President's Message

MATT DAVIS

Greetings USPTA Midwest Members,

I hope all of you are busy with your Summer Programs and enjoying the nice weather we have had so far in the Midwest for outside activities What a great time to be a Racquets Professional in 2023! There are so many more Racquet Sports now as USPTA Professionals we must promote and educate our members and students of our facilities whether you work at a Park, Country Club, Commercial Club or another type of Racquets Venue. Most facilities now have at least 3 racquet sports, and most are showing more and more people are gravitating into the other Sports offered outside of tennis USPTA Professionals now more than ever can be the leaders in their areas growing Tennis, Pickleball, Paddle Tennis and Padel You might not have access to all 4 but they are here to stay and most of your students will have an interest in learning all of them at some point.

It’s almost time for the Summer Symposium in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday August 24th from 2-5pm the night before we will be attending a Cleveland Guardians game if interested contact Greg Aten our Executive Director (greg aten@uspta org) After the Symposium, we will head over to Shooters on the River to socialize with fellow USPTA Midwest Members. Following the social, the evening Tennis in the Land matches will be taking place which you can attend We will have a Pickleball Certification on Friday August 25th from 8-12pm If interested in registering go to USPTA com, log in and you can register under Pickleball certification Friday afternoon, our Hall of Fame Awards Luncheon will be from 12:30-2:00pm on the upper deck of Shooters on the River with beautiful views of downtown Cleveland

We are looking forward to going to Cleveland this Summer and seeing some of you there For those of you that are going to Cincinnati your USPTA membership card will act as your ticket and can be used as grounds pass like in the past We appreciate the Western and Southern doing this for our members Also, we will be offering a Level 2 exam (Group Lesson) in Cincinnati.

If you need to take the Pickleball Certification we will have a test in Michigan in July and then the one in Ohio at Tennis in the Land We are currently developing more Midwest sites in different states, information will be available soon on the uspta com website.

We wanted to let everyone know that the Midwest Winter Forum will be in Wisconsin at the WAC (Lake Country) on Feb 9-10 It’s been a long time since the USPTA Midwest has held a large conference in the state of Wisconsin, but the Board all agreed it was time The details are currently being worked out by our Education Chair but please save the dates. You will get 15 credits for attending and complete your CEU’s for the 3year period

I want to wish all of you a great Summer and we look forward to seeing you at one of our events coming up in the future Enjoy the Summer Addition of the USPTA Midwest Newsletter.

HELPUSGROWOURSPORT, USPTAMIDWESTEXECUTIVEBOARDOFFICERSWANTED!

TheUSPTAMidwestDivisionNominatingCommitteeisnowacceptingapplicationsfromanyElite orMasterProfessionalwishingtobeconsideredforthe2024-2025slatetobeaMidwestBoard Officer? Current Midwest Board Officers who are interested should also apply to be considered foraposition Thisyear'sUSPTAMidwestDivisionboardtermendsDecember31,2023 Thenext termwillrunfromJanuary1,2024toDecember31,2025

Thepositionsavailableare:RegionalVicePresident,SecondVicePresident,ThirdVicePresident, Secretary/Treasurer,oraStatePresident.

Tobeconsideredforoneoftheaboveoffices,pleasesubmittheinformationbelowtoMikeGraff (mike@baselinetennisnet) by August 15, 2023 We look forward to getting you involved in this greatorganization

2022/2023 Midwest Officers President

Matt Davis • 224-247-2483 tenace4@gmail.com

Regional Vice President John Frausto • 920-860-0751 johnefrausto@gmail.com

Second Vice President Cathy Thomas • 513-218-0782 cthomas6@cinci rr com

Third Vice President Matt Boughton • 715-559-3168 mboughton@ymca-cv.org

Treasurer-Secretary Dan Oliver • 920-227-7005 danonhgb@aol com

Past President Mike Graff • 248-866-0508 mike@baselinetennis.net

Executive Director Greg Aten- 330-283-5837 greg aten@uspta org

State Presidents Ohio

Todd Wojtkowski • 216-905-7463 todd wojtkowski@gmail com

Wisconsin Dan Oliver • 920-227-7005 danonhgb@aol.com

Illinois

Andrew Coon • 314-814-7959 Andrew coonstl@gmail com

Michigan

Kyle Warner • 269-207-9236 kywar8@gmail.com

Indiana TBD •

USPTA World Headquarters 407-634-3050 uspta@uspta org

Midwest Pickleball Update

The USPTA Pickleball certification program has been operating for just over 18 months We are starting to pick up momentum in the Midwest division and are getting more coaches certified Check out some of the current numbers below

40 Coaches Certified

Places We’ve Been To Indianapolis, IN Hartland, WI Elm Grove, WI St. Joseph Michigan Cincinnati, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio Green Bay, Wisconsin Illinois is the only state we haven’t had a workshop in Please contact me if you have connections to get something on the calendar

Upcoming Workshops

Birmingham Racquet Club (Detroit Area)

July 8

Tennis In The Land (Cleveland)

August 25th

Why should you consider getting pickleball certified?

-Job opportunities are now listed as “racquets sports director” and almost all require additional certifications in pickleball, padel, and platform

-Money!! Pickleball is a great way to generate additional income for you and your club

-New options for your membership and students

-Set yourself apart from other coaches in your area

Why is the USPTA process better than the others?

Other organizations have “open” testing for everyone. They will take players with no teaching or coaching experience, put them through a couple hours on the court, and send them away as a certified coach. The USPTA only certifies current teaching professionals who have spent a career learning how to coach, lead, manage, and build relationships with players

How

Does It Work?

Our certification workshop is a 4 hour process that is primarily on court, participating in live play, coaching, and skill work. We cover all shots, how to manage groups, and give best practices for running a successful beginner to intermediate program We also require all students to teach a group lesson during the course, very similar to the “olden days” of the USPTA tennis certification weekend After completing the on court portion, the group lesson, and the online exam, students will be given results.

Feel free to contact me with any questions and to schedule a workshop in your area

Scott Ficks 414-704-5562 scottfickstennis@gmail com

Instagram @scottficks tennis and pickle

FB: Scott Ficks Tennis & Pickleball

Podcast: Order ON The Courts with Scott Ficks (Spotify, Apple, IHeart, etc )

JULY/ 8th

AUGUST/

MIDWEST MIDWEST DATES that RATE DATES that RATE

2023/2024 2023/2024

SEPTEMBER/ 16th 24 - 28th

FEBRUARY/ 9th 10th

Buddy Up Tennis at Green Bay Tennis Center

By Aaron Kolz, USPTA

Here at Green Bay Tennis Center, we have grown very fond of a program that opened the world of tennis to a new group of tennis players over the past four years. We at Green Bay Tennis Center are one of 24 national chapters. Green Bay is the only chapter in Wisconsin in which draws in athletes from 7 surrounding counties from the age of 5 to the age of 55 Our program had a small team back in 2019 with just 16 athletes and 20 volunteers, we just ended our most recent session in which our team has grown from 16 athletes to 28 athletes, 20 volunteers to 50 plus. Our goal is to grow our team in which our entire facility can celebrate our sport together on Saturday mornings. During this program we work on everyday skills, competition, understanding what sportsmanship is and how it looks as well as fitness and of course lots of tennis! Volunteers is what makes our program really feel special as this program has brought a community of tennis players from all around together to help grow the sport and give back to our athletes. To be a volunteer better known as a Buddy it is asked that our youngest volunteer is 14 years but is not limited to just Juniors as any tennis player adult or students in college can be a part of our team In being a Buddy our volunteer acts as a personal coach/ feeder for their athlete of the day. While our Coaches will become more of a task manager and help guide the team through each task that is needed to be achieved in the 90 minutes of our time together. Some of the tasks that get worked on are broken down into either a fitness goal such as building core strength, balance, speed and agility, hand eye coordination. Other tennis goals would be one’s standard strokes learned in a tennis lesson with the end goal of creating an opportunity for the athletes to have a rally to some extent. Buddy Up Tennis runs 3 sessions throughout the school year, with each session having an end of session party. Volunteers are not required to show up weekly, but we encourage everyone to come when they can and as often as they can Our next session is set to start in the middle of October so if you are interested in being a part of our team, feel free to give Coach Aaron Kolz a call or email to get set up to be on the team! Coach Aaron can be contacted about Buddy Up Tennis via phone (920)347-3080 or via email at aaron@greenbaytenniscenter.com

DUNLOP IS PROUD TO PARTNER WITH THE USPTA AND OFFER ITS MEMBERS MORE CHOICE FROM OUR

We’ve got 2,000 sample packs to give away on a first come first served basis, so you can find the right ball for you. Each pack consists of a 3 ball can of: SCAN THE

2023 Hall of Fame

Ohio Pro of the Year - Troy Budgen

Midwest Star Award - Marty Badt

Nancy Mickler Award - Trude Pletcher

High School Coach of the Year - Linda Lied

Large Facility Mgr of the Year - Michelle Witzky

Midwest Diversity Award - Jim Amick