2024 Winter MOmentum

Newsletter of the USPTA Missouri Valley Division

CONFERENCE AGENDA

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CONFERENCE INFORMATION

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FROM COURT TO CAREER

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L2 CERTIFICATIONS IN MISSOURI VALLEY

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MEET THE NEW USPTA CEO

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Newsletter of USPTA’s Missouri Valley Division

2023-24 Board of Directors President Tom Jennings tomtennis101@gmail.com

1st Vice President Tim Shanahan shanahan93@cox.net

Treasurer Thiago Santos TSantos@genesishealthclub.com

Member at Large Shashank Nautiyal shashankhill@gmail.com

Member at Large Ryan Roeth ryanroeth10s@gmail.com

Member at Large Chris Smith csmithbluehillscc@gmail.com

Member at Large Caitlyn Sagraves caitlynmetseff@gmail.com

Past President

alley VV iewpoint

Winter 2024

USPTA Missouri Valley Pros, All of us in the Missouri Valley would like to welcome our new USPTA CEO Brian Dillman. With Brian's extensive experience we are excited to see what he brings to the USPTA for our short term and long term futures. Angie and I both had the opportunity to individually sit down on a zoom with Brian and we were both excited to learn more about him and the future of the USPTA. If you would like to learn about Brian's background there will be an article below.

The board is in our final weeks of preparation for our Missouri Valley Convention on February 23rd and 24th. I am thrilled about our speaker lineup and the topics we have. We will have a mix of on court and off court seminars as well as round table discussions. We will be highlighting our speakers throughout the coming weeks. Remember, early bird registration ends February 1st so get signed up!

I hope everyone is staying warm this winter as up here we have a few feet of snow and the temperatures have been in the negatives! Looking forward to warmer days and seeing many of you in February at the convention!

Rod Zerni rodzerni@gmail.com

Executive Administrator Angie Koumaris angela.koumaris@uspta.org

Coach Developer Pickleball Tester Bunny Bruning bunnybfs@aol.com

I look forward to seeing you in February!

Tom Jennings

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ARE YOU CONNECTED? Connect with other USPTA pros on social media Official USPTA Missouri Valley page facebook.com/USPTAMissouriValley

Find-a-Pro. Visit USPTA’s free job listing service, Find-a-Pro, at www.find-a-pro.com, to find a job, list a job or find other USPTA Pros near you.

Official USPTA page on Facebook facebook.com/USPTA.Official Official USPTA Twitter @USPTA_Tennis Official USPTA LinkedIn (Search USPTA)

Official USPTA YouTube Channel youtube.com/user/tennisresources

If you would like to place a job listing in the newsletter, please contact Angie at missourivalleydivision@yahoo.com.

Official USPTA Instagram instagram.com/USPTA Official USPTA Google Plus tinyurl.com/usptagplus

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From Court to Career What are we doing to promote our profession? This is a question we should be asking as an organization. With many of our pros aging, me included, we need to be raising up the next generation of young professionals. As I travel the country with my college team, I have talked to many directors who are desperate for teaching professionals with great base salaries. What can we do to promote this as a professional option to those coming out of high school and in college?

Kids get their ideas of what they want to be when they grow up from many places. Parents of course, school teachers, coaches, and peers are usually the ones who will encourage the athlete that they are good at something and should consider taking it to the next level.

Written by: Kendell Hale

Once the athlete has made the decision, they need to have a good mentor to walk with them through the steps of how to accomplish their goals. We can help them through the whole process while offering accountability to the tasks needed to complete their dream. All of us who are professionals can easily remember those people who believed in us and helped us attain what we currently have.

As a teaching professional, several things can be done on an individual level as you teach your students.

•Get to know your students’ aspirations. Ask your students, “What do you want to do with tennis? Fun? Competitive? College or University? Career?” We often forget that last one!

•Have a breakout session with the juniors of your club. Invite other pros and college coaches from your city or region and have a career night. You can share how there are many clubs that are wanting a more inclusive racket sports programming such as pickleball, platform, and padel. Then you can talk about the training that you will need to become a tennis professional, director or coach. USPTA has a plethora of information that they can give for this night and how students can progress in the great career of teaching tennis.

•Get to know your local college coaches. This is the pipeline to your juniors to take their next step in their tennis career. There are nearly 1,000 colleges in the U.S. alone, at all levels and divisions where they can play. If they are not quite the level needed, USTA has the Tennis on Campus programs they can either join or create. There is no excuse for not furthering their passion for our sport.

•MaybeL have a N I program where you sponsor an athlete and pay them to promote your club and teach lessons.

•Have a Pro-Am event at your club using local high school and college players and introduce them to your club and members to recruit for summer positions.

I am super privileged that my son Austin has followed in my footsteps to begin his career in the greatest profession that I know. Yes, it’s hard work and there are super long days with many hours on the court, but the payoff of building relationships and positively influencing people are worth it all.

I know many of us can say this has been the best career imaginable. Why wouldn’t we want to share this with the next generation of potential tennis pros, pickleball pros, padel pros, and college coaches?

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Newsletter of USPTA’s Missouri Valley Division 405-819-6294 email: angela.koumaris@uspta.org Editor Contributors

Angie Koumaris Tom Jennings & Caitlyn Sagraves

MOmentum is published quarterly by the Missouri Valley Division of the United States Professional Tennis Association.

The opinions expressed in MOmentum are those of the authors and not necessarily those of MOmentum or the USPTA Missouri Valley Division.

Copyright© Missouri Valley Division/United States Professional Tennis Association, Inc. 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of the newsletter is not permitted without written permission from the USPTA Missouri Valley Division.

Advertising information Ads will be in black and white. Prices are per issue.

Full page.......................$115 1/3 page........................$45 2/3 page........................$100 1/4 page........................$30 Half page......................$57.50 Business card................$18.50 Discounts are given for ads whose frequency rate is two or more per calendar year. Contact Angie Koumaris at abtwonder@yahoo.com for a rate card and circulation information.

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