Aeolian 2014
FROM CAMPUS TO GSW alum travels the country as a USTA umpire
By Stephen Snyder
On its own, New York City is a considerable melting pot of nationalities and ethnicities, and for three weeks each year, 70 additional countries are represented on the courts of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York during the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Georgia Southwestern alum Courtney Schumacher Potkey makes the annual trek at the end of each summer, too, but as a USTA umpire. GETTING INTO TENNIS “I played softball in college,” said Potkey who initially came to GSW to be on the softball team – she played second base. “When I moved to California, I got into tennis. The tennis club where we played had a futures event.”
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opportunity to work the tournament in a different way presented itself. “My mom and I were working, and we asked him, ‘Hey, what are those people doing on the court lines? That looks like fun. How can we try it?’” Potkey added. “He said, ‘Well, are you guys busy tomorrow?’”
Potkey explained a “futures event” is a tournament where players try to get enough ranking points to move up in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) rankings.
They were not. And after showing up the following morning, Courtney and her mom were ready to be tennis umpires.
“I would help the (club) tennis pro run the tournament desk, making sure matches got on the right court at the right time,” she said. After talking with the tournament supervisor who works for the USTA (United States Tennis Association), an
“They gave us a little bit of training and told us how to move on the court and where you’re supposed to stand based on where the players were serving,” she said. “That’s kind of what got me started. I just worked my way up from there, and within a couple
