Men’s 40 & Over 3.0 Champions: Middle States (Westfield, N.J.), L to R: Ed Poole, Matt Hale, Curtis Tao, David Ellner, Craig Decker, Chris Schabacker, John Manso, Won Hong, Greg Russo. (Photo credit: Michael J. Le Brecht II.)
The men’s tennis team from Westfield, NJ — which includes Maplewood resident Chris Schabacker — captured the national title at the United States Tennis Association League Adult 40 & Over 3.0 National Championships held at the Hilton El Conquistador Resort in Tucson, Ariz., Oct. 14-16.
The Westfield team, representing the USTA Middle States Section, defeated a team from Las Vegas, 3-2 in the Championship match. Earlier in the day, the Westfield team defeated a team from Dallas, 3-2 in the semifinals. They advanced this far by winning their round-robin flight contested Friday and Saturday.
The team is captained by Craig Decker (Hightstown) and features Ed Poole (Westfield), Matt Hale (Highland Park), Curtis Tao (Westfield), David Ellner (Cranford), Chris Schabacker, John Manso (Mountainside), Won Hong (Metuchen), Greg Russo (Hoboken) and plays at the Westfield Indoor Tennis Club.
Established in 1980, USTA League has grown from 13,000 participants in a few parts of the country in its first year, to over 904,000 players across the nation today, making it the world’s largest recreational tennis league.
USTA League was established to provide adult recreational tennis players throughout the country with the opportunity to compete against players of similar ability levels. Players participate on teams in a league format, which is administered by the USTA through its 17 Sections. The league groups players by using six National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) levels, ranging from 2.5 (entry) to 5.0 (advanced). USTA League is open to any USTA member 18 years of age or older.
The 2016 USTA League season will be the fourth season with the updated structure and format which offers four age categories (Adult 18 & Over, Adult 40 & Over and Adult 55 & Over and Mixed 18 & Over) to better align participants with players their own age. A fifth age division the Mixed 40 & Over division was added in 2014. The restructuring guarantees more frequency of play opportunities at more appropriate age groups.
Head Penn Racquet Sports is in its 29th year as official ball of USTA League.
For more information about USTA League or the USTA, visit www.usta.com.
About USTA:
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level — from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 715,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, the highest-attended annual sporting event in the world, and launched the Emirates Airline US Open Series, linking seven summer tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships and helps under-resourced youth and individuals with disabilities, and supports wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. For more information on the USTA, log on to usta.com, “like” the official Facebook page,facebook.com/usta, or follow @usta on Twitter.
