Southwest Magazine - March 2023

President’s Message

Amy Badger - USPTA Southwest President

Greetings fellow USPTA Southwest Pros,

As I begin the final year of this term, I momentarily reflect on the many changes that were presented to us as a division and national organization in 2022. It’s life in its purist form, all the ups and downs but what has stayed the course is the resiliency and determination of this board and division to bring quality educational opportunities to raise our levels of expertise and determination from our professionals to continue promoting the game, including alternative racquet sports, which is now part of the fabric of our industry.

To begin, we are looking forward to a fantastic USPTA/ USTA conference in May. Board members Greg Prudhomme and Suk Ong have been working very hard to deliver a fantastic weekend of education, networking and socializing. We have a new location this year, Arrowhead Country Club in Glendale, AZ. Glendale is just on the northwest outskirts of Phoenix. A gorgeous facility that our own Tatum Prudhomme now heads up as Tennis Director. Through the tremendous efforts of Tatum and board member Greg Prudhomme, Arrowhead Country Club will be a beautiful host site. So please register early to take advantage of the early bird discount. We also can offer a few scholarships thanks to the generosity of CourtReserve. Our division has done more than any other division in the country in terms of efforts to bring quality yearround educational opportunities. We are known to be among the first to always have our division members meet their educational requirements. Jack Michalko, our Executive Director, does a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes and we are extremely grateful for his active leadership and genuine care to bring these opportunities to our teaching professionals.

During this conference we will also be acknowledging our outstanding professionals at the annual awards luncheon. I would encourage you to please take this time to review the award descriptions and nominate someone you know that has gone above and beyond. Our division is known across the country as tiny but mighty as evidenced by two national award winners last year. Many of you might not want the recognition, but it is important to our division to acknowledge the great work of our fellow pros and on a national level. Ryan Johnson heads up the awards committee with board members Suk Ong and Amanda Fink, so please reach out and they can help you with any nomination questions.

There is no greater learning and growing than in person. Zooms and google meets have their place planted in our lives but the in person networking and socializing opportunities create connections and relationships that can last a lifetime and where online falls short. District coordinators are working to include such opportunities closer to home as evidenced in Tucson with Amanda Fink and Brit Feldhausen.

So, make a great decision and register early for the May conference. And please nominate! Thank you for all that you do to grow the game. This board is always available to you and can help with any questions you may have. I look forward to seeing you in May!

2023 USPTA Southwest Division Annual Conference To

Register: Click Here

Arrowhead Country Club, Glendale, AZ. Site of the 2023 USPTA Southwest Conference

2022 USPTA Southwest Conference Hotel Information:

Hotel: Hampton Inn

8408 West Paradise Lane

Peoria, Arizona, 85382 (623) 486-9918

To reserve rooms at the Hampton Inn Hotel for the Southwest Conference please: click on this link: The room rate for the Southwest Conference is $139.00 a night, which includes a continental breakfast, free Wi-Fi, and free parking. This rate is only guaranteed through April 18, 2023, and rooms are limited, so be sure to make your reservations early!

2023 USPTA/USTA SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE & BUYING SHOW ARROWHEAD

COUNTRY CLUB CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Thursday, May 18 Location

6:00 - 8:00 pm USPTA Southwest Board of Directors Meeting Washita

Friday, May 19

7:00 am - 4:00 pm USPTA SW Registration Lobby

9:00 - 9:50 am 4 Strategy Drills & What to Do When Your Strokes Take a VacationKen DeHart Courts

10:00 - 10:50 pm

Equipping Your Students for Success: How String & Racket Knowledge Can Add Value for Students & Coaches-Ray Wendein & David Gold Pima

11:00 - 11:50 am Tennis Programming-Round Table Discussion-Amy Badger Pima

12:00 - 1:45 pm USPTA Southwest General Membership Luncheon Meeting Pima

2:00 - 2:50 pm Diversity & Inclusion Round Table Discussion-Jenny Gray

3:00 - 3:50 pm Benefits of a Digital Club Platform through Automation, Data, And Revenue-Ashley Owens

4:00 - 4:50 pm USPTA National Update-Jenny Gray

5:00 - 7:30 pm USPTA/ USTA Southwest Cocktail Party Stadium Terrace

Saturday, May 20

7:00 am - 4:00 pm USPTA SW Registration Lobby

7:00 - 8:15 am USPTA/USTA Board Breakfast Washita

8:30 - 9:20 am Linking Athletic Development into Your Lesson Plans: Transferring Foundational Skills to Optimize Tennis Specific Learning-Johnny Parkes Courts

9:30 - 10:20 am 7 Tips to Improve Player performance & Your Communication Plus 5 Drills for Strategy & Tactics-Ken DeHart Courts

10:30 – 11:20 am Top Drills for Team Practices-Ashley Portwood Courts 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Trade Show/Lunch

1:10 - 2:50 pm Southwest Awards Program & Hall of Fame Inductees Pima

3:00 - 3:50 pm The Challenges Facing the Career Tennis Professional: How You Can Strategically “Ride off into the Sunset”-Lane Evans Pima

4:00 – 4:50 pm The Case for the 2.5 Player-Lane Evans

Southwest Conference

Arrowhead Country Club, Glendale, AZ May 19-20, 2023

Featured Speakers

Amy Badger

Jenny Gray

David Gold

Lane Evans

Ashley Portwood

Ken DeHart

Johnny Parkes

Ray Wendein

Ashley Owens

Phoenix, Arizona

by Leslie Banks

Feb ‘23 Article

Happy New Year! So much going on in the Phoenix area!

There is speculation of a tennis hub being created by ASU with indoor and outdoor courts. Partly in response to the lack of support for tennis professionals and the growth of tennis by city parks. The need for something bigger and more stable for the racquets’ community is glaring. These are just rumors as of now, but I’m crossing my fingers it won’t be more than 5 years down the road.

There are 2 area USPTA Pros I would like to highlight this quarter: Tatum Prudhomme & Jeffrey Smallwood. Tatum recently accepted the Director of Tennis position at Arrowhead Country Club and Jeffrey is a mover and shaker in the tennis industry.

Tatum Prudhomme

(In her words)

As I near the end of the first month as a first time Director of Tennis at Arrowhead Country Club, I am more and more appreciative of all I learned from prior mentors and clubs. I’m finding that this job requires more off-court skills and am loving the challenge! Creating and holding new events for the members is one of the most fun aspects.

As an ex-college tennis player, one of the first events I plan to throw will involve hosting one if not multiple local college teams at the club. I love these events because my members will get to watch the high levels of play, it motivates them to continue growing their game and to try to be the best tennis player they can be. For the college players, it is a great reminder that tennis isn’t always a sport of pressure and performance for results, but also a fun and social game they play beyond their college years. Another main focus/

challenge of mine is working on events that create a welcoming and fun atmosphere for Tennis AND Pickleball players. Although we all know that Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America, I believe that combining both sports through programming and events may lead to even more interest in tennis. I’m truly excited to be here and start a new adventure giving my membership wonderful racquet experiences!

Jeffrey Smallwood

Jeffrey Smallwood is a fairly recent transplant like me. He moved to the Valley around 5 years ago and is currently working at Paradise Valley Country Club under the Director Ryan Johnson. He works with juniors and adults, and actually worked in China developing tennis players there before arriving in Phoenix. In his spare time he runs his own clothing line business called Restless Brand Clothing and works to create events such as the First Annual Restless in Paradise, which is an exclusive tennis experience at Indian Wells March 10 and March 11. For more details you can dm Jeffrey on Instagram @jeffreytenniscoach. Needless to say, this man works hard! We are excited to have his energy and creativeness here!

In addition to Tennis, Pickleball has become such a force, as Tatum states, that it behooves me to mention that our resident Pickleball Czar, Ryan Johnson, has conducted 6 workshops and certified approximately 36 Pickleball pros, and estimates that 30 of those are from the Phoenix area.

As for me, I held a Holiday Tennis Camp for Serve the Future, and the turnout was great! The high school tennis coaches and I are very excited to see how the juniors perform during the high school season.

SOUTHWEST OFFICERS

President

Amy Badger 505-379-6728

badgertennis505@gmail.com

Regional VP

Suk Ong 602-881-0467

sukong.uspta@gmail.com

Vice President

Greg Prudhomme 602-301-1394 pruperformance@gmail.com

Secretary

Ryan Johnson 480-267-0725 m.ryanjohnson@gmail.com

Treasurer

John Perry 520-403-8290 jptennis25@gmail.com

Past President

Finally, we have 2 events in the month of March with elite and world-class level tennis. The Tempe Diablos are hosting a college tennis invitational event February 24- 25th and March 10-12. This will host 16 college teams at Kiwanis Tennis Center in Tempe. Also, we have the Arizona Tennis Classic at Phoenix Country Club March 13-19. All of the players will be in the top 150 in the world. Anecdotally, ATC has chosen to give part of the proceeds to Serve the Future! We are thrilled to be included and the support is a gamechanger. Please come out and enjoy the tennis!

Dave Moyer 480-342-7240 davemoyertennis@gmail.com

Executive Director

Jack Michalko 602-740-0126 jack.michalko@uspta.org

SOUTHWEST COORDINATORS

Northern New Mexico

Dick Johnson 505-507-6795 lctenniscamps@gmail.com

Phoenix

Leslie Banks 419-302-7663 lesliealison16@gmail.com

Southeastern Arizona

Amanda Fink Moore 818-624-7107 afink15@gmail.com

Northern Arizona

Andrea Meyer 928-300-4352 andreameyertennis@gmail.com

Southern New Mexico & l Paso

TBD

Head Tester

Greg Prudhomme 602-301-1394 pruperformance@gmail.com

The Southwest Magazine is the official Publication of the USPTA Southwest Division of the United States Professional Tennis Association.

Northern New Mexico Hi Everybody!

by Dick Johnson

It has been a cold one here in Northern New Mexico, but high school practice has started.

We were blessed to have decent weather at our recent 2023 New Mexico High School Coaches Workshop held at Jerry Cline Tennis Complex a couple weeks ago. Amy Badger and Amanda Fink did great on court presentations with Dr. Greg Prudhomme flying in from Phoenix who gave a talk. Loved the “BEAST” talk Greg and will use it with my team. Thank you to Ashley Portwood, USTA, and Tara Rivera, our Northern New Mexico Coordinator, for the great job. We had over 50 high school coaches from throughout the state attending.

Have a wonderful Spring season everyone. All the best, and I’ll see you soon!

Amy Badger

Happy winter days everyone. We have been teased recently with some beautiful weather followed only by rain, snow, high winds, you name it. While we all treasure moisture in the southwest, we can’t wait for warmer days and give special kudos to those wrapped up in layers on the courts playing.

With a few days in Phoenix in December for USTA board meetings, I was able to gain PPR certification. It was held indoors at a beautiful facility. At Highpoint, we’ve had great success with our socials, even in the cold. Nothing like food and drink to bring tennis players together. Pickleball men’s and women’s leagues have been doing well too integrating with our tennis purists.

One new staff pro has begun his USPTA certification. We are now at 80% membership pre-covid and climbing. The high school season has started and most recently we held our annual high school coaches conference where I presented on Training Tools for All Levels of Player. It was great to see over 50 coaches registered. The local USTA played a big role in the planning and delivering high quality speakers such as our own Amanda Fink and Dr. Greg Prudhomme. It was terrific to connect with several coaches who expressed interest in USPTA certification.

I am looking forward to our high school season. Our no-cut program, which I have promoted for over 25 years, will see 2-JV teams and our Varsity team. This, combined with the girl’s team, will provide tennis for over 50 kids

I hope to see all of you at our May conference. It is always such a tremendous exchange of ideas and always great to see good friends.

Albuquerque Academy coaching has begun and our no cut program brought out nearly 40 girls. We are so excited for another great season and helping grow the game with our newest players. In February we concluded our Highschool Showcase series with our dynamic duo event. Despite the cold weather 16 two man teams came together for a fun singles and doubles event. I am looking forward to seeing those at the March USTA conference.

It’s a tremendous privilege to be a delegate on our board as well as a member of the USTA national high school committee. Still learning a lot and loving it! Hope everyone has some fantastic days of tennis ahead.

Dave Shambach

Dave Shambach is ready for the Spring seasons of tennis. Later in February, he will begin his sixth-year teaching tennis for the City of Rio Rancho Parks and Recreation program. He will help the Rio Rancho High School girls’ and boys’ teams as a volunteer coach. In his spare time, he will teach privately. He continues to take part in USPTA webinars. Recently he benefited from the New Mexico Coaches Assn/USTA coaches conference. Outside of tennis, he continues to work as a church youth group leader and volunteers at a food pantry.

Doug MacCurdy

It had seemed to me that the women’s game was in the process of making a big leap forward in recent years, specifically in regards to serving ability. My friend Dave Miley, who became director of development for the International Tennis Federation when I moved on from that position in 1998, has gathered some very interesting data that confirms this observation.

Since about 2010 there have been noticeable improvements in the serving ability at the 14 and 16 & under girls at the ITF junior world team championships. By Junior Wimbledon in 2017, most of the best players were able to hit very big first serves, and perhaps, more impressively, consistently hit high bounding kick serves out wide for second serves. Previously, many of the best right handed servers hit rather neutral slice second serves that would often drift toward the forehand and often get devoured by big returns. The main exceptions to this phenomenon were Serena Williams and Samantha Stosur, both used very effective topspin serves. Of course, effective lefties like Petra Kvitova were very effective at moving the receiver out wide to the backhand and avoided having to defend against killer returns.

At Wimbledon 2021 Sabalenka played Rybakina in the round of 16, sort of a preview of the the recently completed Australian Open final played between the two of them. In that match the average speed of the first serves of the women was just slightly less than that of the men’s singles winner Novak Djokovic. On second serves, the women were well ahead of him in average second serve speed, Rybikina 95 MPH (153 KPH) and 91 MPH (147 KPH) compared to 88 MPH (142 KPH) for Djokovic. None of them were serving as fast as the beaten men’s finalist Matteo Berrettini, but if you had said that 10 years ago that a large number of top female players would be serving as fast as the number one male player in the world, you would have been considered a bit of a nutter.

Southeastern Arizona

by Amanda Fink

John Perry has been active playing, coaching, and traveling to events around the Southwest. I won the Men’s Open doubles at the Tucson City Championships with son Jared before a top 10 finish together at the USTA FatherSon National Hard Courts in La Jolla, CA. At Reffkin Tennis

Britt Feldhausen reports from the Tucson community tennis program that their in full swing with school programs and Saturday clinics and hundreds of kids are having lots of fun.

Center I recently helped host the 53rd Annual High School Invitational, an event created by USPTA Southwest Hall of Famer Jim Reffkin with a unique after school double elimination format to kick off the high school season.

Ronnie Smith at Reffkin Tennis Center has been busy hosting and running events over the past few months, including the Western States Junior Open and the Winter National Championships with 512 players from around the country.

Nancy Hosford at Tucson Country Club/ ALL IN Youth Pickleball says ALL IN Youth Pickleball (501c3), has 30 volunteer coaches and started teaching pickleball to underserved youth (ages 7-14) in Tucson this past fall. Currently, ALL IN is partnering with the Tucson Boys & Girls Clubs. This fall we gave away 100 paddles (retail for $150e); 100 balls, bags, and water bottles to the graduates.

Gearbox sports (a popular pickleball paddle company) signed a 3-year contract with ALL IN Youth Pickleball to supply 160 paddles, 16 nets, and 500 balls, valued at over $25,000 each year.

In December ALL IN ended the fall session with JOLLY DASHERS Pickleball Rodeo for the youth. Eight pickleball courts at Reffkin were full of kids winning prizes and playing goofy games like ‘hoop the hula’ -trying to aim at targets. Taco Bell supplied free

meals for 50 kids, parents, and siblings. In May, ALL IN will end their first year with a CINCO DE MAYO Pickleball Rodeo, with many festivities like JOLLY DASHERS.

The long-term goal is to get kids playing in leagues and grow the sport into schools. Ultimately, we want a US Youth Training facility in Tucson, funneling kids into colleges and universities…. and the Olympics.

Jolly Dashers, Dec 18th, was at Reffkin (thx Ronnie and JP for partnering!)

Jeff Gallego updated that Westward Look is supporting and promoting USTA Leagues and are always welcoming to adding new teams/divisions each season.

Amanda Fink Moore says that La Paloma Country Club is off to a busy start to the year. She hosted their

second annual U of A fundraiser clinic with the men’s and women’s teams as well as our 3rd Valentines tennis mixer. The club is adding a 7.0 mixed USTA team to their lineup of programming as well as other new teams/programming to follow.

Pickleball participation has picked up and the 3.0/ 3.5 ladies have organized their own queen of the court tennis round robin weekly matches.

Amanda is gearing up for a season of speaking engagements in conjunction with Yonex as well as enjoying her new roles with the USPTA southwest as well as the USTA Southwest Board of Directors.

Northern Arizona

by Andrea Meyer

Not all tennis champions come from slick metropolitan clubs with massage rooms, steam rooms, and coffee bars.

And not all champions have a racquet put in their small hands when they’re 5 years old. Prescott’s Yavapai College is the training ground for Andrew Bogdanov, 28, who ventures out to Manchester, England to start his professional debut in ITF wheelchair tennis. Prescott Elite Pro Chris Howard, Andrew’s coach, thinks Andrew has an excellent chance of gaining his first ITF points and prize money in the Men’s Open Quad Division. According to Chris, Andrew has all the personal attributes champions must have: A driving ambition, heart,

personality, and athleticism. “He has a good chance to make it into the top five in the world in his quad division,” Chris said after watching Andrew’s competition recently.

Andrew broke his neck in a snowboarding accident in 2014 and picked up a tennis racquet for the first time just a few years ago. In extraordinarily short order, he is ranked third nationally and setting his sights on competing in the 2023 Paralympics.

Chris coaches Andrew three days a week plus a group lesson with several other wheelchair players including Nanette Oatley, the 2001 Women’s US Open Wheelchair Quad Champion.

Chris led an effort last year to raise $6,000. for a competitive-grade, high-quality sport chair for Andrew. The tennis community responded, and Andrew will now be competing in that chair in 13 tournaments this year in the US, Spain, Britain, and Canada. Andrew’s goal is to be self-supporting, but to get him on the road to doing well in those 13 tournaments, he does need financial support. (Please get in touch with Chris at choward4541@gmail.com to contribute.)

Also in Prescott, Pro Sterling Fetty is waiting for temperatures to rise consistently above 55 degrees so the last three of Prescott High School’s tennis courts can be completed. He is planning a new end-of- season tournament for JV players as a fundraiser for NAZ junior tennis. Sterling has organized an April 15 Community Kids’ Day at NAU. Juniors are invited to watch the NAU women’s team match followed by time on court with the Lumberjack women.

In Cottonwood, Pro Andrea Meyer’s season has begun at Mingus Union HS with a record 22 JV and Varsity girls on her no-cut team. “I’m seeing the fruits of my time spent at feeder schools in after-school programs and in PE programs. I’ve got some kids whom I taught for a few weeks in middle school. Then I didn’t see them for two years, but they remembered how fun tennis was, and now they’re at Mingus wearing the red and grey. AND they brought their friends with them. Twenty-two is a record for me, and I’m keeping them all.”

Happy news is on the way for Sedona Elite Pro Jake Worseldine. At press time, he and wife Leslee were awaiting the birth of their second child. “Andrea and I are having a baby race. Her third grandchild is due just after our baby, so we’ll see who wins that race,” Jake says.

From left, Pro Chris Howard, 2001 US Open Quad Singles and Doubles Champ Nanette Oatley, Oby, and Andrew Bogdanov, Grand Slam Tournament hopeful and nationally ranked (#3) quad competitor.

A Publication of the USPTASouthwest Division

Jack Michalko / editor

77 East Missouri Avenue, Suite 62, Phoenix, AZ 85012 602-740-0126 / e-mail: jack.michalko@uspta.org

The Southwest Magazine is published quarterly by the Southwest Division of the United States Professional TennisAssociation.

The opinions expressed in the Southwest Magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Southwest Magazine or the USPTA Southwest Division.

Copyright© Southwest Division/United States Professional TennisAssociation, Inc. 2023. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this newsletter is not permitted without written permission from the USPTA Southwest Division. Advertising information: All ads must be camera ready and in color if possible. Prices are per issue.

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