1/09/17:
"H-Wood's Annual Unofficial GTA Awards for 2016!":
Now that the official 2016 GTA Achievement Awards have been announced, it is time for "H-Wood's Annual Unofficial GTA Awards for 2016!" This is the 14th annual edition of the Unofficial Awards while the Official GTA Achievement Awards just celebrated 24 years of existence. Last year I got this out to the league on January 5th. But two seasons ago, it was issued on January 12th. So, once again, we are pretty much on schedule.
Speaking of seasons, in 2017, the GTA will enter into its twenty-sixth season! Along the way, we will celebrate the GTA's 25th Birthday on April 15th! This league is already older than some of its competitors!
The following awards are a reflection of my own opinion…and are not to be taken too seriously. As I say every year, anyone else is entitled to come up with some of their own as well.
Some of these are repeat categories from years past and some are entirely new. Here we go with a category carried over from last season:
Biggest Disappointment of The Year: First, let me say that the disappointments this season were far less significant than in past seasons. All the tournaments were completed within their calendar year (that is a first…at least for the last few seasons). So, "biggest disappointment" is somewhat of an overstatement this time around…rather it is some minor nagging issues such as the fact that not all of the matches were played out properly in the Grove Cup Tournament (the ongoing negotiation between Norman Taclob and Lou La Forgia which ultimately led to La Forgia having to drop out of it…Moka Pathan also dropping out due to the event being so drawn out and then conflicting with his schedule) and the fact that we never saw a proper finish to the M2 Quarterfinal between Chris Chiaro/Raj Shah and Dwight Thomas Sr./Dwight Thomas Jr. Also, Moka Pathan not taking his immediate rematch against Chris Chiaro for the GTA Championship. Other than those, most events this past season went rather smoothly.
Since I started presenting these awards, there were four award categories that I did every year: "Most Disappointing Defeat that I was a part of;" "Most Disappointing Defeat that I was not a part of;" "Most Satisfying Victory that I was a part of;" and "Most Satisfying Victory that I was not a part of."
This is the first season where I could not really come up with any rightful winners. I did not lose any matches where it shocked me to lose, nor did I win any matches where even I was surprised that I won. The true disappointment is that I simply was not active enough this past season…especially in full 2 out of 3 Sets Singles Challenge Matches. As a result, I dropped to a new all-time low in the GTA Rankings.
My hope for next season is to increase my activity level and try to make a run at getting back into The Top 10 of the Advanced Division.
Here now are two award categories that are repeated from last season (and for several seasons prior to that as well):
The Still-Reigning King of Recruiting: Kris Srinivasan! For four straight seasons, I had to award myself this prize (years ago, Johnny Mistretta used to earn this award every year). Then, two years ago I had to give it to Kris. He earned it against last season. Well, the same holds true this season...though I did a little better myself this past year. Three years ago, he got the ball rolling up at Cedar Grove and brought in many players from the Aces to Deuces group. This season, he was even more instrumental in welcoming players who just happened to be playing at The Cedar Grove Courts. I will say that I am the Runner-up as I did the same with many newcomers who had been showing up at Robin Hood Park, Holster Park and Albion Park as well as still recruiting new contacts via the internet and bringing in some via other means. Others who deserve a "shout out" in this category are Tony Shiao, John Incognito, Ryan Pienciak, Levy Lorenzo and Dino Celis. If I am leaving anyone out, my apologies.
Most Active Player of the Year: Nathan Fernandes! For two straight seasons, Genalin Capan had taken this one. Then two years ago it went to Raj Shah. Both of them cut back their activity level significantly the past couple of seasons as each has suffered from some nagging injuries. Last season, this award went to Kris Srinivasan. But he had to reduce his presence on The Cedar Grove Courts somewhat due to work reasons. Nonetheless, he still managed to host there more often than not (and I tried to pick up the slack on the times when he could not be there). This past year (after an entire season away from the league), Nathan Fernandes returned with a vengeance as he was a steady presence at both Cedar Grove and the various locations in Clifton where sessions were held throughout the season. As a result, he received an awesome total of 24 nominations in the Annual GTA Achievement Awards for 2016. For the second straight season, a very close Runner-up here is Doinks Srinivasan. Once again, she was the most highly nominated woman in the league. She also picked up the hosting slack at Cedar Grove at times when Kris could not be there. I again thank both of them for all they do for our league.
As stated earlier, some awards categories are not coming back this time around. Here are a few completely new ones that I have sometimes done in the past.
One-Set Upset in Singles: 8/11 - Jay Phoenix over Frank Samara, 6-4! This is no slight to Jay who is quite the competitor, indeed. But afterwards, even he was somewhat surprised by the result. He said it had been several seasons since he was able to take a set from me. In all honesty, I had not remembered him beating me in a One-Setter before (though it is possible…as it is also quite possible that I'm losing my mind). I remember it was a hot day at Holster Park (always hotter there as there is no shade on those courts…just one reason why we relocated to Albion Park later in the season) and he was able to weather the weather (if that makes any sense) better than I could.
One-Set Upset in Doubles: 7/16 - Joe Rodrigues/Mike Carucci over Chazz Weldon/Dean Delgado, 6-4! This was another batted waged at Holster Park. And while I am sure it was also quite hot that day as well, I don't remember the weather being the specific factor. I do remember that Dean was in the midst of his substantial Summer Slump (which was often the source of humor for many of us at it grew longer…and he was quite a good sport about it). On paper, I doubt anyone would think that J-Rod teaming with the rookie Carucci could topple the steady Weldon and the usually surefire Delgado. But that is why we play matches on a court and not on paper. ;-)
One-Set Comeback in Singles: 10/23 - Andrew Truong over Tommy Reszkowski, 7-6 (7-3)! Tommy had been up 5-2 prior to Andrew rallying and forcing a Tiebreak. I may be wrong, but I think the original idea was for Tommy to play Andrew in a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match in order to get ranked and remove himself from the Non-Competing Men's Division. But then this One-Setter took so long, that there was not enough time left to extend it into a full match. Had Tommy been able to shut the door in that 1st Set, he may have well been on his way to an impressive win over the tough Truong. Now we will have to wait until next season to see how far Reszkowski can rise up the ranks.
One-Set Comeback in Doubles: 12/13 - John Incognito/Syed Rashid over Frank Samara/Mike Sindler, 7-6 (8-6)! I know there have been greater comebacks in the past than coming back from being down 0-4 and later 1-5 (I once teamed with Timothy Wong where we were down 0-5 to Chris Chiaro and Raj Shah before winning seven straight games to win the One-Setter). But the dominance factor also kicks in here as Mike and I won 16 of the first 18 points of the match. It looked to be a certain blowout. But then Syed went from blasting his shots well beyond the baseline to dialing them in and landing them in all the right places on the court. The rest of us had all remained rather steady throughout the contest. It was the turnaround in Syed that was the deciding factor. If he can only gain more consistency (and he already has somewhat), he can make tremendous strides next season.
The next section is not actual categories…more like topics of discussion.
The New Triumvirate! In the early years of this league, I along with my cousin Dan Delli Santi and our friend Mike Ashley called ourselves "The Triumvirate" as we were not only the three most active players in the league, but also the three most dominant ones as well. When Dan Martinelli joined the league and actually exceeded our activity level, he turned The Triumvirate into The Core Four. And then when Delli Santi and Ashley later faded from the GTA, Samara and Martinelli were left behind to form The Foundation. But this past season, we saw Tony Shiao bring in two of his buddies - Ryan Pienciak and Anish Mehta. Together, this "New Triumvirate" had quite the impressive season as Shiao ended up being the Most Improved Player of The Year, Pienciak was the Rookie of The Year (and the most active player in the bunch) and Mehta was the rightful Newcomer of The Year (quite a presence in full Singles Challenge Matches). If we add Mehta's pal Ralph Bernard into the mix, we may end up having a new force of four in the league. Perhaps we can call them "The Fearsome Foursome?" In any event, these three new players (in addition to Shiao) made the 2016 Season far more interesting than it would have been without them. We hope they will maintain their steady and influential presence in the coming season.
On the Cusp! Last season, both Shiao and Chazz Weldon were able to break into The Top 5 of the Advanced Division and finally leave the Intermediate Division behind. Lou La Forgia came oh so close when he became the # 6 Ranked Player in the "A" Division. This coming season, I think he will finally make that leap. But there are others who have that potential as well. Perhaps it will also be the current reigning GTA Intermediate Champ: Senthil Kumar. It may also be Mike Kazlauskas, Greg Swierczek, Dennis Cabanatan, Scott Bergenfeld, Mike Mole…the list could be endless depending upon who gets hot on what day against the right opponent.
Errors and Omissions! Looking back at the 2016 GTA Achievement Awards, I do not see any glaring errors (thankfully!)…but I did notice one omission. In the category of Most Inspirational Player of The Year, I neglected to mention that Dino Celis had lost his father this past season. It required him to take a trip back to the Philippines in the summer which he chose to keep rather quiet at the time. Still, it should have garnered him an Honorable Mention at the very least.
This next section will provide some interesting tidbits that detail exactly why the 2016 Season is one of the biggest in GTA history.
Back in 2013, we added a record number of players to the ranks: 76 to be exact! That total was made up of 57 male players (the previous record was 42 back in 1998) and that included the six Juniors (at that time) and then there were 19 female players (the former record on that side of the ledger was 17 back in 1999...which was then duplicated in 2011).
To put this in proper perspective with the past few seasons, 2012 added 45 players to the ranks (33 men and 12 women), 2011 added 54 players (37 men and 17 women) and 2010 added 45 players (33 men and 12 women...the same exact numbers as 2012).
Then, in 2014, we broke those records on both sides of the ledger with 62 new male players and 27 new female players for a grand total of 89 new competitors coming into the league that season. These were some truly amazing numbers that I suspected would be hard to top in the 2015 Season (but I also said two years ago that it would not stop me from trying).
Last year, I actually thought the 2015 Season had topped those 2014 totals by the end of that year...until I did the math. I was somewhat surprised to find that we fell short...but not by much.
By the end of 2015 season, we had brought in 57 new male players and 15 new female players for a grand total of 72 new competitors coming into the league this past year. This is definitely not too shabby.
I think I erroneously felt that 2015 would be the biggest season to date (in terms of new players making their official GTA Debut) as we were on track to exceed the 2014 totals...at least through that summer. We then lost some of that momentum as we entered into the autumn months.
Fast forward to 2016 where I have had those very same feelings that I did back in 2015. I am about to "do the math" right now as I write this to find out whether or not I am right in that line of thinking.
Well, as it turns out, I was wrong once again! This past season, we brought in 52 new male players and 17 new female players for a grand total of 69 new competitors coming into the league this past year. Again, this is nothing to sneeze at as it is a very solid number. It means this past season ranks amongst the best in terms of introducing the league to new players.
Like the season before, I do believe we lost that momentum as we headed into the autumn and I blame myself for that as I was no longer to maintain my steady presence as the host of GTA Weeknight Tennis at Albion Park in Clifton (it had been at Robin Hood Park in years past).
By the way, by the end of the 2016 Season, we have had a total of 525 male players and 194 female players who had ever competed in this league.
In closing, I just want to thank everyone for their participation this past year. For the seventh straight season, we had many new players enter the league.
2016 may not have exceeded 2015 or 2014 overall in that regard, but there were definitely aspects of this past season that truly outdid the year before (the amount of Doubles One-Setters that we played…especially those that were award-worthy immediately comes to mind). If 2017 can combine all of the best aspects of the 2010 through 2016 Seasons while omitting the worst, it will end up truly being the greatest season of all-time! Here's to the future!
I wish you all a very healthy and Happy New Year! And I look forward to seeing you all (along with some new faces) on the courts in the coming season (which officially starts on Sunday, February 26th)!
Best wishes,
Frank Samara
"H-Wood's Annual Unofficial GTA Awards for 2016!":
Now that the official 2016 GTA Achievement Awards have been announced, it is time for "H-Wood's Annual Unofficial GTA Awards for 2016!" This is the 14th annual edition of the Unofficial Awards while the Official GTA Achievement Awards just celebrated 24 years of existence. Last year I got this out to the league on January 5th. But two seasons ago, it was issued on January 12th. So, once again, we are pretty much on schedule.
Speaking of seasons, in 2017, the GTA will enter into its twenty-sixth season! Along the way, we will celebrate the GTA's 25th Birthday on April 15th! This league is already older than some of its competitors!
The following awards are a reflection of my own opinion…and are not to be taken too seriously. As I say every year, anyone else is entitled to come up with some of their own as well.
Some of these are repeat categories from years past and some are entirely new. Here we go with a category carried over from last season:
Biggest Disappointment of The Year: First, let me say that the disappointments this season were far less significant than in past seasons. All the tournaments were completed within their calendar year (that is a first…at least for the last few seasons). So, "biggest disappointment" is somewhat of an overstatement this time around…rather it is some minor nagging issues such as the fact that not all of the matches were played out properly in the Grove Cup Tournament (the ongoing negotiation between Norman Taclob and Lou La Forgia which ultimately led to La Forgia having to drop out of it…Moka Pathan also dropping out due to the event being so drawn out and then conflicting with his schedule) and the fact that we never saw a proper finish to the M2 Quarterfinal between Chris Chiaro/Raj Shah and Dwight Thomas Sr./Dwight Thomas Jr. Also, Moka Pathan not taking his immediate rematch against Chris Chiaro for the GTA Championship. Other than those, most events this past season went rather smoothly.
Since I started presenting these awards, there were four award categories that I did every year: "Most Disappointing Defeat that I was a part of;" "Most Disappointing Defeat that I was not a part of;" "Most Satisfying Victory that I was a part of;" and "Most Satisfying Victory that I was not a part of."
This is the first season where I could not really come up with any rightful winners. I did not lose any matches where it shocked me to lose, nor did I win any matches where even I was surprised that I won. The true disappointment is that I simply was not active enough this past season…especially in full 2 out of 3 Sets Singles Challenge Matches. As a result, I dropped to a new all-time low in the GTA Rankings.
My hope for next season is to increase my activity level and try to make a run at getting back into The Top 10 of the Advanced Division.
Here now are two award categories that are repeated from last season (and for several seasons prior to that as well):
The Still-Reigning King of Recruiting: Kris Srinivasan! For four straight seasons, I had to award myself this prize (years ago, Johnny Mistretta used to earn this award every year). Then, two years ago I had to give it to Kris. He earned it against last season. Well, the same holds true this season...though I did a little better myself this past year. Three years ago, he got the ball rolling up at Cedar Grove and brought in many players from the Aces to Deuces group. This season, he was even more instrumental in welcoming players who just happened to be playing at The Cedar Grove Courts. I will say that I am the Runner-up as I did the same with many newcomers who had been showing up at Robin Hood Park, Holster Park and Albion Park as well as still recruiting new contacts via the internet and bringing in some via other means. Others who deserve a "shout out" in this category are Tony Shiao, John Incognito, Ryan Pienciak, Levy Lorenzo and Dino Celis. If I am leaving anyone out, my apologies.
Most Active Player of the Year: Nathan Fernandes! For two straight seasons, Genalin Capan had taken this one. Then two years ago it went to Raj Shah. Both of them cut back their activity level significantly the past couple of seasons as each has suffered from some nagging injuries. Last season, this award went to Kris Srinivasan. But he had to reduce his presence on The Cedar Grove Courts somewhat due to work reasons. Nonetheless, he still managed to host there more often than not (and I tried to pick up the slack on the times when he could not be there). This past year (after an entire season away from the league), Nathan Fernandes returned with a vengeance as he was a steady presence at both Cedar Grove and the various locations in Clifton where sessions were held throughout the season. As a result, he received an awesome total of 24 nominations in the Annual GTA Achievement Awards for 2016. For the second straight season, a very close Runner-up here is Doinks Srinivasan. Once again, she was the most highly nominated woman in the league. She also picked up the hosting slack at Cedar Grove at times when Kris could not be there. I again thank both of them for all they do for our league.
As stated earlier, some awards categories are not coming back this time around. Here are a few completely new ones that I have sometimes done in the past.
One-Set Upset in Singles: 8/11 - Jay Phoenix over Frank Samara, 6-4! This is no slight to Jay who is quite the competitor, indeed. But afterwards, even he was somewhat surprised by the result. He said it had been several seasons since he was able to take a set from me. In all honesty, I had not remembered him beating me in a One-Setter before (though it is possible…as it is also quite possible that I'm losing my mind). I remember it was a hot day at Holster Park (always hotter there as there is no shade on those courts…just one reason why we relocated to Albion Park later in the season) and he was able to weather the weather (if that makes any sense) better than I could.
One-Set Upset in Doubles: 7/16 - Joe Rodrigues/Mike Carucci over Chazz Weldon/Dean Delgado, 6-4! This was another batted waged at Holster Park. And while I am sure it was also quite hot that day as well, I don't remember the weather being the specific factor. I do remember that Dean was in the midst of his substantial Summer Slump (which was often the source of humor for many of us at it grew longer…and he was quite a good sport about it). On paper, I doubt anyone would think that J-Rod teaming with the rookie Carucci could topple the steady Weldon and the usually surefire Delgado. But that is why we play matches on a court and not on paper. ;-)
One-Set Comeback in Singles: 10/23 - Andrew Truong over Tommy Reszkowski, 7-6 (7-3)! Tommy had been up 5-2 prior to Andrew rallying and forcing a Tiebreak. I may be wrong, but I think the original idea was for Tommy to play Andrew in a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match in order to get ranked and remove himself from the Non-Competing Men's Division. But then this One-Setter took so long, that there was not enough time left to extend it into a full match. Had Tommy been able to shut the door in that 1st Set, he may have well been on his way to an impressive win over the tough Truong. Now we will have to wait until next season to see how far Reszkowski can rise up the ranks.
One-Set Comeback in Doubles: 12/13 - John Incognito/Syed Rashid over Frank Samara/Mike Sindler, 7-6 (8-6)! I know there have been greater comebacks in the past than coming back from being down 0-4 and later 1-5 (I once teamed with Timothy Wong where we were down 0-5 to Chris Chiaro and Raj Shah before winning seven straight games to win the One-Setter). But the dominance factor also kicks in here as Mike and I won 16 of the first 18 points of the match. It looked to be a certain blowout. But then Syed went from blasting his shots well beyond the baseline to dialing them in and landing them in all the right places on the court. The rest of us had all remained rather steady throughout the contest. It was the turnaround in Syed that was the deciding factor. If he can only gain more consistency (and he already has somewhat), he can make tremendous strides next season.
The next section is not actual categories…more like topics of discussion.
The New Triumvirate! In the early years of this league, I along with my cousin Dan Delli Santi and our friend Mike Ashley called ourselves "The Triumvirate" as we were not only the three most active players in the league, but also the three most dominant ones as well. When Dan Martinelli joined the league and actually exceeded our activity level, he turned The Triumvirate into The Core Four. And then when Delli Santi and Ashley later faded from the GTA, Samara and Martinelli were left behind to form The Foundation. But this past season, we saw Tony Shiao bring in two of his buddies - Ryan Pienciak and Anish Mehta. Together, this "New Triumvirate" had quite the impressive season as Shiao ended up being the Most Improved Player of The Year, Pienciak was the Rookie of The Year (and the most active player in the bunch) and Mehta was the rightful Newcomer of The Year (quite a presence in full Singles Challenge Matches). If we add Mehta's pal Ralph Bernard into the mix, we may end up having a new force of four in the league. Perhaps we can call them "The Fearsome Foursome?" In any event, these three new players (in addition to Shiao) made the 2016 Season far more interesting than it would have been without them. We hope they will maintain their steady and influential presence in the coming season.
On the Cusp! Last season, both Shiao and Chazz Weldon were able to break into The Top 5 of the Advanced Division and finally leave the Intermediate Division behind. Lou La Forgia came oh so close when he became the # 6 Ranked Player in the "A" Division. This coming season, I think he will finally make that leap. But there are others who have that potential as well. Perhaps it will also be the current reigning GTA Intermediate Champ: Senthil Kumar. It may also be Mike Kazlauskas, Greg Swierczek, Dennis Cabanatan, Scott Bergenfeld, Mike Mole…the list could be endless depending upon who gets hot on what day against the right opponent.
Errors and Omissions! Looking back at the 2016 GTA Achievement Awards, I do not see any glaring errors (thankfully!)…but I did notice one omission. In the category of Most Inspirational Player of The Year, I neglected to mention that Dino Celis had lost his father this past season. It required him to take a trip back to the Philippines in the summer which he chose to keep rather quiet at the time. Still, it should have garnered him an Honorable Mention at the very least.
This next section will provide some interesting tidbits that detail exactly why the 2016 Season is one of the biggest in GTA history.
Back in 2013, we added a record number of players to the ranks: 76 to be exact! That total was made up of 57 male players (the previous record was 42 back in 1998) and that included the six Juniors (at that time) and then there were 19 female players (the former record on that side of the ledger was 17 back in 1999...which was then duplicated in 2011).
To put this in proper perspective with the past few seasons, 2012 added 45 players to the ranks (33 men and 12 women), 2011 added 54 players (37 men and 17 women) and 2010 added 45 players (33 men and 12 women...the same exact numbers as 2012).
Then, in 2014, we broke those records on both sides of the ledger with 62 new male players and 27 new female players for a grand total of 89 new competitors coming into the league that season. These were some truly amazing numbers that I suspected would be hard to top in the 2015 Season (but I also said two years ago that it would not stop me from trying).
Last year, I actually thought the 2015 Season had topped those 2014 totals by the end of that year...until I did the math. I was somewhat surprised to find that we fell short...but not by much.
By the end of 2015 season, we had brought in 57 new male players and 15 new female players for a grand total of 72 new competitors coming into the league this past year. This is definitely not too shabby.
I think I erroneously felt that 2015 would be the biggest season to date (in terms of new players making their official GTA Debut) as we were on track to exceed the 2014 totals...at least through that summer. We then lost some of that momentum as we entered into the autumn months.
Fast forward to 2016 where I have had those very same feelings that I did back in 2015. I am about to "do the math" right now as I write this to find out whether or not I am right in that line of thinking.
Well, as it turns out, I was wrong once again! This past season, we brought in 52 new male players and 17 new female players for a grand total of 69 new competitors coming into the league this past year. Again, this is nothing to sneeze at as it is a very solid number. It means this past season ranks amongst the best in terms of introducing the league to new players.
Like the season before, I do believe we lost that momentum as we headed into the autumn and I blame myself for that as I was no longer to maintain my steady presence as the host of GTA Weeknight Tennis at Albion Park in Clifton (it had been at Robin Hood Park in years past).
By the way, by the end of the 2016 Season, we have had a total of 525 male players and 194 female players who had ever competed in this league.
In closing, I just want to thank everyone for their participation this past year. For the seventh straight season, we had many new players enter the league.
2016 may not have exceeded 2015 or 2014 overall in that regard, but there were definitely aspects of this past season that truly outdid the year before (the amount of Doubles One-Setters that we played…especially those that were award-worthy immediately comes to mind). If 2017 can combine all of the best aspects of the 2010 through 2016 Seasons while omitting the worst, it will end up truly being the greatest season of all-time! Here's to the future!
I wish you all a very healthy and Happy New Year! And I look forward to seeing you all (along with some new faces) on the courts in the coming season (which officially starts on Sunday, February 26th)!
Best wishes,
Frank Samara
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