Bruce wins Gladiator of the year recognition for earning the most wildcard points for 2008. Bruce was also runnerup for the 5.0 playoffs. Bruce started playing around the age of 12. He grew up in a small town (Stillman Valley, IL) and was the only kid he knew who played. He spent hours hitting against the school wall and played some with a science teacher. After college, he played a lot with friends and with his in-laws. Like most of us, Bruce quit playing for about 10 years. Three years ago, Bruce picked up his racket again and played on a couple of teams through the Oak Brook Racquet Club. He has played in 11-12 USTA tournaments around the suburbs and has won about 4. Gladiator Tennis over the past year has provided him some more fun and helpful competition. Bruce says “I am a person who has always needed competition to keep me motivated to stay in shape. I have played a lot of sports at the competitive level: basketball, moutainbike racing, tennis, and golf, and tend to switch every 5-7 years. I have found tennis, especially singles, to be very challenging and interesting. As I approach 50 years old, it has become very tough to stay in great aerobic shape, but tennis has motivated me to keep working out, hard! I have done a lot of reading and have studied the game more in the past 3 years than ever in my life. Finally, Gladiator Tennis has been wonderful. Not only have all the guys been fun to meet, but it is most beneficial to play a variety of styles to improve and broaden my game. The league coordinator does a FANTASTIC job and his volunteer time is greatly appreciated.”
Zach began playing serious tennis when he was 20 years old at Quincy University. He played 4 years of Division 2 tennis and had highlights such as making All Conference and playing both #1 singles anddoubles. Tennis remains important in Zach’s life to stay in shape and tosatisfy “that competitive itch”. Zach says, “Gladiator has been greatmostly, because it has been easy to schedule and play matches. I lookforward to an even stronger field in the future.”
Michael, originally from Texas, started playing tennis at age 8. He continued the sport through high school, playing singles and doubles, winning regionals in high school, and earning a ranking in the USTA Texas Section. Michael then played tennis for Southwestern University in Georgetown playing number 2 singles and number 2 doubles. After college, he was hired as a tennis pro and teacher for Berry Creek Country Club where he taught private lessons to players of all ages. After taking a break from tennis to pursue his career in technology sales, Michael is back in the game and excited to find a great league here in the Chicago area.
Scott began playing around age 13 and his first organized tennis was in high school at Davenport (Iowa) West High School. Highest ranking was #2 singles and #1 doubles. Scott has played off and on during summers over the last 10-15 years with friends but not seriously until Gladiator Tennis, which gave him an opportunity to play again on a regular basis. Scott says, “I really enjoy the variety of competition and flexible scheduling in Gladiator Tennis.” Scott plans to stay in shape over the winter by playing indoors at the Vaughn Athletic Center in Aurora.
Dave was introduced to tennis in a High School gym class in 1971. He became fascinated with the pro tennis of that era including Borg, McEnroe, Connors, et al. He wishes he could play every day. Dave is a USTA member and a member of the Naperville Tennis Club for over 20 years. Dave says, “For me, Gladiator Tennis has proved to be a great venue for arranging local match play. Congratulations to Gladiator Tennis for a professionally run and organized league".
Cristina started taking tennis lessons when she was 8 years old. She began competing in national tournaments when she was about 10 in her native country of Romania. She played all throughout high school at the “AS Club Sanatatea” Tennis Club in Bucharest, Romania. After graduating high school, she received a full tennis scholarship at Chicago State University. In her freshman year she played number 1 on her team but quickly realized that Division 1 College Tennis is very competitive. She went on to play numbers 4, 3 and 2 the rest of the years at CSU. She was named Tennis Player of the week 5 times in her career at CSU. She was part of both first and second Mid-Con Conference tennis teams throughout her 4 years with CSU. Cristina NEWS G L A D I AT O R T E N N I S Cristina Kazda 2008 Women’s Champion graduated magna cum laude and on the first Mid-Con Conference Athletic Academic Team in 2006. After graduating, Cristina put her career first and gave tennis a back seat. She says, “I came to miss the sport and the competition. This fall I saw the Gladiator Tennis league add online and decided that it was time to pick up the racquet again. I was very glad I did it because I had a great time playing again. Thank you, Gladiator Tennis, for bringing tennis back into my life!”
