APRES RACQUET & PADDLE CROWNS INAUGURAL MENS TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS
October 11, 2020
COHASSET, MA- In a hard fought match that featured a second set tiebreak, Apres Racquet & Paddle crowned its first tournament champions, Stefan Revielle and (Apres Racquet and Paddle Founder/Owner), Matt Hendison. The final match was played at Hatherly Country Club in Scituate, MA in windy but otherwise beautiful conditions.
About 40 spectators, socially distanced, came out to cheer the players on and they got to watch quite a match.
"When I set out to create this tournament, I never would have thought that I could have actually won it", said Hendison,"but the blind draw was kind to me and I got a great partner in Stefan". Revielle and Hendison had two tough 3 set victories in each of their qualifying matches to ascend to the Finals.
The players involved in the tournament were hand selected by Hendison and his two man commitee (who also competed in the tournament), David Lockwood and Alex Thomson. Players were put into two "buckets", A and B+, and matched up via a blind draw which was aired live on Zoom in September for all partcipants to view. Early round matches were played independently by the teams at various courts over a 3 week period to assure social distancing measures could be upheld.
"This tournament, the first of what I hope to be many for adults and kids, is three years in the making and part of my overall mission to fill a void for tennis and other racquet sport players; one that exists between private clubs and official more competitive entities such as the USTA and USPTA among others," said Hendison. "Apres Racquet & Paddle is all about fun, positivity, community and giving back to those in need via a business that includes instruction, events, tournaments, merchandise and in the near future, retreats to Sedona, AZ for individuals, couples and families".
A portion of the net revenues from the tournament, sponsored by Seabird Coffee, Baking Steel and GoodSport all Cohasset business', as well as Taco Bell (thanks to Lockwood, a Taco Bell franchisee), will be donated to Positive Impact for Kids, a charity Hendison has been involved with for almost 10 years.
For more information about Apres Racquet & Paddle, please contact Matt Hendison at apresracquetpaddle@gmail.com.
