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Displaying items by tag: tennis

Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:04

Rich Johns: Coaching Students Through Life

SARATOGA SPRINGS — In 2010 schoolteacher, tennis and basketball coach Rich Johns, retired from the traditional structures of education and coaching and began a nonprofit known as Act With Respect Always (AWRA). The organization has flourished and has taken Coach Johns to schools as far as Duke University and as local as Saratoga Springs High. This month would be the sixth month that AWRA has trademarked it’s new Visibility Project.

AWRA is an organization, and a mission in itself; to treat yourself and others with kindness and respect. Through speaking engagements, Johns uses his platform to promote others to create opportunities to make positive impacts in another person’s life.

The new factor of AWRA - the Visibility Project, takes interacting with someone one step further – to be seen.

“When you become visible, you’re strong, and you believe in yourself, I hope,” said Johns.

This project promotes reaching out to others and letting them know their presence and visibility in this society is of importance.

“Part of my mission before I leave a school is to stress to those adults in that environment, connect with them, and tell them I’m one of your solid five, and you can get in touch with me,” said Johns. “To me, making young kids know that they have this solid group with them, and they love you, they care for you, and they’ll do anything for you makes you visible."

At each speaking engagement, Johns attends, he makes a point to bring a book and postcards. This is not only to leave students, athlete and the teachers with something to incorporate but to provide an opportunity to encourage connection through the written word.

The new AWRA T-Shirt that states “The Visibility Project” is marked with a large, vibrant yellow circle on the back. Literally visible at afar, but meaningfully visible to the wearer, who are all connected through the message of the Visibility Project.

AWRA IS A 501 © 3 charitable organization. To get involved or to support the organization be visible, and connect with Coach Rich Johns through Facebook or Instagram or actwithrespectalways.com.

Published in Sports

Thursday, 11 April 2019 13:19

Athlete of the Week: Nick Grosso

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Nick Grasso, a right-handed tennis player at Saratoga Springs High School believes that one’s character both on and off the court is an athlete’s most notable quality.

Grasso began playing tennis while attending a summer camp at eight years old. He would see experienced tennis players practicing at the camp, and he thought to himself that maybe he should give it a try. After discovering his natural talent with a racket, tennis soon became his favorite sport.

“The fact that it’s an individual sport. When you do something well or you play a good match it’s solely because you played well yourself or if you lost its also on you. I like that individual factor, that the results are dependent on you,” said Grasso.

Though playing tennis may be an individual sport, Grasso has a strong team behind him. His friends coaches Tim O’Brien and Kurt Decker, and Rich John’s from Act With Respect Always, are a few people who constantly support Grasso, and keep tabs on how his game is. However, the biggest support system Grasso can name are his parents.

“Tennis is not an easy sport to play because in the U.S. it’s still growing a little bit,” said Grasso. “It’s long driving to the tournaments; three to four-hour drives but they are always willing to support me and drive me.”

Grasso’s two biggest inspirations couldn’t be any more different athletically speaking, but it’s the off-the-court commonality that Grosso resonates with. One would be Swedish tennis player Roger Federer, due to his sportsmanship and the way he carries himself. On a more personal note, Grosso admires his grandfather, as he is friendly and outgoing and tries to make friends with everyone.

“I like to try to bring that when I’m playing because I would much rather be remembered for my sportsmanship and being kind rather than being someone who’s not so kind but playing well,” said Grasso.

Published in Sports

Thursday, 01 June 2017 14:04

Saratoga Tennis Clinches First Ever Doubles Title

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Blue Streak history was made at the recent Section II boys tennis tournament.

Entering the competition on May 24 as the No. 1 seeded doubles team, senior David Romano and eighth-grader Nick Grosso went all the way, finally besting the team of Govind Chari and Shamanth Murundi of Bethlehem to become the Section II doubles champions. Capping off an exceptional 18-0 season for the Saratoga Tennis program, Romano and Grosso helped bring home the program’s first ever doubles title. This comes off of the program taking its first-ever sectional team title in 2016. From this win, they will move on to compete in the State-level competition at Flushing Meadows, the same site as the US Open.

Both Romano and Grosso have been in the Saratoga Tennis program since their seventh grade years. This was their first year working together as a doubles team. As a senior and an eighth grader, they are working with an age-disparity that they say is very much not common in varsity tennis.

“I’ve never seen it, in my six years,” Romano said about the age gap. “It works out, cause we both know and respect each other’s games a lot, and he’s one of the hardest workers that I’ve known, and I think together we make a great team.”

“Seeing David out on the court when I was little, you know, it just kept me moving,” Grosso said. “Kept me going, kept me trying every day to be a player like him some day. I think that’s what kept me going, and that’s where I’m at right now.”

Coach Tim O’Brien singled-out the team’s ability to communicate on the court as one of the reasons that they have been so successful. Romano attributes this to their knowledge of each other’s styles, including their strengths and weaknesses on the court, allowing them to cover for each other fairly quickly.

“There have been plenty of times when I shouted for help and he was right there,” Romano said.

Romano will be attending Brown University in the fall after graduating. While there is a very strong tennis team at Brown, Romano was hesitant to say that he would be up to the task of making the team. He does, however, intend to offer his services to help the team in whatever way he is able. Grosso, meanwhile, will be moving up from middle school to high school in the fall, and is not feeling too much pressure about it. Given his experience with high schoolers during his two seasons on the tennis team, he feels confident in his ability to make the transition smoothly. If anything, he expects the change to do wonders for his game.

Elsewhere at the Section II championships, singles players Seungmin Kim and Max Lee made it to the quarterfinals.

“The key to it I think has just been having a foundation of great kids and leaders, on the court and off the court,” O’Brien said about what has made this season’s team so dominant. “It begins with them.”

Photos by Photoandgraphic.com.

Published in Sports

Tuesday, 20 August 2013 12:42

Amello and Kling to Particpate in Travers Preview

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Veteran handicappers Tom Amello and Nick Kling, longtime co-hosts of “Trackfacts Live” on the Capital OTB television network, will participate in a Travers Stakes preview discussion at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Thursday, August 22 at 10:30 a.m. The program is free and open to the public and will feature video of key races leading up to the Midsummer Derby as well as a question-and-answer session with the panelists.

Published in News