USPTA Southern Standard Jan 2023

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USPTA Southern Division: Where Excellence is Standard

August 2020

Summer Edi on #2

Inside Use Analytics for Business Decisions 2023 Virtual Business Conference Info May Conference Hold the Date Awards Nominations are Open Travel for Fun & Profit

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President’s Message I hope everyone had a great holiday season.

USPTA had a great year with our 3 pillars; Elevate, Diversity and Inclusion, and Social Media. We also started USPTA Pickleball tes ng this year. Darryl Lewis is the head tester for Southern and has done a great job. USPTA Southern has the most graduates of the USPTA Pickleball program of any sec on in the USPTA. Also,

By Tom Parkes

Georgia & Mississippi have both run very successful workshops in the month with great a endance.

Ken Adriano ran this year’s USPTA Southern conference, which was held at Atlanta Country Club. The in-person a endance was good a er being a virtual conference last 2 years. I expect this year’s Southern conference to be even be er. We will be going back to Atlanta Country Club this year

on May 18th – 20th, 2023. I hope you can join us.

I look forward to another great year from the USPTA and I hope you make me to a end a state workshop or Southern Conference event this year. You will learn a lot and see old friends and make some new ones.

Have a great 2023!!!!

How To Use Analytics to Make Good Business Decisions

By: Jeff Miller

In this digital era, data is a principal driving force in business.

With more informa on being collected than ever before, more and more professionals are trying to leverage it for success. To do that, however, you need to know how to interpret that data and put it to use.

Sta s cal Analysis Methods Sta s cal analysis comes in many forms, but the two methods you’ll see most o en are descrip ve and inferen al analysis.

Here’s how these methods work.

Descrip ve Analysis Enter sta s cal analysis. By understanding the various sta s cal Descrip ve analysis involves crea ng simple graphs and reports analysis methods, any business will find it much easier to predict using data visualiza on so ware. Businesses can use this type of future outcomes and make more informed decisions. Read on analysis to describe events that happened in the past and effifor a short guide on sta s cal analysis and how you can use it. ciently summarize them. Descrip ve analysis isn’t used to draw What Is Sta s cal Analysis? conclusions – it’s only used to understand what happened at a The defini on of sta s cal analysis is simple enough: it’s a pro- par cular point. cess of collec ng data and analyzing it to iden fy trends. In busi- For instance, a company may want to use descrip ve sta s cal ness, sta s cal analysis allows managers to analyze past perfor- analysis to look at its website traffic throughout the past year. mance and lead their organiza ons more effec vely through That allows them to see when the traffic fell, when it picked up, data-driven decision-making. the average traffic per month, which month had the most traffic, Most sta s cal analy cs revolve around crea ng meaning from a set of numbers using measures known as mean, median, and mode. The mean is an average of a data set, the median is the middle number within that set, and the mode is its most common number. When used in concert, these concepts can paint an accurate picture of a business’s condi on.

and so on. The only thing descrip ve analysis won’t tell you is why the traffic fell.

Inferen al Analysis

Inferen al sta s cs allows businesses to analyze specific data and use those findings to infer trends about a larger group.

What’s more, inferen al analysis makes it possible to test a hyAs useful as sta s cal analysis is, its use has become a key aspothesis. For example, if you wanted to know the favorite pizza pect of modern business ethics. Since the study of sta s cs intopping of everyone in the world, you’d select a representa ve volves informa on, many applica ons of sta s cs can have com- sample of people and hypothesize your results. plex ramifica ons when it comes to corporate responsibility.

How can inferen al analysis help your business? Let’s say you Therefore, today’s managers must know the source of their sta- want to ask every one of your customers how they feel about s cal research and vouch for its authen city. your products. Instead of polling them all, you’d ask a sample group of customers and use that data to make a reasoned inference about the rest

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We had a great turnout of 75 a endees at the Annual USPTA GA Workshop and Awards at end of the year. It was held at the Atlanta Athle c Club on Friday, December 2, 2022. The workshop was powered by Luke Jensen, a Grand Slam Champion, Dave Dvorak, a large charity events expert, Seth Redelheim, an outstanding Cardio Tennis coach, and Tim Smith, a renowned pickleball coaching professional. We learned about How to build a Charity Event from the ground up.

Luke kept us entertained with thought provoking ideas and strategies of taking juniors from start to the professional level. The Cardio Tennis knowledge and exper se that Seth exhibited gave us a load of new drills and games to bring our own programs to a new level of excitement.

Tim Smith capped off the day with everyone ge ng involved on the pickleball courts learning new skills and drills to not only make us be er but helping all our students excel at this fast-growing sport.

Georgia

Louisiana had a packed 2022 with our first (sold out!) USTA/USPTA Pros workshop in Lafaye e, the USPTA World Conference in New Orleans, and the Tennis Haus conference in Covington.

We're looking forward to hos ng more events in 2023 and increasing par cipa on and engagement among our pros.

We're also seeing great things at the local levels and from the LTA increasing par cipa on in junior events across the state. As always, the board is here to support our current and future pros with mentorship through our Elevate Program and networking so we can con nue this growth.

Louisiana

Mississippi

Our chapter started off the year by hos ng the Mississippi Pro Workshop at River Hills Club in Jackson, MS as part of the USTA Annual Weekend. Our guest speakers were Ken DeHart and Allan Jensen. We had a great turnout with 62 a endees. Our Q&A session in the morning included Tom Daglis, who we are very fortunate Our USPTA GA Annual Awards banquet had three special to have in MS. Our state awards were presented during award presenta ons. The Under 30 Pro of the Year was the USTA Luncheon. The award winners are: Manager of Casey Kay. The USPTA Educa on Merit Award went to Rick the Year - Jamie Bell (Greenville CC) , Director of the Year Wille , who has earned 18 credits a year for the last ten Toby Fasth (Bayou Bluff) , Pro of the Year - Ben Berry years, with 238 credits earned from 2021-2022. Stewart (Laurel CC) , Assistant of the Year - Turner Hughes (Laurel Russell was the winner of USPTA GA Director of the Year. CC) , Coach of the Year - Rachel Causey (Jackson Prep). On Congratula ons to these and all of our hard working and Saturday night , two of our members were inducted into innova ve pros in the USPTA GA chapter. We are con nu- the Mississippi Tennis Hall of Fame. Congratula ons to ally trying to raise the bar and provide the best experience Nick Barone and Louis Nash for their commitment and for our players. contribu ons to our sport. The board is currently planning three small workshops during the summer. Dates and details to follow. I wish everyone a great 2023.

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2023 Virtual Business Conference The multiple division Virtual Business Conference is back for February 9-10 .

Cost will only be $35 for USPTA members. th

CLICK to register at USPTA. You must LOG IN to register THURS 2/9 1:30 Ashley Owens Listening and Why It’s Crucial to Our World Right Now 2:15 Mark McMahon The Difference Between Management & Leadership 3:00 Mark Brouker Lessons from the Navy: How to earn trust, lead teams and achieve organizational excellence 3:45 Paula Scheb Master committee meetings, staff meetings and COO/General Manager meetings

FRI 2/10 9:30 Bill Anderson Pickleball: Build It and They Will Come 10:15 Scott McCulloch Building Successful Programs for Your Club 11:00 Jose Pastrello A Racquet, a Paddle and a Briefcase: Skills needed to master midlevel management 11:45 Tim Buwick How to Keep the Fire Burning When the Wood's All Gone

Ashley Owens is the co-founder of CourtReserve (www.courtreserve.com) a web-based so

ware pla orm with a concentrated

focus on court management/u liza on, program/event management, pro scheduling, member management and more. She also cofounded Tennisrungs, a compe ve tennis ladder so ware product that has been used by over 500 clubs in over 19 countries. Ashley and her team have built a company culture based on excellent customer service and growing their product by empowering their clients and being innovators in the field. Ashley and her husband Tim enjoy tennis and pickleball near their home in St Augus ne Florida.

Mark McMahon is a USPTA Master Professional and has been recognized as the USPTA Na onal Professional of the Year.

McMahon is one of the club industry's most awarded racquet sports search consultants, and since 2008 he has been the founder and president of McMahon Careers. Today the firm works with private clubs looking to hire the right Tennis or Racquet Sports Director.

McMahon also provides one-to-one career coaching which is designed to help club professionals assess their career pathway, establish realis c goals, and build the skills to succeed. In 2020, McMahon Careers launched The Cer fied Racquet Sports Execu ve (CRSE) Program. The CRSE Program is a 10-month long advanced career development program for cer fied professionals who aspire to manage, administer, and direct a private club program more effec vely, more professionally, and more confidently.

McMahon is a former USPTA Florida Division President and na onal board member, and was a founding faculty member of the original CMAA Sports Management Program.

Captain Mark Brouker is an interna

onally recognized leadership expert and author of the highly acclaimed book Lessons from the Navy: How to build trust, lead teams and create organiza onal excellence. Forbes calls it a “concise and highly readable book… gives a fascina ng glimpse into leadership.” He has also authored numerous ar cles on leadership published in a diverse array of magazines and periodicals, and has appeared on numerous podcasts and radio spots, including Fast Company and Savvy Business Radio.

He served in an array of leadership posi ons during and a er his 30-year naval career, including 15 years in the C-suite. Captain Brouker served as Commanding Officer at one of the largest naval hospitals worldwide. He also served as Chief of Staff for Navy Medicine West, responsible for 10 hospitals spanning the West Coast to the Indian Ocean and healthcare for 800,000 pa ents.

A er transi oning from the military, Dr. Brouker founded Brouker Leadership Solu ons, a company passionate about helping leaders succeed on their leadership journey. Captain Brouker volunteers as an execu ve coach at The Honor Founda on, a non-profit organiza on that helps U.S. Navy SEALs and other Special Opera ons Forces military transi on from the military to the corporate environment.

Paula Scheb is the Director of Sports at Bonita Bay Club, overseeing the tennis, pickleball, croquet and aqua

cs program. The club has 18 tennis courts, including 4 PlaySight courts, retail area, 10 nova cushion pickleball courts, an oversized croquet lawn, and contemporary pool. The club boasts 5 golf courses, 20,000 square fitness center and 10,000 square foot spa. The club has over 4,000 members.

Paula knows she has been lucky to find herself surrounded by a fantas c membership and an amazing work team!

Paula has been at the Bonita Bay Club, in Southwest Florida for 29 years and is a USPTA Master Professional. Bonita Bay Club has been recognized as a top 100 Pla num Club of America. Pla num Clubs of America represents the upper 5% of America's Top Private Clubs of Excellence, as voted by over 3,000 Club General Managers, Owners and Presidents in the recent biennial elec on. In addi on, “Tennis Industry” magazine named Bonita Bay Club as the 2015 Private Facility of the Year.

Paula graduated from the University of Florida with a BS degree in Business Marke ng. She played college tennis for the #2 na onally ranked Lady Gators and was a doubles All-American at UF.

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AND HOLD THE DATE For our spring conference May 18-20 at the Atlanta Country Club Details coming soon We were set to host at Bayou Bluff Tennis Club in Biloxi, MS but their major renovation will not be completed in time. This will be the site of our 2024 conference

Bill Anderson

has been a full- me teaching professional is Atlanta for 22 years and currently serves as Director of Tennis at Capi-

tal City Club. He was the 2016 and 2021 Georgia Professional Tennis Associa on Director of the Year and USPTA Georgia President 20192021. In addi on to managing one of the largest ladies league programs in the metro area he has successfully launched a comprehensive pickleball program a er growing a love for the sport. He is cer fied by USPTA, PTR, PPR, IPTPA, and PPTR.

Sco McCulloch, a na ve of Sydney, Australia holds a bachelor's degree in Sports Management, Sco was a na onally ranked junior player and also started teaching during his junior career and has over 25 years of teaching experience of all ages and abili es.

Sco is the Chief Opera ng Officer at Cliff Drysdale Management and oversees the daily opera ons for more than 65 clubs in the CDT and PBI por olio including programming, crea ng short and long-term opera onal strategies and implementa on, pro-development, and most importantly, suppor ng HQ, directors, and associates in the CDT and PBI club por olio. Addi onally, Sco is regarded as one of the tennis industry pioneers in today’s tennis climate specializing in all aspects of tennis management opera ons and serves on the USTA na onal commi ee for adult social play.

Jose Pastrello was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A Florida Gulf Coast University allumini, Jose has been an ac

ve figure in

racquet sports in Southwest Florida. In 2021, Jose was named the USPTA Florida Professional of the Year. He is currently the Director of Courts Sports at Quail Creek Country Club where he is responsible for all the tennis, pickleball and bocce opera ons.

Tim Buwick

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Pickleball Info The DINK Excerpt from Pickleball Kitchen

All about the dink

Pickleball Points

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Travel For Fun & Profit

by Tom Sweitzer USPTA Master Professional

How would you like to give a group tennis lesson to 54 people that went from 6:30 am to 11 pm that paid you a week’s wages and you did not have to hit a single tennis ball? Impossible you say. For over 40 years I have been doing such by running trips to tennis events and vacations. In total, I have escorted over 10,300 people to enjoy world class tennis in person. If you want to get people excited about tennis, then help them to attend a professional tennis event by setting up a trip. They will be excited to go and will come back even more excited about the tennis they experienced. I always say that the day after you attend a professional tennis match you will play the best tennis of your life, but after a day you realize who you are, and you return to your prior tennis level.

Why would you want to do a tennis trip? Would it be for fun or for profit? Hopefully it will be for both. During my 46-year tennis career, the first thing I do when contemplating any project is to answer three simple questions. 1) Is the project going to be fun, 2) is there a need for it and 3) can I make a buck from it. Then I put together a cost analysis using three prices and the breakeven point for each. One price is the community service price which is very low, and I make almost nothing but will ensure a quick sell out. The second price will properly reward me for my efforts and risk. The third price is what the market will bear which pays me a very handsome reward. I then make the decision as to which price I will charge which best suits my purpose.

Even if I am doing a trip with a very low profit, I am still receiving a free trip for myself and wife. Many times, I include free staff trips as a perk. Getting the opportunity to enjoy a great social event, bond with many people while getting a day off the court is the fun part of the project. The more trips you do, the more you

learn how to package and promote your trip. If it is a small event that would not warrant a 54-passenger bus, then I utilize a 15-passenger van. You can also consider sponsoring a trip to a resort. Many times, a resort will work with you to encourage you to bring people to them, especially if it is an off time. The more people you bring, the better the deal to you. They might make it simple by giving you a good package price and the number of people you need to bring for you to receive your package gratis. If you want to take part in a free tennis vacation to an island resort, you can always apply for a free week at a resort and trade your teaching skills. I have even traded my tennis teaching skills on a cruise line!

deposits as well as the actual purchase of event tickets.

In addition to the potential fun and profit, many times there is an extra reward called high profile. You become well known and respected in your community as well as the tennis industry for your creativity and willingness to grow the game of tennis via your tennis travel components. This high profile allows you opportunities that otherwise would not have been possible. For example, my many years of tennis trips enabled me to host the Elton John WTT Smash Hits event in Hershey, PA. It was attended by over 7,000 people and raised over $850,000 in a single night. For this event I was the one attracting other to travel to me as I became the destination. I If you establish a certain location on an have hosted similar events for Roddick, annual basis, you might want to put some Blake, McEnroe, Courier, and Laver skin in the game and purchase a resort among others. Large scale events as these property. I have put together group owner- also gave me an opportunity to request and ship of several resort properties which I secure over 3,500 free tickets which were utilized annually for my own tennis trips, given to at risk children, thus growing the while each of the owners, including mygame of tennis to a group that is many self , were able to use the property for our times overlooked. Without question, my own family vacations and then rented out diversified long term tennis travel opportuthe unused weeks. We even used to donate nities contributed greatly to many industry weekly rentals to tennis charities for their awards such as USPTA National Pro of the fund-raising efforts. One of these proper- Year and induction into three Tennis Halls ties which I held for 35 years, I recently of Fame. sold which was a part of my retirement When you start something small, you nevportfolio. er know what it will grow into.

There is no doubt that tennis travel is a fun and rewarding option for you to consider as part of your total program. But keep in Tom has worn many hats during his career. He is currently mind that any project requires business the Property Manager/Tennis Director at Legacy Lakes. He skills such as planning, being in touch with was the tournament director and promoter for a Challenger your customers as well as establishing re- stop in Hersey PA and consistently had a great a endance. lationships with professional tennis tourna- His charity events have raised over $9 million. His stops have resorts, country clubs, private clubs, college coach, ments and resort destinations. Things like included and city owned facili es. Tom has been inducted into the marketing, promoting, and selling must be USPTA & USTA Middle States HOF, as well as receiving Pro of done on an all-year basis, not just a few the Year from both. He served on the USPTA Middle States weeks or month prior to the event. Finan- board, and finished as President. Other awards at USPTA Na onal Star, USPTA Na onal Club Manager, USPTA FL cial commitments must be made many months in advance with your putting down Excellence, and there are more.

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9 Quick Tips to Fix Your Bad Photos By Jim Fisher You don't have to be a professional to take top-notch photos. Follow these simple pointers to improve the quality of your snapshots.

Digital photography has democra zed the medium. More people are taking more photos than ever before, and they're sharing them online with friends and family in record numbers. It's easy to place the blame on the camera (or your smartphone) if your images aren't as nice as some others you see online, but by following a few guidelines you can improve the quality of your snapshots—without having to shell out big bucks for a new camera. Keep these 10 easy ps in mind next me you head out to capture the world around you. And if you have any ps that have helped you take be er pictures, please share them in the comments sec on.

1. Get Basic Composi on Down The heart of a photograph is its composi on— the posi on of different elements in a frame.

The easiest rule of thumb to learn and remember is the Rule of Thirds. Basically, you'll want to break your frame into nine squares of roughly equal size. Try and align the subject of your photo along these lines and intersec ons and imagine the main image divided over these nine boxes. This gives you a more drama c, visually interes ng shot than one where you subject is located dead center.

Many cameras and smartphones have a rule of thirds grid overlay that you can ac vate when shoo ng.

mode, your digital camera is making decisions that determine the exposure of a photo—in English, how light or dark the shot appears.

Generally speaking, a camera looks at a scene and tries to determine the appropriate exposure based on the correct ligh ng of a gray card, which is why there are special scene modes for snow—without them, the camera would try to make the white snow gray. If a photo is too light or dark you can either delve through the dozens of scene modes that are available in modern point-and-shoot cameras, or simply dial in a bit of exposure compensaon. Many cameras have a physical bu on or dial for this, iden fied by a +/- symbol. If your photo is too dark, move the scale up above zero; if too light, move it down a bit.

3. Choose the Right Mode Your camera is likely to have scores of shoo ng modes, ranging from fully automa c opera on to very specific scene modes. If you're shoo ng fast ac on you can put the camera into Shu er Priority ("S" or "Tv") mode and increase the speed at which a photo is taken—se ng it to 1/125 second or faster will help to freeze ac on, and for really quick subjects (like the hummingbird below), use as short a speed as possible to freeze mo on, or a longer one to add mo on blur to the flapping wings. In lower light you can use Aperture Priority ("A" or "Av") mode to make sure as much light is entering the lens as possible, or if you're shoo ng landscapes on a tripod you can close the lens's iris to increase depth of field, keeping everything in sharp focus from the foreground to the horizon. If you're a DSLR shooter, you're more likely to use the A or S modes, while point-and-shoot cameras will o en feature more specific modes that cater to ac vi es like sports, lowlight use, or landscape shoo ng.

4. Think About Ligh ng

2. Adjust Exposure Compensa on As long as you aren't shoo ng in full manual

Pay a en on to how much light you have and where it's coming from when taking your photos. If you're shoo ng outdoors, be careful not to take photos of a person when the sun is at their back, unless you want to make a portrait with some drama c flare (make sure to dial in posi ve EV adjustment if you do). If you're grabbing a photo in front of a monument or landmark and you want to make sure it's not overexposed, use some fill flash in-

stead to make your backlit subject as bright as the background. You may have to manually ac vate the flash, as there's a good chance that the camera will think that it's unnecessary on a bright day.

5. Use Your Flash Wisely Many a photo has been foiled by a flash firing too close to a subject. If your friends and family look like Casper the Friendly Ghost when you photograph them, chances are that you're too close when snapping your photos.

If you need to ac vate the flash, back up a bit and zoom in to get the proper framing. If things are s ll too bright—or too dark—check and see if flash compensa on is an op on.

Many cameras allow you to adjust the power of the flash, which can help to add be er balance to your flash-assisted photos. Adding just a li le bit of light makes it possible to fill in shadows, resul ng in a more naturallooking photo.

If you're shoo ng under mixed ligh ng, or if the camera is just having a hard me figuring things out, you can set the white balance manually. On most point and shoots you'll have to dive into the shoo ng menu to adjust this, but many DSLRs have a dedicated White Balance bu on, o en labeled "WB." You can correct color in the included Mac or Windows photo edi ng apps later on, but you'll get be er-looking photos if you get the white balance right in the first place.

6. Change Your Perspec ve Most snapshooters and beginners will stand on two legs and snap shots from eye level.

While this is fine for many images, it's not always ideal. If you've got a camera with a l ng screen you can more easily shoot from a low or high angle to get a different perspecve on your subject. If you don't have a l ng LCD, think about ge ng down low to the ground to get the best shots of pets and toddlers—you'll want the camera at their eye level to get an image that stands out. You don't have to pay for every shot with a digital camera, so play around with different angles and camera posi ons un l you've found one that captures a moment and stands out from the crowd.

7. Watch Your White Balance Your camera will try and set white balance automa cally based on the type of light in which you're shoo ng. Different light casts different types of color—sunlight is very blue, tungsten ligh ng is yellow, and fluorescent is a bit green. In many cases, the camera will automa cally detect what type of ligh ng you're under and adjust the color in photos so that they look natural. But when White Balance isn't right, you can get results like you see above—the image on the le is correctly balanced, and the one on the right is way off.

8. Be Selec ve It's easy to take hundreds of photos in a few hours when shoo ng digitally. But don't just dump your memory card and upload all of the images to Facebook. You should spend some me going through your photos so you can eliminate redundant shots and discard photos that may be out of focus or poorly composed.

It's be er to post a few dozen great photos by themselves rather than the same good photos hiding among hundreds of not-so-good ones.

9. Don't Forget to Post-Process Consider using so ware to organize and edit your photos. Apple Photos and Microso Photos support basic organiza on, as well as a number of edi ng tools. If you're more of a phone editor, check out VSCO or Snapseed.

Performing some very basic edi ng on a photo can help improve its quality dras cally. Cropping a bit can help with composi on, and you can also rotate a photo so that horizon lines are straight. Ge ng perfect photos in-camera is a lo y goal; there's no harm in a bit of retouching.

USPTA Southern Awards Awards are for accomplishments from 2022. This year, awards will be accepted via online system along with supporting documentation. You can choose to self nominate (most common method), or to nominate someone else and have the committee connect for supporting information. The person must be a current member including all of 2021.

We have 2 new awards. First is the Mentor Award, which will recognize the USPTA professional that has inspired and had a big impact on current professionals or those joining.

Second the High Performance Coach, which will replace Touring Coach.

ALAN HENRY SOUTHERN PRO OF THE YEAR

Online Application and info at usptasouthern.com on the AWARDS tab

DEADLINE: March 5th Awards to be presented at the Awards Lunch during the Southern Convention at the Atlanta Country Club on Friday,May 20th.

Any questions should be directed to: Allan Jensen, Ajensen.tennis@gmail.com

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

This award shall be presented for achieving excellence in performing the duties of a USPTA Tennis Professional.

Areas of achievement might include teaching and coaching, management and administration, competitive play, research and publication, and community service. Relevant criteria for this award would include contributions to national, regional and local tennis organizations and programs as an officer, director, founder, committee member, project leader, speaker, participant tand the like. Other criteria would be contributions as a teaching professional and coach in regard to innovative programming, notable students, continuing education, and player rankings.

This award shall be presented for excellence and achievement in competitive men’s and women’s play.

Relevant criteria for all above competitive men’s and women’s player’s awards should include results and rankings from ATP, USPTA National and Division, USTA, STA, and/or District.

Tournament record should be provided.

FRED BURDICK USPTA PRIDE OF THE SOUTH

This award shall be presented for achieving excellence in performing duties of an Assistant Tennis Professional.

Areas of achievement might include teaching and coaching, competitive play, research and publication, and community service. Relevant criteria for this award would include contributions to national, regional and local tennis organizations and programs as a committee member, project member, or an active participant. Other criteria would be contributions as a tennis professional and coach in regard to innovative programming, notable students, continuing education, and rankings.

This award is appointed by the awards committee and is not up for nomination.

MENTOR AWARD

This award recognizes a USPTA member who has, through their coaching and character, made an enduring and positive impact on those around them. While special consideration will be given to those who have inspired others to work in the tennis industry, what is most important is the ability to provide anecdotes and examples of how a coach influenced the lives and character of individuals. In that regard, providing information about individual player rankings is welcome but not necessary.

ELEVATE PRO OF THE YEAR

This award shall be presented to the individual who hasmade an impact to the tennis industry. Relevant criteriashould include contributions, notable accomplishments, and involvement in tennis activity throughout the state, the south, and nationally. This person should also be a member of the Elevate team.

HIGH SCHOOL COACH, COLLEGE COACH, HIGH PERFORMANCE COACH ­­­

These three awards shall be presented for excellence in contributing to the notable accomplishments of your team(s) or student(s). Relevant criteria for this award would include competitive record, demonstrated improvement in skills and accomplishments, and other achievements and distinctions earned by your team(s) or player(s) in which the nominee is wholly or partly responsible, such as Scholar-Athlete and Sportsmanship Awards.

CHARITY EVENT OF THE YEAR

This award is given to the Professional that raises money for a charity. Please verify the event on the letterhead of the charity or with a newspaper clipping.

SOUTHERN ASSISTANT PRO OF THE YEAR

MANAGER OF THE YEAR

This award shall be presented to the club manager who has shown dedication to the USPTA and its members. Criteria may include USPTA membership, hiring and supporting USPTA members.

INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE

This award recognizes those USPTA-certified members who have done the most to promote tennis at the grassroots level and thereby increased player participation in the sport.

Entrepreneurial initiative also is an important criterion.

TEACHING PROFESSIONAL AWARD

This award is presented for having demonstrated excellence in teaching. Considerations include: use of the ROGY pathway for juniors and adults; consistent use of teaching aids such as ball machines, video analysis, as well as any other implements to help players grasp concepts; demonstrated ability to modify teaching styles based on the learning needs of students; and success in having inspired beginners of all ages to become lifelong tennis players.

USPTA SOUTHERN DIVISION

NEWSLETTER 337 Rhodes House Court SUWANEE, GA 30024

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