CHAT LIVE WITH ODU TENNIS DIRECTOR DARRYL CUMMINGS TUESDAY AT 3:30
Chat live with Tennis Director Darryl Cummings Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 3:30 p.m.
Click on the live chat box and send in your questions below about the upcoming season, tennis questions, and the opening of the state of the art Folkes-Stevens Indoor Tennis Center.
Cummings is a six-time CAA Coach of the Year and the only CAA tennis coach to be honored as both men's and women's Coach of the Year. Last year, the men's squad earned the school's first bid to the NCAA tournament. In 2001, Cummings was named East Regional Women's Coach of the Year. In all, Cummings has coached three All-Americans in Izak van der Merwe, Zoltan Csanadi and Nataly Cahana, as well as the 1995 National Clay Court Champion Tippy Obziler who would be the ITA's number one ranked collegiate player that fall.
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Moderator: Good afternoon everyone and
welcome to today's chat with
Tennis director Darryl CUmmings. |
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| Bill (Virginia Beach): Coach, when is the grand opening of the new facility (or did I miss it)? |
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Darryl Cummings: Izak is playing professional tennis and should play in the Aussie open this year. Zoltan is working on Wall Street |
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| Terrance (Manteo): Any plans in the future to bring
back some of your ODU tennis
alumni? |
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Darryl Cummings: We are taking membership now. Contact our facility coordinator, Matt Halfpenny, at 757.645.8506.
Thanks,
Darryl |
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| Ken in Richmond/Midlothian: Darryl:
My lefty serve is almost as slow as yours. Any idea on how to improve it?
A former Doubles partner-Ken
ps- Will be on golf course when you are live on-line. |
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Darryl Cummings: Ken, hope you and Tami are doing well. As you and I know, the key to effective serving is to play with people who are not as good as us. We were always good at this aspect of the game. |
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| Larry (Virginia Beach): Congratulations on the new
facility. What kind of collegiate tournaments may you be holding
in the coming seasons? |
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Darryl Cummings: Scott, not too many colleges have 8 indoor courts with all the space we have. Our indoor is better than Georgia; however, they have a great set up for the outdoor. |
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| Tina (Hampton): How does the college season work
in terms of the CAA play. Do you
play everyone and how do you
determine who is the best for the
tournament? |
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Darryl Cummings: Tina, we do not play everyone and our seeding is done my our national rankings. We do not play everyone because the programs vary in scholarship money. |
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| Karen (Norfolk): Darryl,
What's the best way to find the
proper tennis raquet for a
child or beginner? |
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Darryl Cummings: Karen,
The best way is to have a tennis professional or coach look at him. Send me an e-mail at darryl@darrylcummings.com and we can arrange a time to bring your child over to help you. |
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| Courtney (: How does this season look for the
men's and women's teams? |
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Darryl Cummings: Courtney, the season looks bright for us. We will be adding new players in January and we expect to compete for CAA and national opportunities. |
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| Jerry (Chesapeake): Will ODU students and faculty
be able to use this facility? |
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Darryl Cummings: Jerry,
Yes, ODU students and faculty will be able to use the facility. Once we get organized we plan on having some activity for the university community. |
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| Jared(Virginia Beach): With the new facility, will you
be able to bring in name teams
like UCLA or Florida for duals
in the future? |
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Darryl Cummings: Jared,
Yes, we already have some quality ranked opponents coming in the spring of 2008. We have NC State (NCAA quarters), Rice, Oklahoma, Wake Forest, Colorado, Denver. We will also have W&M and Georgia State. Georgia State, VCU, W&M, and ODU made the NCAA tournament last year. |
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| Janice: Great story in the Pilot today.
The facility looks great. What
will be the first collegiate event
to be played there? |
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Darryl Cummings: Janice, we will have a collegiate event October 12-14 and we will have the women's ITA regional October 19-23. Send me an e-mail at darryl@darrylcummings.com if you would like more information. |
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| Martha: Who are some of the top
male and female tennis players
in the CAA and the State of
Virginia? |
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Darryl Cummings: Wow... There are so many. The #1 guy at VA won the NCAA. The #1 W&M women's doubles team made the final of the NCAA tournament. I believe many of the DI schools in the state of VA had individuals involved in National tournaments. |
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| Lorraine (Chesapeake): Is Nataly still playing competively? |
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Darryl Cummings: Lorraine, Nataly is coaching with us now and she does play a handful of prize money events during the year. She usually walks away with most of the money. |
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| Dick (New York): Will there be any provision for cameras to call lines ala U. S. Open? |
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Darryl Cummings: Dick, no we are not like the US open at this point. We still enjoy the old fashion way with officials. |
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| Tom D. (VB): What impact has bringing in Coach Brinkman had on the program thus far? |
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Darryl Cummings: Tom, coach Brinkman is the greatest. He has had a lot of experince dealing with players and is like the great Yoda in our program. He is very passoniate about tennis and all of the players enjoy having him around. |
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Darryl Cummings: Timo, thanks for the e-mail. Yes, I know I owe you a phone call. The facility is great and we are working very hard to get ready for the grand opening this Saturday. Talk to you soon.
Darryl |
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| Dick (New York): Is your surface identical to U. S. Open? |
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Darryl Cummings: Dick, our colors are the same; however, I believe we are a bit slower than the US Open. I believe that weather and the water may also change the speed. We did want slow. |
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Moderator: Our time is up, but we
Want to thank everyone for
their questions. Take care
and go Monarchs... |
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