Paddle tennis

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Platform tennis is a game invented in lower Manhattan by Frank Peer Beal in 1898. It supersedes the invention of Paddle Tennis. While Platform Tennis is played in the Eastern United States, Paddle Tennis is played on the West Coast. Another version, just "Paddle" is played internationally, in many iterations. All of these, although similar to tennis, vary in rules and equipment.

Platform tennis is often called paddle tennis by its players and sometimes only "paddle" but it is a different game. Platform Tennis is played outdoors usually on a raised court similar in size to a paddle tennis court. Paddle Tennis is not usually played on a raised platform. In Platform Tennis the enclosure of the court is a tensioned chicken-wire like cage. The ball can be played off the wire as in the indoor court games. The ball is soft sponge rubber, the paddle a perforated solid paddle, only one serve is allowed and most play is doubles. Because of the particular origin of the game, it is still played principally in winter by tennis players who want a year-round game.

Paddle Tennis is played outdoors, year-round in Venice, California. The court is shorter and narrower than a tennis court. And the net is lower than in tennis. A punctured tennis ball is used. Since the court is shorter and a solid paddle is used, the ball is deflated by puncturing it in order to help keep it in bounds when it is hit. The ball is not served overhead as in tennis. Instead, the server's paddle must be no higher than the top of the net (31") when it contacts the ball on the serve. There are no alley markings on the court as in tennis. Also unlike tennis, the ball is in-bounds on the serve in both the forecourt and the backcourt. However, the furthest part of the backcourt, marked by a line across the entire court is out of bounds on the serve. Although there is only one serve, another is taken if the ball strikes the net on the serve but lands within bounds, referred to as a let.

[edit] Origins

The inventors of platform tennis lived less than 50 miles from Rev. Beal but claim that they knew nothing of paddle tennis when they developed their sport in 1928. Scarsdale, NY, then was exactly the sort of place it is today - a bedroom community of upper-income families with high-paying jobs in Manhattan. The fact that Fessenden Blanchard and James Cogswell had no idea that paddle tennis was a craze in New York City speaks very clearly of the role of social class in games in the United States, as these quotes attest: bullet "The original form of paddle tennis is the game for the great majority." (Blanchard 1944, 77) bullet "Platform Paddle Tennis is the game for tennis, beach and golf clubs, for private places, for those who can build a platform." (Blanchard 1944, 78)

SCORING:

    •1st point = 15
    •2nd point = 30
    •3rd point = 40
    •4th point = Game

Website: www.playpaddletennis.com[1]

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