USPTA Southern Division: Where Excellence is Standard
September 2020
Summer Edi on #3
Inside Visit our Virtual Hall of Fame The Best Free Software of 2020 pt 2 Make Sure you Qualify for FREE DUES Good Ideas from the Virtual Conference
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President’s Message
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basis if we can a ract middle he Physical Ac vity Council (PAC) re- and high school students, leased a report concerning tennis par ci- especially considering many pa on during the last five years. While of these students have there is ample room for improvement, dropped out of other sports three age groups show unusual promise in and are looking for someSouthern, and those are 12-17, 18-24, and thing new and exci ng to 55-64, as individuals in those age groups play. who do not play tennis show a much Southern residents ages 18greater interest in ge ng started than 24 also show a keen interest in star ng their peers who live outside Southern. tennis. Individuals in this age group o en In addi on to the PAC findings, I have do not have a lot of money and they do found that among USTA adult league play- not want to play with older adults. This ers who joined USTA when they were jun- means they are unlikely to take lots of iors, those who joined USTA between ages lessons in prepara on for tradi onal 12-17, which is presumably when they league play. Young adult leagues have started playing tennis, were overreprebeen successful in some areas, and by sented in terms of those who later played combining these leagues with a li le inadult league. We can posi vely impact our struc on we could inspire these young programs and our sport on a long-term adults to become tennis players.
The Players’ Box By Jason Hazley Elite Professional
We are excited to share the incep on of a new USPTASouthern social media video series called, “The Players’ Box”. The videos will feature a player being interviewing by his/her primary coach for a few minutes. The main topic to be discussed include improved results due to previous prac ce sessions. A brief explana on of what has been worked on and how it has impacted the player’s tournament performance makes for an ideal interview. Players should be of at least a 6 UTR ra ng and parental consent is necessary for minors to be on camera. We are looking for quality pros to be part of this social media series. If this is of interest to you, please contact USPTA-Southern board member, Jason Hazley at jasonh@noltc.com for more in-
Most 55-64 year old’s recall the “glory days” of American tennis in the 1970’s. Many former and would-be players in that age group might come back to or start playing tennis if it were offered in a nonthreatening way. Emphasizing social play and taking care to match players based on ability would help us a ract and retain players from this age group. We could do be er in being welcoming and matching levels; look no further than the strengths of Pickleball. For years we have heard about this “latent interest” in tennis among those who are not currently playing. Now is the perfect me to be crea ve and a empt to capture these players. In service, Kevin Theos
forma on. We look forward to impac ng the youth of the game with these videos and hope more young players will make this industry their future career choice. Please join us in this quest and check out the USPTASouthern page on Instagram or Facebook to see the first few videos!!
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To Honor & Serve - The Southern Hall of Fame USPTA, Southern Division Hall of Fame History By Fred Burdick USPTA Master Professional, HOF Chairman No ma er your profession, what an honor it is to be selected to a hall of fame. It usually comes toward the end of one's career and is the culmina on of ones life work. It is humbling and emo onal. No one gets to a hall of fame on their own. They stand on the shoulders of many individuals and family members. Our hall of fame is now 17 years old and here is a li le of the history.
of the commi ee took over as chair. Jeff chaired the commi ee un l 2012 and I've chaired the commi ee since then. The commi ee chair serves at the pleasure of the Division President and is appointed yearly.
On or around 2002, the Southern Division Board thought it was me to start a hall of fame for the division. Randy Stephens had been a member of the USTA, Southern Sec on Hall of Fame commi ee. The Southern Sec on of the USTA hall of fame has a long history star ng back in 1977 with their first inductee being Bitsy Grant. Obviously, Randy was the perfect choice to head the USPTA, Southern Division hall of fame commi ee. They developed the criteria for induc on into our hall of fame which is: The purpose of the USPTA Southern Division Hall of Fame is to honor those individuals, who by excellence of their ac vi es and accomplishments, have brought recogni on and esteem to themselves the division and to the USPTA organiza on. Candidates must have been members of the USPTA for a minimum of ten years and applica ons must be made in wri ng.(the commi ee gives much more credence to nomina ons that come from others, rather than the nominee.)
L-R Randy Stephens, Tommy Bartle , Les Longshore, Bill Tym
The other members of the commi ee are selected by the commi ee. The other current members are Reedy Toney and Tom Daglis. You must be a current member of the associa on to be on the commi ee Nomina ons to the Hall of Fame will be evaluated using the following criteria: involvement in their state chapter, division chapter, and na on- but you do not have to be a current member to be selected for the Hall of Fame. al associa on; teaching/coaching accomplishments; playing/ranking accomplishments; publica ons/innova ons; involvement in allied orAny cer fied member can nominate a Southern Division member or ganiza ons; and other contribu ons to the teaching profession and the past member, provided they meet the requirements, to be considered promo on of tennis.
Our first inductee was Bill Tym in 2003. Randy Stephens chaired the commi ee from 2002 to 2005 at which me Jeff Gray, a si ng member
for the hall of fame but the above criteria must apply. Most of the recent members have been nominated by the past members of the hall of fame.
Visit the Hall of Fame at usptasouthern.com and choose the HALL OF FAME tab at the top
Top Row L-R Tom Daglis, Fred Burdick, Dave Dvorak, Tom McGraw Bo om Bill Phillips, Brian Marcus, Jeff Hawes, Greg Grover, Reedy Toney
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One Good Idea! from the Virtual Conference 8/7 & 8/8 Rodney Harmon - Serve & Return Strategies for Doubles It is important to keep partnerships as much as possible. Georgia Tech does very li le swapping of partners once teams are established. It is also important have a specific side of the court that a player will play, and that will not change. When facing the I forma on, Rodney has his returners play both back. Just a safer way to defend the I. Paula Scheb - How To Create Events that Rock WHY EVENTS? Job security. Sure, I teach a good lesson, and so do all of the pros at this club and most other clubs. GMs at major clubs say that the #1 thing for the tennis director is running GREAT event programming. Teaching a lesson is way down the line, as it is just expected and does not set candidates apart. Big fan of the book by Greg Grover, Crea ve Programming. Mats Wilander/Andy Zodin - Chats with Mats Mats did not grow up taking private coaching .It was public facili es, and o en short blocks of me. Repe on does not make you the best, people get too bored. It is important to be mentally fresh when trying to improve. Jay Berger - From Training Pros to Club Players: Best Prac ces Coaching Philosophy - It is all about our players, whether club players or current professional players. He has already had his day in the pros, so now it is a player centric approach. No need to make sure everyone knows his ability, or to show off in a lesson situa on. Jay uses a tremendous amount of video analysis. This is usually as simple as using the phone to video a student,
and then analyze, o en with a comparison player. There is not extra charge for this, it is just part of the lesson me. It is the norm in a golf lesson, and o en the analysis is sent to the student within 30 minutes. A comment from John Wooden "Be more specific on feedback, not just GOOD SHOT, or GOOD EFFORT. John was over 75% specific on his feedback. Mike Woody - It’s Not What You Do It/Its How You Do It Mike used men .com to get instant feedback during the presenta on. A neat and easy way to get responses to simple ques ons by an answer or mul ple choice. Answers are anonymous. We need to determine the WHAT (ex: Promote tennis to non-players). The HOW is How we do this and make an impact. One of their HOWs was to show up at the fitness area with the Big racquet. Everyone started playing around with it. Then people were asked "Have you ever played tennis", "Have you ever tried tennis?". Get a dialogue and make sure that they understand that it is a different experience than trying tennis 20+ years ago. Jeff Salzenstein - Serve Master Class 3 big areas to work on the serve. 1) What is the upper body doing 2) What is the lower body doing 3) Can the body make the adjustments. The 3rd area is where RacquetFit really helps to assess the physical limita ons of your students. Jeff showed a few 'hacks' for making correc ons. In the pla orm stance, move the back foot away from the front foot slightly (McEnroe style), and rotate the back foot slightly outward (towards the back fence). This will allow a player to rotate their body more, which is a big problem for a lot of players trying to make big serve changes. Jeff likes the half swing start posi on to work on ge ng the racquet into the proper 'slot'. Many players let the racquet drop too far to the non-dominant side of their body. Once comfortable, he uses a 3/4 posi on. He feels many players get lost in the full windup and need to shorten up the swing.
View all the seminars on our Youtube channel
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USPTA Southern Virtual Conference A Smashing Success by Kevin Theos Our first USPTA Southern Virtual Conference took place August 7th and 8th. On day one, Rodney Harmon, who is a former touring pro and currently coaches the women’s team at Georgia Tech, led us off and did a fantas c job sharing his perspec ves on doubles tac cs and posi oning, as well as providing recommendaons for how high school players can best prepare for playing college tennis. Following Rodney was Paula Scheb, who is a Master Pro and directs tennis and fitness at Bonita Bay Club in Florida. Paula shared a few of her crea ve program ideas and encouraged pros to experiment with their programs and events to keep players happy and coming back. We wrapped up day
and it was inspiring to hear how he constantly asks ques ons and seeks to add to his coaching knowledge. Mike Woody, who oversees tennis opera ons for Genesis Clubs and has one with Andy Zodin, who is the president of extensive management experience, followed the USPTA Intermountain division, interviewing Jay’s presenta on. Through developing and Hall of Fame member Mats Wilander who corefining crea ve events and programming, as hosts the KickServeRadio.com podcast with well as encouraging staff members to be imagiZodin and Jonny Levine. Mats shared his tennis na ve and experiment, Mike showed how it is experiences growing up, his perspec ves on possible to con nually improve one’s events training and mindset, and much more. Hearing and provide players with fun and memorable from Mats was a real treat and was a phenome- experiences that keep them in the game. Our nal way to wrap-up day one. final presenter was Jeff Salzenstein, who was a former All-American and top 100 player and is On day two, former world number 7 now the CEO of Tennis Evolu on, an online tenJay Berger, who has extensive high-performance nis teaching pla orm. Jeff shared how adjustcoaching experience and now teaches at the ments in foot posi on and shoulder rota on can Club at Ibis in Florida, offered his thoughts on add significant pace and spin to the serve, even training high level players as well as recrea onal among high level players. club players. He truly is a student of the game,
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Your Best Marketing Tool Is A Complaining Member You compete with other fitness providers, DIY fitness fana cs, wearables/devices and the couch. Surely it makes sense to examine every op on to differen ate ourselves beyond price and facili es. Let's start by changing our own mind set and embracing what Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos, says, "We don't look at customer service as an expense, we look at it as an extension to our marke ng budget. We've created a legion of promoters, which saves us dollars in terms of having to market because we let our delighted customers do it for us." What a powerful outlook on service.
By Jus n Tamse
There are 4 benefits to answering complaints, you: (1) Turn an unhappy customer into a happy or at least a neutral customer; (2) Create customer advocacy - when people have a problem that is solved for them, they love you! And they tell people about their experience. (3) Help gather valuable insights and intelligence on both your business and the needs of your members. (4) Differen ate yourself from your compe tors.
We have already iden fied that many businesses do poor service, so this can be a key factor in growing your business. The number 1 benefit from research shows that a successful service recovery can lead to 20 mes more Now imagine for a moment every me a memposi ve word of mouth than regular adver sber calls the club or stops at the front desk or ing. So, customer or member service IS a martalks to his/her personal trainer or grabs the ke ng tool. The biggest disadvantage of not group fitness instructor that there are 15 other answering complaints is that your member will members listening to the discussion between not respond and this is a response. It says "I your staff member and this member. Would don't care about you." Answer the complainers your staff member have a different approach and build their advocacy for your business, with 15 spectators than if it was just a one to your service and your team. one discussion? What is important to acknowledge is that the The concept may seem far-fetched but that's most dangerous customer is not the person precisely the world we live in. These interacwho complains but the "meh" customer. These ons are conveyed: Privately through word of are the members who neither compliment us mouth, same as we have done for thousands of or those that complain. If we take the earlier years; Publicly through social media and resta s c that only 5% of members complain view sites, such as Google and Facebook. John and consider that at the other end of the specDulius wrote "The Customer Service Revolutrum only 5% compliment, then we have 90% on" and he describes a differen a ng factor of customers who could be classified at 'meh.' for your business could be that you 'outlove With this group of members, we have no idea your compe on." what is going on in their head. These members Remember these key customer service facts: are the ones who are ripe for being lured away (1) 95% of disgruntled customers never comfrom you by your compe tors. They have no plain to the en ty responsible for their dissa s- loyalty to your business. fac on. The insight here is that 5% of your Now don't assume just because a member says customer base give you the road map on how they hate you or they have been disappointed to fix what is wrong with your business! These by you that they actually hate you or are going are the vocal members who can help you to leave you. They tell you what they think shape and strengthen your business. (2) 80% of because they are upset with you. They are s ll businesses think they deliver 'superior' customkind of love you, otherwise they wouldn't be er service, only 8% of customers agree. We taking the me to tell you what they think. have a dis nct mismatch between what businesses think and what consumers think. Our complaining members can be divided into
2 types: (1) Off stage complaining members (2) On stage complaining members. Your off stage complaining members (a) Complain in private phone, email, in person; (b) Are generally older and less tech savvy; and (c) complain less o en. Most importantly for off stage complaining members is they want an answer! Their expecta on at minimum is a response and they expect a response within 8 hours. If you receive an email complaint and it is not answered, we see a 56% decline in advocacy! When handled poorly, the writer can become an on stage complainer. To handle your offstage complainers requires money and effort. Nevertheless, they want to hear from you. This 'cost' is an investment in your ongoing business and marke ng. Consider following this 5 step process to handling off stage complainers: (1) Human - be a real person when listening to your member; (2) One channel - just use one channel to listen and respond, ideally the method they used; (3) Unify your data - ensure that you have ALL the informa on in front of you when speaking with the member; (4) Resolve the issue - listen to the member and then resolve the issue; (5) Speedy response - from an email complaint the response me has blown out from 8 hours to 44 hours. You must be be er to do be er than this and your members expect it. On Stage Complaining Members can be summarized as: (1) They complain in public - social media, review sites, discussion forums - 71% of social media complaints are on Facebook. (2) Generally younger; (3) Love mobile tech; (4) "Complain" or comment o en; (5) They want an audience; (6) Less than 50% expect a response. The sta s cs about on stage complaining members indicate there is lots of room for improvement: 39% of social media complainers expect a response within an hour but on average it is 5 hours. Your members have come to an cipate a style & response speed from all businesses. If you can defy or exceed those
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replies then move on from a public forum and go to an off stage communica on method; (5) Switch your channels - a er your ini al response then move to a call, email or direct expecta ons, it will create a 'shock and awe' effect. This will increase your chances of devel- messaging in the channel. oping advocates of your business. If a member calls you to comment or complain,
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website to solve their problems. (3) Community based service - using forums on your site can reduce costs by 10-50%. (4) Mobile messaging Your millennials would love to text their issues.
Embrace your complaining members as they give you a powerful insight into the state of your business. It is fair to assume that if one When dealing with your on-stage complainers, would you ever hang up the phone on them? Unlikely? Highly unlikely? Well not responding member has an issue (ie the 5% that complain) there are also 5 elements: (1) Find all men ons on social media is akin to this only worse! that there are others. Listening and ac ng will - you have to know when people talk about Because there are other people watching and please your members. Improving how you you! You must use Google alerts and Menlistening to your response. Responding to a handle complaining members is the easiest on.net or a social media listening so ware; complaint on social media will have an average marke ng strategy you can roll out in your (2) Empathy is cri cal - cri cism can be taken 20% li in your advocacy, as people see your business. It is also a clear differen ator for you. to heart. Before you reply breathe and think 'how would I want to be spoken to.' It's about response. And not responding will see a drop understanding; (3) Answer publicly - Customer of around 43% in advocacy! Can you offer: (1) service is a spectator sport, people are looking Pro-ac ve service - Can you reach out to them Jus n Tamse is recognized world-wide as a before they have a reason to complain. (2) Self- thought leader who challenges the status quo for your response, so respond publicly; (4) for the industry. Reply only twice - if it is not resolved a er two service - 72% of customers prefer to use your
We are excited to announce our Winter Workshop, which will be held on November 14, 2020 in Birmingham, AL. Our line-up will include David Smith and Bill Pa on, as well as a demonstra on of wheelchair tennis from Evan Enquist, Head Wheelchair Tennis Coach at the University of Alabama. David Smith is not only an accomplished tennis coach and mentor to thousands of young men and women, but he also is an accomplished author, with a number of best-selling books, including Tennis Mastery, Coaching Mastery and - his newest work - High School Coaching Mastery. David will be giving a 3-hour lecture both indoor, with a PowerPoint presenta on, then on-court sharing over 75 drills, programming ideas, and an introduc on to his Advanced Founda on Principles. Bill Pa on is a Maverick Leader. With the publica on of The Athlete Centered Coach, he is working hard to influence sports culture globally. There is a revolu on going on in coaching, and Bill has always colored outside the lines, and he is ready for new lines to be drawn. Bill has published 12 books, including The Art of Coaching High School Tennis, and Top 5 Strategies for Winning Tennis, and some call Visual Training for Tennis his best book. He is now featured on coachtube.com, with three different tennis courses. We look forward to seeing all of you in person in November
Alabama
vate courts in Arkansas. Junior tournaments in Arkansas have been running since the end of June. To date, seven junior tournaments have been completed and par cipa on in these events has been very good. Many junior players in Arkansas remain eager to get back out on the court and compete. USTA Arkansas has been using the Match-Tennis Applica on for a virtual check-in and reports that this process has been going very smoothly. They send out facility/safety procedures to the players and parents for them to follow in order to help limit the spread of COVID-19 in our state and con nue to have tennis tournaments. We have a great opportunity and a great responsibility as tennis pros to help our players live more healthier lives and find the sport of a lifeme. Georgia has had an unprecedented year naviga ng a global pandemic. As we’ve learned more about how Covid19 is spread, tennis has been touted as a low risk ac vity. Most Georgia facili es shut down for weeks but have seen a great spike in ac vity as restric ons were li ed. Tennis has certainly been a great outdoor ac vity helping thousands of players be er cope with our current circumstances.
Georgia
Summer league play moved forward, with limited numbers. Strict guest restric ons in some clubs have impacted league play for the fall. League play will look very different as clubs try to ins tute safety reguThe state of Arkansas is aptly called the Natural la ons like checking members and guest temperatures upon arrival, State, and like the natural and socially distant asking for guests’ lineups a day in advance, staggering start mes to Arkansas outdoors, the game of tennis could similarly be dubbed, the eliminate congrega on, and asking players to leave immediately followNaturally Social Distant Sport. Most of our pros have adapted and iming matches. These guidelines can help all clubs keep playing tennis in a provised to the new “playing-it-safe,” and many of them and their facilisafe and responsible manner. es have been rewarded for their diligence during these mes. SpeakUSPTA GA has not made any decisions about the December workshop ing of being rewarded, we have 10 facili es and 40 pros that received due to the current state’s status with Covid19. In person mee ngs are the USTA Southern Cares grant. THANK YOU Currently, we are in the process of trying to schedule a pros cer fica- not favorable and it feels too early to predict what may be ahead for on class in Jonesboro to be held in mid-to-late October. I am happy to December. We encourage everyone to a end the virtual world conferannounce that there is a great need for tennis pros on public and prience with many fresh topics and speakers.
Arkansas
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South Carolina
Hi South Carolina Pros! i I have heard from many of you all from around the state and the consensus seems to be that everyone is open, and busy! With school opening later, many clubs have extended their summer camps. In many areas, most of the clubs are not le ng guests in yet, but in-club play is PACKED! I would also like to thank those South CaroCongrats to Top Seed Tennis club in Nicholasville, lina pros in the mentor/mentee program as this is such a valuable program for all pros. The south carolina pros that are involved are Mitch Kentucky on hos ng the first WTA event in the White (mentor and co-chair), Craig Wells (mentee), Jack Jus ce US since March This past week. The Top Seed Open draw included Venus and Serena Williams, Sloan Stephens, Victoria Azarenka, CoCo Gauf, (mentor), and Gary Agardy (mentee). Don't forget to take advantage of the FREE con nuing educa on videos on Tennisresources.com! BREAKShelby Rogers and Jennifer Brady. Congrats to Brady on her first WTA ING NEWS—USPTA pro Mehdi El-Kheddiwi , former General Manager at Title. Fans could not a end in person but the Tennis channel carried it live throughout the week. Congrats to Top Seed and their staff on a job Ion Club in Mount Pleasant has accepted the Racquet Sports Manager posi on with Midtown Club well done!
Kentucky
Good news in Bowling Green, Kentucky! Bowling Green / Warren County were approved for an 8.2 million dollar tennis facility this month. It will feature 6 indoor and 6 outdoor tennis courts. Congrats!! Tennis is coming back in Kentucky! Since tennis is one of the best social distancing sports par cipa on is picking up and more families are playing tennis. Everyone please be safe during these trying mes. If any USPTA pros are interested in helping out with our Kentucky Board or need help with anything feel free to contact me any me. Chuck Brown. 8593219970 ChuckB0489@msn.com
Louisiana
We had a really great workshop scheduled before the world stopped, and now that it is coming back to life, we s ll can’t have a workshop. If Drew Brees and Tom Brady are going against each other in the Superdome and the dome is going to be empty, it’s probably not a good me for a workshop. We are going to set up social gatherings in different parts of the state to allow pros to share ideas and get to know each other be er. It can also be a me to vent safely if needed. Dates and mes for these socials will be coming soon.
North Carolina
It’s hard to believe we are nearly through the summer and into fall tennis. It has been a li le different than years past, to put it mildly. We have begun to see an upswing in tournament and league play around the state. The USTA adult leagues state tournament was held in
Tennessee
Murfreesboro August 21-23 with a great turnout. People want to play. The JTT state tournament will be in Murfreesboro August 29-30. There have also been numerous USTA and UTR events held successfully in ci es all around the state. Although some are hesitant to jump back into compe ve play, many adjustments have been adopted to keep players and their families safe at these events. It has been fun ge ng back out to teach and play. Many of the Tennis Professionals I have spoken with have never been as busy as they have been over the past five months. It’s been fascina ng and impressive to see the crea vity, energy, and some mes just the sheer will professionals have shown in efforts to keep the tennis courts open and safe. Whether we worked with no apparent slow down or had a mandatory three-month hiatus, we all s ll have similar goals and a great network of people to share ideas and lessons with. I am so glad to be a part of this profession and so thankful to be able to work. Have a safe fall and hope to see you at the virtual Na onal Conven on.
As I write this, it’s not a newsle er but a testament to the President work our pros across the state have done these past months. Kevin Theos Three months ago, we were shut down, many not able to theos@sta.usta.com teach and uncertainty in the air. 205-790-7256 Given the new “ normal”, pros across the state have taken advantage of the safe haven of playing tennis. Pros in the 1st Vice President Raleigh/ Durham, Greensboro, Wilmington, Charlo e and the Tom Parkes mountains have never been busier. We are teaching with the pvcctennis@gmail.com new normal of social distancing, masks and smaller group 910-233-4755 sizes and growing our sport. Without USTA play over the sum2nd Vice President mer, clubs & pros have stepped up and created more playing Kaitlin Flaherty-Bisplinghoff opportuni es such as leagues, quads to retain many of the kflaherty07@gmail.com new players that came to the game. 832-656-4472 With travel not an op on, more is available to network and gather con nuing educa on. The Summer Virtual Conference Secretary/Treasurer that was just completed was full of excellent speakers. If you Ken Andriano missed any of it, look for some of the presenta ons on our kandriano@theriverclub-ga.com YouTube page. The Na onal Virtual Conven on is a month 336-541-5876 away so sign up and make me to catch some of the great speakers. Past President/Regional VP Todd Upchurch In conclusion, stay safe, keep being the best you can be and tupchurch1@gmail if USPTA NC can help in any way, please do not hesitate to reach out. Director at Large Bill Riddle tennisun@aol.com 615-243-6698
Director at Large Jason Hazley usptala@gmail.com 225-247-3028 Executive Director Pat Whitworth pat.whitworth@uspta.org 800-438-7782 (phone/fax) Head Tester Ron Gwyn rgwyn@haigpoint.com 843-341-8114 AL John Beaube jbeaube@green2grocer.com AR Pat Malone patmalone67@gmail.com GA Bill Anderson banderson@capitalcityclub.org
KY Chuck Brown chuckb0489@msn.com LA Bill Bryan billb1481@gmail.com MS Emilia Viljoen stayplaytennis@gmail.com NC Fred Pfuhl hpfuhl@tollbrothers.com SC Mike Pollard mpollard@wexfordplantation.com TN Meg Bandy mbandy@mccallie.org
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James “Jimbo” Hobson Henson Park Tennis Center Sherwood AR
83. I got my first Director job at Belvedere CC in 87. I became a tester the same year and tested over 500 applicants over the next 31 years. I’ve coached at zonals and Davis/Fed cup and won gold twice. I was state president rep for ten years. I’m currently Director at Henson park and will be moving into a new facility as soon as Covid calms down.
I love to draw. What are your hobbies? Badminton, Billy Pate and I used to have epic ba les. Horse racing. Drawing. What is your favorite movie? Shawshank Redemp on and Raising Arizona. What is your favorite sports team? Arkansas Razorbacks basketball we’re coming back.
When did you start playing tennis? I started playing tennis in 1972 and got an $8 Stan Smith Amer- Who is your favorite player of all me? Roger Federer and Steffi Graf ican from Otasco for my 12th birthday. What other sports did you play? I played football, baseball,boxed and ran track.
Give a brief descrip on of your tennis/other career: I started teaching tennis at 13 at a local rec center. I started at Burns Park at 17 and started teaching full me a er gradua ng from U of A in
What moved you to teach tennis? People started asking me to teach them when I was 13. I got a red bucket and started teaching at $5 an hour. Minimum wage was $1.60. What is something people will be surprised to learn about you? I have a degree in art educa on.
Chris aan Lee-Daigle Weddington Swim exci ng, athle c, and sociable compared to golf. I am glad I chose tennis! & Racquet Club City: Charlo e, NC
What person would you most like to have lunch with? Roger Federer and James Taylor What would you be doing if you were not in tennis? Teaching school If you had a "do over", what one thing would you have done differently in your teaching career? I would have not taken so many trips with the kids and spent more me trying to create one
What person would you most like to have lunch with? Sir Winston Churchill. I would love to know Give a brief descrip on of your tennis/other career: What are your hobbies? Wri ng poems, bike rides what his thoughts are of our current state of affairs with my wife and daughter, reading, and travelling. and what he would do in our situa on. He was a Started playing at age 5. Currently the Head Proman of ac on and resolve in difficult and near fessional at Weddington Swim & Racquet Club What is your favorite movie? Remember the Titans. impossible situa ons. I love the messages it sends of the importance of When did you start playing tennis? Age 5 equality, working hard, being a team player, and What would you be doing if you were not in tennis? figh ng to overcome adversi es. I believe I What other sports did you play? Golf, karate, would be a broomball, volleyball, badminton, ping pong, socAre you reading anything right now? Players by golf instructor cer and swimming. I enjoyed trying all sports. Ma hew Fu erman. It is the story of the business or a school of professional sports and the revolu onary chang- teacher. I enWhat moved you to teach tennis? I witnessed firsthand the impact a great tennis coach can have es that have turned professional athletes into the joy teaching megastars they are today. others and on a young person's life. My coaches growing up passing on my passed on their love of the game onto me and I knowledge to con nue to pass that on to everyone I teach. I also What is your favorite sports team? the Colorado Avalanche anyone that is didn't want to sit behind a desk all day. I enjoy willing and being ac ve. wan ng to What is something people will be surprised to learn Who is your favorite player of all me? Roger Federer. Not only is he a phenomenal athlete and learn. about you? I could have pursued golf rather than tennis player who has broken record a er record, tennis. I was skilled enough to be a great golfer he is a wonderful role model for young athletes and most likely pursue a golf scholarship had I and philanthropist gone that route. However, tennis seemed more
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“Success Secrets” Jeff Francoeur By Pat Whitworth USPTA Master Professional
TENNIS MAGAZINE 2019 EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD FOR TENNIS MAGAZINE 2019 EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD FOR
BEST NEW INNOVATION BEST NEW INNOVATION
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The Ba le of the Surfaces Tennis has changed so much in recent decades. There was a shi to slow play beginning in the 1990s. Tennis fans began to complain that the faster surfaces were boring. The faster surfaces did not allow for long, suspenseful rallies, as points usually consisted of a hard serve, followed by a rush to the net, the serve-andvolley game. Slower surfaces see the players staying put at the baseline, jockeying back and forth for long, drawn-out points. Grand Slam events and many ATP tournaments have slowed down their surface in the past decade. Wimbledon changed the composi on of their grass, the Australian Open changed to a slower hard-court surface and the U.S. Open added more sand to their courts’ composi on to slow play down. It is common for tennis players to debate which surface is the best. Of course, each specific surface has its own fans. Players in Great Britain prefer grass. In North America, most people play on hard courts. In Europe and South America, players are fans of the clay court, especially red clay. In Europe and La n America, clay court players build points with angles, spin, and consistency. The king of clay, Rafael Nadal, has won the French open 12 mes, more than anybody else in history. Novak Djokovic, the current top player in the world, is very skillful on the surface as well. It is telling to observe that like Nadal and Djokovic, the current top 15 men’s players in the world grew up playing on clay courts. Each day tennis is ge ng more and more complex. Now, every play-
by Andres Yepez, USPTA Elite Professional
er is fast, consistent, and strong. These are the United States. Clay court skills are the skills that are best acquired by training domina ng the sport on the interna onal on clay courts. level. When I first arrived in the US from Vene-
Brian Dabul from Argen na, former number 1 junior in the world and top 80 in the world ATP, says that, “Without a doubt growing up in South America playing on clay courts gives us extra knowledge about playing. South American coaches can combine with North American coaches to help our juniors generate more accelera on on shots, work angles be er, and build longer points Adding the claycourt style to US teaching will help juniors to make be er decisions on zuela in 2010 to play college tennis, I the court..” Today Brian has one of the quickly found out that the dominant sur- most successful junior programs in Florida face was the hard court. I remember my and the US. He has trained pro players as college coaches asking me to start stepsuccessful as Elina Svitolina, current numping more into the court instead of staying ber 5 in the world WTA, in the art of domi3 feet behind the baseline every point. It na ng the clay court and the different did not take me longer to make the neces- skills necessary to find success in this sursary correc on and adapt my clay court face in general. In my opinion, the need profile to the faster hard courts that I was for players to become more complete in now playing on, and the skills I mastered terms of skills and varia ons is ge ng playing in clay court for years were key bigger every day. The game has evolved so components of the success I had in my much that the tradi onal training where college carrier. you focus only one surface is not enough anymore. As a coach in Mississippi for the last seven years, I have no ced that US coaches have Globaliza on is changing the world, ina great culture of training, but their meth- cluding the world of tennis. As an internaonal coach, the key lesson that I have ods differ greatly from coaches in South learned is to be open-minded and to unAmerica who teach clay court skills. In the derstand that the sport is changing. Every US, most of the tournaments and tennis day it becomes more challenging to be courts are played on hard courts which successful, and our job is to guide juniors evidently agrees with the tennis style of to choose from the best available styles this country. More inputs from other ten- that have developed on different surfaces. nis cultures, especially from South Ameri- It is what you do before the prac ce start that makes a champion. ca, will add value to our junior players in
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The Best Free So ware of 2020 part 1 It's a mobile world, but we have not fully abandoned the desktop. The real work (and a lot of the play) of compu ng requires a full personal compu ng system, and to get the most out of that, you need so ware. So ware can be expensive, but free programs have been a mainstay of the desktop experience for decades, and today's offerings are pre y powerful. So ware developers can adopt an ad-based model, dona onware to keep things afloat, or a shareware/freemium model that charges for extra features.
we've included web-based apps that are as good, or be er, than some downloadable programs. If the so ware is on a ered sales model, the free version cannot be trial-ware. It has to have at least a free-for-life op on. Preferably the program has had an update in the last year or two.
by Eric Griffith
ings when the weather turns bad? The combina ons and permua ons are endless and limited only by your imagina on. (Some tools don't give you full access, but hey). (Read our review of IFTTT.) Zapier Another in the world of automaons between services and apps, Zapier puts the focus on businesses and helps them get the most out of all the disparate services they use. Prepare for produc vity to soar. The free version lets you perform up to 100 automated tasks per month. (Read our review of Zapier.)
The program should have li le or no adver sing to support it. Some freemium Something to always watch for: so ware depends on Clean-Up / Maintenance U li es crapware installers. To make ends showing ads to exist, howmeet, many creators of otherwise ever. We'll include some if CCleaner Free great free so ware, or the services they don't suck. The first C is for Crap! CCleaner that offer the programs for downdeletes extraneous You want powerful so - files that gunk up the load, bundle in things you don't Audio want. Worse, the installa on rouOS and browsers. Get ware—but you don't ne obfuscates the steps, so you Audacity it and run it, regularly. provide the unwanted program tacit Open-source have to pay for it. Every- It'll even delete some permission to be installed. For more Audacity can thing you need to be apps you didn't think about how to spot and avoid this record and you could get rid of. produc ve on your PC is (Read our review of problem, see How to Rid a New PC edit audio of Crapware, and check out the files on more in this list of programs, CCleaner Professional Uninstaller sec on below. tracks than Plus.) you can im- and it's all totally free. A pro p: only download desktop agine. It then File Recovery and Deso ware from the maker of the outputs exactly what you need, le on so ware directly. It's not fooleven to MP3 if you use a plug-in. It Recuva proof—a er all, developers want to is perfect for noobs and pros alike, Recuva (say it out loud) is a must on eat, too—but it helps. That's why on any desktop OS. the tool belt of any techie: it's the one of the criteria for inclusion here key to helping recover a lost file. It's is that the program is available diAutoma ons easy to understand, though should rectly from its maker. really be installed before you lose a IFTTT file. It's portable, so you have the Other Criteria: If This, Then That, aka IFTTT, is a op on to run it from a USB thumb The so ware must be available service with a website and apps that drive. (Read our review of Recuva.) directly from the develop- let you create automa ons that er/creator/original pubhook up your various web and TestDisk lisher. smart home services and devices. TestDisk does a lot more than just Want your lights to come on when find lost files. It can recover an enThe so ware should (typically) you walk in the door? Want a backre lost hard drive par on, and have a Windows-based up created when you make a new makes what was once a nondownload. However, contact? Want email or text warnbootable disk drive bootable again.
It's open source so it might not have as fancy a user interface as you're used to, but it's powerful. Companion tool PhotoRec specializes in recovering lost images. Eraser The opposite of file recovery is u er destruc on—the thing you do to keep a file out of someone else's hands. Eraser does that, wri ng over the spot on your drive where the file(s) lived un l it's scrubbed clean, with no chance of it coming back to haunt you. Use it to schedule a wipe of the free space on the disk, or just to purge your recycle bin. File Management Mul Commander There are many, many a empts out there to replace Windows Explorer (a file manager marina ng in weak sauce). Mul Commander stands out, providing mul ple tabs, a file viewer, and dual panels to efficiently show you everything. 7-Zip Eventually in this life, you're going to run into an archive file—a single file with mul ple files stored (and compressed) inside it. They have different extensions, from RAR to ZIP to 7z and many more, and somemes the program to open them costs you. Not 7-Zip. It opens all of those and more, and allows crea on of new archives. It'll even encrypt the contents for safety. It's en rely open source.
The rest of the list will be featured in the next edi on.
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