USTA Eastern Metro Region Update

USTA Commemorates National Tennis Month

The USTA will kick off a month-long celebration of tennis this May and will work in tandem with providers across the NYC area to develop programming that attracts new and returning players to the game.

“Tennis has enjoyed some truly impressive growth—all the more remarkable in the face of the pandemic,” USTA President and Chairman of the Board Mike McNulty said in announcing the initiative. “During National Tennis Month, the USTA, along with many of our partners in the tennis world, will be making a concerted effort to add to our sport’s momentum by providing resources, ideas and support for coaches, facilities, Parks & Recs, Community Tennis Associations, NJTLs, and providers of all kinds to help bring new players into tennis and reinvigorate those who’ve already made this sport a part of their lives.”

USTA Eastern will specifically support six flagship events across the section, including one in the Metro Region. The organization is also particularly focused on partnering local parks with clubs and other providers of tennis so that together they can accommodate all of the new interest in the sport.

“I grew up playing in my local park in Inwood, so I know firsthand how important it is to foster these connections and create more playing opportunities for those discovering the sport on their neighborhood courts,” said Executive Director & CEO Jenny Schnitzer. “We look forward to facilitating collaboration and celebrating all tennis has to offer our communities in May.”

Visit usta.com/NationalTennisMonth to learn more about the celebration and how local tennis providers can get involved.

USTA Eastern Honors Metro Region Stalwart Darcy Cobb with Tennis Woman of the Year Designation

Darcy Cobb (pictured, second from right) was named USTA Eastern’s 2021 Tennis Woman of the Year for her long record of service to the USTA League program in the Eastern Section, as well as her tireless efforts to grow the game in the Metro Region.

It all started with a cancellation. Cobb’s husband held a standing tennis appointment with a friend each week, and on one occasion, the friend couldn’t make it. So Cobb joined her husband at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park courts instead, and there she saw some information about a so-called day league hanging up on the wall.

“It had all these ladies’ names on it, and I knew a couple of the women, so [later] I asked them what it was,” Cobb remembers. “They said ‘Oh it’s a lot of fun. We go play during the day, we have a little lunch afterwards.’ At the time, I worked out of my home, and my schedule was flexible. So I started playing in this day league.”

Not long after, Cobb helped the woman who ran the day league launch the USTA League program in their little corner of Brooklyn. Cobb served as a captain for one of the teams, named the Racqueteers. The group rocketed to success right out of the gate, reaching the USTA Eastern Sectional Championships the first two years they competed.

“Back then, League play wasn’t as [intense] as it is now,” Cobb says. “We were just in it for the camaraderie and the competition. We had 12 women on that team,

and we really got to be close. We’re still close to this day. So it's the relationships that you build with your team members. That to me is what the league program is about.”

Cobb’s local league coordinator took note of how organized Cobb was as a captain, and recommended that she become a coordinator herself. She decided to take on the contract role and held the position for the next 10 years.

“In New York City back then, you did it for the love of the game because we just got a stipend for expenses,” Cobb says. “[But] I loved it. My master’s degree was in conflict resolution, and that really came in handy. A lot of what you hear as a coordinator is ‘Well, he said this’ or ‘Well, he said that,’ or, ‘He's making bad line calls.’ And you just have to listen to people, figure out how to make them feel better and resolve the issue.”

While serving in this capacity for USTA Eastern, Cobb also became a founding member of the Metrotennis Community Tennis Association (CTA). Incorporated in 2002, Cobb and others formed the CTA to more efficiently run USTA Leagues in the New York City area. But the organization eventually developed other tennis offerings, including local competitions. Cobb—who has served multiple non-consecutive terms as Metrotennis’s president— conceived of one such event in which players and clubs battled against each other within each respective borough. The winners of each would face off in the interborough Mayor’s Cup. The event is still around, though it is now known as the Battle of the Boroughs.

In 2006, USTA Eastern informed Cobb of an opening in its Leagues department, an opportunity she just couldn’t pass up.

“I knew that my real passion was the Leagues program, and working directly for that would be very special,” she says. “So I took the job as an assistant in the department, and then after about a year, I moved into the section league coordinator position.”

In this role, Cobb oversaw around 50 local league coordinators across the section. She also developed many of the rules and regulations that are still central to the Eastern-specific program today.

In 2011, Cobb moved on from the Eastern position to accept a job with the National Leagues staff. There, she was part of the team that ran the USTA Leagues National Championships and worked the flagship event for many years.

Overall, Cobb is happy that much of her life has been dedicated to helping develop a program that has personally brought her so much joy.

“[Witnessing] the growth of USTA Leagues, both throughout the section and nationally, is a real positive,” she says. “I’m happy I had a minute role in helping ensure that it survived.”

Metro Region Council Offers Regional Grants

Organizations in the Metro Region can still apply for regional grant funding to support programming aimed at increasing tennis participation in the community. Special consideration will be given to: school and afterschool programming; junior competitive play; adult competitive play; diversity and inclusion initiatives; Community Tennis Associations (CTA) & National Jr. Tennis and Learning (NJTL) Programs; special populations and wheelchair tennis programming; and innovative programming.

Regional grant awards are up to $1,000 and are for tennis programs and events operating in 2022. To learn more about eligibility requirements please visit USTA Eastern’s website at usta.com/eastern.