UWW to host QuickStart Tennis Day

This coming weekend the Men's and Women's teams have off and will be hosting a QuickStart Tennis Day at Four Lakes Athletic Club in Elkhorn, WI. For those of you who don't know QuickStart is a new system of teaching tennis for kids. It uses appropriate sized courts, racquets, and balls to make tennis easier, and more fun for children.

The QucikStart day will start at 11:00am when there will be an adult training session for anyone interested in learning how to teach QuickStart. The adult training session will run till 2:30pm. After that the teams will be hosting a kid play time from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. It is sure to be a great time.

If you have any interest in joining either part of the QuickStart Tennis Day please contact Frank Barnes at 608-201-7081 or barnesf@uww.edu

Coach Barnes present "Singles Strategies" at the USPTA Midwest Conference

Coach Barnes recently joined Wayne Bryan and Mark Bey among others as presenters at last weekend's USPTA Midwest Conference. Coach Barnes presented a presentation about different singles strategies that can be used against any type of player. Former players and tweener enthusiasts Johnny Reed and Steve Klaas joined him as demostraters.

At the conference legend Mike McConville who passed away in 2011, was honored and remembered for all his work over the past decades to promote and develop Illinois tennis. Mike was especially important to us here at UWW. Mike was the heart and soul of our Warhawk Summer Camp for the past 25 years, and it was special to us to see him honored for his work.

Northern Illinois Match

Last Friday, Jan 27th the Warhawk Men's Tennis team traveled to the Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford, IL to take on the Northern Illinois University Huskies. It's always great when we are able to play D-I competition, and they guys were excited for the match. In doubles the Huskies jumped out to an early lead in 2 and 3 doubles, and our players were a little slow getting out of the gate. At 1 doubles UWW was fighting hard with NIU, but as the match progressed Byron Balkin and Mitch Osborne began to pull away. Balkin and Osborne really showed off their great doubles skills that earned them a spot in the D-III individual national championships last year. Spurred by the terrific play at 1 doubles the Warhawks made the 2 and 3 doubles matches a little tighter, but fell in the end. After doubles the Warhawks trailed the Huskies 1-0 due to D-I rules. Singles wouldn't be any easier. Again the Huskies jumped out to early leads in all the singles matches and did not relinquish control. After the match the team was disappointed in the 0-7 loss, but I think they learned from this loss and I expect them to come out ready to go next match. Here are some pictures from play Friday.

In all the matches Friday except for one the Warhawks faced an international adversary. We have been able to accomplish a lot in these past few years, and we are proud to do it with a majority of local talent. That is something that is not commonly seen at the D-I level.

Many parents and fans showed up to watch the matches including the Women's team. This is one of my favorite things about being associated with the tennis teams here at Whitewater, we have awesome fans and they always support us. A special thanks to everyone who came to the matches.

After the match the team headed over to the Fitzgerald's house. Kelsey Fitzgerald is a sophomore on our Women's Tennis Team from Rockford. Her parents were kind enough to host a team spaghetti dinner with some of the best tiramisu I've ever had. Thanks again to the Fitzgeralds for having us over.

The Warhawks are off this week, but they return to action Friday February 10th.

WIAC Conference Champs Video

Here is a great video that our athletic department put together about our 2011 WIAC Women's Tennis Championship. Check it out

First Week of Practice

Today concluded our first week of practice. I think the guys are getting really excited for our upcoming matches, and they are putting in a great effort everyday at practice. We did some drilling and a lot of playing this week as you can see by the video below.

All-American Celebration

This Wednesday, Senior Kalla Schaefer and Sophmore Alexandria Bayliss were honored as All-Americans at the Women's Basketball game. The Men's and Women's teams showed up to cheer them on, and it was a great event. They achieved All-American status with their great play at the ITA Regional Tournament back in September. Kalla won the singles championship and teamed up with Alexandria to win the doubles championship. It was the second ITA singles championship for Kalla and the first doubles for her and Alexandria. All of us coaches are proud of Kalla and Alexandria's accomplishments and we are looking forward to a great spring season with them and the rest of the Women's Tennis team. Here are some pictures from the event.

Best Tweener Point Ever

Check out this video! It's the Best Tweener Point Ever

It's from two Warhawk Alumni Steve Klaas and Johnny Reed who are currently teaching pros in the Wisconsin area. I'm guessing they were bored so they decided to make this video and have some fun. Frank and I could not stop laughing watching this video. The noises they make during it are priceless.