Erik Oberhammer

Name: Erik Oberhammer Gender: Male Birthdate: 6/26/1965 Born in: Portchester, ny ny United States Resides in: Portchester, ny ny United States Play Style: Right Handed Level: 0.0 - None My Raquet: n/a My Strings: n/a I prefer clothes by: n/a I prefer shoes by: n/a   About Me: NEW YORK — If Erik Oberhammer didn't exist, Beach Tennis USA would have to invent him. The 41-year-old tennis player — who looks like he just might be the lost brother of enthusiastic doubles players Luke and Murphy Jensen — has spent his summer pursuing this newly invented league, adjusting to its rules and winning two of the four tournaments he entered. But there is no better publicity than a wedding. When Oberhammer and his bride Tonya Lee tied the knot in their hometown of Myrtle Beach, S.C., on June 4, they did it on a beach tennis court. The couple walked in under an arc of crossed rackets, and the flower girls threw tennis balls. "I'd never been married in my life, and I'd always had the idea of having rackets crossed like swords," said Oberhammer, who is the city of Myrtle Beach's tennis pro and planned the wedding. You need a few passionate types when trying to work up enthusiasm for a new sport. Beach Tennis USA is trying to bring its sport to the beach volleyball courts of America. It looks similar. Two players to a team on opposite sides of the net use a tennis racket to volley a softer, lightweight tennis ball over a lower net. The scoring has its roots in tennis, and there are obvious comparisons to badminton. This summer there is a series of traveling tournaments at beaches across the country, and last week Beach Tennis USA came to New York. On Tuesday at Pier 25 in Tribeca, three beach tennis courts were set up for some of the players such as Oberhammer who are traveling the circuit, as well as for locals who just wandered by. Max Lang, 25, and Nicolas Victoir, 28, are an attorney and a banker, respectively, in Manhattan, but they played together on the Oxford University tennis team. On Tuesday they brought their rackets and had a try at beach tennis. "It kind of lacks the aggression of real tennis," Lang said. "But it has the advantage of being a beach sport." The night also was a chance for Beach Tennis USA to show its sponsors what the game looked like, so courtside suits competed with sweaty players in headbands for the mini-crab cakes circulated by waiters. Beyond the new league, this sport has some history. Beach tennis has been played in Europe for years using small paddles, but Sjoerd de Vries, a Dutchman who lives in Aruba, had the idea to use real tennis rackets and started a league on his island home. Now the executive vice president of Beach Tennis USA, de Vries doesn't look like a beach regular. His skin is pale, and he admits, "I try to stay out of the sun as much as possible." But he tweaked the sport he saw played abroad. The volleyball net was too high, so he lowered it and deadened the tennis ball so it was softer, although hackers could just use a dead ball. "So if you make a mistake, people can smash you," de Vries said. When Mark Altheim, a real estate developer who lives in Lake Success vacationed in Aruba in 2003, he hooked up with a group playing on the beach and enjoyed it so much he wanted to take the sport mainstream. He founded Beach Tennis USA and took it on the road in May. "I'm a racket guy," Altheim said. "There are people in the world who are racket people and non-racket people. For racket people, this is infectious. It's like chocolate and vanilla ice cream." Beach Tennis USA is taking the game to the people. A traveling truck is popping up at stops and signing up players — many of them court tennis enthusiasts or even former professionals like Gilad Bloom, who played at Pier 25. The final event of the season will be the U.S. Beach Tennis Open Championship Tournament, starting Aug. 27 in Long Beach on Long Island. There are tennis players who won't go near a racquetball court for fear that it ultimately will hurt their tennis game. Altheim and de Vries, who owns and directs the Aruba Tennis Academy, both say Beach Tennis only helps a player's court tennis game. De Vries said the slowing effect of the sand helps a player's fitness level and helps improve the power behind the explosive first step to the ball. Tennis player Tiana Lum, a 20-year-old student from Hawaii who saw Pier 25's beach tennis courts while walking on the sidewalk, agreed that beach tennis could help her regular game after giving it a try last week. "It seemed like a better workout if you play it long enough," Lum said. Katie Lee, a 20-year-old from Long Island who rallied with Lum, said she would definitely play the sport again if given the opportunity. Oberhammer is spreading the gospel of beach tennis through his Myrtle Beach tennis Web site. And he is winning converts, including his wife. Tonya let him plan the wedding down to the last little tennis ball, admitting that it might not have been her dream wedding before she met him. "But I married my dream man," she said. My Goals Grow The Game of Beach Tennis around the world My Highlights As a parent,player, and coach with a life long involvement in tennis, Erik has played,developed, and coached players at all levels from tiny tot to touring pros. A native of Connecticut, he played high school and junior tournament tennis. Erik attended Tyler Junior College and graduated with an associates degree in Applied Science with a major in Recreation Tennis Teaching. After Tyler, Erik spent six years in Germany. His first coaching position was with the famous Vic Braden,a well known author and tennis researcher at his tennis college. Erik also assisted in developing a successful tennis school in Germany for junior and adult players. In Germany, Erik played professional team tennis as well as tournaments in the United States and Europe. Erik has been growing the game in Myrtle Beach since 1997 offering specialized programs for junior and adult players . Through Erik’s developmental approach to tennis teaching , his students have learned a self coaching system for life!! The G   More Photos... View Large View Large View Large View Large View Large View Large View Large View Large