ADDvantage Magazine - January 2020

January 2020

USPTA Professionals Marci Cooper (left) and Dawn Diaz (right) coach youth tennis near Phoenix, Ariz.

From the CEO USPTA

Exciting News to Share John R. Embree, USPTA CEO

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f you have been following my messaging over the last year, you are well aware of the changes that the USPTA will be undergoing as a part of our new accredited status from the USTA. In case you may have missed it, here is what you need to know.

Commencing on Jan. 1, 2021: To become a USPTA-certified tennis professional, new applicants will be required to accumulate 1,200 hours of hands-on learning/work experience (generally eight months to 12 months) at a club or facility under the watchful eye of an approved USPTA mentor.

In addition, 300 hours of online and/ or face-to-face education will be part of the new standards of the new certification pathway.

The credibility of our members and the safety of their students are paramount for the USPTA. For that reason, we are excited that every USPTA member in good standing will be Safe Play trained and complete a background screening every two years.

This cost will be absorbed by the USTA. The tennis public can rest assured that USPTA professionals will be wellvetted and of the highest standards in order to ease the decision about who will coach their children.

The continuing education requirement will increase 25% from 12 hours to 15 hours for all USPTA members who are required to participate.

The USTA will be promoting these new higher standards to those who employ tennis professionals, so that

these new higher standards mean something in the marketplace.

Without question, this is a paradigm shift for our Association. It is going to be a heavy lift to make sure that our entire membership and any new professionals entering our industry understand what will be taking place 12 months from now. As difficult as this will be, this initiative underscores our stated mission of “elevating the standards of tennis-teaching professionals and coaches” and will help tennis attract and retain more players.

As a part of the new certification pathway, I am pleased to announce an upgrade to the Recreational Coach membership category that will make it more attractive to those first-time professionals, high school/college players or part-time coaches who want to be a part of the new USPTA. Launching in 2020, the Recreational Coach category will become USPTA Instructor, which will be a new certified category that includes liability insurance for the same dues of $199.

This USPTA Instructor level will require applicants to have face-toface training in the newly developed Teaching Essentials 1, a two-day workshop that focuses primarily on the all-important job of teaching entry level programs for beginning youth and adults. In addition, it will require approximately 16 hours of online learning that will include Coach Youth Tennis, plus Safe Play, CPR and AED training and a background screening.

The remaining hours will be filled

by other online courses that will be communicated once we are ready to go to market. More details on this category and the impact on Recreational Coach members will be coming soon.

In collaboration with the USTA, the Teaching Essentials 1 workshops are scheduled to start late in January so that interested professionals can attend.

These Teaching Essentials 1 sessions will be administered under the capable tutelage of Steve Keller and Craig Jones of the USTA, in addition to other USPTA coach developers. The feedback from the initial pilots held in 2019 has been phenomenal.

If there are any USPTA members who wish to host one of the TE 1 workshops, please reach out to me with your club information and potential dates so we can bake it into our planning. I cannot guarantee that your facility will be able to hold one of these workshops but we will do our best to make it work.

Finally, and because of the popular demand, we have extended the PTR equivalency for PTR members who wish to join the only fully accredited tennis teaching organization through August of 2021.

Over the course of the next 12 months, we will be highlighting the changes that are coming with the hope that no one will be caught unaware when 2021 rolls around. The USPTA is the clear-cut leader in education and we will be positively impacting how tennis is delivered in the USA. Let’s get after it! *

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TENNIS MAGAZINE 2019 EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD FOR TENNIS MAGAZINE 2019 EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD FOR

BEST NEW INNOVATION BEST NEW INNOVATION

President’s Message USPTA

20/20

Clear Eyes on a Bright Future Feisal Hassan, USPTA President calendars! We’ll be at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside for the 2020 World Conference from Sept. 20-24. This event is unbelievable every year. We were in the Crescent City in 2015 and it was fantastic – the best conference

Gustavo Reyes / USPTA

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t is with great excitement that I write my first column as USPTA President. What an opportunity – for me, for you, for us. Welcome to 2020!

First, I’d like to thank my predecessor, Mr. Gary Trost, not just for all he’s done for the Association these past few years, but for all the guidance he’s offered me as I begin this next chapter in my service to the USPTA. And thank you to the previous Board of Directors, who helped shape my perspective on USPTA affairs.

I am pleased to tell you our Association is doing great. We are on strong financial footing. We’ve increased both the quality and quantity of our testing, which has helped increase our membership by 1,000 tennis professionals in the last calendar year. We’ve also increased membership reinstatements, which brings me to my next point.

As we work to execute our mission to elevate the standards of tennisteaching professionals, we also want to elevate the standards of the education they’re receiving, both through the education itself and the way it’s presented. For the past year, the USPTA Education Department has been working very closely with the USTA-U team to make getting your six a more rewarding experience, so look out for those new modules in the very near future.

Speaking of the future, mark your

and task force and I look forward to seeing what they produce. Thank you to all who applied to serve as a volunteer; you made the decisions very difficult.

Our new Board of Directors will meet for the first time at the World Headquarters at the beginning of January. I’m really looking forward to working with each of them as we tackle 2020 and prepare for a huge year in 2021.

This year, we enter our second year of full accreditation. Earning this distinction was a huge accomplishment of Gary, John and the rest of the Board, but now it’s up to us to carry the torch forward and implement the requirements that

Hassan was a featured speaker at the 2019 USPTA World Conference in Las Vegas.

to that point, in fact. The 2019 World Conference in Las Vegas eclipsed New Orleans from four years ago, though, so I can’t wait to see what the National Staff has in store for us in eight short months!

Now, it’s time to get down to business. I’m happy to report that our national committees and task forces are being selected as we speak.

They’re operating in a completely new structure that I feel will streamline their effectiveness and cultivate new ideas while retaining valued previous contributions. I’ve already selected the chairperson for each committee

come with full accreditation.

It’s been almost 30 years since I first joined the USPTA; I cannot tell you how humbled I am to become its President. I am prepared to take on this responsibility, but I cannot carry this weight alone. As a member of the USPTA, you also have a duty to live out our shared mission to elevate the standards of our profession. We must continue to do this every day.

This is such an exciting time in the history of our Association. And so it is with clear eyes on the future that we take on 2020 and beyond.*

January 2020 — ADDvantage Magazine - 53

USPTA

FROM STAY-AT-HOME MOMS TO TENNIS COACHES Lucas Casás, USPTA Communications

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and encouraging, they said, and he recommended that they get USPTAcertified. Motivated, they gathered old USPTA testing manuals from coaches they knew and started studying.

When they started the certification process, they thought it was “a means to an end,” Cooper said. “I thought we would get the certificate, just to say we had it, plus have insurance, then we would do whatever continuing education credits we needed to keep it current and that was the end of it.

“But through the process, we came to realize that the group was so much more than just a certificate. The education itself was valuable to help us along the path. There were mentor programs and training and emails made available that helped us along the way.”

Though they were relatively new to tennis – they’d been playing for a few years, while other coaches in their class were former professional players – they were lifelong athletes and fully committed themselves to learning.

They were tireless in their preparation. Their practice sessions became practice testing sessions.

They interviewed testers to know what they should expect.

“They were both incredibly wellprepared for their test,” USPTA National Head Tester Sid Newcomb said.

After they passed their certification test in May, they started coaching through the USTA’s Net Generation program. Though they often coach together, each started their own

Courtesy of Marci Cooper

hen Dawn Diaz and Marci Cooper started playing tennis, they never imagined they would get into coaching.

“It’s kind of a funny story. We only played for about five years and just got really into it, started playing every day,” Diaz said in Las Vegas at the 2019 USPTA World Conference. The two were stay-at-home moms in the Phoenix area looking for “a part-time gig” when they noticed a need for youth tennis coaches.

“We’re like, maybe we should consider coaching,” Cooper continued.

“We’re not elite tennis players, but we can coach little kids!”

They started shadowing a coach near where they live in Phoenix to see what it was like. He was welcoming

Diaz (back, blue), Cooper (back, pink) and Newcomb ( front, right) at their certification experience at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

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“

USPTA

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he USPTA is more than just a certificate.

It’s an organization that helps develop better coaches through a community, through education, through support and networking.

It has been a really great experience.

Courtesy of Dawn Diaz

program – Diaz’s is called Top Spin Tennis; Cooper’s is Exceptional Tennis Academy – and offer lessons in the morning and evening to avoid the midday Arizona heat.

“It was great. We started going forward with setting up programs for kids, so red ball, orange ball, green dot,” Diaz said. “We work with our community center, we work with a school and we just set up programs, camps, different things to get kids interested to grow the sport.”

“Once we started doing that we started getting all these leads,” Cooper continued. “We promoted on Facebook, we just posted some pictures and then people we knew started contacting us being like, ‘Hey, you have a program, what can you do for my kids?’ We’re doing some high school and we’ve done a few adult lessons, but the majority is the Net Generation. I love it.”

While they were getting certified, Newcomb told them they “couldn’t afford not to go” to the World Conference in Las Vegas. At the time, they didn’t fully understand why. But since it was close enough to Phoenix, they decided they’d go together.

“I see the real truth of that statement now,” Cooper said. “The USPTA is more than just a certificate. It’s an organization that helps develop better coaches through a community, through education, through support and

— Marci Cooper

Cooper (right) and Diaz (middle) coach youth tennis through USTA Net Generation.

networking. It has been a really great experience.

“We were thinking that when we got here it would be mostly higher level stuff,” she said. “But everything had something for us in it that really works that we can take home and use with our kids.”

Diaz and Cooper’s journey into coaching was an unexpected one. It started by noticing a demand for youth

tennis coaches. It took off with their decision to join the USPTA. “Every time we put out a program, there’s a wait list,” Diaz said. “There’s just constantly people asking questions, wanting to get their kids involved. It’s a lot of brand new families who have never played tennis before. It’s really nice that we feel we’re contributing in that way where we can introduce children to a sport. Hopefully they stick with it.” *

January 2020 — ADDvantage Magazine - 55

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Master Professional Corner USPTA

EXPLORING THE SERVE-AND-VOLLEY PARADIGM SHIFT James Shaughnessy MSS, CSCS, USPTA Master Professional

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n the 1960s, four of the world’s five top-ranked players – Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe and Arthur Ashe – used the serve-and-volley style (SVS) of play. A pure SVS player is one that almost always rushes the net on both the first and second serve and rarely stays back for the return after their serve. The objective is to use the serve to force the highest, easiest return, which the server can then volley to win the point. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

Of the nine players to reach the No. 1 ranking from 2000 to 2010, only Pete Sampras was a pure SVS player, and the style effectively died after his retirement. Although SVS is rarely used by top-100 players today, serveand-volley as a tactical strategy (SVT) continues to be used by the top servers of all time, such as Andy Roddick and Roger Federer.

The ATP World Tour website lists Roddick, Sampras and Federer,

respectively, as the top three in career serve rating among No. 1-ranked players. For their careers, Sampras and Federer held serve 89% of the time.

Roddick held 90%. Sampras averaged three double faults per match. Roddick and Federer average two.

SCiO 3D Sports at Tucker Tennis Academy conducted a study to determine what could be learned from a quantitative investigation of serve-andvolley as a style and/or tactic, as used by these No. 1-ranked servers. The study’s objective was to determine if and how serve-and-volley might be more effectively deployed in today’s game.

Both the Ariel Performance Analysis System and the SCiO 3D Sports Library were used to analyze the biomechanical differences during live match serveand-volley points of the SVS player, Sampras, and the SVT players, Federer and Roddick.

Serving statistics show that the minimum average first serve speed required to win a Grand Slam against a No. 1-ranked player is 115 mph.

Additionally, the serve must be reasonably disguised, very well-placed and with varied pace.

The potential disadvantage

of a high average speed is that the opponent often hits the ball off center, inadvertently returning it to the server’s feet. Additionally, if elite returners connect with the ball solidly, they can use the service pace to return the ball quickly, sending it to no man’s land on the serving side, before the server can get through it.

The advantage of the high average serve speed is that it results in more service winners and a high number of weak returns. The combination of speed, disguise, variety and accuracy causes more returns above net level that can be hit hard downward or driven to force a passing shot error. The name of the game for a high SVT win rate is getting returns that are close to the net and above net level.

The data revealed that a server has 1.5 seconds after contact with the ball to reach reasonable volley position if the serve is 115 mph and the return is 50 mph. The calculated times take into consideration the average air density and spins over 2000 rpm.

Sampras executes his serve from a platform stance, with his feet 26 inches apart. His left foot lands 34 inches inside the baseline .167 seconds after making contact on his serve.

Consequently, to make it to the service line, Sampras must run 15 feet, 2 inches in 1.33 seconds. Federer’s feet are positioned 25 inches apart in a platform stance. Federer’s left foot lands 7.51 inches inside the baseline at .229

January 2020 — ADDvantage Magazine - 57

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Master Professional Corner USPTA

Sampras (white) and Federer ( blue) in the platform stance. Roddick (green) uses a pinpoint stance.

seconds after his serve, requiring he cover 17.38 feet in 1.18 seconds.

Roddick uses a pinpoint stance; his left foot lands 4.94 inches inside the baseline .233 seconds after contacting the serve, requiring he run 17.59 feet in 1.1 seconds.

Servers land with forward speed from the service motion. When hitting the ground, Sampras is moving 4.3 mph, Federer is moving 2.15 mph and Roddick is moving 1.94 mph.

Previous benchmark research on pinpoint and platform stances suggests the platform stance tends to give players more horizontal push to the net. Roddick uses pinpoint stance with feet 15.5 inches, toe to toe. Sampras and Federer use platform stance, their feet 26 and 25 inches apart, toe to toe, respectively. 3D analysis shows Federer pushes predominantly vertically out of a platform stance. Roddick pushes downward, vertically, out of pinpoint stance. Only Sampras pushes laterally from his platform stance, producing a large horizontal force toward the net.

Sampras uses the horizontal technique, making contact with the ball when his center of gravity is at its highest. This minimizes his time in the air, giving him a head start

and twice as much forward running speed on landing.

Roddick and Federer opt to push downward forcefully, causing their centers of gravity to continue rising after impact (vertical technique).

Consequently, Federer and Roddick, both considered allcourt style players, are airborne longer, arguably giving them some technical advantages.

These advantages tend to result in slightly more consistent serves, but drastically decrease the time to position for volleys.

Here are suggestions on how to use the SVT more effectively in today’s game (right-handed players): 1. When serving to the deuce box, vary heavy, wide, short slices with a heavy kick to the T. 2. When serving to the ad box, vary heavy slices to the T, with heavy kicks, short to the wide side of the box.

3. If the receiver is on the baseline, jam the player by aiming a fast flat or fast-mild slice at the hip on the forehand side. Note: pinpoint accuracy is required on this serve.

4. Meet the ball at the peak of your jump with plenty of horizontal leg drive toward the net using the horizontal technique.

5. When using SVT, hit the ground sprinting and avoid the arabesque position when landing.

6. The use of SVT in the modern game must be unpredictable and used in combination with varied serve placements, spins and speeds.

7. Be aware when using SVT on serves over 115 mph that you only have 1.5 seconds or less to reach good volley position.

Here are suggestions for coaches on advising their players when to use SVT: 1. SVT is best used when the opponent stands well behind the baseline to return serve. The receiver’s position gives extra time to the server to travel to good volleying position.

2. SVT is best employed after serving at least two consecutive fast first serves.

3. Avoid using SVT when hitting second serves or on game points.

4. Utilize SVT when the opponent is floating deep returns down the middle.

Using the horizontal technique when employing the SVT may cause an extra double fault but will also produce a higher winning percentage than the vertical technique by getting higher and easier volleys, resulting in more winners and forcing volleys. This data suggests the horizontal technique is superior to Sampras (white) lands while moving forward the vertical technique when using at 4.3 mpg. Federer (blue) lands at 2.15 mph. the SVT.* Roddick (green) lands at 1.94 mph.

January 2020 — ADDvantage Magazine - 59

USPTA

DOES SPORTSMANSHIP AFFECT PERFORMANCE? Dr. Gregory Prudhomme, USPTA Elite Professional

ecognition, personal advancement, and the sheer thrill of victory are incentives for winning in sport.

These incentives for winning, combined with outside pressures from parents, coaches, administrators and teammates can cause an athlete to adopt a win-at-all-costs mentality.

This overemphasis on winning often leads to unethical behaviors such as committing intentional fouls, acting aggressively towards opponents or officials, using performance enhancing drugs and employing gamesmanship (which is an attempt to gain a physical or psychological advantage through behavior that might not be considered obvious cheating).

The occurrence of unethical conduct by athletes has impelled the sport psychology field to examine the behavior of athletes, which is known as sportsmanship. Much of the relevant literature has examined causes of poor sportsmanship and interventions in order to improve athlete behavior, but there is an important research question that had not been investigated until recently. In order to fill a gap in the sportsmanship literature, a recent dissertation attempted to answer the following question through empirical research: Is there a performance benefit for possessing high levels of sportsmanship?

The possibility of a performance benefit for possessing high levels of sportsmanship would provide extremely

Shutterstock

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valuable implications for competitive sports. Most importantly, if a positive relationship were discovered between sportsmanship and performance, then athletes, coaches and parents would promote good behavior not only as the ethical thing to do, which is a worthy reason itself, but also as a means to improve performance. What is particularly interesting about this study, and could cause skeptics to question that such a relationship is an impossibility, is that previous research has shown that lower levels of sportsmanship are more common among elite athletes than non-elite athletes. Furthermore, there is a common belief among many people in sports that athletes must be intimidating or arrogant in order to compete and win at higher levels.

So why conduct this study? The sports world often seems to overlook

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the possibility of a connection between sportsmanship and performance.

Consider Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios. It is clear to see that the sportsmanship-performance combination of Federer is very different from that of Kyrgios. In fact, Federer and Rafael Nadal are perhaps the two best male players in the history of tennis and it would be difficult to argue that they do not possess high levels of sportsmanship. Regarding the women’s tour, Bianca Andreescu, Naomi Osaka and Ash Barty have shown high levels of sportsmanship; at the moment, they comprise three of the top five female players in the world.

There is more to the sportsmanshipperformance connection besides these examples. The instrument that was used to measure sportsmanship levels of participants for this study

Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock.com

USPTA

Naomi Osaka during the 2018 US Open semifinal. Osaka was lauded for her sportsmanship after defeating Serena Williams to win her first Grand Slam.

was the Compliant and Principled Sportspersonship Scale (CAPSS), designed by Dr. John Perry (2014) and his colleagues, who are Sport Psychology researchers. The CAPSS is a 24-question survey that includes items in five different subscales: compliance with officials, compliance with rules, attitude towards committing injurious acts, attitude towards opponents, and a principled game perspective, such as an individual’s attitude towards winning at all costs. In analyzing sportsmanship through this instrument, it seems that an athlete would require a certain amount of mental strength, emotional control, discipline and professionalism to score highly in these areas, especially while competing under pressure. It also seems that these same attributes could be of strong value towards performance.

In order to analyze the sportsmanshipperformance correlation, this recent dissertation examined sportsmanship scores and winning percentages of 163 NCAA Division I tennis players in the western United States. The winning percentages were provided for the

individual singles tennis matches from one college season. A Pearson’s correlation was used to analyze the data, which revealed no relationship between sportsmanship and winning percentage among males and females separately, and a very weak negative relationship among gender combined. While the study cannot suggest that higher levels of sportsmanship were related to higher winning percentages for these college tennis players, it suggests that high levels of sportsmanship and high winning percentages are not mutually exclusive; they can exist together. In other words, the results of the study suggest that athletes do not have to sacrifice good sportsmanship to win, which is an idea that many in the sports world do not know or believe.

Sports are celebrated as an environment in which an athlete’s character can be developed, but the influence of an overemphasis on winning in competitive sports often contradicts character development.

Character development in sports must be a deliberate goal promoted by sport leaders. This dissertation has generated recommendations for future research in the area of sportsmanship and performance, but for now, the results of this seminal research suggest that coaches, parents and others involved in competitive sports should communicate to their athletes that competing with high levels of sportsmanship does not jeopardize chances of winning.

To read the full dissertation, visit: https://bit.ly/2rl1dcp.*

Gregory Prudhomme is a USPTA Master Professional and has a doctoral degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Performance Psychology from Grand Canyon University, where he also serves as an adjunct professor and coaches men’s and women’s tennis. Prudhomme was named Steve Wilkinson College Coach of the Year in 2018. He has been a USPTA member for 25 years.

January 2020 — ADDvantage Magazine - 61

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ThanksUSA CHANGING LIVES THROUGH TENNIS CORPS Amanda Folks, ThanksUSA Development Manager

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“We want our young players to be inspired by these real heroes who demonstrate all the qualities that are important in life,” said Vesa Ponkka, Senior Director of Tennis, adding that Tennis Corps is the most inspirational program at JTCC. “I strongly believe that creating these kinds of informal mentoring relationships will transform the lives of everyone involved.”

Courtesy of Jean Pletchette, ThanksUSA

hen Damian Wright enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2009, he knew he was treading the right path for his future.

“That was my identity,” Wright said.

“All my hard work, the sweat, the pain and the joy came from the Marines.”

But for Wright, treading that path would prove to be more challenging than expected.

Coaches, veterans and junior players enjoy weekly Tennis Corps clinic at JTCC, College Park, Md.

Flash forward 10 years and you won’t find Wright in a Marine field uniform, but on the tennis court.

Wright is now one of the head coaches for Tennis Corps, a sports therapy inclusion program that brings veterans and junior champion tennis players together on and off the court. As a leg amputee from his Marine Corps service, Wright knows firsthand the importance of physical determination, mental strength and resilience.

Founded in 2018 by ThanksUSA, a non-profit organization that provides higher education scholarships for military families, Tennis Corps meets every week at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md.

By inviting veterans and junior players to share their love for the game, Tennis Corps helps to overcome physical, emotional and social barriers.

“It’s so much more than a rehabilitation program for our veterans and a teaching program for the junior champs,” ThanksUSA President and CEO Jon Rosa said. “It’s an opportunity for two unlikely groups to build friendships, share experiences and overcome barriers.”

ThanksUSA national spokesperson and Tennis Corps ambassador Frances Tiafoe finds inspiration through the program.

“Working with the veterans is great.

They know what it means to sacrifice

and work hard and that’s what it takes to be a champion. You have time for anything if it means something to you,” he shared.

And Tiafoe makes time for the veterans and junior players of Tennis Corps. He spends much of his home training sessions on the court volleying, rallying and sharing a good laugh. Like the staff of ThanksUSA and JTCC, Tiafoe sees the impact of Tennis Corps and is working to expand the program nationwide.

“We want to share the joy of this program with veterans and youth everywhere,” Rosa said. “And to continue to bring people together through tennis.”

For Wright, there’s no place he’d rather be.

“I didn’t actually want to start playing tennis again,” Wright said. “When I stopped in 2009, I was at a good place in my career. I stopped because I forgot the importance of why I played tennis in the first place, which was to have fun. So, in December of 2018 my wife dragged me onto the courts and I haven’t left since.”

Like Wright, we all tread paths that are unexpected and challenging.

Through Tennis Corps, veterans and youth tennis players are trailblazing a new path of physical and mental rehabilitation. And tennis is better because of it.

ThanksUSA is currently seeking partnerships within the tennis industry to join us in sharing this inspirational program. If you’re interested in learning more about the Tennis Corps, or in bringing the program to your community, please contact Jean Pletchette at jeanpletchette@ thanksusa.org. *

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USPTA

eorge Parnell has seen a lot of growth from the USTPA in his six years as General Counsel.

He’s been with the Association through some challenges, but he’s helped lead us to the great heights we’ve achieved. With Parnell’s advice and expertise, the USPTA has built and moved into a brand new, state-ofthe-art World Headquarters in Lake Nona and earned full accreditation from the USTA – the only tennisteaching association to do so.

“I have had the pleasure of working alongside him and witnessing the body of work he has accomplished,” USPTA President Gary Trost said as he

presented Parnell with the President’s Paul Waldman Award at the World Conference in Las Vegas. “I was on the committee that hired him. It was one of the best decisions I made.”

Parnell also oversees contract negotiations including sponsorship and endorsement agreements, employee relations, ethical matters and assists the Association develop and implement best practices.

In addition to his work with the USPTA, Parnell works with other corporations, not-for-profits and individual clients. He also serves as an adjunct professor at his alma mater, Tulane Law School.

Gustavo Reyes / USPTA

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PRESIDENT’S PAUL WALDMAN AWARD WINNER: GEORGE PARNELL

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s fitting that the President’s Paul Waldman Award,” Trost said, “goes to my friend, George Parnell.”*

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HOW THE NEW DEPARTMENT OF LABOR RULE COULD AFFECT YOU Dana Dasch, USPTA Human Resources

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Shutterstock

or years we’ve anticipated the Department of Labor releasing its new rule on salary level and overtime requirements. In September 2019, the DOL finally announced the rule stating that effective Jan. 1, 2020, unless employees are paid at least $35,568 annually or $684 per week, they must be classified as non-exempt/hourly and be eligible to receive overtime pay.

Some other highlights of the rule include: • Employers may use non-discretionary bonuses and incentive payments such as commissions paid at least annually to satisfy up to 10% of the salary level.

• Total annual compensation exemption threshold for highly compensated employees is raised from $100,000 to $107,432.

The DOL did not revise the duties test to determine exempt/salaried status. Still, this is a good time for our members and their Human Resources professionals to review positions, job descriptions and actual job duties to

make sure all employees who are exempt and who are to remain exempt also meet the duties test and not just the salary requirements. Job title and salary alone don’t determine exempt status. You can learn more about the duties test by visiting www.DOL.gov.

How does this affect our members?

Our members hold many types of positions in the tennis industry. This new rule could affect your clubs, your employees or yourself. Members need to work with their HR department to make sure you are complying with this new rule. If you currently have employees classified as exempt from overtime who make less than this new salary threshold, you have a couple of options: 1. You can raise their salary to meet or exceed the new threshold of $35,568 annually. If these employees are already paid close to this threshold and consistently work more than 40 hours per week, it will probably be advantageous to your organization to bump up their salary.

2. If your employee doesn’t consistently work overtime and is being paid well below the threshold, you would probably want to consider switching them to being paid hourly.

If they do work more than 40 hours a few weeks a year, it shouldn’t be as big of a hit to your bottom line than bumping up their salary to meet the new threshold.

3. If your employee consistently works more than 40 hours per week but is being paid well below the threshold, you could switch them to being paid hourly and restrict their hours to 40 per week. Try to redistribute their workload to others or you could consider hiring temporary or seasonal workers during busier times.

Other things to consider would be the increase in organizational costs for benefits. Some organizations have different levels of benefits for exempt and non-exempt employees.

If employee salaries go up, so would your costs for short- and long-term disability insurance and any employer retirement plan contributions. If you switch employees from exempt to non-exempt and they lose previous benefits that they had, you are facing morale issues. Be sure to consider any potential benefits that would be taken away from employees before making any decisions. Sometimes it makes sense for an organization to spend a little bit more than to risk losing some of their best employees.

While this is a new federal rule, certain states and cities have laws that are stricter than the new federal requirements. Currently the states that have even higher salary thresholds are California, New York, Alaska and Maine. If you work in any of these states, you’ll want to make sure you are complying with those state specific requirements. Certain cities in those states have even higher thresholds than their state amount.

Check your local laws for any potential requirements.*

January 2020 — ADDvantage Magazine - 65

USPTA Career Development

Career Development USPTA Certification Testing Dates Jan. 3.....................................Reed Sweatt Family Tennis Center

Minneapolis, MN Jan. 4-5.................................................Rush Copley Healthplex

Aurora, IL Jan. 11-12....................................................Oaks at Boca Raton

Boca Raton, FL Jan. 11.........................................Parham Bridges Tennis Center

Jackson, MS Jan. 18-19................................................ Club Green Meadows

Vancouver, WA Jan. 24....................................... Oklahoma Golf & Country Club

Oklahoma City, OK Jan. 25-26......................................................... iTennis LaHabra

La Habra, CA Feb. 22.................................................Haig Point Tennis Center

Hilton Head Island, SC Feb. 8................................McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center

Williamsburg, VA Feb. 8-9......................................................Atlanta Athletic Club

Johns Creek, GA Feb. 10-11..................................... USTA National Tennis Center

Orlando, FL Feb. 12.....................................................................Carefree RC

North Merrick, NY Feb. 13-14..........................................................Lifetime Fitness

Centennial, CO Feb. 15-16................................................ Sea Cliff Country Club

Huntington Beach, CA Feb. 20................................................Kansas City Country Club

Mission Hills, KS Feb. 22................................John and Fay Menard YMCA Tennis

Eau Claire, WI Feb. 22-23................................................Horseshoe Bay Resort

Horseshoe Bay, TX Exam reservations must be made by calling the USPTA World Headquarters at 407-634-3050 ext. 2 at least 21 days prior to the dates listed. Each date includes an exam, upgrade. PTCA I is included in the two-day exam. Exam cancellations must be received no later than 14 days before the exam, or a cancellation fee will be charged accordingly.

66 - ADDvantage Magazine — January 2020

2020 USPTA Division Conferences Feb. 14-16

Feb. 14-17

Feb. 20-23

Feb. 21-22

Feb. 28-Mar. 1

Mar. 7-8

Mar. 12-15

May 1-3

May 1-3

May 14-16

May 15-17

May 28-31

June 5-6

Sept. 20-24

Intermountain.............................Life-Time Fitness Centennial, CO Northern California .............. Taube Tennis Center Stanford, CA Texas....................................Horseshoe Bay Resort Horseshoe Bay, TX Missouri Valley................................Kansas City CC Mission Hills, KS Northern..... Fred Wells Tennis & Education Center Fort Snelling, MN San Diego..................La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club La Jolla, CA Mid-Atlantic.....................Country Club of Virginia Richmond, VA Eastern............. International Tennis Hall Of Fame.

Newport, RI New England.... International Tennis Hall Of Fame Newport, RI Southern......................................................... TBD. Atlanta, GA Southwest...................... Grand Canyon University Phoenix, AZ Florida................. Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club Naples, FL Pacific Northwest.......................... Linfield College McMinnville, OR USPTA World Conference............. Hilton Riverside New Orleans, LA

Visit www.uspta.com for a complete listing of certification and educational opportunities • Wheelchair • Pickleball • Padel • RacquetFit • Platform

Visit TennisResources.com to find hundreds of exclusive educational and instructional videos, audio material, articles and drill diagrams related to all levels and aspects of the game of tennis. Search for material on specific drills, instruction on technique, tactics and strategy, and business and facility management from some of the nation’s most knowledgeable teaching professionals. The user friendly video interface is great for watching on a desktop or mobile device and makes it easy to #GetYourSix wherever you are!

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Add our exclusive Chroma-Bond速 Digital Imprinting to make any court or facility look its best for many years. Simple or dramatic imprinting that is so durable, it lasts as long as the fabric.

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PATENTED Thousands installed by schools, government operations, and private clubs over the past 7 years.

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USPTA Get Social with USPTA Official Social Media Channels

Tuesday Quick Tip with Coach Sid

facebook.com/USPTA.Official twitter.com/USPTA_Tennis

Wednesday Member Profile

instagram.com/uspta linkedin.com/company/ united-states-professionaltennis-association youtube.com/TheUSPTA

Throwback Thursday

Friday Groundstrokes

issuu.com/uspta

The following is a list of active USPTA Master Professionals that were inadvertently omitted from the Nov./Dec. 2019 issue of ADDvantage magazine. We apologize for the oversight.

Sheryl Behne Manuel Cervantes Jay Hardman Jo Ann Kurz Dave Power Emilio Sanchez Vicario Nick Saviano Randy Stephens

In Memoriam Ted Withall (1918-2019) Mr. Ted Withall passed away on Aug. 8 at the age of 100. Withall was a lifelong coach and ambassador of tennis. He started coaching in California in 1951 and taught for nearly 70 years in New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands, New Jersey and throughout Florida. Withall joined the USPTA in 1950, was the first president of USPTA Florida and became USPTA President in 1972. He was among the first to earn the Master Professional distinction and was the first inductee into the USPTA Florida Hall of Fame.

Barbara Fackel (1938-2019) Mrs. Barbara Fackel passed away on Aug. 22 at the age of 81. Fackel was a passionate supporter of tennis. She served as the chair of both Player Development and the Nominating Committee of the USTA and was very involved with the Missouri Valley Tennis Association and the Iowa Tennis Association. Fackel received the Eve Kraft Community Service Award in 1997 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.

JoAnn Padgett (1932-2019) Mrs. JoAnn Padgett passed away on Oct. 18 at the age of 87. Padgett was a fixture in the Texas tennis community for many decades. She started volunteering with the Houston Tennis Association in the 1970s.

She was the first Executive Director of the USPTA Texas Division and held the position for 20 years and was inducted into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997. She was a leader in tennis at the local, sectional and national levels, bringing different programs and initiatives everywhere she went to grow the game.

NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS President................................................................. Feisal Hassan First Vice President.............................................Richard Slivocka Vice Presidents...............Lane Evans, Mark Faber, Trish Faulkner, Jason Gilbert, Bill Mountford Immediate Past President............................................ Gary Trost CEO...........................................................................John Embree Legal Counsel........................................................George Parnell

ADDVANTAGE MAGAZINE Editor.................................................................................John Cornell Managing Editor.................................................................Lucas Casás Layout/Design............................................................... Gustavo Reyes Editorial Assistance ...........................Jacquelyn Dahre, Alegna Hollis, Ramona Husaru, Sid Newcomb, Ellen Weatherford, Fred Viancos Circulation.................................................................... Trevor Trudelle USPTA World Headquarters 11961 Performance Dr. Orlando, FL 32827 800-887-8248- www.uspta.com

68 - ADDvantage Magazine — January 2020

ADDvantage is published monthly by the United States Professional Tennis Association.

The opinions expressed in ADDvantage are those of the authors and not necessarily those of ADDvantage or the United States Professional Tennis Association.

Copyright© United States Professional Tennis Association, Inc. 2020. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of the magazine is not permitted without written permission from the USPTA.