Month: January 2018

Centercourt Lacrosse Coming to Montclair Spring 2018!

LAX_Girls_Older_3Heros.jpg

My name is Beth Larkin and I have been a lacrosse coach in Essex County for about 20 years! In that time, I have served as a youth lacrosse coach, a high school coach at Montclair Kimberley Academy, and for the last few years, at the helm of Glen Ridge High School. During my time at Glen Ridge, we’ve seen a great deal of success including 5 Essex County Championships, 2 State Championships, and multiple Conference Championships, while being consistently ranked as one of New Jersey’s top teams.

While I am proud of those accolades, I am even more proud of the young women athletes who have been a part of my life these past 20 years. I have always felt that as a coach, if we focus on the process and the character of our players and team as a whole, then the successes come in spades, which is not only seen within the win column. I feel successful in the coaching capacity when I see these players grow their confidence, leadership, and enthusiasm.

These attributes are what enticed me to join Centercourt Sports Club and Centercourt Lacrosse Club. Having the opportunity to meet with Kim Christos, Director of CLC, was an amazing experience, where I felt like I was reuniting with an old friend. Kim and I share the same philosophy about the power of the process, player development in both the sport of lacrosse and the overall growth of the athlete with regard to their character and confidence. At CLC, it’s not all about the win, it’s about the player!

At CLC, we are approaching the club scene in a new light and are embracing a forward-thinking approach to the player’s (and family’s) overall experience. By lessening the grind of the summer & fall weekend travel circuit and curating our team’s summer and fall experience to serve their talents and needs, we feel the overall club experience will be more positive, player-focused and development oriented. We understand that for most, the ultimate goal is to be recruited to play at the college level, but the recruiting landscape has since changed over the years and we believe that a better method exists in getting players the necessary exposure.

The best news yet is knowing that Centercourt is coming to Essex County’s backyard very soon. We will be moving into the Montclair bubble on Depot Square! Renovations on the site should begin this summer and ready to offer full programming next fall! To introduce Centercourt and CLC to the area, we will be hosting our Spring Tune-Up Series. Players can choose one to three dates in March to gear up for their upcoming youth town league seasons! I will be there along with some of Centercourt’s top-notch coaches to get those stick skills, game tactics and athletic conditioning ready to go for the season’s start! You can register for these clinics by following the link below. Come join us and get to know Centercourt and CLC better!

Girls Lacrosse Bootcamps

0

Centercourt FC 09/10 Find Their Form In Florida

Earlier this month, Centercourt FC 09/10 boys traveled to Orlando, Florida to compete in the National 3 v 3 finals. The tournament is comprised of teams from around the country playing for the title of national champion.

CFC had the opportunity to compete against teams from Florida, Georgia and New Jersey. With a great showing in the group stages, the boys made the semifinals on Monday, ultimately finishing in 3rd place overall. It was an incredible experience as well as an amazing performance from the team. The results for the tournament can be found below:

https://www.espnwwos.com/events/soccer/disney-3v3-soccer-championship/
Disney 3v3 Soccer Championships | Events – espnwwos.com
http://www.espnwwos.com
Compete against teams from more than 20 countries at the Disney Cup International Youth Soccer Tournament at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney Resort.

In addition to the competitive games, the boys got the opportunity to visit the famous Disney theme parks such as The Magic Kingdom and Epcot, as well as having meet and greets with characters like Goofy and Mickey, among other Disney characters.

It was truly a fantastic experience for all those involved.

We are already looking forward to Disney 3v3 2019!

0

Banerjee Doubles Down at 2017 National Winter Championships

FullSizeRender-3

Centercourt’s own Samir Banerjee capped off his 2017 with a bang as he rolled through the Boys 14’s singles and doubles draw out west in Tucson, Arizona for the L1 USTA National Winter Championships. Samir has been training at the Centercourt Academy for a couple of years now, and it’s very clear to see all the hard work paying off.

“I have been playing quite well since the National Indoor Hard Court Championships in November, and was able to take that form and momentum into the highly coveted and historic Orange Bowl tournament, as well as Winter Nationals,” said Samir.
“Centercourt Tennis Academy has played a vital role in preparing me to compete at the national level. I now recognize the importance of planning for each match both on and off the court physically and mentally. I would like to thank Coach Clay, and Coach Adrian for their pivotal roles in preparing me to become the best player I can be. Having the opportunity to train at Centercourt with other high quality players and coaches is what I attribute to getting me where I am today,” Samir also added.

Coach Adrian Contreras, Director of Elite Tennis at Centercourt Tennis Academy has seen Samir really prove himself as of late as well. “Team Centercourt is extremely proud of Samir and what he has accomplished in Tucson. Samir is a very resilient and resourceful competitor. Not only does he love to play the big points, he is exceptional at finding the right combinations necessary to stay aggressive while playing high percentage tennis. Samir has continued to improve his tactical discipline and awareness; areas which I feel led him to his championship run so dominantly. We look forward to Samir’s continual tennis development here at Centercourt.”

Centercourt Tennis Academy looks forward to the continued success of it’s players heading into 2018. We hope to see many more trophies in the future for Samir and all of our hard-working players. Once again, congratulations to Samir and best wishes for continued success in your career!
0

Centercourt Morristown Serves Up 1st Annual Snowball UTR Tournament

 

This past Wednesday saw a great turnout for Centercourt’s 1st annual “Snowball UTR Tournament” with some incredible competition along the way.

Centercourt would like to wish a big thank you and congratulations to all players and parents that came out to support this event. UTR continues to revolutionize the sport of tennis in so many ways, and we at Centercourt will look to continue building off its momentum in the coming future. Allowing players to be seeded in various divisions based on their personal UTR ratings encourages and enhances the level of competition on a consistent basis. For our first tournament, there were three separate divisions, which included the Grinch Division, the Frost Division, and the Rudolph Division. A massive congratulations to the winners of each respective division, seen below:

Grinch Division Winner:
Jessie Rievman

Frosty Division Winner:
Dhruv Viswanathan

Rudolph Division Winner:
Caitlin Yang

All results from the tournament can be found by clicking the link below:

1st Annual Snowball UTR Tournament Results

 

Please be sure to keep an eye and ear out for information on our next event and all future events going forward in 2018. Thank you again to everyone included and we look forward to seeing everyone again very soon!

0

When the dream became a reality: The day Centercourt Ninja Regional Director, Anthony DeFranco competed on the American Ninja Warrior Show.

 

It was a random Wednesday in Philadelphia. Wednesday May 27th, 2015 to be exact.

It was the day that I have been working toward for months: early morning cardio, late night pull-ups. The hard work never stopped to fulfill my dream of competing on American Ninja Warrior. I woke up feeling excited, nervous, scared, confused, and prepared.  My buddy and I, Greg Smith (Director of Ninja, Centercourt Lawrence), geared up to head to the course located at an abandoned power plant.

As Greg and I approached the course, the dream became a reality. We were here!  This is really happening! For the first time, I saw all of the athletes that I looked up to over the years on Ninja Warrior. We were all there for the same reason: to complete the course that lied in front of us.

TV and Competition: the producers must go over rules with all the ninjas before anybody runs. The rules are read to everyone in great detail with the raise of a hand signaling that the rules are understood. I raised my hand, the rules are done: it’s go-time!  

The last bit of light in the day passed and all the course lights were shining bright. The energy in the air was electric with the crowd cheering!  

I was number 52 in the run order and anxiety grew with every athlete walking onto the course. I knew that my time was closer with every competitor that hit the water or the buzzer. I began warming up which came to an abrupt halt at runner 48 with the 1am “lunch.” Finally, lunch was over and it was my time. The next five competitors are called out to the warmup area and my nerves spike.

My warmup was going well and I was mentally preparing for the course. I went through every single movement in my head over and over again. I probably mentally ran the course 50 times before I even stepped foot on the platform.

My name was called. I urgently stripped down to my competition gear and jogged over to the starting platform.

I am greeted by the producer who wishes me luck with a smile and a fist bump. I am called to start walking up the stairs and I am now on the starting platform. Standing there with this monstrous course in front of me, I took one last deep breath.

The countdown began. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and….

Crossing each step, I remember thinking that this was scary with there actually being water underneath. The rest of my run was a blur. I had so much adrenaline flowing that my body took over. I vaguely remember thinking of exactly what I had visualized during the warmups and I began to precisely check off the mental cues after completing each obstacle.

Before I knew it, the dismount from the fifth obstacle was all that lied in front of my ascent up the warped wall. I jumped off in excitement and ran to feel the glory of living out a childhood dream: hitting a buzzer on American Ninja Warrior!

Anthony DeFranco,
Regional Centercourt Ninja Director
Passionate Ninja Athlete

Centercourt Soccer offers high level introductory class in Spring 2018

Registrations

Its never too early to start planning your Spring 2018 Sports Season Calendar. Is your child ready for soccer? At Centercourt Club and Sports one of our introductory offerings is the Soccer Junior Academy. Geared specifically towards the Pre-School to Second Grader, this program is a highly organized class with a low student to coach ratio. Your child will get an excellent base in technical and ball manipulation skills that will allow them to play at a much higher level and open up opportunities for Travel or Club teams in the future.

Dean Slaughter

Interested in our current sports offerings? Visit our website at http://www.centercourtacademy.com or fill out the form below for more information

0

Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑

%d bloggers like this: