News & Features

My Players

|

My Lists

|

My School

|

My Notifications

Team Home

On the first week of 2010 new arrivals and competitors from the previous week's Winter Nationals converged at the Hilton El Conquistador in Oro Valley for the annual Copper Bowl, originally held alongside the football contest of the same name.

Now on its second decade, the Copper Bowl today is synonymous with tennis and its unique trophy: an individually hand-crafted Kachina doll from the Navajo Indian reservation. Each doll is made with fur and feathers and represents the various poses of the Dancing Eagle, one of numerous manifestations of the Kachina, which is believed to embody the various earth spirits revered by Native Americans.

When awarding the dolls, tournament chair Jason Dickinson, who took over the event from his father Don, urges each finalist to look up the significance of the doll each receives.

Jason, who played basketball for Air Force Academy and is an F-16 fighter pilot and pilot instructor, continues his father's tradition of coordinating Tucson and Oro Valley's various luxury resorts to welcome over a thousand nationally ranked tennis players from the 12s to 18s age divisions.

By the end of the week, eight players held aloft Kachina dolls.

In the younger divisions, Girls 14s top seed Dasha Ivanova upheld her ranking and lost only one game in the finals. Two seed Parris Todd and five seed Liam Caruana upset the top seeds in their 12s division; and Boys 14s third seed Augustus Ge prevailed over the two-seed.

Girls 12s

Parris Todd had an extra special incentive to win her draw this year. The day of the finals fell on her father's birthday.

"She said if she won she'd give her trophy to her dad," said Angela Todd, Parris' mother. Without losing a set all week, she fought tooth and nail in the third set tiebreak finals to win the singles trophy over top seed Ryan Peus 6-4, 3-6, 10-6.

Todd routinely won her first three rounds, losing four games along the way, but ran into Kaitlyn McCarthy in the quarters. Todd came back from 1-4 down in the first set and then played a tightly contested second as well, which she won 6-4.

"It was a big win that gave her a lot of confidence," Mrs. Todd said.

The game plan for the finals was to work hard, play smart and not overhit the ball.