City to 'Serve' International Beach Tennis

Sports fans within range of Long Beach are once again getting set for something relatively new under the sun — Beach Tennis.

Still in its infancy here in the United States, the sport — a hybrid of tennis, badminton and beach volleyball — is big internationally, kicking up sand from Aruba to Brazil and in French and Italian coastal towns on the Mediterranean.

U.S. organizers hope this week’s 2011 International Beach Tennis Championships, to be held in Long Beach Aug. 18 through Aug. 21, will be a great opportunity to see some of the best in the sport in action and help move the game to a new level in this country.

In all, some 100 players from a dozen countries will compete for tens of thousands of dollars in cash and prizes during the tourney, which will include Men’s and Women’s Pro matches, Amateur and Junior matches, and a “Nation’s Cup” tournament featuring international teams from Italy, France, Réunion, Aruba, Bermuda, the Czech Republic, Brazil and the U.S.

The event will be held on the beach at the Allegria Hotel on National Boulevard, and BeachTennis USA, the event’s organizers, hopes the exposure will help make their sport an Olympic “demonstration sport.”

Now in its sixth season in the U.S., Beach Tennis USA has sponsored or co-sponsored 40 tennis tournaments and supports six leagues nationally with a total 10,000 active players domestically. This is the third major tournament of their segment of the International Tennis Federation World Tour.

So who are the players to watch for?

Defending mens and womens Doubles Pro champions from Italy Alex Mingozzi and Matteo Marighela, and Simona Bonnadonna and Joana Cortez. Among the U.S. hopefuls is Long Island’s own David Sickmen, a Woodbury resident.

“The Italian guys are the team to beat, they won last year, and they finished number one in the world,” said Sickmen, who turned pro about a year ago after winning a national championship as an amateur in the men‘s doubles. “They’ve been partners a long time — the U.S. has gotten into this sport a little late. Watching them is seeing beach tennis at another level.”

Sickmen, who grew up playing tennis, said that his first experience of Beach Tennis was enough to convert him to the sport.

“It was just so much fun,” he said. “I still play everything — tennis, soccer, basketball — but beach tennis, playing in the sand, is addicting.”

The schedule for the tournament is:

Aug. 18: Pro and Amateur Singles
Aug. 19: Nations Cup (Country vs Country)
Aug. 20: Pro Doubles Pool Play
Aug. 21: Pro Doubles Late Rounds /Amateur Doubles / Pro Mixed Doubles

Expect a party atmosphere, if you attend. There’ll be food, drink, music, and good times, Sickmen said.

“You'll love the ambiance, and the competetiveness of the sport,” he added. “And there are worse places to be than at the beach.”