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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, October 5, 2007

Tennis Weekend kicks off at CORP

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Former University of Hawai'i tennis coach Jim Schwitters will be inducted into the USTA/HPS Tennis Hall of Fame.

University of Hawai'i

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For 20 years, Tennis Weekend has attempted to bombard Hawai'i players of every level with every tennis option possible over two days. The 21st annual Oceanic Time Warner USTA Tennis Weekend is more about streamlining and simplifying.

The big names will still be at Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park tomorrow and Sunday, and tomorrow night at Ala Moana Hotel for the annual banquet. Tennis analyst Tracy Austin, a two-time U.S. Open champion, will start each day with a Cardio Tennis workout. Dick Gould, who guided Stanford to 17 team championships, is overseeing a doubles seminar each afternoon. Both are speaking tomorrow night.

For the first time, there will be few distractions. Clinics and exhibitions will rarely be run at the same time. The weekend's most intriguing experiment — a charity Pro-Am benefiting the Institute of Human Services — is the final event, all alone Sunday afternoon.

Then the USTA's Hawai'i Pacific Section will judge how well its new format went over.

"Did we get a lot of people to come out and did they get what they wanted?" said Ron Romano, executive director of USTA Hawai'i Pacific Section. "Did they have fun? We want to give people something they can't get anywhere else, bring in headliners like Tracy Austin and Dick Gould and get them excited and ready to play."

Tennis Weekend is also induction time for the USTA/HPS Tennis Hall of Fame. This year's inductees are Hattie Somerville in the Player Category and Jim Schwitters in the Non-Player Category. The honors might be interchangeable: Somerville is as at least as well-known as the mother of Hawai'i's first family of tennis, while Schwitters, who coached the University of Hawai'i for 38 years, holds a racket-full of playing honors.

Somerville, 73, started in tennis at age 4, at Wilcox Estate on Kailua Beach. Her game was refined in San Francisco, where her family lived during the war, and she returned home in time to play four years for Punahou. She was a three-sport athlete (tennis, field hockey and swimming) at Briarcliff College.

When she came home again, in 1957, she started a string of age-group sectional rankings that has lasted more than 40 years. Her national age-group ranking goes back some 30 years. She and husband John moved to Kaua'i in 1995 and remain tennis pros at Po'ipu Kai.

Twin sons Henry and Jim, and daughters Hannah and Betsy, were all prominent players here. Hattie and Betsy have captured three National Senior Mother-Daughter Grass Court Championships since 2001, and finished second twice before that. Hattie also has a "bronze ball," or third-place national finish in singles.

Schwitters, who turned 70 on Monday, helped start the local USTA section in the mid-1970s, with the Somervilles among the original members. He has also been inducted into the Ambrose College Sports Hall of Fame (1981), USPTA Hawai'i Hall of Fame (2004) and Hawai'i Sports Hall of Fame (2006), where he is the only tennis player.

The guy who grew up playing baseball in Illinois — he had a tryout with the St. Louis Browns — is now the winningest NCAA Division I coach. He started with the UH men in 1964 — four years after moving to Hawai'i — and added the women soon after. He retired in 2003 with a combined record of 1,312-598-15, and was 1990 Regional Coach of the Year.

Schwitters, a regular at Diamond Head Tennis Center, has been ranked No. 1 in his age group nearly every year since 1974, and has held more than 20 national rankings. He was the Honolulu Quarterback Club's 1978 Hawai'i Senior Athlete of the Year and the state's Player of the Decade for the 1970s.

TENNIS WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Tomorrow, Sunday

Schedule

9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Heart-Pumping Fitness with Tracy Austin: Cardio tennis, designed for advanced beginners and up, with former U.S. Open champion.

10:30 a.m.-11 a.m.

Heart Throbs (tomorrow): Exhibition with former tour pros for all skill levels.

I Love My Racket (Sunday): Demo latest equipment.

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Island Pro Tour (both days): Mixed plate of group instruction from Hawai'i pros (for advanced beginners and up).

Brave Heart (both days): Challenge Mikael Maatta and Jan Tribler, Hawai'I's No. 1 doubles team (for advanced beginners and up).

12:30-2 p.m.

A Winning Heart with Dick Gould (both days): Clinic with retired Stanford coach Dick Gould, who led his players to 17 team titles. Designed for all abilities.

2 p.m.-5 p.m.

Big Hearts Charity Pro-Am (Sunday): Mixed doubles round-robin with high-profile partners, including Tracy Austin, to benefit Institute of Human Services. Divisions for 3.5-rated players and below and 4.0 and above.

Also on-site both days: USTA Membership Appreciation Booth (10 a.m.-1 p.m.), Silent Auction (9 a.m.-2 p.m.) and tennis vendors and health experts (9 a.m.-2 p.m.).

Hawai'i Pacific Section Awards Banquet: Tomorrow at Ala Moana Hotel Hibiscus Ballroom, 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., with Tracy Austin and Dick Gould, entertainment by Brittni Paiva.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.