raven Hampton the captain of the Lake Travis team said,” Tyler Anson is a sophomore who has proven himself to be an invaluable member of the team in his first year. This year he has teamed up with Brendan Brown and together they have become an unstoppable force on the court.”

A Few Shots From ATA CP Morning Practice

The ATA College Prep students assemble early each morning to start their day with some tennis. Below are a few pictures from recent mornings. To see many more, check out the ATA College Prep Facebook page.

PaytonVOlley

Current senior and soon-to-be Princeton freshman Payton Holden finesses a forehand volley.

GarrettSmile

CP junior Garrett Reiter walks to the bench after earning a 7-6 win in a practice set.

ChaseGarrett

CP senior and soon-to-be St.Edward’s freshman Chase Bartlett blasts a forehand as Garrett waits at the net during a game of 105.

MaxVolley

Max Schmidhauser connects cleanly with a forehand volley during the same game of 105.
KKVolleyFH

Kristin Kerrigan steps into a forehand volley while teaming up with Megha.

To see many more, check out the ATA College Prep Facebook page.

ATA College Prep Gains All A’s in (re)Accreditation!

June will mark five years since a major milestone in the development of the Austin Tennis Academy. That month, the ATA College Prep program, which at the time was a young community-supported learning environment, earned full accreditation through AdvancEd, the largest accreditation organization and education community in the world with a network of 32,000 private and public pre K-12 schools, colleges and universities. At the time, ATACP was both the youngest and smallest school ever to receive full accreditation through AdvancEd.

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“The growth and development as well as the accreditation and reaccreditation of ATA College Prep is a fantastic accomplishment and opportunity for our community. ATA College Prep allows us to impact our students in both their academic and athletic lives in powerful and meaningful ways. Teachers and coaches are focused on high performance as a way of life and students are getting positive, impactful messaging throughout their day.   This has led to ATA College Prep college placements that are in the words of one of our evaluators: ‘off the chart’.”

Accredited status eases the process for transfer students moving between accredited schools, while demonstrating that ATACP meets nationally recognized standards for quality and professional practices.

As the status requires renewal after 5 years, ATACP recently went through the evaluation process with AdvancEd. First, through in-depth reporting and data tracking, and next through a two-day on-site visit including classroom visits, and extensive interviews, the evaluators conducted a rigorous review of the school and its systems.

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The committee Lead stated that ATACP attained the highest overall scores in all 7 domains received by any school during the year and announced that CP would be recommended for re-accreditation. In example, ATACP scores as compared to National Averages were: High Expectations Environment 3.51 to 2.81; Active Learning Environment 3.43 to 2.94; and Well-Managed Environment 3.4 to 3.14.

“ATACP is committed to continuous improvement which is apparent through our community culture of mindfulness, holistic programming, excellent instructional staff, above national SAT averages, and 100{37ef6ac642fae6f93f343032eb62785d28fa7a25a4a4f0267a12512c541c53a9} graduation rate to 4-year universities. It is very rewarding to gain validation from a national board of experts that our programs, processes and people are exemplary among our peers,” states Carol Hagar, Director of ATACP.

Looking back, many of the goals outlined five years ago after being evaluated – like establishing a permanent school building – have been accomplished. Looking forward, CP leadership has again defined a set of goals that both ensure continuous improvement and confirm that it is creating lifelong learners.

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Carol reflects that, “Conquering the stigma often associated with a small independent school or sports academy education has been a challenge. But innovation is often uncomfortable, uncommon and unrecognizable until much later when the stories of change, success and gratitude are told and remembered. Enhancing the overall vision of the Austin Tennis Academy, ATACP is a place where young minds and bodies can reach for excellence, develop a mindful approach to life, and dare to become citizens of significance.”

For more information about ATA College Prep, click here, or contact Carol Hagar directly at Carol.Hagar@AustinTennisAcademy.com.

Webinar and Article by David Benzel

This month’s message from David Benzel is, “You Are Not the Mistakes You Make.” Geared toward helping parents teach their children healthy attitudes about mistakes. Click here to read more

Also, sign up for this months free webinar “Solve the Mystery of Your Child’s Motivation & Distraction Issues.” This webinar is Thursday, May 19th at 8pm. Click here to register

Photo Gallery

Take a look at some photos of the students on the court and in the classroom!

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  • Just west of the Hill Country Galleria on Hwy 71 past 620, across from McCoy’s
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  • deb.cahill@AustinTennisAcademy.com
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