No end for USTA SoCal woes |
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News, trends, conversations, and "holding their feet to the fire" since 2014 ISSUE NO. 114 - June 2023 WE EMPOWER THE POWERLESS! |
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Before we get to the news this month, I would like to invite you to support the continuation of this newsletter as well as our Mid-Month content, interviews, reviews, and other features on TENNIS CLUB BUSINESS via joining our Patreon Community. For as little as $1 a month, you can help ensure the long-term future of TCB. Support Tennis Club Business here
Thank you all. Stay safe and healthy. Continue growing tennis because that's what you do best! Rich Neher, Publisher |
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Letters to the Editor (Brought to you by Spec Tennis) Publisher's Notes (the juicy section)
(Brought to you by Cruise Control Gear)
Limited Partners wanted for City Slams Good to Know
Morning Brew Morsels |
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New Parenting Aces Podcasts Say It Ain't So... At The Net Podcast Rod Heckelman Shout Outs Ashley's Tech Blog June 2023 - 1-Question Survey May Survey Results |
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Dear Readers, Last month was really exciting for me because I got to travel to two hotbeds of tennis: Phoenix, Arizona, and Northern California. Loved especially NorCal for 3 reasons. 1. Got to meet Mark Leschly of Universal Tennis at his HQ in Palo Alto. Nice! 2. Had conversations with Dick Gould, Ken DeHart, Jim McLennan, Alison Vidal, and Rod Heckelman. Quality people! 3. Had a chance to explore the area and make a plan for starting City Slams tournaments in NorCal.
More about those trips in Publisher's Notes this month. I want to welcome a new advertiser, Cruise Control Gear out of Ocean City, NJ. Check out their great tennis apparel, designed by the founders, the Carlin sisters Candice and Kristen, on their website. When you sign up to get on Cruise Control, you will also be able to take 15% off your first order. I'm wearing their shirts for years and would be delighted if we can help them penetrate the U.S. tennis market. For the next 12 months, Cruise Control Gear will be the sponsor of our Publisher's Notes section. Publisher's Notes features some juicy stuff this month. The common thread is what seems to be the latest USTA pastime: Throwing their players/members under the bus! First and foremost two more episodes of disappointment from the USTA Southern California section. I mean, shenanigans in the league department, particularly retaliation against complaining captains, have been reported to me for years and I have witnessed them myself. But the new methods are quite questionable as you can see. I have not been able to verify every single claim, just passing it on as is from someone I personally trust. (I can tell you right now if I ever found a Conga Sports Tournament Coordinator retaliating against a complaining player or team captain, that person would be terminated rather quickly.) The other episode is really unbelievable. The SoCal USTA CEO strikes an alliance with the very organization his league players (and thousands of other tennis players, teaching pros, and organizations) are fighting for years. I am one of them. This is a prime example of what I call throwing us under the bus. Shows you again: USTA league players or any other tennis players have no say in that section. It's practically THEM against US. A lot of people I know are actually considering boycotting the USTA altogether. I'm saying, how can we change their Bylaws so members have more say? Shouldn't all this be elevated to USTA National? But has the national office ever reigned in a section? I am also looking into the World Tennis Number again and what big tennis countries are likely not to use it. Then I'll give you my analysis of a glowing Tennis Channel article in Sports Business Journal. I think it looks suspiciously like paid media. Much more this month. Hope you like my article "A TALE OF TWO CITIES WITH A TENNIS TWIST - Is the USTA throwing the Midwest under the bus?" Charles Dickens to the rescue! Rod Heckelman is spot on with his article about The Many Faces Of A Tennis Court. I had talked with him about that subject on my visit to Larkspur. He really knows his stuff! I liked Lisa's Parenting Aces podcast about how matches impact a UTR with Ric Curnow. And I absolutely loved the At The Net podcast with the Brits Mike Nott and Luke Bambridge. That Craig Bell/AJ Chabria team is so good at making an entertaining show out of two British Tennis Pros, haha. Don't forget to check out Ashley's Tech Blog. CourtReserve is a platform with so many good features, you can turn just 5 into an informational blog post! One of my favorite topics: City Slams. We have a winner in Southern California. The team playing for the city of Los Angeles won it. Woohoo. Brian Teacher*, singles champion of the 1980 Australian Open, awarded the trophies and entertained us with his unique story. On to the next season! Have a fabulous June! Thank you, Rich Neher *Brian Teacher is also the man behind this great new app Full Court Tennis. Scroll to the end of this newsletter and check it out! |
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PUBLISHER'S NOTES - THE JUICY SECTION Brought to you by Cruise Control Gear |
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NICE Hi, I'm Susan Nardi from L.A., California Ace your career: Serve up Success with a personal brand on LinkedIn. By Cate Crandell How does a tennis player become mentally tough? By System-9 creator Andy Dowsett Phoenix Arizona area is a true hotbed of tennis. Met a bunch of really good Tennis Directors there French Open provides safeguard to players from online harassment Life is good in NorCal (Now I know why so many tennis professionals live and work in Northern California) Tennis.com podcasts by Kamau Murray Congratulations to the City Slams team of Los Angeles for winning the first-ever Southern California Championship (LA's MountainGate CC hosted the finals and became Champion) POP Tennis has officially landed in Sweden
NOT NICE USTA SoCal - What happened to that once-great section? a. USTA SoCal plagued by harassment and USTA's inaction b. Is the USTA SoCal CEO throwing thousands of tennis players under the bus? Why only one woman made the ranks of the world's
50 highest-paid athletes
OH, NO! WTA stars have little fan appeal? Italian Tennis Federation sounds the alarm. By Marija Zivlak A Tale of Two Cities with a tennis twist
Is the USTA throwing the Midwest under the bus? Another college drops men's and women's tennis programs Can this terrible trend be stopped? Will the World Tennis Number really be dominant by the end of 2024? Not so fast, bucko! Tennis Channel Predicament No big advertisers and an increasingly irritated crowd of revolting viewers (Just ask Rennae Stubbs!)
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LOCAL TENNIS GIRL MAKES IT BIG Susan Nardi is delighted! Susan Nardi reports: Good things do happen to good people. Veronika Miroshnichenko has always been one of the favorite LA local college tennis players as she is always out in the community volunteering at local kids' tennis events. She just graduated and was named Female Athlete of the Year at LMU. She is now full-time on the WTA tour and just won the 60k Women's Pro Classic in Pelham, Alabama as an unseeded player. |
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DID APEX THROW PLAYSIGHT A LIFELINE? What does Apex Capital know that we don't? SportBusiness reports, "Israeli sports technology company PlaySight has secured investment from APEX Capital as it seeks to expand its racket sport expertise into padel and pickleball. PlaySight’s SmartCourt AI technology is used by a variety of teams and institutions, including tennis federations, pickleball and padel facilities, NBA and MLB teams, and others. The company’s product range includes automated production and live streaming, video replay (VAR LIGHT), pro-level analytics and coaching tools, through to a live and on demand sports OTT channel." |
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UK-based Apex Capital is known for their smart investments. I trust they know what they're doing and will be able to help PlaySight become profitable. |
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READ AND BE AMAZED What does ChatBot know about tennis? I asked the OpenAI Chatbot to write an essay about the future of tennis. Check out the answer on the left button below. Then I asked that smart alec to write about the USTA debt and you can read the answer by clicking on the right button. Be amazed! |
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WHAT THE KIDS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT PARTICIPATION AWARDS Kalindi Dinoffer reposts a piece her dad wrote 20 (twenty) years ago! “71 million Americans have tried or ‘sampled’ tennis in their life and no longer play. Of these people who tried tennis and didn’t continue, only 3% have any interest in trying tennis again. Why? Their initial experience was not positive.” Does that look familiar 20 years later? Read it here |
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I applaud Joe. Well written in 2003! |
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USTA BEEFING UP THE POWER GRAB Are U.S. Coaching Organizations in danger of becoming less and less relevant? The ad says it's a "one-stop-shop for managing all things coaching" among other things. While I like connected functionality for players and have to applaud whoever made that app, one weird question crosses my inquisitive mind: Shouldn't the coaching organizations offer this kind of app? Hu? Am I wrong here? What say you? |
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RECYCLEBALLS WELCOMES FIRST EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Recycleball is growing! The press release says, "We're thrilled to announce Erin Cunningham as the first Executive Director of RecycleBalls. Stepping in during an exciting period of expansion, Erin brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit leadership, specializing in the growth of impactful social programs and cross-sector collaborations." Read more here. |
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Recycleball is one organization we learned to love over time. My company Conga Sports collects all used balls and sends them up to their Vermont offices. Hiring an Executive Director means they are growing and that is a good thing! |
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TOGETHER WITH CITY SLAMS The Conga Sports Flagship Program is expanding! |
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We are working on our 2024 expansion. Looking for State Partners to run the operation and players to field teams. Tournament experience would help. If you are interested, please go here and submit the form. We'll send you the details. Let's do it, folks! |
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MORE TENNIS NEWS Great article by Joel Drucker in tennis.com about Jelena Ostapenko
My hope for Jelena Ostapenko: Can one of tennis' most skilled players give herself more grace? Christopher Clarey writes in the NYT that "Private clubs and public facilities are striving to be more things to more people as they try to defuse the tension between tennis and fast-growing racket sports like pickleball." It’s Tennis vs. Pickleball vs. Padel. Or Is It? Darryl Cummings sent out this report: CLICK HERE to see a 2-3 minute Video with the link to the 2003-2021 College Spending for all college athletic programs. Pretty informative report. Dan Palmer writes in InsideTheGames: Women's Tennis Association (WTA) chief executive Steve Simon has claimed that Peng Shuai is safe and that the organization "knows where she is". Simon claims Peng Shuai is safe and WTA knows where she is Tom Friend writes in Sports Business Journal: This week’s 44th annual Sports Emmy Awards included a technological first — a category for Outstanding Digital Innovation — and the inaugural winner was the AI-driven McEnroe vs. McEnroe virtual tennis match that aired last May on ABC, ESPN and ESPN+. AI-powered McEnroe vs. McEnroe virtual tennis match wins Sports Emmy Christopher Clarey on his "Tennis & Beyond" blog: Though the main draw starts Sunday, it feels like the French Open is already underway. Les Comebacks (Subscribe to CC's Blog. He's not writing for the NYT anymore.) Sloane Stephens says "Racist abuse of players is getting worse" reports Karolos Grohman of Reuters. "The American, speaking after her straight-sets victory over Karolina Pliskova in the French Open first round, said she had had to endure it her whole tennis career." Read the article. AP article on May 31: French Sports Minister: Djokovic must abstain from political messages at French Open. French Sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said Wednesday that Novak Djokovic’s political message about Kosovo was “not appropriate” and warned the former top-ranked Serb player that he should not do it again. Read the article. Sportsbusiness.com writes: Germany’s Von Arnim to challenge Haggerty for ITF presidency. International Tennis Federation (ITF) president David Haggerty will face competition from Dietloff von Arnim when he runs for re-election as head of the governing body in September. Von Arnim, president of the German Tennis Federation (DTB) for the past two years, will be Haggerty’s sole rival in the ballot to take place at the ITF’s annual general meeting in Cancun, Mexico on September 24. |
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*****Morning Brew Morsels***** A collection of items from daily newsletter Morning Brew's "To-Do List" TECH Tech tip: Ride the AI wave with this tool for quick, sleek presentations. Ask the right questions: The “golden prompts” to get the most out of ChatGPT and other chatbots. AI canon: Here is an expertly curated reading list for all things AI—from how chatbots work to how to generate music from text. Mind-blowing TED Talk: The disappearing computer. NON-TECH A library of visual techniques: Here are all the methods filmmakers use to keep you on the edge of your seat. Tipping culture is out of control: This TikTok could almost be real. Have superhero fatigue? Here are the best indie movies of the 20th century. The world’s highest-paid athletes: Money from the Gulf helped boost the earnings of Cristiano Ronaldo, Dustin Johnson, and more. Check out the list. The history of the world…where every dot is an event from Wikipedia. It’s very cool. |
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NEW PODCASTS WITH LISA STONE
Premium content for members of Parenting Aces How Will This Match Impact my UTR ft. Ric Curnow
Welcome to Season 12 Episode 19 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Lisa chats with Australian tennis enthusiast, Ric Curnow, about his solution to players ducking matches because of a potential negative impact on their UTR. Content for members only. Sign up here: https://parentingaces.com/ |
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Questions your run-off-the-mill tennis magazine will never ask! USTA'S REVERSE MENTORING PROGRAM While Reverse Mentoring on its face is a good idea with proven results, I have to wonder. How does anyone expect a bunch of good old boys to accept mentorship from a bunch of younger employees? Especially when those youngsters are females? Ouch. IF TENNIS PLAYERS DON'T HAVE A SAY, SHOULD WE CALL SOCAL A BANANA REPUBLIC?
Oh, crap. We're doomed in Lalaland. THE NEW OWNER WANTS TO MOVE A HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD TOURNAMENT 462 MILES AWAY? And you're telling me the USTA didn't know this, Lew? Why don't you go to the Midwest and explain the whole thing to your members? THE WORLD TENNIS NUMBER IS THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD AND EVERYONE IS HAPPILY USING IT? Oh yeah? So why are the powerhouse tennis nations like Germany, Spain, and France not using it? Oh yeah, Namibia is using it. Bravo, ITF! IS THE TENNIS CHANNEL CHANGING ITS NAME TO RACQUET CHANNEL? Say it ain't so, Ken. But if you do, will you include POP, Padel, and SPEC? How about Badminton? Racquetball? Squash? JUNE 4, 2026 THE RACQUET CHANNEL PREVIEW The usual 24/7 coverage of "Pickleball in the Park" was interrupted by a 56-minute insert of 1 (one) Badminton point at the World Men's Team Championships between China and Indonesia. The point included 1,733 exchanges of the shuttlecock. Pickleballers were outraged over the interruption. DO YOU HAVE A TOURING PRO YOU LOVE TO HATE? Jelena Ostapenko. What's yours? |
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At The Net Podcast (on Instagram) Join the ATN Boys as they go through three meaningful and important sets with the Brits, Mike Nott, and Luke Bambridge! |
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at.the.net.podcast
On Instagram Absolutely delightful three sets with the Brits, Mike Nott and Luke Bambridge!
1. Growing up as tennis players in the North of England.
2. College and professional tennis. Encounters with Djokovic, Isner, Mahut, Federer, Jamie Murray, Cam
Norrie, Nick Kyrgios, et al. Stats/data collection at The Championships, @wimbledon
3. Coaching at clubs in Texas. Present and future.
4. Life in the States. Food. Dinner guests. Music. Fun!
5. Things they love about the great game.
Elements to improve upon.
@mikenott3 @bamlukebridge
@razorbackmtennis |
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ROD HECKELMAN THE MANY FACES OF A TENNIS COURT The tennis industry will need to find a way to create a better playing surface for everyone There are at least 12, possibly more global sports that host international competitions. You would be hard-pressed to find any of those sports that are performed on a variety of surfaces, except for tennis. Over the years we have taken this challenge for granted, but it is an extremely impacting condition for the pro tour to adjust to. They do a great job, and the results create some wonderful entertainment. But that is the pro tour, how does this unique characteristic filter down and impact the rest of the tennis world? Or maybe more important, does it? Read more |
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Shout-Out to the US Open for winning the Sports Business Journal's prestigious 'Event of the Year' award. Shout-Out to Simona Halep. I'm giving her the benefit of doubt. Shout-Out to Nicolás Jerry. The Chilean daredevil is now my favorite underdog! Shout-Out to all my NorCal friends who were making me feel so welcome on my trip in May. Shout-Out to all developers planning to put pickleball into vacant shopping mall spaces. and save us tennis players from the noise, haha.
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Elevate Your Tennis Facility By Ashley Owens, CourtReserve.com Everyone loves a good list! Let's have fun with these top 5 automations that CourtReserve can offer to improve your tennis club experience. 1 - "No More Phone Tag" Automated court booking: Say goodbye to endless phone tag with the tennis club and hello to the convenience of online court booking! With CourtReserve, the power of booking a court is in the palm of your hand. No more waiting on hold, no more confusing schedules, and no more frustration. It's like having your own personal tennis concierge at your fingertips. 2 - "Get Paid Without Lifting a Racquet" Automated Payment Processing: Tired of chasing down payments and handling cash? CourtReserve's automated payment processing feature lets you get paid without lifting a racquet! The system integrates with payment processing software, automatically processing and recording payments. That means less time spent on billing and more on the court! 3 - "Smash Your Return When Mother Nature Serves Up Bad Weather" Automated Closures and Maintenance: Bad weather got you down? Hit back with closures inside CourtReserve. Closures allow you to close courts, and cancel reservations, clinics, and lessons and notify everyone automatically with a few simple clicks. Whether you have ten players to notify or thousands, do it in just a few minutes. This means no more long, drawn-out communications when mother nature doesn't cooperate and more time spent smashing those forehands and backhands! 4 - "Ace Automated Communication" Member Communication Automation: Keep your members in the loop with CourtReserve's automated communication features. Automated emails and texts for reservation, lesson, and clinic confirmations and cancellations? Yes, please! Push notifications to alert your members? We do that too! Automated emails and text messages can be sent to members to remind them of upcoming events, schedule changes, or promotions. It's like having a personal assistant that aces connectivity to your members! 5 - "Hit a Grand Slam with Data Analytics" Automation: Get insights into your club's operations and member behavior with CourtReserve's advanced data analytics tools! Analyze member usage patterns, identify areas of improvement, and develop strategies to increase revenue and engagement. With CourtReserve's data analytics automation, you can hit a grand slam in the tennis club game! CourtReserve is here to help, so click and schedule a call with our team so we can help elevate your facility above the rest! |
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NEW: JUNE 2023 1-QUESTION SURVEY TCB Survey June 2023 - How profitable is Pickleball for you? Assuming you teach Pickleball - tell us how it compares to your tennis income. Is Pickleball a profit center in your club? Here's the link to the question. Thank you! |
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MAY SURVEY RESULTS
Will John Embree leave the USPTA in better shape than when he started as CEO 11 years ago? We had 66 replies and the results are interesting. |
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Thank you for reading our newsletter. Hope you like it. Please comment or vent here. We can take it! Have a great June. Rich Neher |
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