USPTA Southern California Division Newsletter—2nd Quarter 2023

2nd

HelloSouthernCalifornia Professionals,

Excitingtimesaheadasweapproach thesummerseason.Therainhas beenamazing,yetI’llbehappier whenwearenotreschedulingour programsandprivatelessonsso often!

I’msoexcitedforourupcoming SoCalUSPTAConference.Itis

President'sMessage

(continuedfrom1)

shapinguptobeafantastic educationalopportunity,aswellasa weekendforustocometogetherand nurturetennisfriendshipsand networking.

Ourline-upofpresentersisstellar, andwehavesomesocialfunscheduled too.Somakeyourcalendarsforthe weekendofMay6&7.Saturdaythe 6thwewillbeginregistrationinthe latemorning

(continued....)

President'sMessage

(continuedfrom3)

toallowprofessionalstoteacha Saturdaymorningclass,orlessons.So, pleasecomejoinyourfellowcolleagues foraweekendoffun,andeducation.

Inclosing,Ihavetwofinalthoughts:I wouldlikeyoutokeepaneyeoutfor ourUSPTAconferencecomingthefirst weekinMay.Pleaseseethearticlefrom ourRegionalVicePresidentSimon PaekforthePickleballCertification

(continued)

(continuedfrom4)

thathewillbeofferingatthe conference.Secondly,pleaseloginto yourUSPTAaccountandmakesure allinformationisuptodate.Thisis howwereachouttoyou,andthiswill alsobewhereyoufindyour educationalreportcard.Thisbeinga cycleyear,youcanlocatewhatmaybe necessarytomaintainyoueducational credits.Ipopineveryonceinawhile justtocheckmyprogress.It’ssuper easy. (continued)

Thankyouforcontinuingtoraise thestandardsofteaching professionalsandcoaches,andalso forpromotingagreaterawareness ofouramazingsport!

Iwishyouallwell,andI’llseeyou onthecourts.

REG VP

REGIONAL VP SIMON PAEK

2022-2023 SoCal Division Award Winners

By Simon Paek, Awards Chair

It’s been a privilege once again this year to chair the awards committee. This is our opportunity to recognize and honor the best of our division in their respective categories. On behalf of Awards Committee members, Scott Burton and Evan Parry,

REG VP

REGIONAL VP SIMON PAEK

along with the entire SoCal Division Board Members, we’d like to congratulate the following award winners.

Please help us celebrate their achievements during our Division Conference – Awards

Luncheon is Sunday, May 7.

REG VP

REGIONAL VP SIMON PAEK

MANAGER OF THE YEAR -

LARGE FACILITIES

JENNIFER AZEVEDO;

ELEVATE AWARD BILLY KIM;

COLLEGE COACH OF THE YEAR

CHRIS KETCHAM;

MANAGER OF THE YEAR –

SMALL FACILITIES

SCOTT BURTON;

STAR AWARD GABRIEL

JACOB;

DIVERSITY AWARD

RICHARD WILLIAMS;

REG VP

REGIONAL VP SIMON PAEK

DISTRICT 1 PRO OF THE YEAR SCOTT CLERE;

DISTRICT 2 PRO OF THE YEAR KATIE BAE;

DISTRICT 3 PRO OF THE YEAR CHRIS ROBB;

DISTRICT 4 PRO OF THE YEAR JAMES SKURATOFSKY;

DISTRICT 5 PRO OF THE YEAR GENYA TROSMAN;

DISTRICT 6 PRO OF THE YEAR STEVE RIGGS;

DON HENSON DIVISION PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR SIMON PAEK;

PETE BROWN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT DEE HENRY.

REGIONAL VP SIMON PAEK

Coach Developer’s Corner

By Simon Paek

The national office has had some personnel changes in recent months. Sid Newcombe stepped down as Director of Certification in late 2022. Ramona Husaru has added to her duties as Director of Education to now

(continued)

REG VP

REGIONAL

VP SIMON PAEK

encompass the Director of Certification as well –indeed, we are in good hands. James, who was acting as the Certification Coordinator has moved onto his new role as Director of Membership with the leaving of Dillon Chustz. Peyton Keith has most recently been hired as the new Certification Coordinator. All questions regarding certification should be addressed to Peyton and of course Dave Hagler or

REG VP

REGIONAL VP SIMON PAEK

myself for anything tennis related, or Keith or myself for anything pickleball related.

Peyton’s email is: peyton.keith@uspta.org and his direct office line is: 407-634-3050, ext. 149

We’ve had 2 pickleball certifications to report for the 1st quarter of 2023 with one more to go Sat., May 6 at our division conference at Peninsula Racquet Club. At the time of writing this article, there are 2 spots open for this certification.

REG VP

REG VP

REGIONAL VP SIMON PAEK

Please email Peyton if you’d like to register. By the time you read this article, we would’ve had a TE3 Certification in Cerritos with 17 applicants. One of our very own USPTA members, Eli Alejo is the Director of Tennis at iTennis Cerritos who generously gives us 2-3 courts every time to conduct our TE3 workshops – thank you Eli!

SOCAL ANNUAL CONFERENCE

EVAN PARRY

*RESOURCES FOR YOU*

Greetings USPTA SoCal!

My name is Evan Parry and over the last four years, I have been privileged to serve as your district 5 president, Treasurer, and currently now as 1st Vice President. Your new Treasurer is Rajeev Datt, and your current district 5 president is Gabriel Jacob. (continued)

EVAN PARRY

Universal Tennis Team

Tennis

Universal Tennis Team

Tennis has been growing rapidly throughout SoCal.

I have been active in promoting it at my facility, as well as connecting pros from other areas, like Corona, Fontana, and LA. Our current Winter League has been a great success, and it has been super fun to coach!

EVAN PARRY

Some other highlights from my area, include, the ITennis Arcadia Pro Circuit

WTA event. This amazing event is designed as a “warm up” tournament for Indian Wells. Tournament

Co-Director, iTennis CEO, and USPTA Elite Professional, John Letts, shares more information about this great event here: https://www.itennisproope n.com/a-message-from-john.

EVAN PARRY

Membership status

Please check your membership status on your uspta profile at www.uspta.com, contact your district president, or contact the national office at 407-634-3050 if you need further assistance. We are here to help!

Sincerely, Evan

Parry

"START WHERE YOU ARE. USE WHAT YOU HAVE. DO WHAT YOU CAN." (ASHE)

SECRETARY DINA MCBRIDE

SECRETARY DINA MCBRIDE

mission is to bring us all closer together to make us more knowledgeable and to help us ally and

e is proud ker list is diverse in all areas of our industry. As you all know, Brad Gilbert and Michael Joyce are headlining our conference, and in addition we have so many accomplished speakers to (continued)

SECRETARY DINA MCBRIDE

enhance our experience.

Here’s a few of our heir topics:

er- “Why ennis mportant to

Shawna Barasch

Wilson- “Starting tennis Business”

Bill Patton: “The dominant eye and touching on the neuroscience behind it”

(continued)

SECRETARY DINA MCBRIDE

Trevor Kronemann“Doubles Strategy”

Thiago Santosennis”

manl” h- “High nnis”

We will have a taco truck

Sunday from 5:00-7:00 pm and we’ll be playing triples and pickleball.

Come join us for reconnecting and building new and old friendships while having a great time.

SECRETARY DINA MCBRIDE

See you all May 6th and 7th t Th P ninsula

ure to

me at the can’t wait or meet you for the first time. It's my hope that each attendee meets a new face which will bring us all closer together.

MIKE GENNETTE "COLLEGE

Shortening the College Scoring System, Pro or Con?

I am now in my 30th season as the head coach at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California which is located about 45 minutes north of LA and about 15 miles inland from Malibu. We are an NCAA Division III institution and are also a member of the (continued)

MIKE GENNETTE "COLLEGE SCORING"

prestigious Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). Over the last few decades I have seen tremendous changes to the college scoring format.

As a college coach I was shocked by how short most college games are in other sports compared to tennis. College tennis matches last anywhere from three to four and half hours. Compare that (continued)

GENNETTE

to basketball, soccer, volleyball, lacrosse, water polo, and football which are all done in a neat and tidy ninety minutes on average.

In order to compete for college sports fans’ attention, college tennis has been shortening the length of matches more and more. The governing bodies and coaches continue to discuss even more changes in an (continued)

MIKE GENNETTE

effort to make matches shorter and more fan friendly. The first major change was to move doubles from the end of the matches to the beginning of the match.

When doubles was at the end, it was a fast paced fun way to decide close matches, This change happened because it had also been decided that matches would now only be played to decision instead of to completion. This meant that

GENNETTE

once a team won four of the seven points up for grabs (Division I&2 only, Division 3 still plays a nine point format) all remaining matches being played would not be able to finish. Previously when the six singles matches were played first, then matches were often decided before the doubles could even be started. It was also decided to pull the third doubles match off without allowing them to finish if the (continued)

GENNETTE

the first two matches that finished had already decided which team was going to win the doubles point.

Doubles also moved from a full two out of three tiebreak sets to just one eight game pro set, and then to its current state of one six game set on each of the three courts (for Division 1&2, Division 3 still plays the 8 game format for doublesfor now). (continued)

All of these changes have shortened and put to the beginning what is arguably the most exciting part of college tennis. But it did succeed in shortening the format by about an hour which seemed very necessary if we wanted to keep fans' attention.

The changes didn’t end there. It was decided that using lets takes too much time also so they got rid of those too.

MIKE GENNETTE

Now all serves that hit the net and go in are in play. But wait, there’s more!

Now all divisions are also playing no ad scoring. Players also don’t get to sit when changing sides at 1-0 in a set.

Other formats are being talked about too. One interesting suggestion was to make singles and doubles play at the same time which would greatly shorten the format to one starting and one

GENNETTE

stopping point in every match. How this would work is that you would have four of the courts play singles and one of the courts play doubles. Another variation would be to have five singles courts and one doubles court where the doubles is worth 1.5 points. Super tiebreakers would be played for the third set. A strong argument in support of this change in addition to shortening the time needed to

GENNETTE

play, would also be that a college team could even play up to three matches in one day. So this format would change matches to that 1.5 hour golden time that most other college sports enjoy which would greatly decrease the time commitment of the average fan which would increase the number of fans who would attend college tennis matches. Another format that is gaining popularity is the two out of three

GENNETTE

sets where each set is played only to four games and the third set would be a super tiebreaker. The first couple of rounds at the prestigious Pac Coast Doubles tournament at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club used this format this past March 3-5. At least that is more fair than the old eight game pro-sets but still a very short time to play after driving over three hours to play in such a popular tournament. (continued)

GENNETTE

At first I was a traditionalist with the scoring and was always the last to agree to any changes. But in order to compete for fans it seems that the changes were necessary. And the potential big change to play singles and doubles at the same time in order to get matches to finish in 1.5 hours is something that all of college tennis should look at in order to put us back in the running for sports fans’ attention. What do you think? END

MARTIN PARKES

Welcome District 1

Members to Quarter 2, Hope you are doing well and were able to be a part of some of the USPTA SoCal events recently at Ojai on April 29th and the annual conference May 6th and 7th at the beautiful Peninsula Club!

I know our leadership team recently returned from Orlando and (continued)

a USPTA national event and training week, so excited to have them continue to positively influence the impact and growth of this SoCal coaches association into the new era of rackets sports and the coaching profession post Covid!

On a personal note, I will be less active in my voluntary D1 Presidential role with USPTA in the upcoming months, I will be welcoming a baby girl into my family, so if some of my District 1 coaching (continued)

PARKES

colleagues are interested in being more involved in a leadership role and support the leadership team during my transition, please reach out to me directly or our president Scott Burton.

I wanted to highlight a coaching friend and a great event I recently volunteered at in the Grand Re-Opening of a

beautiful tennis facility and membership community that USPTA and D1 supports near my home.

North Ranch CC

Racquets Grand Opening with Sam Querrey and FriendsSaturday, April 1st (continued)

MARTIN PARKES

What a wonderful day of tennis, fun, and amazing weather. Over 64 players came together to enjoy games, Live-Ball, fast serve court, prizes, demo courts and an awesome BBQ put together by our food and beverage team. Sam Querrey (former #11 player in the world) and Rick Leach (former #1 Doubles Player in the world) teamed up to challenge the #25 ranked UCSB Men’s Team in an exhibition match with

PARKES

Wayne Bryan (Bryan Brothers father), as our MC. It was great to see high level tennis back on the courts of North Ranch CC. Thank you to all those that made this day run so smooth and to all the energetic members that came out to enjoy each other.

From: Kris Jordan, Director of Racquet

Sports, North Ranch Country Club

DISTRICT 2! RAJEEV DATT

"TEACHING ADULT BEGINNERS""

Hello friends and fellow tennis professionals. So, you’re a young tennis pro, just starting out?

Maybe you were a college player, or you were a great junior who discovered years later that you have a passion for teaching tennis and landed your dream job at your local country club. Or maybe you (continued)

DISTRICT 2! RAJEEV DATT

find yourself working for Parks and Rec. In either case, you will discover that depending on the time of day, your roster of students will include middle aged to senior adults, either just starting in the game we all love, or coming back to tennis after a long career that took up all their time, and kept them off the courts for decades. I know when I was a young pro, I made the mistake of trying to teach such students “high performance” techniques and styles of play. Oh boy, did I take my job seriously!

DISTRICT 2! RAJEEV DATT

I wanted to make every client as good as I could possibly make them! Well, unfortunately, I ended up losing a lot of these clients sooner or later, either to injury - because I worked them too hard - or because I was offering a service they just were not interested in. Over the years, I learned some valuable lessons; one of which is to customize the content and style of lessons to what the customer wants. As professionals, our job is to ask the right questions and be great listeners - sometimes we

DISTRICT 2! RAJEEV DATT

even need to read between the lines. What kind of lesson does a potential client want? Is it really to develop great technique? Or does this person want to get just good enough to be included in a regular doubles game? Is this person only taking up the game to spend more time with a spouse or loved one? Is this person simply out to get some exercise? The reason I mention all of these options is because of the following reasons. If you regard the human being first, facilitate this person feeling comfortable and happy, you

DISTRICT 2! RAJEEV DATT

will not only develop great friendships, but you will guarantee yourself a long term client and such friendships also lead to referrals, amongst other business opportunities.

When I was the director at the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu, Hawai’i, I invariably would leave half an hour to a whole hour between lessons to shoot the breeze with my students. I’d regularly bring cut up fruits onto the court for a drill group to enjoy. These simple gestures of giving your time to others will endear you to your clients.

DISTRICT 2! RAJEEV DATT

I regularly had people from places like Australia, Japan, or Hong Kong plan their vacations based on whether I would be available for them.

Currently, I find myself coaching parents on how to be great tennis parents, by encouraging them to simply tell their children how much they love them and how proud they are of their child. Sometimes, as parents of juniors that compete at a high level, they forget that tennis is just a game. A gentle reminder and setting a good example yourself never hurts. I understand this might simply

DISTRICT 2!

RAJEEV DATT

be common sense to some, or a foreign concept to others. I’m simply sharing what has allowed me to have a pretty good career in this field for over 35 years. I hope you will continue to grow and blossom as a friend and a professional. Aloha to one and all, until the next article! I hope to see you and shake your hand at the SoCal convention on May 6th and 7th, at the beautiful Peninsula Racquet Club, in Palos Verde, CA.

Rajeev Datt

(NOTE: Rajeev is now the Treasurer) end

DISTRICT 3!

MATT JONES

“Let's Get Together”

Let me first start off by saying greetings to all of my fellow District 3 teaching pros! As your District 3 president, I hope that 2022 treated you all well and your year was a prosperous one. As 2023 is in full swing, I hope that this first quarter has brought with it much success and happiness to you, your families and your tennis!

DISTRICT 3!

MATT JONES

As your district president, it is my responsibility to represent our region and its members that live within it. In order to do so, one of my major goals is for me to get to know all of you. As many of you know, a great way for us to get to know each other, is by hosting educational events within our district so that we can all come together and meet and greet, all while earning those much sought after continuing educational credits. Stay tuned and

MATT JONES DISTRICT 3!

check those emails and social-media for upcoming events, both in our district and beyond!

Lastly, it is my pleasure to extend an open invitation for you to reach out and contact me any time to offer my assistance and answer any questions regarding your membership and tennis-related inquiries!

DISTRICT 3!

MATT JONES

Upcoming Events:

April 22nd-24th -

Teaching

Essentials 3 (Teaching Groups): In Person at Cerritos Tennis Center.-

COMPLETED

May 6th-7th – USPTA

SoCal Division Conference at Peninsula Racquet Club.

May 6th –

Pickleball

Certification at Peninsula Racquet Club.

DISTRICT 3!

MATT JONES

Pro Highlights

Santa Monica Pickleball Center – Director of Pickleball, Julio Rivera.

DISTRICT 3!

MATT JONES

Pickleball has found a new spot in Santa Monica. The Santa Monica Pickleball Center, located at 2501 Wilshire Blvd., offers courts, the largest pickleball retail shop in the LA area and individual and group lessons. At the helm, fellow USPTA District 3 pro and Director of Pickleball, Julio Rivera, brings with him years of both tennis and pickleball experience,

DISTRICT 3!

MATT JONES

competing and teaching.

“Pickleball is very community based and the inclusivity of the sport allows an easy way to enter the sport and play the game and the community gets very big fast. It’s just very inclusive, people from all ages can play, you can have your family all play – it doesn’t take intensive training to go out and play…it just gives you a variety of options, you can do it with friends or people that you just meet.” -

Julio Rivera

AISLING

DISTRICT 4!

"SOCIAL EVENTS"

Hello coaches!

I am feeling Spring in the air! As I write this, we are preparing for St. Patrick’s Day at our club. A reminder that we can all use these holidays as an opportunity to create one-off social events.

DISTRICT 4! AISLING

BOWER

SOCIAL EVENTS

take this time to highlight Coach Jesus Garcia. Jesus is always thinking outside the box and coming up with ideas to create events.. he’s a real team player and gets the job done. He recently came to me with an idea about a Pro Am as a one off event.. his commitment to the client and their progress is commendable. The client feels like an athlete, a contender, someone who is justified in being there.even at a 3.0 level. It’s important to feel

AISLING BOWER

DISTRICT 4!

SOCIAL EVENTS

important and relevant. It has been a tough start to the year, if you are like me, you have been greatly affected by the rain and heavy winds. Hope not too much damage done to both your facility and your clientele! I am super excited that USPTA

SoCal annual conference will be held at my club, Penninsula Racquet Club, in Rancho Palos Verdes on May 6th and

7th. I hope that most of our local professionals can make it, and event not to be missed. If you have any questions or ideas to help our area grow, please reach out! My email is

GABRIEL JACOB, MSPE

DISTRICT 5! "INTRODUCTION"

Hello Coaches:

I am honored to be your new District 5 President and as a former president of this district, I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet old and new friends, to listen to any concerns, and to serve you to the best of my abilities.

GABRIEL JACOB, MSPE

DISTRICT 5! "INTRODUCTION"

I am a USPTA ELITEcertified teaching professional with over 40 years of experience. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Administration and a Master of Science degree in Physical Education. I am the former Head Men’s Tennis Coach at Cypress College and former Head Women’s Tennis Coach at San Bernardino Valley College. I am the former Director/Head Tennis Professional at the Redlands Country Club.

DISTRICT

5!

GABRIEL JACOB, MSPE

"INTRODUCTION"

I currently serve as a faculty member at Crafton Hills College and as the Director of Tennis at Match Play Tennis Academy. District 5 members, your participation is paramount to a successful year. Please submit articles for future SoCalifornia Division newsletters. Identify pros in our district who are deserving of recognition. Email me your ideas for district events. I am eager to work on your behalf to enhance professional development and networking.

Happy Spring!

Our awesome USPTA Southern California Division Conference is rapidly approaching. The dates are May 6 & 7. It will be held at the beautiful Peninsula Raquet Club in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The line-up of speakers is incredible! You really should attend this conference. It will be one of the best ones our division has ever had.

Only $75 for the full weekend which includes meals and swag. Register today.

https://www.uspta.com/us pta/Events/Event_Display. aspx?

EventKey=DCONFCA23A

USPTA Southern California

Division Conference

When: 5/6/2023 - 5/7/2023

Where: Peninsula Racquet Club

30850 Hawthorne Blvd

Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

90275

Keep an eye on your email for the next District 6 educational event which is scheduled for May 29. It will be another in the “Typically Hard to Teach” series.

WORLD CONFERENCE 2023; @USTA NATIONAL CAMPUS

WHEN: SEPTEMBER 27–29, 2023

WHERE: ORLANDO, FL

IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY TO PLAN

"GIVING-BACK CORNER"

KUDOS TO SOUTHBAY PRO, KIP BRADY AND LAST YEAR'S HS COACH OF THE YEAR!

HE INITIATED AND THEN HIS PALOS VERDES HIGH SCHOOL BOYS TENNIS TEAM CONDUCTED A CHARITY EVENT AND RAISED MONEY DURING THEIR SEASON SINCE THEY ARE PASSIONATE IN SUPPORTING THE LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY,

THEY WERE INSPIRED BY TEACHERS/PARENTS AT THEIR HIGH SCHOOL WHO HAVE GOTTEN LEUKEMIA.

THEY LEVERAGED NATIONAL 501C3 NON-PROFIT "TENNIS LOVERS FOR CHARITY"

WHAT NON-PROFIT

CAN YOU CONSIDER SUPPORTING IN 2023?

SHARE YOUR STORY.

ANOTHER NATIONAL WINNER

KUDOS TO USPTA SOCAL REGIONAL VP, SIMON PAEK, FOR HIS SECOND (YES) NATIONAL AWARD.

HE WAS RECENTLY AWARDED BY TIA AND OTHERS AS THE "USPTA NATIONAL PICKLEBALL MEMBER OF THE YEAR."

WAY TO GO.

SOCAL IS SO LUCKY TO HAVE SOMEONE SO DEDICATED TO ALL RACQUET SPORTS IN OUR REGION AND NATIONALLY.

KINDLY TAKE JUST A COUPLE OF MINUTES TO UPDATE YOUR USPTA.COM PROFILE AS NEEDED (EMAIL, PHONE NUMBERS, CLUB, CITY, ETC.)

THIS HELPS US TO BETTER CONNECT WITH YOU ON IMPORTANT MATTERS THAT HELP YOU AND YOUR CAREER PLEASE.

THANKS TO YOUR USPTA NATIONAL ENDORSEES