“Northwood Club is proud to be a part of the growing number of clubs that are going green. Our Green Tennis Machine allows us to have fresh tennis balls in each of our six pro’s teaching carts and both of our ball machines on a constant and ongoing basis at a much lower cost. We expect that the money we save from not buying as many new teaching balls will allow us to pay for the machine within the first year. The environment is happy, the pros are happy, the members are happy, and the club is happy. It’s a beautiful thing.”

David Redding
Director of Tennis
Northwood Cub
Dallas, TX
Another interesting fact is that the 1952 US Open (for golf… not tennis) was hosted at Northwood Club.

Building on the continued success of a unique program, the BNP Paribas Open, along with BNP Paribas and reBounces will again hold “Rally, Roundup & Recycle,” a tennis ball recycling competition among tennis clubs, school tennis teams, community tennis programs and other tennis organizations in the Southern California area, it was announced today by Steve Simon, tournament director. This program, now in its fourth year, is the first of its kind in the United States.

 The goal of the competition, which runs from December 1, 2011 to February 14, 2012, is to collect more than 125,000 used tennis balls; the amount collected in the 2010-2011 campaign was more than 100,000. Last year’s push also saw 20 clubs across Southern California participate. The California Social Tennis Network donated the most used balls, followed by The Billie Jean King Tennis Center and the Palm Desert Tennis Club.

 Once again, all three winners will be honored on Stadium Court alongside representatives from BNP Paribas, reBounces and the Indian Wells Tennis Garden prior to the night session on Monday, March 12 during the 2012 BNP Paribas Open. The prize package for the first, second and third-place organizations includes access to the BNP Paribas luxury suite at the tournament for that day and night session and VIP parking passes for 16, eight and four guests, respectively. Additionally, all clubs, excluding the three top winners, who donate at least 1,000 balls will be entered into a lottery for the chance to win four box seats for the same day session.

 Southern California tennis organizations can start signing up Thursday, December 1 and collecting old tennis balls and filling boxes with 250 to 500 balls.

 ”The ‘Rally, Roundup & Recycle” competition is a great way to encourage tennis clubs and fans to join our efforts in recycling used tennis balls,” said Sauveur Menella, Vice-President Marketing, BNP Paribas. “Social responsibility is important to BNP Paribas and this initiative is one of the many ways we are succeeding in that effort.”

 “The success of last year’s ‘Rally, Roundup & Recycle’ program is a testament to the recycling efforts BNP Paribas and its partners do,” said Simon. “We look forward to increasing this year’s participation and results.”

 The BNP Paribas Open, BNP Paribas and reBounces will also once again collect used tennis balls on-site during the two weekends of the tournament (March 10-11 and March 17-18) by offering patrons that bring at least six used tennis balls a free can of tennis balls. Since its initial inception at the tournament, more than 40,000 tennis balls have been collected on-site and recycled.

 To sign up please contact Tom Fey at tfey@iwtg.net or call 760-200-8200. For more information, visit www.bnpparibasopen.com.

Sammy Giammalva and his team at the Giammalva Racquet Club purchased their Green Tennis Machine back in the spring of 2011.  Sammy played against Eric as juniors and on the ATP tour… Sammy won the 1981 US National Junior tournament and went on to reach the ATP top-25 in both singles and doubles.

We recently caught up with Head Tennis Professional Francisco Riveroll and he had this to say:

We are thrilled with the Green Machine results! It is very simple to use and the savings are amazing, you can fit about 500 balls per load and they will last about 3 weeks. If you are a Tennis Pro you know how much you spend every month on tennis balls. It is the best investment any tennis club can make! 

If you want to green your game in north-Houston, stop by the Giammalva Racquet Club.

Chita Hunter called our office a few weeks back and asked for shipping labels ASAP.  As our tennis ball recycling program has grown, we receive a lot of requests for shipping labels, however we don’t always get balls timely if ever from a few of the requests.

Chita sent the tennis balls that same day and then went on to write a great story about it on her blog … http://paragonlifeblog.com/2011/10/20/my-little-difference/

“… Calling Rebounces, I had a wonderful conversation with Grant. Relaying that there were over 900 tennis balls, donated by tennis players supporting my recycling efforts, sitting in the back of my car, that I wanted to ship to him, ASAP.

Grant was so kind to expedite shipping labels to me by email and within an hour of my conversation with Grant, the tennis balls were off to the Rebounces recycling facility.

During our conversation Grant stated that as Rebounces got more into the collection and recycling of tennis balls, they discovered what a tremendous issue it was, that so much more was needed…”

Thanks to Chita and her tennis friends for recycling tennis balls in Michigan!

Fernando and the team at Circle C Tennis Club recently purchased a Green Tennis Machine and here is what Fernando said about it:

About four months ago, we were introduced to the [Green Tennis Machine] at the Circle C Tennis Club.  With all efforts to save money and also the environment, we made the commitment to purchase the unit.

One of the prides of our Club, is that we always provide good quality tennis balls for teaching to our sophisticated clientele.  Every six weeks, we purchase 16 cases of teaching balls and distribute equally among our 8 tennis pros.

Since we have purchased the unit, we have been recycling the tennis balls when needed, and have not received any complaints from the members.  They like the fact that we can provide them with good quality bounce balls for their lessons.  They not only appreciated the efforts of saving money for the club, but also, the fact that we are recycling balls that normally would be dumped on the waste areas, thus causing more damage to the environment.  Since we purchased the unit, I already cancelled one shipment of teaching balls. 

James Strassle, Tennis Director, had this to say in a recent conversation with our VP of Sales, Eric Korita:

Eric we have really enjoyed our “Mean Green Tennis Machine”. Our ability to enhance our members’ tennis experience either during lessons or using the ball machine has been aided due to the fact that we can eliminate the dead ball problem all clubs face. Also, it doesn’t hurt our reputation that we are a ‘green’ club. Today’s climate demands we be aware of our environment and the consequences of our actions or lack thereof.

For those of you currently using the Green Tennis Machine, I’ve reduced the standard charging time by 12 hours. Our friend Judy Anderson at Ken-Caryl Ranch in Colorado has been a great source of feedback for recharging in a high altitude environment. She says that she reduces the charging time on the QuickStart balls a full 24 hours and 12 hours on the regular high altitude balls. I’ll continue to work with this same batch of balls and report on the results. Until next time, Bill

Blake is playing in the Finals of the US Open National Playoff – vying for a Wild Card into the US Open Qualifying Draw, which is a $1 million dollar tournament for one of 16 direct entries into the US Open.  Got that… win 6 matches in your USTA sectional, then win 4 matches at the National Playoff, then win 3 matches and you get to be in the first round of the US OPEN!!!  9 down and only 4 more to go for Blake to make history.

Blake won the National Playoff last year and made it within a two matches of the US Open main draw.  This year, Blake has won 2 Futures tournaments and went to the Quarters of another Challenger.  He will be ranked around 400 in the world next week and hopefully will be chasing his dream again in the Big Apple.

Good Luck today Blake and hopefully we’ll see you in NYC in a few days.