In The Beginning
"Let There Be RGVTennis!"
By: Juan "J.D." Davila
I had a chance to interview Jorge Salinas, the webmaster for RGVTennis.Com this past week. I met Jorge in college where we both study graphic design and communications. From day one, he talked about tennis and the tennis website that he was a part of. Now, I am more of a weight-lifting / boxing kind of guy, but his enthusiasm made me take a look at the website. I was expecting some low-level piece of junk, but it was really professional and the graphics he was doing on the tennis martial arts page was what I wanted to learn. So, we struck a deal. I would help him with the website; and we would teach each other what the other one lacked. Iinterviewed him once before when his USTA League got their first win; but I wanted a more in-depth interview as to what goes on in pre, mid and post production of his website. We met at 6:30 in the morning for our interview. Here is my interview with Jorge Salinas of RGVTennis.Com. - J.D.
RGVT: Jorge, how did the website begin?
JS: It all got started out of a series of conversations really. Israel Trevino, who's one of the owners of La Playa Mexican Cafe Restaurant was just beginning to play tennis; but he had the "bug", you know? He was like all addicterd, just like I was. We struck up a friendship and decided to take lessons at the Harlingen H.E.B. Tennis Center in the mornings with Don, the pro. We all got to talking about what we could do to promote the center and this sport that we can't get enough of. Izzy (Israel Trevino - J.D.) made a banner advertising his restaurant for the center and contributed a good financial amount to it monthly. I had done several websites in the past, including one of the many local tennis associations. They asked me if I could do it again. At this point, I didn't even own a digital camera or have any of the software I knew that I would need....but I said "yes" anyway. (laughs)
RGVT: What did you need to get started? I mean, how did the whole thing get rolling?
JS: I had a decent knowledge of the H.T.M.L. (Hyper Text Markup Language) programming language and a very basice education in writing action scripts for websites. I started there and used Microsoft FrontPage just to get something on the internet. I don't use that anymore, because it can't handle what I need to do with the site.
RGVT: So, you had to learn all new software? What software do you use to build the website?
JS: (laughs) Where do I start! (We both laugh). Well, from the beginning the banner you see with the sun and the palm trees with the silhouette of the tennis player was made using a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Once the banner was made, the entire site was built in Adobe Photoshop and sliced into what is called at "trace image". Once the trace image was complete, which gave me the size of all the buttons and where everything would go, it was inserted into Macromedia Dreamweaver. I like Dreamweaver, because it has a split screen that I can use to alter the code to fine tune what it can't handle. (He stops to finish his first of 3 coffees). I went out and bought a decent digital camera. Nothing fancy...I bought a Kodak Z700 series camera. It has enough zoom and takes great pictures and allows for manual as well automatic focus and changing of aperture and so on. To view the pictures, I use an old program called AC/Dsee...mostly cause I like that band (laughs). But, it really is a nice pic viewing program and it lets me change the files from JPG to BMP to GIF or whatever. It doesn't recognize some file types, such as 3D pictures I draw with Micrografx or Illustrator files, but for the pics I take with the camera, it does great.
RGVT: That can't be all. I mean, I see animation on the pages. How does that work?
JS: Oh, no. I wasn't done. I just didn't wanna bore you. I guess this is also for school? Ok. Well I go out and take pictures of tennis players. It started out just myself then my wife started helping and others joined and started helping. Anyhow, some of the pictures I convert to symbols and I use Macromedia Flash for the animation. I use Flash to do picture slide shows alot, cause it looks cool and helps communicate well. We also use it for some of the lessons that shows the trajectory of the ball and such. Uh....I mentioned Micrografx for 3D rendering of objects. I also use a digital audio recorder, like the one you use, to record interviews. Adobe Premiere Professional is used to edit all the digital video. The sound is editted with Adobe Audition. The video is then encoded with the Flash encoder then embedded into the site using Dreamweaver. Also, Adobe After Effects is used on some of the special effects we have on some upcoming commercials. The site is pretty heavily photoshopped and is one big adverstisement for Adobe Creative Suite, I guess. (laughs)
RGVT: That sounds like alot of work. I had no idea. How committed are you to the website?
JS: Um.....I'm here talking to you at this ungodly hour of the morning instead of sleeping in, aren't I? (laughs). Obviously I'm comitted to this. Tennis is my sport, and the Harlingen HEB Tennis center is, by far, the best place to play. Don, Israel and I made a comittment to promote it as much as we can.
RGVT: Have you done other websites besides this one or do you work on other projects?
JS: Oh sure! I've done websites for a couple of video stores, a couple of businesses on South Padre Island, the downtown Harlingen group, the Redelco people, and such. Right now I'm also helping out a friend of mine with a website about Japanese ghosts, a UFO site, and a Gnostic Gospel site.
RGVT: Wait, a what? What's and Agnostic Gospel?
JS: A Gnostic gospel (laughs). Those were gospels that were not allowed into the Bible, Christian or Catholic. They were around for a long time but for one reason or another were not put into the Bible because of either geographic issues, unacceptance by the church, or just didn't make the print deadline.
RGVT: How do you know about that?
JS: I was actually a Biblical Theology major at one time.......then I came to my senses (laughs).
RGVT: Can you tell us a little about that? Like what gospels?
JS: Eh...........there are the gospels of Jesus' four brothers, of course all the different Mary's gospels, the gospels of Thomas and Judas. The gospel of Thomas goes into Jesus' childhood. Then there is the gospel of Judas Iscariot, which was only recently allowed to be translated. Alot of the Gnostic gospels were not accepted because they are innacurate. The early church fathers did not want to include them, because they wanted the Bible to be as perfect and "inspired" as possible. Of course, a lot was lost before they were even written down and then more has been lost in all the translations from the Latin Vulgate and so forth, but they make for interesting reading. The Japanese ghost site is really intense. They have a totally different way of looking at horror. And, the UFO site is really eye-opening. What with all the sightings in Weslaco and MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) being down here and all.
RGVT: Ok, that is way over my head (I cut most of that part out due to boredom). What is the funnest thing you have done with the site? What are you most proud of?
JS: Certainly, it has to be covering the high school tennis at the center. I had the great fortune of doing the website when the Harlingen schools were having their courts redone; so the Cardinals and the Hawks were both practicing there. I got to meet some awesome athletes who taught me the meaning of hard work.
RGVT: The graphics you do for the high schools is the heaviest on the website. Is there a reason for that?
JS: Um....yeah. I think the kids deserve it. Here they are working every day for five hours plus......I mean.....they are running, lifting weights, jumping rope, doing drills, working with the ball machines, and learning strategy. I mean, these are the hardest working athletes I have ever seen. How could I not do something special for them? I just wish I had more time to give them the coverage they deserve. With only four people on the website staff, it makes it kind of hard. They are also the most well-behaved of all the teams we've covered.
RGVT: What is the hardest thing you have had to do as far as the site?
JS: Wow. Good question, JD! That's a tough one. Um......well, certainly when people email in complaining about something is tough.
RGVT: What kind of complaints?
JS: Nothing really bad. Just stuff like, "Hey, why didn't you cover this tournament in McAllen", or "Hey, can you feature my son or daughter a little bit more?". Nothing too bad. I had one guy write in that wanted to sponsor the site in exchange for creative control. Of course, we turned him down. I was a bit taken back by that. One guy said he didn't really believe the girls could hit that hard like we reported. Said I was making it up. Then he came out on my invitation. He has become quite the believer now. A lot of the complaints come from not covering certain things like USTA league matches and such. We have covered a few, but we can't be everywhere. Mostly that comes from not knowing about the event.
RGVT: What can the average reader of this interview do to help?
JS: They can email us at: rgvtennis@gmail.com or just stop me to let me know about the event. We would love to cover it! Or, they can submit an article or email us pictures and give us the information, and we will publish it. Especially if it is high school tennis. Coverage is really lopsided towards other sports. I mean look at the amount of articles the local newspapers give to football and yet you can almost count on one hand the number of tennis articles. And, most of those articles had to be submitted by myself or another tennis enthusiast. They never take the time to come out and do interviews. But, that's alright. We now have RGVTennis.Com to cover things with the help of the Harlingen Tennis News Network, which is a group of people that report on upcoming events and tennis news.
RGVT: Cool. What kind of things are coming up with the site? What are you working on for the future in 2009 and beyond?
JS: Certainly, cartoons will probably play a bigger part. We've done cartooning in the form of clipart, but I would really like to see that part take off. We've done a litte bit with video and you will se a lot more of that in the very near future. Music videos are in the works and the magazine.
RGVT: What?!? There is a magazine?!?
JS: Yeah.....uh.....maybe I shouldn't have spilled the beans, but yea (laughs).
RGVT: Ok, you can't just leave it there. Come on. Spill it!
JS: (laughs). I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, JD (laughs).
RGVT: Stop messing around, man! Tell me!
JS: Well, we would like to put out a newsletter and give it away at the tennis center. In addition to that, we are looking into the design and publication of a quarterly RGVTennis.Com magazine. We are looking for people that we can add to staff that are knowleadgable with Adobe Indesign and maybe Quark for layout for print. I know that print is kind of going away, but I think the kids would really like it.
RGVT: So, what's stopping you?
JS: Um......time for one and, of course, sponsorhip. All this stuff takes money, you know. So, everyone go eat at La Playa restaurant! (laughs)
RGVT: So, I guess the website is pretty successful?
JS: Depends on how you define success, but yeah, I think it is. I mean, in December we had over 5000 visitors to the website from all over the planet. As far away as Japan, Costa Rica and all over the United States. People logging on and looking at their family members in the vally and such. We had a story of one person who was in the hospital being able to see their daughter on the website using a laptop. I mean, you get someone telling you something like that, it encourages you to keep on going, you know?
RGVT: Have you been tempted to quit doing the site?
JS: Never.
RGVT: So, how long do you think you will keep the site going?
JS: Forever if I can. It's not a one-man show like everyone thinks it is. I'm just kind of the face of it, for the most part. Don approves the tennis lessons that you see on the page, so everybody needs to pay attention. Israel Trevino and La Playa restaurant take care of some of the sponsorship. We also have some other businesses that we advertise that are either related to the tennis center or sponsor the site. Is that a shameless plug? My wife Irene takes some awesome pictures and comes up with some great ideas. We have a couple of gentlemen that are working on articles for us and we have had some parents and students email us some great pics.
RGVT: Has the website improved your tennis?
JS: Wow. Curve ball!!! Actually, yes. Of course, whatever Don teaches, I have to write it down. I mean, I never had anyone tell me that "this is the proper ready position" or how to drive through the ball, or use a continental grip for your volleys. I learned that from Don working on the lessons for this website. Now I am easily beating people that used to beat me all the time.
RGVT: Tell me about Don.
JS: Don VanRamshorst is the pro at the Harlingen H.E.B. Tennis Center. What can I say? He's not bored. He is BUSY! The thing about Don is that he really cares about how you are doing with your tennis. He is U.S.P.T.A. certified, which is pretty rare, and really knows how to teach. I remember season before last, we had a bunch of beginners on our USTA league and he would make me call him after our matches to tell him how we did and we would talk about technique or whatever. Then we would work on it during our lessons. He doesn't just feed balls at you either. Once, he brought out a paddle to teach us how to volley. He had us run sprints, and I'm not one of the kids, you know! Or, he will call me at ten thirty at night and we will look at the site and he will tell me to change this or that. He is the boss, not me. When I was traveling a lot, I would look up other tennis centers. Once, I was considering movign to Louisiana and looked up a local racket club and inquired about prices. It was something like fourty bucks for two hours on a tennis court, you had to reserve it a week in advance, THEN you paid the pro for the lesson, which was like seventy dollars an hour. And, that guy wasn't USPTA certified or had even played professionally like Don has.
RGVT: What would you like to see accomplished by the website?
JS: Basically, what it already does. To make people aware of what is going on at the tennis center and with tennis in general. To promote our sport and the tennis center as much as possible, to educate and entertain. To have a good time and make a few people smile and get through their day. If I can help to do that, then I think I've done my job. Does that make sense?
I can't think of a better place to end this article. After the interview, I found a new appreciation for tennis, the center and the website in general. After all the Bible talk, and saying goodbye to Jorge, I watched him walk off. He was walking funny due to being sore from weight-lifting and I couldn't help but to think of him as an apostle of tennis. "If the sandle fits..."
- J. D.
Contact Information:
Harlingen Tennis Center: (956) 428 - 2092
Ask for Don