Thursday, April 26

BASEBALL, East Hampton at Bayport, 4:30 p.m.

Friday, April 27

BOYS TENNIS, Rocky Point at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

SOFTBALL, Kings Park at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS LACROSSE, Elwood-John Glenn vs. Islanders, Southampton High School, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 28

SOFTBALL, Islip at East Hampton, 10 a.m.

BASEBALL, East Hampton at Hauppauge, 11 a.m.

Sunday, April 29

MEN’S SOCCER, over-30 league, Hampton United at Manorville, 5 p.m.

Monday, April 30

BOYS TRACK, Amityville at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BASEBALL, Shoreham-Wading River at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS LACROSSE, Deer Park vs. Islanders, Southampton High School, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS TRACK, East Hampton at Amityville, 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 1

SOFTBALL, East Hampton vs. McGann-Mercy, Riverhead, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS LACROSSE, East Hampton at Hampton Bays, 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 2

BASEBALL, East Hampton at Shoreham-Wading River, 4:30 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER, 7-on-7 league, F.C. Tuxpan vs. Sag Harbor United, 6:30 p.m.; Bonac F.C. vs. Tortorella Pools, 7:25, and Maidstone Market vs. Hampton F.C.-Shark Pools, 8:20, Herrick Park, East Hampton. 

A showdown between East Hampton and Westhampton Beach High Schools' second doubles teams with a league tennis championship hanging in the balance was played before a rapt crowd at Westhampton Monday afternoon, with the East Hampton team of Alex Weseley and Hunter Medler easily besting the Hurricanes' Brennan Tomlinson and Santo Benenati 6-1, 6-2.

Thus, provided all goes according to form, East Hampton and Westhampton Beach, who were each 7-1 as of Tuesday, will share the title. Westhampton's coach, John Czartosieski, had initially claimed a 4-3 win by forfeit when the two teams met on April 13, saying that Weseley, who had removed his sweatshirt during a changeover following the 11th game of the first set, was violating a Section XI rule by not wearing a team jersey.

Kevin McConville, East Hampton's first-year coach, who is the Hampton Racquet Club's head pro, subsequently protested to Section XI, the governing body for public high school sports in Suffolk County, a protest that was upheld.

The rules, McConville said, stipulated only that appropriate attire be worn. "Alex was wearing a tennis jersey with our colors, maroon and gray," he said at the time. As McConville was running around trying to get a uniform jersey from the bus or from off the back of an East Hampton player who had finished playing his match, he said, Czartosieski called a halt, with the Bonac team leading 6-5 and with Tomlinson about to serve, claimed a forfeit, and told Tomlinson and Benenati, who wanted to continue, that they had no choice in the matter.

In its ruling, Section XI, rather than order that the match be resumed at the point at which it was halted, said, instead, that it should begin at the beginning. "Those 11 games they'd played were deemed invalid because it was an invalid forfeit," McConville reported Section XI as saying.

To prepare his team, McConville worked with Medler and Weseley "for five hours at the Racquet Club on Saturday." His influence was evident during the course of the match. Medler, who admittedly had "not played well the last time," was steady, and Weseley, who had the best serve of the four, was alert at the net, winning numerous points there.

As aforesaid, Bonac's duo won with ease, with only one minor hiccup in the sixth and seventh games of the second set during which the Hurricane pair won six straight points thanks to two blown volleys by Medler, a long return of a lob by Weseley, and a double fault by him that left them up 4-2, after which, with Tomlinson serving, the Westhampton team won the first two points of the seventh game before the Bonackers came back to break Tomlinson at 4-3 to take a 5-2 lead. Medley, as he had in the first set, served it out, a service winner to Benenati capping the victory, which Medler was to describe a few moments afterward as "sweet."

As of Monday, East Hampton and Westhampton each had two matches remaining — East Hampton with Southold-Greenport and Rocky Point, and Westhampton with Shoreham-Wading River and the Ross School. 

As the East Hampton High School and Ross School boys tennis teams were playing in Ross’s bubble Monday, a question remained hanging as to whether a protest filed earlier that day with Section XI on behalf of Bonac’s coach, Kevin McConville, would be upheld or rejected.

McConville’s protest stemmed from a dispute that had arisen between him and Westhampton Beach’s coach, John Czartosieski, concerning Friday’s match at Westhampton, which wound up with the Hurricanes’ coach claiming a 4-3 victory by forfeit at second doubles — the sticking point being Alex Weseley’s shirt.

Weseley and Hunter Medler were leading Brennan Tomlinson and Santo Benenati 6-5, and were changing sides with the Hurricanes about to serve, when Czartosieski, noticing that Weseley, who had removed his sweatshirt, was not wearing a uniform jersey, declared he was violating a Section XI rule. 

“I was running around looking for a jersey to put on Alex, from the bus or from a player whose match was finished, when their coach pulled his players and claimed a forfeit,” McConville said Saturday morning.

Tuesday morning the answer came: The county’s governing body for public high school sports had upheld McConville’s protest. The second doubles match will be resumed — with Weseley and Medler up 6-5 in the first set, and with Westhampton serving — on Monday at Westhampton Beach at 4:30 p.m.

Westhampton and East Hampton have been vying for the League VII championship. The Hurricanes — with Luke Louchheim out of East Hampton’s lineup because of illness — had edged the Bonackers 4-3 in the teams’ first match of the season, played at East Hampton on March 19.

It was thought going into Friday’s rematch that East Hampton, with Louchheim back at third singles, would have a good chance of reversing that score, and thus would probably wind up sharing the league title.

East Hampton that day lost at first and (unexpectedly) second singles, and at third doubles, while Westhampton lost at third and fourth singles, and at first doubles, which rendered second doubles pivotal.

McConville said the dispute began kindling “when one of their kids called Alex for foot-faulting twice, points that Alex conceded because he didn’t know the rules. Even Djokovic foot-faults sometimes. Your opponents can’t summarily take points from you, whether foot faults or line calls are at issue, though a coach can be summoned to act as an umpire after two warnings.”

“We were down 3-4 at that point. Westhampton’s team had won four in a row after going down 0-3. Then we went up 5-4, and they tied it at 5-5. We were up 6-5, and they were about to serve, when their coach, after seeing that Alex was not wearing a uniform shirt when he removed his sweatshirt during the changeover, stopped the match. He had a tennis shirt on, and it was our colors, maroon and gray. . . . His players wanted to play it out, but their coach said they had no choice. All the Westhampton kids were great, by the way.”

Later, McConville, the head pro at the Hampton Racquet Club, who is in his first year coaching East Hampton High’s team, said he checked the Section XI rules, only to find a requirement that a player “must have appropriate attire.”

East Hampton won Monday’s match at Ross by a score of 7-0, all in straight sets, the most notable result being Weseley and Jamie Fairchild’s 6-0, 7-5 win at first doubles versus Ross’s top two singles players, Rainier Bernard and Jensen Rowen. Kevin Snyder, Ross’s coach, said he had made the pairing so Bernard and Rowen could qualify for doubles play in the postseason.

Other Bonac winners were Jonny De Groot over Sunny Guo at first singles, Ravi MacGurn over Alex Saunders at number-two, Louchheim over Alonso Monroy at three, and Jaedon Glasstein over Jackson LaRose at four. Besides Weseley and Fairchild, Matthew McGovern and Miles Clark won at second doubles over Tim Kuo and Torres Zheng, and Brad Drubych and Medler won at third doubles over Richard Wu and Rammara Kishitani.

Getting back to the Westhampton match, Westhampton’s Danny Tocco defeated De Groot 6-1, 7-5 at first singles; Josh Kaplan defeated MacGurn 6-4, 6-4 at second singles; Louchheim defeated Andre Insalaco 6-2, 6-3 at third singles, and Glasstein defeated Juke Ongania 6-0, 6-4 at fourth singles. 

At first doubles, McGovern and Clark, who are freshmen, defeated Westhampton’s Daniel Caputo and Adam Sherca 6-3, 6-1, and, at third doubles, Westhampton’s Pierce Rosen-Keith and Julian Buchen defeated John Jimenez and Julian Pesce 6-4, 6-0.

McConville was missing his fifth (Drubych) and sixth (Fairchild) players that day, and thus “had to mix and match in doubles.” Jimenez is 11th and Pesce 12th on the team’s ladder.

The East End boys lacrosse team, the Islanders, played with great intensity on East Hampton High’s turf field Friday, defeating Port Jefferson — a team that had bested the Islanders last year — 15-8, though going into the fourth quarter, the Islanders pretty much had it sewed up, at 13-3.

The win evened the Islanders’ record at 3-3, and was the third in a row for the Southampton-based team, which can draw players from Southampton, East Hampton, Bridgehampton, Pierson, and Ross.

East Hampton’s contingent, namely Brian Damm, Cole Shaw, Logan Gurney, Aidan Cooper, and Jack Ulrich, figured prominently in Friday’s rout, though Southampton’s Matt Babb, the head coach, said afterward via email that “it was a complete team effort with great contributions by players from East Hampton, Southampton, Pierson, and Ross. . . . We are definitely heading in a positive direction, especially considering that we only have five seniors on our 22-man roster.”

It was a rare opportunity for Bonac fans to see the varsity team, whose games usually are played in Southampton. The Islanders are to play here this afternoon also, against McGann-Mercy.

The visitors broke the ice with about four minutes gone, in a man-up situation, but the Islanders’ goalie, Hudson Brindle, a Southampton freshman, ultimately proved himself to be a very tough nut to crack.

Luke Marro, a Southampton freshman midfielder who was to finish with three goals and two assists, after surviving two slashes by a Royal defender, got the Islanders even with five minutes remaining in the period. With about two minutes to go, Gurney, who had hit the post moments before, made it 2-1 Islanders, from about eight yards away.

With their defenders closely marking Port Jeff’s attackmen, the Islanders began to pour it on in the second frame. Shaw easily beat a defender and the goalie to put the home team up 3-1 when the period began, and before it was over, Damm, Marro, Gurney, and Jameson Willey had added to the count. Damm’s score, from about 20 yards out, followed a steal in the Islanders’ defensive end by Marro, who streaked unmolested down the field. 

A man-up goal by the Royals made it 4-2, but the Islanders then proceeded to reel off three unanswered scores, by the aforementioned Marro, Gurney, and Willey — the latter’s coming in a man-up situation from about 22 yards.

During the halftime break, Babb, obviously pleased with what he had seen, told his charges, who were leading 7-2 at the time, to keep it up.

And they did, outscoring the Royals 6-1 in the third period. The festivities began when Marro, upon winning the opening face-off, dashed forward and, from about 15 yards, bounced a shot into Port Jeff’s nets.

Brindle was decked soon after as he stepped out of the crease, the high hit earning the perpetrator a two-minute penalty. Cooper came off as well, for a minute, for having retaliated. 

Following a 5-on-5 standoff, the Islanders found themselves down a man after Damm was penalized a minute for slashing, but Brindle came up big, making three successive saves before Cooper fed Shaw for a breakaway goal that upped the Islanders’ margin to 9-2.

Just before the period ended, Port Jefferson was to score its sole even-up goal thus far that afternoon. 

The long list of Islander contributors included, besides Marro, who had three goals and three assists, Gurney, with three and one, Shaw, with three and one, Kai Parcher-Charles, with two goals, and Damm (an underhand bullet from way out), Michael Arkinson, Willey, and Connor Rozzi, with one goal each. Zach Finder and Cooper Brindle each had one assist.

“The boys work hard and they genuinely care for one another no matter the high school they attend,” Babb said afterward. “I believe that combining these schools has been a positive experience for all involved. We hope that the kids in East Hampton and Southampton’s youth and middle school programs will continue to buy in and stick with the sport.”

Before the game began, many of these youngsters shook hands with the varsity, which, said Babb, “was great to see.”

As aforesaid, it was the third win in a row for the Islanders, who had beaten Hampton Bays 17-3 on April 9 and bested Center Moriches 10-6 on April 11.

It’s hard to believe, but the 118th U.S. Open golf championship, to be held at the iconic Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, is less than two months away.

Despite the cold weather this spring, the United States Golf Association is ready to handle the event, which takes place from June 11 through 17. A number of hospitality and concession tents are already up on the historic grounds along Montauk Highway.

“We are incredibly pleased to return once again to Shinnecock,” Mike Davis, the U.S.G.A.’s chief executive officer, said at a press conference in Manhattan on April 11. “Shinnecock is one of the world’s finest courses and has such a rich tradition. It will again be a great event.”

The U.S.G.A. announced that day the introduction of a Celebration of Champions at Shinnecock — a four-hole public exhibition honoring the winners of all 2017 U.S.G.A. championships and celebrating their distinguished achievements in the sport.

The exhibition, to be played on June 12, two days before the start of the first round, is to honor all the U.S.G.A. winners of the year past, be they professionals, amateurs, men, women, juniors, or seniors. 

“Our championships are open to all players who have the dream and desire to compete at the highest level,” said Davis. “We believe hosting the inaugural Celebration of Champions at the 118th U.S. Open is a fitting way to celebrate each champion’s incredible achievement and acknowledge their place in golf history.” 

Eight-time U.S.G.A. champion Jack Nicklaus, as the official starter, will help launch the inaugural festivities in what will become an annual tradition.

“I’ve always loved U.S.G.A. championships,” Nicklaus, who has won them in five different decades, said in a statement. “Since I was a junior they have always been the ultimate examinations of a golfer. I always felt that the U.S.G.A. did the best job of preparing a golf course that will completely test you and every part of your game. And for me personally, to be able to compete for a championship of the country I live in made a victory that much more meaningful.”

The 2018 championship will be the fifth U.S. Open the club has held. It’s the only venue to play host to the championship in three centuries. The second U.S. Open was played at Shinnecock in 1896. James Foulis won it by three strokes that year over Horace Rawlins.

In 1986, Raymond Floyd, who was later to buy a house in Southampton and become a member of Shinnecock Hills, shot a final-round 66 to win by two strokes over Chip Beck and Lanny Wadkins. In 1995, Corey Pavin clinched a two-stroke victory over Greg Norman with a memorable 4-wood approach to the final green. And in 2004, Retief Goosen outlasted Phil Mickelson by two strokes to claim his second U.S. Open title.

Shinnecock Hills opened in 1891, and the present course, opened in 1931, was designed by William Flynn. The 2018 championship will mark the 19th time the U.S. Open will have been played in the State of New York and the 10th time on Long Island. As of the 2011 season, New York had played host to 66 U.S.G.A. championships, ranking it third among all states.

Along with the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island, the Chicago Golf Club, and Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., Shinnecock Hills was one of the founding clubs of the United States Golf Association in 1894. Shinnecock Hills had America’s first golf clubhouse (complete with locker room, showers, and grill room), which was designed by the noted architect Stanford White. It was also the first 18-hole golf course on the East Coast.

“I was born and raised on Long Island, and Shinnecock is very special to me,” said Boomer Esiason, the radio host, N.F.L. analyst, and former quarterback, who was among a number of former professional athletes attending the press conference. “I’ve probably played Shinnecock 20 times and it’s my favorite course. It’s a great challenge to play and it’s a perfect setting.”

Tickets for the U.S. Open can be purchased online at usopen.com.

April 1, 1993

Today, rain or shine, Jim Nicoletti, East Hampton High School’s baseball coach, plans to hold “Opening Day” ceremonies at the Long Lane field to celebrate the completion of home and away-team dugouts, built with volunteer help over the winter. The coach has said he has not seen any college dugouts as commodious and as well built.

The ceremony will begin at 3:40 p.m. It will include a presentation of colors by Cub Scout Pack 426, the singing of the national anthem by the Hampton Jazz, a High School a cappella singing group, a throwing-out of the first ball by the retiring high school principal, Christopher Sarlo, and the presentation of a plaque engraved with the names of those connected with the project. 

Three South Fork hoopsters were named to the Suffolk small schools all-county team Sunday, testimony to the quality of play exhibited during the past season on the East End.

On more than a few occasions in the past, locals were bypassed on the 10-man squad as coaches, who decide the honor, stuck with the more familiar UpIsland stars. Not this time.

Scott Smith, East Hampton High’s all-everything performer, who turned in a spectacular season-long effort despite being double and triple-teamed throughout, finished as the sixth highest scorer in the county.

He was joined on the squad by two juniors — Tyler Ratcliffe of Pierson and Terrell Turner of the Bridgehampton Killer Bees. 

Tuesday was a typical Bonac spring day, dank and raw under leaden skies, but what the East Hampton High School girls track coach saw in a scrimmage with Shoreham-Wading River warmed the cockles of his heart.

. . . You want sprinters? Mark Sucsy, the coach, had enough Tuesday “to run six heats of three if I wanted.” You want relay teams? He’s got them too. Tuesday’s 4-by-100 entry (Patricia Peters, Sharon Prudhomme, Mona Baker, and Sarah McDermott) turned in a 58.7, just seven seconds off the school record, “even though they hadn’t practiced handoffs.”

Likewise, the 4-by-400 team of Yani Cuesta, Sol Cuesta, Disa Kelley, and Heather Caputo ran a 4:59, fewer than 30 seconds off the school mark. “Considering that it was a cold day, and that it was their first effort, it was an amazing time,” the coach said.

April 8, 1993

Led by Larry Keller, a 6-foot-4-inch, 235-pound junior discus thrower, the East Hampton High School boys track team did itself proud in the Middle County relays at Centereach Saturday, finishing ninth among 18 teams.

Keller was named the countywide meet’s “outstanding field event performer” after throwing the discus 144 feet and 11 inches, bettering the next best throw by 27 feet, and coming within 5 feet of the school record he set last year.

Keller, John Hayes, also a junior, and Gavin Menu, a senior, combined to place second among the shot-put teams with puts of 41-7, 39-8, and 37-10. 

“Larry and John are two of the greatest kids I’ve got — great on and off the field,” said Mike Burns, in his 19th year as the East Hampton boys track coach. He added that “this is the best performance any East Hampton team I’ve coached has turned in at this meet.”

Burns got good performances Saturday not only from the weight men, but also from the team’s three pole-vaulters — Ron Gatlin, Chris Minardi, and Rob Balnis — and its three hurdlers, Alex Ruano, Danny Mercado, and Bobby Gabitto.

Thursday, April 19

BOYS LACROSSE, McGann-Mercy vs. Islanders, East Hampton High School, 4:30 p.m.

BASEBALL, Sayville at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

Friday, April 20

BOYS TENNIS, Ross School at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS LACROSSE, Port Jefferson at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

SOFTBALL, East Hampton at Amityville, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 21

RUNNING, Katy’s Courage 5K, 21 West Water Street, Sag Harbor, 8:30 a.m., registration and check-in, 7-8:15.

SOFTBALL, East Hampton at Center Moriches, 10 a.m.

BASEBALL, Sayville at East Hampton, 11 a.m.

Sunday, April 22

MEN’S SOCCER, Stony Brook vs. Hampton United, Water Mill Community Club, 5 p.m.

Monday, April 23

BOYS TENNIS, resumption of protested match, East Hampton at Westhampton Beach, 4:30 p.m.

BASEBALL, East Hampton at Bayport, 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 24

SOFTBALL, Harborfields at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS LACROSSE, Islanders at Eastport-South Manor, 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 25

BASEBALL, Bayport at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS LACROSSE, Deer Park at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS TENNIS, East Hampton at Southold-Greenport, 4:30 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER, 7-on-7 league opening night, Maidstone Market vs. Bonac F.C., 6:30 p.m.; Hampton F.C. vs. Sag Harbor United, 7:25, and F.C. Tuxpan vs. Tortorella Pools, 8:20, Herrick Park, East Hampton.

East Hampton High's boys tennis coach, Kevin McConville, said following a 4-3 loss at Westhampton Beach Friday, a loss which, if it stands, would effectively guarantee the Hurricanes the League VII championship, that he'll protest to Section XI, the county's governing body for high school sports, on Monday. 

It was thought that East Hampton, with Luke Louchheim again in the lineup, would have a good chance Friday to avenge a previous 4-3 loss, and thus share with Westhampton the League VII title. 

Second doubles was the sticking point. McConville said a dispute involving himself and Westhampton's coach, John Czartosieski, began "when one of their kids called Alex [Weseley, playing with Hunter Medler that day] for foot-faulting twice, points that Alex conceded because he didn't know the rules. Even Djokovic foot-faults sometimes. Your opponents can't summarily take points from you, whether foot faults or line calls are at issue, though a coach can be summoned to act as an umpire after two warnings." 

"We were down 3-4 at that point. Westhampton's team had won four in a row after going down 0-3. Then we went up 5-4, and they tied it at 5-5. We were up 6-5, and they were about to serve, when their coach, after seeing that Alex was not wearing a uniform shirt when he removed his sweatshirt during the changeover, stopped the match, saying he was violating a Section XI rule. He had a tennis shirt on, but it wasn't a uniform shirt. I was running around looking for a jersey to put on him, from the bus or from a player whose match was finished, when their coach pulled his players and claimed a forfeit."

"His players wanted to play it out, but their coach said they had no choice. . . . All the Westhampton kids were great, by the way."

Later, McConville, the head pro at the Hampton Racquet Club, who is in his first year coaching East Hampton High's team, said he checked the Section XI rules, only to find a requirement that a player "must have appropriate attire." 

Consequently, he would ask Monday that Section XI allay the claimed forfeit and play the second doubles match out from the point where it was stopped.  

Ari Weller’s Philosofit studio in East Hampton, which for the past five years has been strengthening and lengthening the muscles of its clients through stability stretching and Gyrotonic exercises, recently leased a well-lit upstairs studio on Lumber Lane in which Susan Moran Sheehy, who has overseen the certification of 12,000 Pilates teachers worldwide, has been giving classes for the past month.

During a conversation the other day, the two agreed that combining Gyrotonic (which Weller and others of his instructors have been teaching) with Pilates was serendipitous.

“It’s always been my vision to join the two methods of movement,” he said, “and when it came to Pilates I wanted the best of the best, which Susan is. I studied Pilates with her 20 years ago, in the city. She used to own Power Pilates in Chelsea and was Pilates’s largest global educator. So, when I saw on Facebook a few months ago that she’d moved to Long Island [Smithtown], I jumped at the chance.”

Sheehy, who was a dancer — she still is, though no longer a professional — first encountered Joseph Pilates’s exercises when she was a student at the State University at Purchase. 

“That’s where I met Romana Kryza-nowska, who was a protégée of his. I started with her when I was 18 and I’ve never stopped. Pilates changed my body from the inside out. I became a happier person with a stronger body. I was able to dance at a much higher level . . . ballet, modern, you name it.” 

For a decade she toured the world with the Doug Elkins Dance Company, teaching Pilates, “a universal language,” wherever the company went. 

“Everyone who does it becomes happier, stronger, and more flexible,” said Sheehy, a professed “lover of movement,” whether it be dance, swimming, yoga, skiing, or walking. “I believe movement is medicine, that energy creates energy. For instance, you may be having a rough day, but you can be energized by the person next to you in a mat class.”

There are a number of apparatuses in Philosofit’s upstairs studio, including the disciplines’ hallmarks, the Pilates “reformer,” a sliding, spring-loaded mat that can, according to Sheehy, be “supportive or challenging depending on how many springs you use,” and Gyrotonic’s crab-like tower-pulley assembly that enables one, in Weller’s words, to “work the body in multiple planes of motion . . . in circles, and undulations.”

“You could say Gyrotonic, which Julio Horvath, a dancer and yogi, who was also influenced by yoga, swimming, dance, and tai chi, invented, is yoga on a machine. It may sound silly, but that’s what it is. Just as Pilates, as Susan said, works from the abdominals out, Gyrotonic works from the spine out.”

“You not only need to be flexible and strong,” Weller continued, “but you need to be flexible and strong equally. Over the years Horvath has developed these machines to help with the movements, providing more range of motion, more resistance, and more mobility.”

“The layman’s definition for Pilates is ‘abdominals and . . .’ ” Sheehy said. “Because you work your whole body starting from your abdominals. The abdominals first, then the abdominals and the legs, the abdominals and the hands, the abdominals and the arms, and the abdominals and the back. You work from your core out . . . it’s a whole body workout.”

“We’ll be getting more machines,” said Weller. “By next week we should be the largest Gyrotonic studio, as far as I know.”

For the curious, Philosofit is offering introductory packages that can be put toward group classes in Pilates, Gyrotonic, and Gyrokinesis (the mat version of Gyrotonic). 

While the aims of Pilates and Gyrotonic were essentially the same, resulting in a more balanced body (and mind), it came down to which method one preferred, said Weller. “You feel different after running or cycling or swimming. You feel it in your legs after cycling, more or less all over after running, and in your upper body after swimming. But they’re all cardiovascular workouts.”

Rob Kresberg, who grew up playing tennis in the summers at the Bridgehampton Tennis and Surf Club, recently leased the Mashashimuet Park courts in Sag Harbor, and intends to create there “more of a club and community feel” than in the past.

“People used to play and then drive away, but we’d like them to hang around, with their friends and with their families,” he said during a conversation on Monday. To that end, he’s going to put up benches and tables with awnings to foster socializing. There will be plenty of round robins and tennis-themed events too, he added. 

Kresberg, whose older brother, Rich, owns Provisions in the Harbor, has taught tennis for the better part of the past 30 years, after having played a few years professionally and after having graduated from Columbia University, where he was the number-one singles player in his junior and senior years, and from the Lawrenceville preparatory school in Lawrenceville, N.J. He has been the tennis director at the Century Club in Purchase, N.Y., for the past 15 years.

His late father, Harold, was one of the Bridgehampton Tennis and Surf Club’s eight owners. Asked if he’d played with Paul Annacone as a kid, Kresberg, who’s 51 now, said, “Paul and I played in a club doubles tournament when I was 11 and he was 15. We got to the semifinals.”

Did he remember whom they’d lost to? “I’ll never forget, because it was my older brother and Chris Brody who beat us . . . in straight sets. Paul wasn’t used to losing. My brother reminds me of it every now and then.”

Kresberg went on to coach Columbia’s women’s tennis team for 13 years. Two of his classmates, Sue De Lara, at Sportime in Amagansett, and Holly Li, at the Ross School, are active in the tennis world here.

“I decided to do this for three reasons,” he said in reply to a question. “Number one, I have roots here; I have great memories from when I spent summers in Bridgehampton. Number two, I thought it was time in my career to own and run my own concession, and it’s a good excuse to get out of Manhattan with my wife [Dana] and 8-month-old daughter [Riley]. We’ve rented a house in Sagaponack.”

It would be “a professional operation,” Kresberg said in answer to another question. He and his assistants, Brandon Blankenbaker, the country’s top-ranked doubles player in men’s 35s, who teaches on Kiawah Island in South Carolina in the winter, and Vishu Prasad, the number-one singles player on Jackson State University’s Division-1 team in Mississippi, will be at the park’s courts day in and day out, giving lessons, clinics, and overseeing events. 

Although the courts — there are eight Har-Tru ones and two hard-surface — are in Sag Harbor, one needn’t be a Sag Harbor resident to play on them, as this writer used to think. 

“They’re open to anyone,” Kresberg said, “though Sag Harbor residents will have some discounted camp, clinic, and court time rates . . . lessons and clinics will be discounted for members.”

The details concerning memberships, fees, lessons, clinics, events, and a junior tennis camp are on the sagharbortennis.org website.

Weather permitting, the Mashashi-muet courts and the aforementioned pros will be up and running on May 1. A member welcome round robin, for which there will be no charge, is scheduled for May 26.

“As I said, we’d like to have a club-like feel within a park setting,” said the new lessee, who added, “I’ll meet the members’ needs [from May through October] to the best of my ability. I’m very excited about this — it’s a good challenge for me. I’ll be very accessible.”

As for tennis’s popularity, it, like golf in the past 15 or so years, has experienced cyclic ups and downs, he said, “though in the past three or four years there’s been a resurgence . . . when it comes to all ages.” 

“It’s one of the few sports you can play into your 90s. And you can always improve. There’s no one way to hit a ball, there are many ways to learn, many ways to teach. Plus, it’s a great social sport. I want to create a culture of inclusiveness, community, and warmth here. Although some will want to get their tennis out of the way and move on to other activities, I want people to feel that they can stick around and enjoy the park, the beautiful landscape, and each other’s company.”