By Brenda Maddaleni, Junior Challenge Ladder Vice President
The 2020 season of the ALTA Junior Challenge Ladder is underway, despite the challenges encountered in a world of Covid-19. The ladder usually begins with a season-opening round robin to jump-start the season and help players get ready for active play in the ladder. We moved to a Zoom format for the kickoff which was well attended by players and their families. The ALTA Junior Challenge Ladder has 146 players as of press time. The players were chomping at the bit to get started, as many have been out of competition since schools closed, high school seasons have been cut short, and most tournaments were postponed or permanently canceled. We are thankful to provide this outlet for junior tennis players!
With 146 players, there will be 1,000 matches or more played during the season that began on August 25th and ends on December 1st. In addition to regular match play, our players will get together for round robins by group. We are thankful to the following sponsors of these events by providing courts for our players. The schedule of this year’s events are as follows:
Blackburn Tennis Center—Upper Ladder Girls
Saturday, November 14
4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sandy Springs Tennis Center
Upper Ladder/Lower Ladder Boys
Saturday, November 14
2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
We are excited to announce that we will have a showcase event for our top players at the Riverside Club in Sandy Springs. This event, featuring our Top 10 boys and girls, is scheduled for Friday, November 6 from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. With limited doubles competition due to COVID-19, we plan to have an all-doubles event. It should be an exciting night of tennis! Thank you to Cindy Pietkiewicz for coordinating our events.
The ladder is managed using Tennis Rungs software, and the players get support from their ladder managers. Thank you to Anthony Swatski who is helping with the software and ensuring all matches are counted. The ladder managers facilitate matches getting played, coordinate with players, hear about good sportsmanship, mediate conflict, and often work as a help desk and mentor, especially for the new and younger players. We could not do without them. Thank you to Stacy Simmons (Upper Girls), Trish Winfrey (Lower Girls), Dee Jones (Upper Boys) and Michelle McKinnon (Lower Boys) for the work and dedication to the players in the ladder.
To date, there are more than 250 matches played and more than 80 matches scheduled for play in the next week. The standings as of October 5 are reflected on the next page. We are excited to hear who makes the Top 10 at the end of the seasons, how many sportsmanship awards will be given, and how many players will earn three in a row awards!
Junior Challenge Ladder Mid-Season Standings
Boys
1 DAVIS TAYLOR
2 JOHN LASANAJAK
3 ROBERT BAUER
4 ANDREW PIETKIEWICZ
5 FREDDIE LAWRENCE
6 ARSAL FAROOQ
7 MATTHEW SLOAN
8 BLAKE STODDARD
9 QUINN WICKLUND
10 ELI HIRSHBERG
11 JAKE GRIMES
12 LOVA METOR
13 NIKHIL KULKARNI
14 JACK HRASTAR
15 JAKE YOUNG
16 CHRIS CIANCIOTTI
17 REILLY MCNAMARA
18 REESE PHILIP HILSEN
19 PAUL FRIDMAN
20 STEPHEN ZHU
21 MITCHELL FREEMAN
22 JORDAN WINFREY
23 PARTH MODY
24 MATTEO MADDALENI
25 REID KANEMASU
26 JAIDEN DODIA
27 ETHAN SWATSKI
28 RYAN COZAD
29 LUKE ATKINSON
30 SHAURYA BAJAJ
31 JASON EIGBEDION
32 KELLEN SIMMONS
33 ROBERT FRIERSON
34 SIMON HAYAL
35 JAKE SOLOMON
36 LONDON VASILESCU
37 SHREYAN BAJAJ
38 TEO JOHNSON
39 RISHAV RANGANATHAN
40 ANISH MADIREDDY
41 ANDREW RUDER
42 PETER CRAIG
43 MATTHEW SONG
44 HARRIS UNELL
45 VIKUNTH VENKATESH
46 BRENDAN PICKELL
47 SHAAN MAJEED
48 KEVIN SCREWS
49 TYLER AUSTIN
50 OWEN HEYBROEK
51 RIJUL RAPELLY
52 BRANDON KIM
53 SHIV KINNARKAR
54 SHRIYAN SATHISH
55 GRAYSON PERLMAN
56 HENRY WALTER
57 SAM FLICKER
58 WESLEY FLICKER
59 ADITYA MADIREDDY
60 SUSHIL MUDDALA
61 JOSHUA WARREN
62 HEMIL THAKKAR
63 AUSTIN TURNER
64 TRISTAN SLOWEY
65 ROCCO DICARLO
66 ARJUN SHAH
67 ETHAN SMITH
68 ALEXANDER SLOAN
Girls
1 KATE SHARABURA
2 LAUREN KHOU
3 JO-YEE CHAN
4 MAI NGUYEN
5 LEEZA KURTZ
6 CONLEY RAIDT
7 NEENA KATAUSKAS
8 JADA YOUNG
9 GERMANY DAVIS
10 ANYA NELSON
11 CHERYSH HENRY
12 SARAY YLI-PIIPARI
13 FRANCHESCA BROWN
14 CLAIRE GIDDINGS
15 ISABELLA THEODORE
16 JAALA SCREWS
17 ASHLEY BENTZ
18 MICHELLE JONES
19 NICOLE EIGBEDION
20 OLIVIA HOOPER
21 MARA OPRE
22 JONAY BRITTAIN
23 SAMANTHA SLATON
24 ALYSSA DAVIS
25 JENSEN DIIANNI
26 CLEO MOORE
27 CARRINGTON BROWN
28 KENNEDY HILL
29 JADE LASANAJAK
30 MCKENZIE SHELTON
31 SYDNEY BRANTLEY
32 ASHLEY COOKE
33 CAROLINE EADS
34 SHAYLI DODIA
35 MEHER BAJWA
36 MARY JACOPPO
37 PRISHA MODY
38 MYRA WU
39 MADISON ANDREWS
40 KENNEDY TALBERT
41 MCKENZIE OLIVER
42 KYLIE JOHNSON
43 ALYSSA KHOU
44 SOPHIA CLEMENTS
45 TERI BRANTLEY
46 LAURYN SWATSKI
47 AMANDA TANAKA
48 SEJAL JOSHI
49 KIMAYA PARANJPE
50 VICTORIA LOUIS-JACQUES
51 BERNADETTE KOTSCHER
52 TRINITY PORTER
53 MEGAN MCKINNON
54 GABRIELLE CESAR
55 JULIANA DIIANNI
56 SEDONA CORNELISON
57 SAMANTHA RUDER
58 ANWITHA ANBUCHELIAN
59 BROOKE SAYE
60 JORDAN BALLARD
