YOUNGER GETTING

Jason Gilbert USPTA Vice President

At 2012’s USTA Annual Meeting, then CEO Gordon Smith shared some alarming statistics: the average age of USTA players who played in leagues was 58, and the average age of certified coaches was 57. The numbers were so concerning and alarming that the USTA Annual Meeting was themed The Urgent Imperative!

The intent of the meeting was to use conclusive data to educate the tennis industry that our tennis players and coaches were aging out, and to inspire a call to action by all to discover what we can do to get younger.

Even more alarming, today that call to action was more than ten years ago, which (if my math is correct) would make our average-age USTA player and certified coach in their late 60s! I believe we all understand the problem, but the question is, what are we all doing about it? How do we bring in those younger players and professionals? It is everyone’s responsibility as tennis coaches and players to protect and support our great sport.

To combat the problem, the USPTA started an initiative in 2013 to recruit and retain younger professionals, called U30. The U30 initiative was so different and successful because it was completely driven by younger professionals. I will never forget the party at the 2013 USPTA World Conference at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, when thirty U30 USPTA professionals in bright orange shirts walked into the general membership meeting.

The U30 initiative gained traction until 2018, when it was morphed into a new initiative called Elevate. Elevate supports members who have been in the organization five years or fewer and focuses on member retention, inclusivity and supporting the needs of new members.

As the needs and mindsets of the younger professionals are constantly changing, I feel it’s imperative to create new strategies to recruit and retain them. We need to ensure the younger professionals are involved and engaged in the decision-making process, so we can hit the nail on the head every time. The main reason why our U30 initiative was so successful was because the younger professionals drove the initiative.

It is also very important that our entire tennis ecosystem works together to achieve our goal of getting younger. You can have multiple initiatives going on at the same time, but collaborating at every level will maximize participation and opportunities for all.

For example, our younger professional initiative and mentoring initiative can work hand-in-hand, as they both have common needs that support each other. In the last USPTA committee term, we combined the Elevate Committee and the Mentoring Committee, and the collaboration between the two has been excellent. If anyone should be interested in our USPTA mentoring program, please contact Kevin Theos at usptamentoring@gmail.com.

Although we older members can’t turn back the clock, we can all work together to ensure our great association— and tennis in general—gets younger and stays healthy. We can continue to embrace and support our younger members by taking it upon ourselves to mentor them and guide them into being future leaders of tomorrow. Most of us have stories of one specific person who took a genuine interest in us and went out of their way to bring us into the USPTA. Let’s all give back and keep that great cycle going.*