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Ball
Dilemma
Recycling
Old Tennis Balls - New Use
Here are some recycling ideas for you.... After some creative thinking
& ideas from others,
we found a lot of uses for all those balls. Please share your ball
use tips with us:
link
to email submission page
RECYCLE
EFFORTS...
"I am looking
to purchase a qty of 500+ used tennis balls. Do you sell used tennis
balls? If so, how much? If not, do you know anyone who does?, Tom
in California" Tennis Affinity does not sell used tennis balls,
but can help you find someone that does... TA
Success: A teacher in central Illinois
was able to get balls from a nearby Tennis Club to donate old balls
to her school for the childrens desk.
"Thank you very much for your help. The Tennis Center at the
the Park District is able to donate 100 used tennis balls to my
classroom.
Thanks again! Jennifer"
A tennis player
in Orange County, NY says, "We don't have a huge amount of
used Tennis Balls, but each season we have 10-20 that we need to
get rid of and were wondering what we could do with them besides
putting them in a land fill."
"I live in Stamford, Connecticut. I would
love to give balls wherever they can be used. " Vicki
"My husband and I have used tennis balls we would like to donate.
Are they still needed? Where should we send them?
Thanks. Sarah "
Contact
Tennis Affinity if you have a need for balls or would like to donate
balls to a cause.
"Sam"
Make this adorable puppy from your used
tennis balls. |
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To make
Sam you will need:
7 tennis balls, 2 wiggle eyes, 1 bell 1 square of black
felt, 1 black pompom,
1 black pipe cleaner, 3/4 yard of 1 1/4 in. black ribbon.
- Using a cool temperature glue gun make the body by glueing
5 balls together as shown at right. Glue the remaining 2
balls on top to finish body.
- Cut black felt into two long ovals, approx. 3" and
glue at top to make ears.
- Using black pompom as nose, position nose and eyes as
show in photo at left. - Using pipe cleaner as tail, curl
and shape as desired and position with glue at back between
top and two bottom balls. - Tie ribbon into bow and glue
at back of top front ball along with bell as shown at left.
Sam
is Tennis Affinity's new mascot, if you have a tennis related
question... see "Ask Sam"
page, he may be able to help!
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Fruit Salad
(Linda,
Battle Creek, MI)
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| As
a teaching professional I have taken old balls and dyed them
different colors for our tiny tots tennis program. You must
use 2 packages of Rit Dye and approx. 1/2 to 2/3 full of water.
Let the balls soak after the tub has filled with water for an
hour or so to get a deeper color. Colors that take well with
the yellow balls are orange, shades of green, brown, peach,
aqua blues, yellow, and purple. Then put the |
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balls
in the dryer with a few towels and dry the load.(It does make
noise!!) The kids love them, they don't bounce high, they're
obviously colorful, they look like a big bowl of tricks, or
a fruit salad! use your imagination. We also donate used balls
to the state police for training for their canine unit. We get
several requests a year. At Christmas time we have had tennis
ball ornament contests. Members get real creative this time
of year. |
Letter
from Global Sports Alliance
(Japan)
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Hello,
I thought you might like to hear about a recycling initiative
we've started here in Japan. We collect thousands of tennis
balls from across the country and donate them to schools The
balls are attached to the bottom of desks and chairs
to reduce noise and protect the floor from ware. They are
especiallywelcome in schools that have children with hearing
difficulties. Thesechildren wear hearing aids that are sensitive
to sudden loud noises.
Jason, Global Sports Alliance |
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| Christmas
Ball Wreath
(Pekin, IL) |
Using
approx. 2 dozen tennis balls, cut an X slit in the balls
(on the side with brand name). Using a wire wreath base.
Position the balls on the wire. Place sprigs of evergreen
and red berries to fill. Very festive!!
Sandy
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| A
Ball Snake
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Take
a hundred or so tennis balls. With a sharp knife (I used
Swiss Army knife) and puncture two small holes on opposite
sides of the ball. Then take about 30 feet of tennis string
and thread through the balls thus making a long necklace
of tennis balls. I used a long, small metal rod with the
tennis string taped to it. This made threading so much easier.
The end product is a great rope of tennis balls. On court
it is great for depth drills because it is so easy to tell
if the ball was short or not. It can also be used as a target
itself. With a little creativity added I bet there are a
dozen or more ways it can be used on court.. I know the
kids love it. You could even add a snake head on one side
and give it a name.
Alan
Chandronnait
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The following
is an interesting listing of how people reuse their tennis balls,
they are reponses to a ATP tennis contest.
Press
release © ATP - ODD BALLS Oct. 03, 2002
Answers
to "Still Have Plenty of Bounce"
Like a good tennis ball, our Odd Balls competition still has plenty
of bounce after a couple of rounds.
Witty responses continue to flood into ATPtennis.com.
At our local
high school the track coaches cut them in half and the long jumpers
and triple jumpers
use them as markers alongside the runway, marking where they need
to start running in order to
hit the jumping boards in the correct stride. - Susan Templeton,
Earth, Texas
Insert used tennis balls in the tank of a toilet to reduce the
water used per flush of the toilet.
Water conservation is achieved via recycling old tennis balls!-
Bill Kunzman
I have been constantly arguing with my neighbor to lower his music
at late hours of the evening.
He always refuses. So when I leave for work in the morning I put
several tennis balls in my laundry dryer.
It drives him crazy! - Jason Carr, Westwood
In bushfire prone areas in Australia, an old trick is to keep
a bucket of old tennis balls in the garage.
If a bushfire occurs, the balls are wedged into the roof's down
pipes and a garden hose is
used to fill up the gutters with water. This creates a "moat"
around the house,
and prevents advancing sparks and flames from catching fire with
the leaves
and twigs that build up and collect in the gutters, and has saved
many houses from being destroyed.
Andrew Neville, Melbourne, Australia
Ever been scared in your house in the late hours of the night?
My family was, so we bought
the tennis ball dispenser security system. If someone breaks down
the front door, a wire is tripped,
and tennis ball dispenser fires over 100 tennis balls below their
waist. Unfortunately, the system was tested a
few weeks ago. Tennis balls saved our lives and our possessions.
- Jordan Sandler
I am a huge tennis fan, but my first love is
swimming. My coach uses tennis balls to help the
swimmers with breaststroke and butterfly technique. We tuck the
tennis ball under our chin and
swim with it, it is the oddest thing every!- Katie
A few years ago I founded the Orange Balls support group. This
is a Dutch organization that supports
Dutch Davis Cup and Dutch players in general. We do so by throwing
orange balls to the court just
as a Dutch player has won the match. We need the old balls to
color them orange because new balls
are too expensive (we throw up to 400 balls per match). - Deevid
van den Hurk, Founder Support Group Orange Balls
Website www.orangeballs.nl
Tree
Topper
(Fort Smith, Ark)
"I have a tree with just tennis ornaments
and I use the ball as a topper.
Also, I use as a cover for trailer hitch on car... "
Jill Martin
Walker
(St. Petersburg- FL)
"I saw an elderly gentleman come in to the post
office with a walker,
I looked down and he had tennis balls covering the front legs
of
the walker -- so it would slide easier!!"
Denis
Car
Stop
(Shelton, WA)
Use ball as a guide when pulling car into
garage.
Hang a tennis ball from a string in the garage --
position it so when it hits the windshield of the car
you know you can stop there and have cleared the garage door.
Jim
Balloon
Holder
(Pekin, IL)
"For parties or to use on tennis court for kid's
drills --
cut an X slit in the top and bottom of the ball. Thread the ribbon
from a helium balloon thru the top and bottom of the ball.
Tie off ribbon on bottom of ball."
Kris
Garage
Sales
Tennis balls are big sellers at garage sales.... Most people want
them for their dogs, but make sure the dogs mouth isn't too big
or
the ball could get lodged in their throat!!!!
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