Andrew Ball, a student at the Menlo School, of Palo Alto has been selected as a recipient of the 2011 Bill Talbert Junior Sportsmanship Award, an honor only four junior tennis players in the nation receive each year. The selection process involves all of the USTA's seventeen sections. Andrew was selected as the Northern California junior player, and then chosen among all other junior players from the 17 USTA sections by the USTA Awards Committee. This award, which recognizes the outstanding sportsmanship that Andrew has displayed in his tournament play, is one of the most prestigious sportsmanship awards in junior tennis.
The award is given in honor of 1967 Hall of Famer Bill Talbert, who was regarded for his high standards of sportsmanship. The four recipients of the 2011 Bill Talbert Junior Sportsmanship Award are:
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Player
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City, State
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Section
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Whitney Kay
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Alpharetta, Georgia
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USTA Southern
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Josh Hagar
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Austin, Texas
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USTA Texas
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Sierra Halverson
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Burtrum, Minnesota
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USTA Northern
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Andrew Ball
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Palo Alto, California
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USTA Northern California
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This year's award for Andrew marks the third year in a row that a Northern California player has been selected as one of the four recipients of the Bill Talbert Sportsmanship Award. Shaun Chaudhuri, currently at Harvard University, was selected in 2009 and Jamie Pawid, currenly at University of Hawaii, was selected in 2010.
"I have been around many juniors in my years coaching, and Andrew has really impressed me with his maturity and leadership. This year, he played at an extremely high level and at the two team events I coached him, I had umpires come up to me and tell me that they haven't seen a player who exemplifies the sportsmanship that Andrew competes with in their lifetime," said Pablo Pires de Almeida, the University of San Francisco Men’s Associate Head Coach and a NorCal coach who attends many sectional and national tournaments. "On and off the court he is an amazing ambassador for Norcal tennis."
Andrew has been invited along with one guest to be present at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, Rhode Island, from Friday, July 13, through Sunday, July 15, 2012, for the award ceremonies. This coincides with enshrinement ceremonies into the International Tennis Hall of Fame for some of the world’s greatest tennis legends, Jennifer Capriati, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten and Nick Bollettieri.
"It's well deserved, and it's nice to see what he's been doing all the time is recognized," said Menlo coach Bill Shine, adding that the boys' and girls' tennis teams – along with the entire Menlo community – we’re thrilled when they learned that Andrew won the award. "He's got the whole program excited."
In addition to being a nationally ranked tennis player, Andrew is a high honor roll student and is active in his school and community. Andrew describes himself as, "Persistent, thoughtful and friendly. I always continue to fight no matter how down I may be. I try my best both on and off the court and believe that a match or project is almost never completely over."
USTA Certified Official, Lonnie Gibbs agrees with Andrew's selection, "What I truly admire about Andrew is that he shows up to compete at the highest level, time after time, but doesn’t let winning or losing change his demeanor. We need players that are good for the game of tennis and Andrew Ball is one of those people." He added, "Sometimes continued good sportsmanship ignites a fire under others to respond in the same way. Because of Andrews’s honesty and integrity on the court, his opponents seem to respond in the same manner."
Andrew started to play tennis because of his older brother. "My older brother played and enjoyed tennis so I picked it up around five. Whenever my older brother had a lesson at our club, I would hit on the ball machine or just toss myself balls." He soon began to love the sport and decided to compete in tournaments.
Andrew plays in the 18s division. He has begun his junior year in high school and is 17 years old. He has three brothers: Jamin (19), David (16), and Mark (12), and one sister: Lindsey (9). He enjoys playing the guitar, going to the movies, playing wiffle ball/pickup basketball, ping-pong, and FIFA on X-box.
USTA NorCal extends enthusiastic congratulations to Andrew on his outstanding sporsmanship and all his many accomplishments in USTA tennis programs. We genuinely appreciate his contributions to the high esteem in which the game of tennis is held.
Here we go NorCal! :)