Southwest V irtual Conference

The Southwest Division hosted its first ever virtual conference last month. The decision to go virtual was easy, Covid-19 gave us no choice. Although we could not meet in person, doing a virtual conference certainly had its positive side. For instance, the cost to view the three-day event was only $39.95 for USPTA pros and since it was virtual there were no hotel costs or airfare. That meant more people could afford to participate, and they did. In fact, since it was virtual, we had many pros from other divisions join us as well. We had a total of 116 attendees which was excellent.

USPTA Southwest President, Dave Moyer, began the conference with a division update. Following Dave Dr. Gregory Prudhomme presented a seminar on “Unshakeable Confidence” followed by Mike Barrell who gave a four-hour specialty course entitled “Court Warrior ”.

Day two began with Chuck Provencio speaking on “Managing Millennials” followed by Amanda Fink who spoke on “Lefties: A guide for working with left-handed players for right-handed coaches”. Dr. Jim Loehr followed Amanda speaking on “Leading with Character ” which is also the title of his new book. Lori Therrien finished day two with “Utilizing the USTA Adult League Programs.

On day three Past USPTA National President, Gary Trost, gave a national board update. Next former world number one player, Mats Wilander, USPTA Intermountain President, Andy Zodin, and Phoenix businessman and two time all american, Jonny Levine spoke on “How junior and pro tennis helped prepare me for life in the real world.” A virtual round table discussion followed and pros chose one of five breakrooms based on their particular interest.

Evaluation forms were emailed to all attendees at the conclusion of the conference which will give us valuable input for future conferences.

Much appreciation and thanks to conference co-chairs Laurie Martin and Amy Badger for all their hard work in making this year ’s conference a great success!

Amanda Fink Andy Zodin Mats W ilander Dr. Jim Loehr Mike Barrell

Jonny Levine Chuck Provencio Lori Therrien Dr. Greg Prudhomme Gary Trost