January 2007

Volume 35 Number 1 $5.00

Contents R S I J A N U A R Y

INDUSTRY NEWS
2 0 0 7

7 New “String Center” software

for clubs, retailers
7 Nitsche named GM of Dunlop
Racquet Sports
7 PTR schedules 2007 Symposium
8 Community Tennis Development
Workshop set for Atlanta
8 Head adds Metallix and Airflow
racquets
2007 USRSA STRING SURVEY 9 Dunlop introduces Aerogel
line of frames
30 Strings of Success
We provide expert guidance that can help you—and your customers—find the
right strings.
10 PTR, Playmate sign two-year
agreement
33 Members’ Choice Awards 10 TCA re-brands as Midtown
Our exclusive string rankings, and special poster, will help you pick the right
products for your shop. Athletic Clubs
11 PTR announces new director
FEATURES of education

34 A Tennis Wish List 12 College coaches honored by

As we begin the New Year, we asked people in the industry to tell us what USTA, ITA
they’d like to see.
13 Tecnifibre adds frames to
Elite Series
38 Mark of Distinction
RSI and the ASBA bring you the best in tennis court construction with the
Distinguished Facility-of-the-Year Awards.
15 Tennis Channel adds,
shifts personnel

Cover photo: Stephen Whalen Photography 16 Prince offers new grips and strings

DEPARTMENTS
4 Our Serve 28 Continuing Education
18 Court Maintenance 40 Science
20 The Master Pros 42 String Playtest: Prince Synthetic Gut Multi 16
22 Marketing Success 44 Tips and Techniques
24 Teaching Pro 46 Ask the Experts
26 Junior Participation 48 Your Serve, by Jolyn de Boer

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 3

Our Serve
(Incorporating Racquet Tech and Tennis Industry)

A Solid Foundation Publishers

David Bone Jeff Williams

T here’s been a lot of good news in tennis lately. Par-

ticipation is rising, equipment sales are up, the
number of “play occasions” has increased. And, of
Editor-in-Chief
Crawford Lindsey

Editorial Director
Peter Francesconi
course, the big statistic that many people have quoted Associate Editor
over the last six months: Tennis is the only traditional Greg Raven

participation sport to have grown in the last five years, Design/Art Director
Kristine Thom
up 10.3 percent, according to the Sporting Goods Man-
Contributing Editors
ufacturers Association. Cynthia Cantrell
Clearly, things are beginning to click in this industry. Rod Cross
Kristen Daley
But underneath all these participation increases is one solid, and Joe Dinoffer
very obvious, fact: Everyone who plays tennis in the U.S., whether Liza Horan
a recreational player or a pro, has to play on a court. Andrew Lavallee
And that’s why, in my opinion, the most important people in James Martin
Chris Nicholson
this sport are those who build and maintain tennis courts. They Bob Patterson
are, figuratively and quite literally, the foundation of tennis in this Cynthia Sherman
country.
RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY
Your business—whether you are a tennis retailer, facility or club
Corporate Offices
manager, teaching pro, or manufacturer—depends on people play- 330 Main St., Vista, CA 92084
ing the game. And that, in turn, depends on having courts to begin Phone: 760-536-1177 Fax: 760-536-1171
with. Tennis will not grow if courts in a community are in poor Email: RSI@racquetTECH.com
Website: www.racquetTECH.com
shape, or worse yet, if there are no courts.
Office Hours: Mon.-Fri.,8 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific Time
Court builders, ably represented in the U.S. by the American
Sports Builders Association (ASBA), are in a remarkable position. Advertising Director
Their influence has been increasing throughout this industry, and John Hanna
770-650-1102, x.125
that’s great to see. Groups who have taken on the responsibility to
hanna@knowatlanta.com
increase tennis participation in the U.S. are reaching out more and
more to those who make and refurbish our courts. We at RSI are Apparel Advertising
dedicated to helping the court-building business, because we know Cynthia Sherman
203-263-5243
how important it is to tennis overall.
cstennisindustry@earthlink.net
If you’re a retailer or teaching pro or other industry person who
Racquet Sports Industry (USPS 347-8300. ISSN 0191-
never thought much about the court-construction business, take 5851) is published 10 times per year: monthly January
the time to get to know those who build and repair the courts in through August and combined issues in Septem-
ber/October and November/December by Tennis
your area. They’re the foundation of your business, too.
Industry and USRSA, 330 Main St., Vista, CA 92084.
Periodicals postage paid at Hurley, NY 12443 and
additional mailing offices. January 2007, Volume 35,
Number 1 © 2007 by USRSA and Tennis Industry. All
rights reserved. Racquet Sports Industry, RSI and logo
Peter Francesconi are trademarks of USRSA. Printed in the U.S.A. Phone
advertising: 770-650-1102 x 125. Phone circulation
Editorial Director
and editorial: 760-536-1177. Yearly subscriptions $25
in the U.S., $40 elsewhere. POSTMASTER: Send
address changes to Racquet Sports Industry, 330
Main St., Vista, CA 92084.

RSI is the official magazine of the USRSA, TIA,and ASBA

4 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007


INDUSTRY NEWS
INFORMATION TO HELP YOU
Nitsche Named
GM of Dunlop
Racquet Sports
Dunlop
Sports
Group
Americas
has
appointed
Kai Nitsche
as general
manager of its racquet
sports division. Nitsche had
previously been with Dun-
lop for eight years, rising to
director of marketing for
both the Racquet Sports
and Golf Divisions. Most
recently, he was the south-
ern regional manager for
Head/Penn Racquet Sports.
“Everyone in the racquet
sports industry has the
greatest respect for Kai and
his abilities,” says Neil Mor-
ton, CEO of Dunlop Sports
Group Americas. “His hiring
is a strategic move that
shows Dunlop’s commit-
ment to the growth of the
racquet sports brand.”
In addition to growing Dun-
lop’s national sales teams
and customer services,
Nitsche will oversee this
winter’s launch of the Dun-
lop Aerogel line of racquets
and the continued develop-
ment of product lines.
“Dunlop is committed to its
dealers and partners in all
racquet sports,” says
Nitsche. “We have already
taken a number of steps to
ensure we are turning out
the very best product in the
market.”
R S I J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 7
RUN YOUR BUSINESS
New “String Center” Software
Helps Clubs, Retailers
Manage String Business
new web-based software program called “String Cen-
A ter” promises to help clubs, pro shops, and specialty deal-
ers manage and grow their racquet stringing business.
String Center, which is part of Sports InterActive’s Tennis Commerce Suite, will simplify record-
keeping, increase productivity, and increase customers service for what typically is a tennis busi-
ness’s highest-margin category, according to Herb Sweren, the owner/president of Sports InterActive.
“This is the very first system built for the string business to manage orders and the overall oper-
ation,” says Sweren. “Most dealers have been running the stringing operation by keeping track of
orders in a notebook. This product automates the process so they can generate more revenue more
efficiently.”
With String Center, stringers and managers can create customer profiles to record preferences for
string type and tension, print receipts and work orders, view and prioritize jobs, and automate the
process of customer reminders, says Sweren.
“I’ve been able to expand my business and make my life easier,” says Ken DeHart, director of
tennis at the San Jose Swim & Racquet Club in San Jose, Calif., who uses String Center along with
the retail and playing facility components of Tennis Commerce Suite. “You can document things
more easily, more professionally, and keep the human touch. String Center is a very efficient way to
manage your string business in one place, and our online store carries more physical inventory than
I could carry in my shop.”
String Center is a component of Tennis Commerce Suite, which is a full-service software package
that creates an online store for tennis retailers and facilities and offers online solutions to increase
revenue and customer service. For tennis pro shops signing up for the Tennis Commerce Suite, the
“Our Store Online” feature allows customers 24/7 access through a secure shopping cart with tailored
branding and messaging, along with a toll-free customer service phone. For clubs and facilities, the
“Premium SI Package” provides tools to manage member communications and on-court activities,
including online court scheduling, program enrollment, and player matching.
For more information and pricing, contact 410-358-1304 or visit www.sports-interactive.net.
PTR Schedules 2007 Symposium
he 2007 PTR International Tennis Symposium and d
T $25,000 Championships will be Feb. 17 to 23 at Ship--
yard Plantation on Hilton Head Island, S.C.
This year’s speakers include Jim Loehr, Tim Mayotte, Pat
Etcheberry, Rodney Harmon, Lisa Duncan, Kirk Anderson,
Jorge Andrew, and more. Professional Development Cours-
es also are offered during the symposium. There also is a
trade show.
Registration starts at $325 and includes presentations, Awards Banquet, Flag Ceremony, Head
Dinner Party, Gamma Dinner Party, Kaelin Dinner & Fashion Show, Trade Show admission, Silent
Auction, USTA Recognition Breakfast, Closing Ceremony, and portfolio. For more information or to
register, visit www.ptrtennis.org and click on “Upcoming Events.”
January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 7
INDUSTRYNEWS J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 7

Atlanta to Host CTDW in February USPTA Provides

Personal Websites
O
ne of the most useful

T
industry events for helping he USPTA is providing all
to increase tennis partici- of its members
pation takes place Feb. 9 to 11 with personal
in Atlanta—the USTA’s 2007 websites to help them
Community Tennis Develop- promote themselves and
ment Workshop. their services.
The educational weekend While personal web-
workshop, under the theme sites have been avail-
“Working Smart—Working able to all USPTA members since 1997,
Together,” will be at the Hilton previously members had to request a site and
Atlanta Hotel and will feature leading speakers and opportunities to network provide all the content to the USPTA, which
with peers across the country. Program sessions will consist of Development controlled the site. Now, however, the mem-
Area sessions, Professional Skill Development sessions, and On-Court Demon- ber will completely control the content, to
strations. add and update information as needed.
Development Area sessions include programs on organizational planning In this new program, an individual web-
and development, financial management for not-for-profit organizations, mar- site has already been created for every USPTA
keting/promotions/PR/communications, and participation and programming. member. Members just need to visit usp-
Each session will be a combination of instruction from a topic expert as well as tapro.com and log in, then they can start cre-
peer interaction and case study. The Professional Skill Development and On- ating and personalizing their own site. Each
Court Demonstration sessions include topics such as time management, proj- site has a home page that can be personal-
ect management, on-court drills, and teaching techniques. ized. There are also pages for a teaching pro
In addition, “pre-workshop” sessions are offered on Friday, Feb. 9, at no biography and information on his or her facil-
additional charge. These sessions are designed for specific program areas, ity. Other pages are available for events, les-
including NJTL chapters, Community Tennis Associations, and park and rec pro- son programs, news, tennis tips, and more.
grams. The weekend also includes the 2007 Awards Banquet, and an exhibit Members can also upload images and a com-
area. pany logo that can be placed on any page on
TDW conference registration starts at $251 for the weekend. The hotel rate the website.
for registered attendees is $145 per night. For more information, visit To find a USPTA pro and visit one of their
www.usta.com or email ctdw@usta.com or call 914-696-7205. websites, go to www.usptafindapro.com.

Head Adds to Metallix, Airflow Racquet Lines Ashaway Renews Deal

H
ead has added two new racquets to its Metallix power series line. Metal-
lix consists of a specially designed matrix of carbon fibers and a crys-
with R-Ball Champ
talline metal alloy that has a grain size 1,000 times smaller than that of a Huczek
typical metal, says Head, which translates into increased strength in a
lighter, powerful racquet. Ashaway Racket
The new Metallix 4 (left) blends power and control and is Strings has
designed to appeal to players with a medium swing style. The 4 announced the
features a 107-square-inch head size, and unstrung weight of renewal of its
9 ounces. The 115-square-inch, 8.8-ounce Metallix 6 is longstanding
a power racquet designed for players with a sponsorship
medium to short swing style. agreement with
Also new from Head is an addition to its World Champion
women’s Airflow line—the Airflow 1, racquetball play-
which is designed for players with a
er Jack Huczek.
medium to fast swing style. Head says
The deal will take Huczek, who has been
the Airflow 1 offers the most control in
using Ashaway string since early in his
the line and provides lightweight
career, into his second decade as an
power, maneuverability, and comfort.
The racquet is 99 square inches and
Ashaway Racket Strings sponsored play-
weighs 9 ounces. er. Terms of the agreement were not dis-
For more information, visit closed.
www.head.com.

8 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007

 INDUSTRY NEWS

Dunlop Introduces Southern Section Loses Marc Kaplan

Aerogel Line of Frames
M
arc Kaplan, the USTA Southern Section’s

D
unlop has introduced its Aerogel
line of racquets, which the compa-
ny says is designed with “the light-
est solid on earth, with a strength 4,000
times its own weight.”
“Dunlop has a reputation for produc-
ing some of the finest racquets played by
professionals,” says Kai Nitsche, general
manager of racquet sports. “Aerogel fur-
ther enhances our position as a leader in
performance technology.” Frames
designed with Aerogel, says Dunlop, are
strong and stable, allowing for touch and
feel for control.
Aerogel, which is nicknamed “Frozen
Smoke” because of its lightness and
hologram-like transparency, is three
times the weight of air, says Dunlop, and
is used by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labora-
director of communications and publications,
died Oct. 17, after a five-year battle with a
brain tumor. Kaplan, who joined the section in
1999, worked tirelessly to generate media publicity
and coverage for USTA Southern events. In honor of
his work and contributions to tennis journalism, the
USTA Southern Section Media Excellence Award has
been renamed in his honor, and Kaplan himself is
the first recipient of the “Marc Kaplan USTA South-
ern Section Media Excellence” Award.
“Marc’s courage and fortitude in both his job and
his personal battle with cancer has provided inspi-
ration to all of us here at USTA Southern that is
impossible to measure,” says Southern Section
Executive Director John Callen. “We will miss Marc in so many ways.”
Kloss Elected Chair of Women’s Sports Foundation

I
lana Kloss, CEO of World TeamTennis, has been elected chair of the board of
tory in space missions.
trustees of the Women’s Sports Foundation. In her new role, Kloss will preside over
In Dunlop’s Aerogel line, the sub-
and provide guidance to the trustees and executive committee.
stance is combined with the company’s
“It’s an honor to be named chair of the board of an organization so important to
Multi Filament (M-Fil) technology to pro-
the lives of physically active girls and women,” says Kloss. “I started my career as a
vide stiffening at the top of the frame—
professional tennis player around the same time that the Women’s Sports Foundation
to minimize frame movement and create
was founded. During my career on and off the court, I have experienced firsthand the
power—and to provide stabilization at
impact the Foundation has had on the lives of millions of athletic and active women
the bottom of the racquet head—provid-
over the past 30 years.”
ing for more player control.
The Dunlop Aerogel 2Hundred is
designed for high-per-
formance players
California, Forida Teams Dominate
with long swings, WTT Rec League Championships
and it allows for

T
eams from California and Florida dominated the national championships at the
power and spin,
World TeamTennis Rec League National Finals in November, winning eight of 10
says Dunlop.
division titles. Missouri and New York teams each captured one title at the
The Aerogel
event, which was held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, Calif.
3Hundred is a
Forty-eight recreational and corporate tennis teams representing 19 states bat-
control-oriented
tled during the three-day event. Teams advanced to the national finals by either
racquet for high
qualifying from their respective divisions in six WTT Rec League national qualifying
performance/club
tournaments or by winning their local Corporate League. The weekend kicked off
players.
with a clinic hosted by WTT co-founder Billie Jean King. Division winners are:
Q 3.0: Braemar (Encino, Calif.)
The 5Hundred is
Q 3.5: Plash (Troy, N.Y.)
for serious players
Q 4.0: Game-Set-Match (Key Biscayne, Fla.)
looking for extra power
Q 4.5: Roamers (San Diego, Calif.)
and playability from a
Q Senior 3.5: Good Vibrations (Downey, Calif.)
lightweight frame. And the
Q Senior 4.0: Young at Heart (Kirkwood, Mo.)
5Hundred Tour (left) is
Q Corporate 3.5: NoWaitFreight Logistics (Boca Raton, Fla.)
slightly heavier and stiffer
Q Corporate 4.0: US Southcom (Miami, Fla.)
than the 5Hundred.
Q Corporate 4.5: Smith Barney (Miami, Fla.)
The line will be in stores in
Q Open: San Francisco Tennis Club (San Francisco, Calif.)
February. A new website
launches in January featuring
For more information on World TeamTennis or the WTT Recreational League,
the Aerogel line. Visit
visit www.WTT.com or call 866-PLAY-WTT.
www.dunlopsports.com.

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 9

INDUSTRYNEWS J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 7

PTR, Centre Court Tennis Offers

Playmate “The Tennis Court Hat”
Centre Court Tennis has introduced a line
Sign Agreement of hats that promotes the game of tennis.

T
he PTR and Playmate begin a two- The Tennis Court Hat features an embroi-
year sponsorship agreement in Jan- dered emerald green “centre court” that
uary that will provide PTR members forms a vivid design on a brushed-cotton
with 10 percent off the list price on all
twill cap. The hat is available in a variety
Playmate products, such as ball-throw-
of colors. To order, or for more informa-
ing machines and ball mowers.
tion, call 888-TENNHAT (836-6428) or
In addition, Playmate will conduct
email tenniscourthat@aol.com.
a new Professional Development
Course for the PTR titled “Teaching
Today’s Modern Game with a Ball
USTA staff took a
Machine.” The course will be taught by
Stan Oley, Playmate’s national sales tour of the Penn
manager, and will debut at the 2007 ball plant in
PTR International Tennis Symposium, Phoenix in early
held in February on Hilton Head November. USTA
Island. Playmate will give away a Play- national and sec-
mate Smash Ball Machine, a $4,000
tion staff were in
value, to one participant at the course.
For more information, visit
Phoenix for five
www.playmatetennismachines.com days for staff
or www.ptrtennis.org. training.

TCA Re-Brands as Midtown Athletic Clubs Delray Event to Test New

C
hicago-based TCA Holdings, a leader in upscale athletic club and sports
resort management, has renamed its largest division Midtown Athletic ATP Round-Robin Format

Clubs. The company currently operates 13 Midtown clubs throughout
the U.S. and Canada, including the Midtown Tennis Club in Chicago, which
recently won RSI’s “Private Facility of the Year” Award.
“As the health club industry matures, it will continue to divide into various
segments based on price, facilities, and service,” says Steven Schwartz, pres-
ident and CEO of TCA Holdings. “Our re-branding efforts reinforce our posi-
tion as the leader of the upscale niche. Having one strong brand allows us to
better communicate our special attributes to our members, as well as devel-
op new product standards that continue to redefine upscale athletic clubs
and sports resorts.”
As part of the re-branding effort, Midtown Athletic Club will invest tens of
millions of dollars to expand and renovate its facilities, as well as develop
innovative health, fitness, and sports programming designed to keep mem-
bers “fit for life.” For more information, visit www.tcaclubs.com.
T
he Delray Beach International Tennis
Championships, held Jan. 28 to Feb. 4 at
the Delray Beach (Fla.) Stadium and Tennis
Center, will be the first of five U.S. ATP tourna-
ments to test a new singles round-robin format
for the 2007 season. The Delray event has been
awarded a 32-player round-robin draw that the
ATP says will be a new element of excitement
to players and fans.
“It’s exciting for Delray Beach to open the
2007 tennis season in the U.S. by rolling out
this new round-robin format,” says Mark Baron,
the tournament director. “We’ve been dis-
cussing creative ways to make our sport even
more exciting and this format delivers a chance
to test some of those ideas.”
The new format will extend the tournament
to eight days—and from 11 to 13 sessions. “This
system will ensure each player gets at least two
matches in a particular city, and will allow for
more scheduling to be done in advance,” says
Mark Young, ATP Americas CEO. “We’ve
enjoyed success with this format at the Tennis
Masters Cup, and we look forward to seeing it
in practice at other ATP events during 2007.

10 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007

 INDUSTRY NEWS

PTR Announces New Top-Selling Racquets at Specialty Stores

Director of Education By year-to-date dollars, January-September 2006

M
yles Williams is the new director of Best-Sellers
education for the PTR. Previously, 1. Prince O3 White (MP) $187
he was the PTR’s education advisor. 2. Babolat Pure Drive Team (MP) $161
Williams, a psychology instructor at 3. Wilson N Six-One (16x18) (MS) $161
Central Carolina Technical College in 4. Prince O3 Blue (OS) $220
Sumter, S.C., will oversee PTR’s education 5. Prince O3 Silver (OS) $236
programs on a part-time basis from his
home office. He will be responsible for the “Hot New Racquets”
content of new workshops and courses, as well as for educational (Introduced in the past 12 months)
materials published by PTR. 1. Prince O3 White (MP) $187
Among other things, Williams will oversee PTR’s new web-based 2. Prince O3 Hybrid Hornet (MP) $161
education, revise PTR educational materials, and serve as staff liai- 3. Prince O3 Hybrid Hornet (OS) $163
son between PTR and the Master Professional Committee. He is a 4. Wilson N Pro Open (MP) $167
PTR clinician and tester, and a former full-time staff member. 5. Babolat Pure Drive Roddick (MP) $170
(Source: TIA/Sports Marketing Surveys)
Luxilon Selected as Stringer For WTA
Season-Ending Championships Tennis Racquet Performance
Specialty Stores, January-September, 2006 vs. 2005

L
uxilon, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of specialty
monofilaments, was selected as the Official Stringer of the
Units 2006 613,684
Sony Ericsson Tour Championships in Madrid, Spain. At the
2005 552,445
season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships held from Nov. 7 to
% Change vs. ’05 11%
12, 2006, Luxilon offered on-site stringing services for all WTA
Tour players.
Dollars 2006 80,948
“The selection of Luxilon to provide stringing services to this
2005 76,643
prestigious event underscores the dominance of Luxilon strings in
% Change vs. ’05 6%
professional tennis, and we feel this is a tremendous opportunity
for both parties,” says John Lyons, Wilson’s Global Business Direc-
Price 2006 $132
tor of Accessories. Earlier in 2006, Luxilon and Wilson Sporting
2005 $139
Goods announced an agreement making Wilson the exclusive
% Change vs. ’05 -5%
worldwide distributor of Luxilon tennis strings.
(Source: TIA/Sports Marketing Surveys)

ITA Names Small-College Winners Top-Selling Tennis Shoes

at Specialty Stores
E
mbry-Riddle's (Fla.) Mislav Hizak and Fresno Pacific's (Calif.)
Jelena Pandzic rolled to the singles titles at the 2006 Intercolle- By year-to-date dollars, January-September 2006
giate Tennis Association "Super Bowl" of Small College Tennis at 1. Adidas Barricade IV $102
the Florida Gulf Coast University Tennis Complex in Fort Myers, Fla. 2. Nike Air Max Breathe 2 $93
In addition, men's and women's doubles champions were 3. Prince T 10 $82
crowned in all four divisions at the 2006 ITA National Small College 4. Adidas Barricade II $82
Championships: 5. Nike Air Max Breathe 3 $97
Q NCAA Division II men: Julien Carsuzaa and Dennis Riegraf of Lynn (Fla.) (Source: TIA/Sports Marketing Surveys)
Q NCAA Division II women: Tammy Kevey and Mandy Septoe, West
Florida
Q NCAA Division III men: William Ellison and David Oehm of Claremont- Top-Selling Tennis Strings
Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) at Specialty Stores
Q NCAA Division III women: Liz Bondi and Amrita Padda of DePauw (Ind.) By year-to-date dollars, January-September 2006
Q NAIA men: Mislav Hizak and Konstantin Lazarov of Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 1. Prince Synthetic Gut Duraflex
Q NAIA women: Kamila Dadakhodjeava and Tereza Veverkova of Auburn- 2. Wilson NXT
Montgomery (Ala.) 3. Wilson Sensation
Q JC men: Nahom Serekeberhan and Jorge Vazquez of Tyler Junior College 4. Prince Lightning XX
(Texas) 5. Luxilon Alu Power
Q JC women: Hiroko Nishikawa and Mizuho Nishimura of Hillsborough (Source: TIA/Sports Marketing Surveys)
Comm. College (Fla.)

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 11

INDUSTRYNEWS J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 7
College Coaches
Honored by USTA, ITA
W
ichita State University Director of Tennis
Chris Young (top, below) has been named
the national winner of the USTA/ITA Commu-
nity Service Award and Lehigh University men's
and women's tennis coach Dave
Shook (bottom) is the national
winner of the USTA/ITA Campus
Recreation Award. They were
honored in December at the
Intercollegiate Tennis Associa-
tion Coaches Convention in
Florida.
The Service Award honors an
ITA coach for significant contri-
butions in developing commu-
nity-based tennis programs
through community centers,
schools, parks, community ten-
nis associations, inner city, sub-
urban or rural programs. The
Campus Recreation Award hon-
ors an ITA coach who has done
an outstanding job implement-
ing recreational tennis programs on campus in an
effort to grow tennis participation.
"Dave and Chris are great examples of coaches
who give back to their communities and campuses
and our hope is that their efforts continue to inspire
other varsity coaches to emulate the great work
they are doing," says ITA Executive Director David
A. Benjamin. The national winners were selected
from a group of USTA sectional winners. Young is
from the Missouri Valley Section and Shook is from
Middle States.
Other sectional winners of the Community Service Award
are: Eastern—Russell Crispell, Univ. at Buffalo; Florida—
Dwayne Hultquist, Florida State; Intermountain—Nicole Ken-
neally, Univ. of Colorado; Mid-Atlantic—Cinda Rankin,
Washington & Lee Univ.; Middle States—Jim Holt, Gwynedd-
Mercy College; Midwest—Frank Barnes, Univ. of Wisconsin-
Whitewater; Missouri Valley—Chris Young, Wichita State
Univ.; Northern—Scott Larsen, St. Benedict; New England—
Jeffrey T. Wyshner, Fairfield Univ./Univ. of Akron; Northern
California—Marc Weinstein, Mills College; Pacific Northwest—
Lisa Hart, Washington State Univ.; Southern—Billy Pate, Univ.
of Alabama; Southern California—Paul Settles, Claremont-
Mudd-Scripps Colleges; Southwest—Lancy Lan-Shi Carr, Gate-
Way Community College; Texas—Cari Groce, Texas Tech.
Other sectional winners of the Campus Recreation Award
are: Eastern—Ira Miller, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.; Middle
States—Lori Sabatose, Clarion Univ.; Midwest—Al Wermer,
Univ. of Toledo; Missouri Valley—Chase Hodges, Drake Univ.;
New England—Chuck Kinyon, Dartmouth College; Pacific
Northwest—Gail Patton, Southern Oregon Univ.; Southern—
James Cuthbertson, Johnson C. Smith Univ.; Southern Califor-
nia—Paul Settles, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
12 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2 007
USRSA MEMBER CLASSIFIEDS
FOR SALE: Prince/Ektelon Neos 1000 with Wise USA 2086 tension head.
Four years old, home use only, and as new condition. Includes tools,
manuals, and shipping cartons. Available for inspection and pickup in
Southern California $1,350. Please contact Carl (760) 727-7455 or crl-
wlms@netscape.com
FOR SALE: Babolat Star 3 Stringing Machine. Completely reconditioned
by Tennis Machines Inc. Serial #10971/MFG. Date 8/9/89. Very Good
Condition. $2800. Contact Russ Sheh 760-318-0580.
Texas Largest Tennis Store Seeking Additional Stringers – Large Daily Vol-
ume. We can keep you busy stringing full time or provide part-time sales
with part-time stringing. We have 2 Babolat Star 5 machines and a
Babolat RDC machine. Come grow with us. Join Our Team. Send resume
to: Armen@TennisExpress.com or fax to 713-781-1237.
USPTA Names Winners of Hard Court Chps.
O
ren Motevassel of Alpharetta, Ga., claimed the men’s open title and
Julie Cass of Austin, Texas, won the women’s open title at the
$8,000 USPTA Hard Court Championships recently. Cass, who beat
Michelle King of Austin in the singles final, then joined with King to win
the open doubles title.
The competition featured more than 30 of the top men and women
tennis-teaching professionals in the country. Final-round results are:
Q Men's Open Singles: Oren Motevassel (1), Alpharetta, Ga., def. Guillaume Gau-
thier (2), Tyler, Texas, 6-4, 6-3.
Q Women's Open Singles: Julie Cass (1), Austin, Texas, def. Michelle King (2),
Austin, Texas, 6-2, 6-4.
Q Men's 45-and-over Singles: Vallis Wilder (2), Fort Worth, Texas, def. Patrick Ser-
ret (1), Alexandria, La., 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 .
Q Men's Open Doubles: Jonas Lundblad, Cedar Park, Texas, and Brian Notis (1),
Austin, Texas, def. Lance Hagan, Dallas, and Stephen Gordon-Poorman (3),
Southlake, Texas, 6-4, 6-2.
Q Women’s Open Doubles: Julie Cass, Austin, Texas, and Michelle King, Austin,
Texas, def. Shareen Lai, Morrisville, Pa., and Sarah Porter, Tempe, Ariz., 6-0, 6-1.
The tournament was the last for the year in a series of four national
tournaments on several court surfaces that the USPTA offered to its mem-
bers as part of the USPTA National Surface Championship Series. USPTA
members are eligible to participate in any of the competitions and the
International Championships. For information, contact 800-USPTA-4U or
visit www.uspta.com.
Head Brings Metallix to Squash
Head brings its Metallix technology of carbon
fibers and new crystalline metal alloy to
squash with the new Metallix 150 squash
frame. Designed for power, the ultra-
stiff racquet also features
Head’s Flexpoint technol-
ogy. For more info,
visit www.head.com
 INDUSTRY NEWS

USRSA Adds New Salesperson

C
hristina Kaus has joined the U.S. Racquet Stringers
Association as the advertising and membership salesperson for both the
association and for Racquet Sports Industry magazine. Kaus joins the sales
team that includes John Hanna, advertising sales director, and Cynthia Sherman,
apparel advertising sales.
Kaus's sales responsibilities will include advertising in the Stringers Digest and
the Industry Resource Guide in RSI. Kaus will also be responsible for selling USRSA
memberships, Master Racquet Technician and Certified Stringer certification,
instructional tools, and all of the other publications and supplies that the USRSA
produces.
"We're excited to add Christina to our team. Her extensive experience in sales
and customer service as well as her passion for the game of tennis make her a
perfect fit for this new position," says David Bone, executive director of the USRSA
and co-publisher of RSI.

Tecnifibre Adds Frames to Elite Series

N
ew for January is Tecnifibre’s TFlash 310 and an upgraded TFeel305,
both part of the company’s Elite Series of frames. The new
racquets are offered in two string patterns, 18x20 and
16x19.
Current frames in the Elite Series are the TFight 335
and TFight 320, which both also are available in two
string patterns. “We’re targeting the fre-
quent/tournament player who has discerning
criteria for the racquet’s performance,”
says Paul Zalatoris, general manager
of Tecnifibre USA. “We are pro-
viding ‘customized’ options
with our line offering of rac-
quets.”
For more information, visit www.tecnifibre.com, email sales@tecnifibreusa.com,

PE4life Announces Growth Plan

T
he new PE4life Board of Directors has announced its three-
year plans for PE4life to expand its PE4life Academies to 25
locations. These state-of-the-art PE training facilities will
educate and help establish almost 3,000 PE4life Programs or
schools through the U.S., which is expected to teach a new, con-
temporary PE program to over 7 million children by 2009.
"Our PE4life Academies are training hundreds of PE instruc-
tors, teachers, and community administrators on how to implement quality PE
programs,” says Chairman Tom Fox. “Research conducted at PE4life Programs has
shown we are improving the fitness levels in children, reducing disciplinary
actions in schools and, with new research, increasing academic results as well. It
is time to expand and let our PE4life Academies reach their potential."
PE4life Founder Jim Baugh (above), a longtime tennis industry veteran who
served as TIA president and USTA board member, says PE4life will look both with-
in the sports world and outside for future support and partnerships. “We will have
almost 3,000 sites or schools to promote partner products,” says Baugh. “And, we
can influence over 7 million children through these PE4life Programs."
For more information, contact 816-472-7345 or email info@pe4life.org.

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 13

 J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 7

SHORT SETS
INDUSTRYNEWS

>receive
The Professional Tennis Registry will > The U.S. Squash Racquets Association
the USTA’s 2006 Adaptive Tennis announced that it will move its headquarters
pendent film slated to be released in
2007. It stars Seann William Scott, best
National Community Service Award at the to New York City by late spring, from its cur- known for playing Steve Stifler in the
Community Tennis Development Workshop rent location in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. For more “American Pie” series, as a high-school
in Atlanta in February. The award recognizes information, visit www.us-squash.org. janitor who coaches a group of misfits to
an organization or individual that has the Nebraska state championship.
demonstrated continued excellence, dedica- >Audra
UCLA's Ben Kohlloeffel and Miami's (Fla.)

tion, and service in tennis for special popula-

tions or persons with disabilities.
> Apparel maker Lejay Inc. has moved its
corporate headquarters. The new address is
10728 NW 53rd St., Sunrise, FL 33351;
phone 800-932-7535 or 954-741-8707; fax
954-741-8577; email info@lejay.com;
www.lejay.com.
> Communications firm Keating & Co. of
Florham Park, N.J., is the new public relations
firm for Dunlop Sports Group Americas.
> New members beginning three-year terms
on the board of directors of the Internation-
al Tennis Hall of Fame are: Girard Brownlow,
Jim Courier, Phil Gore, Sir James Harvie-Watt,
Joel Katz, Deno Macricostas, Greg Muth and
Jon Vegosen. Harvie-Watt was also appoint-
ed to the Hall of Fame’s Executive Committee
and will co-chair the International Council.
Cohen captured singles titles at the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association National
Indoor Championships. This event, the sec-
ond of three national championships for sin-
gles and doubles during the 2006-07
collegiate tennis season, was hosted by Ohio
State at the Racquet Club of Columbus. In
doubles, Georgia's John Isner and Luis Flores
took the men’s title and William & Mary's
Megan Moulton-Levy and Katarina Zorcic
won the women's final.
> Through January, the International Tennis
Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., will display
¡Vive el Tenis!, a new exhibit that explores
the journey of tennis from its English and
European roots throughout North, South,
and Central America and the Caribbean. For
information, visit www.tennisfame.com or
call 401-849-3990.
> “Gary the Tennis Coach” is a new inde-
>onship
The 2007 World TeamTennis Champi-
Weekend presented by Advanta
will be July 27-29 at the home court of the
Sacramento Capitals, Allstate Stadium at
Westfield Galleria at Roseville in Califor-
nia.
>earlyLookJanuary
for a revamped Prince website in
that will feature the newest
generation O3 technology racquets, along
with unique 360-degree views of the new
frames for 2007.
>theirHead/Penn and the ATP have extended
partnership for Head/Penn to be the
official ball of the ATP Masters Series and
Tennis Masters Cup through 2009.
Head/Penn, which earlier this year extend-
ed its agreement to become the official
racquet and tennis bag of the ATP, has
served as the official ball of the ATP since
1993.

TSRs Visit For a Good Cause

9,000 Facilities At the recent Tennis Masters Cup in

M
ark McMahon, the USTA’s
Shanghai, about $40,000 was raised
manager of Tennis Service
for ACE (Assisting Children Every-
Representatives, reports that
where), the partnership between the
through the first nine months of
ATP and UNICEF, through donations
2006, the 90 TSRs made 9,302
made for aces served on court,
facility visits, an average of more
silent auctions, and sales of the
than 1,000 a month, and met more
Feder-bear Beanie Baby. Visit
than 33,000 personnel. Each TSR
www.atptennis.com.
averaged 16 visits per month, for
about 143 per TSR for the nine
months.
About 26 percent of all TSR vis- TennisTunes.com Launches With
its were at tennis clubs, 22 percent Federer, Roddick, Sharapova Songs
at schools, 21 percent at park and

rec facilities, 10 percent at Commu-
nity Tennis Associations, 7 percent
at program delivery or service
organizations, 3 percent at NJTLs,
and 12 percent to other tennis-
related organizations.
The average customer service
rating for the visits, says McMahon,
is a 4.71 out of 5.00.
S
inger and songwriter John Macom of the Hoboken, N.J.-based band “Binge” has
launched www.tennistunes.com, a website devoted to his music inspired by the
world of tennis. Macom—noted for his musical contributions to TV shows such as
“Dawson’s Creek,” “Party of Five,” “Felicity,” and “American Embassy”—has original
songs about Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, and other pros available for
download for $1.30 each.
“International tennis is a fascinating and exciting sport full of personable and charismatic
stars that have provided me with plenty of musical inspiration,” says Macom. “I’m excited that
through the world-wide-web, I’m able to share my music with all who find it entertaining.”

14 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007

 INDUSTRY NEWS

TTC Adds,
Shifts
Personnel
R
ecent personnel moves at The
Tennis Channel include two new
marketing execu-
tives and a number of
promotions.
Neil Roberts (right,
top) is the new director
of marketing and Lau-
ren Leder (middle) is
the director of on-air
creative. In addition,
Kate Varley (below) was
promoted to director of
short-form content and
special projects. All
three will report to Faye
Walker, the vice presi-
dent of marketing.
Also, the TTC pro-
moted four in its distri-
bution and production
departments: Eric
Turpin is the new vice
president of distribu-
tion, Eastern region;
Laura Hockridge, executive producer,
series and specials; Heath Woodlief,
producer; and Michelle Hanchaikul,
associate producer.
In other news, the TTC has part-
nered with Bellrock Media to market
and distribute the mobile game Turbo
Tennis, which is available for download
on major cell-phone carriers for $5.99
by sending the text message “TURBO”
to “TENIS” (83647).

Klip to Distribute
Völkl Racquets

E
ffective Jan. 1, Völkl Tennis
GmbH will use Klip America as
its distributor in the U.S.
Inquiries should go to Benny E. Neu-
mann, Klip America’s marketing and
sales coordinator, at 866-554-7872,
fax 720-559-
3253 or email

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 15

 J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 7
P L E W AT
INDUSTRYNEWS
O Prince Adds New Strings, Grips
E
• Stan Smith of Hilton
C
P
Head Island, S.C., and Kay
H
McDaniel of Cleveland, Tenn., will be
inducted into the USTA Southern Section
Tennis Hall of Fame on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
• Carla Simpson McKenzie is the new assistant
director of the Professional Tennis Management
(PTM) program at Methodist College in Fayet-
teville, N.C. McKenzie, a PTR and USPTA pro, grad-
uated from the college and completed the PTM
curriculum. She is currently enrolled in the Profes-
sional MBA program at Pinehurst.
• Pop singer Gwen Stefani bought two Head Air-
flow 7 racquets recently at Tennis Ace in Los Ange-
les. Reports say she had demoed a number of
frames before picking the Airflows. Stefani’s hus-
band, singer and guitarist Gavin Rossdale, is an
avid player and regular customer at the shop.
• West Florida sophomore Tammy Kevey and
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) junior Mislav Hizak received the
2006 James O' Hara Sargent Sportsmanship
Awards presented by Rolex Watch USA at the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small
College Tennis Championships presented by the
USTA. The award, given in memory of Jim Sargent,
former media manager for Rolex Watch USA who
died in a car accident in 2000, goes to players
who display outstanding sportsmanship and exem-
plify the spirit of college tennis during the course
of the ITA National Small College Championships.
• New staff at the International Tennis Hall of
Fame in Newport, R.I., include Gretchen W. North-
ern as director of annual giving and donor rela-
tions, Leigh Persico as special projects manager,
and Charles Kehres as special events manager.
• For the third time in the last four years, Bob and
Mike Bryan have clinched victory in the Stanford
ATP Doubles Race. The Bryans previously finished
as the No. 1 team in 2003 and 2005 while finish-
ing second in 2004.
• Jim Courier claimed the year-end No. 1 ranking
in the 2006 Outback Champions Series, a collec-
tion of tennis events in the U.S. for champion ten-
nis players over the age of 30. Second place went
to John McEnroe. Visit
www.championsseriestennis.com.
• Dan Malasky has been named USTA
counsel, Professional Tennis, supporting
legal matters for the Professional
Tennis Division.
16 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
P
rince Sports has come out with new strings and
grips designed to satisfy all types of players, and
with packaging that’s color-coded so customers
find exactly what they’re looking for.
The new strings are the Synthetic Gut Multifilament
16 (see our playtest on page 42) and 17 gauge, part of
the “playability series”; Tournament Poly in 16 and 17
gauge, part of the “durability series”; and Synthetic Gut
Poly Blend, with 17-gauge tournament poly mains and
16-gauge synthetic gut duraflex crosses, in the “dura-
bility series.”
According to Prince’s Dave Holland, more than
10 million sets of Prince Synthetic Gut string has
been sold since its introduction in 1991.
Prince has also segmented and color-coded its
grips into four categories: tacky, absorbent, traction,
and cushion. The new grips are the DuraPro+
(tacky), DuraPerf+ (absorbent), DuraTred+ (traction),
and DuraRib+ (traction). Currently in the line is the
Cushion Fit grip, which is in the “cushion” segment.
Packaging for the grips, which have photos of Prince
pros Maria Sharapova and James Blake, includes information
on the “triple-tier” construction, which Holland says will improve
tack level and add life to the grips. There is also a sample of the actual grip
for customers to feel. Suggested retail prices for the grips are $8.99.
Also, Prince offers a new, modular grip display that can be hung off a
hook or attached to a slatwall, and it features the Dura grips, Cushion Fit
grips, and No Sweat! overgrips.
For more information, visit www.princetennis.com.
ITA, USTA Honor College All-Stars
T
he Intercollegiate Tennis Association and the USTA honored the best
from the 2006 collegiate season at the USTA National Tennis Center.
The ITA Collegiate All-Star team recognized the nation's top-ranked
men's and women's tennis players from the season-ending Fila Collegiate
Tennis Rankings at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and NJCAA levels,
as well as champions from the 2005 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor
Championships and 2006 NCAA Championships.
This year's women's All-Stars are Miami's Audra Cohen, Florida's Diana
Srebovic and California's Suzi Babos in D-I singles; Stanford's Alice Barnes
and Anne Yelsey, Miami's Melissa Applebaum and Cohen, and Northwest-
ern's Cristelle Grier Fox and Alexis Prousis in D-I doubles; Armstrong
Atlantic State's Luisa Cowper in D-II; Washington & Lee's Emily Applegate in
D-III; Fresno Pacific's Jelena Pandzic in the NAIA; and Broward's Marta Simic
in the NJCAA.
On the men's side, the All-Stars are UCLA's Benjamin Kohlloeffel, Geor-
gia's John Isner and Miami's Luigi D'Agord in D-I singles; Illinois' Kevin
Anderson and Ryan Rowe, Pepperdine's Scott Doerner and Andre Bege-
mann, and Ohio State's Scott Green and Ross Wilson in D-I doubles; Drury's
Mattias Oddone in D-II; Bates' Will Boe-Wiegaard in D-III; Embry-Riddle's
Mislav Hizak in the NAIA; and Temple's Damian Johnson in the NJCAA.
Also honored were Megan Moulton-Levy of William & Mary and Jonathan
Stokke of Duke, who were recognized with the ITA/Arthur Ashe Leadership
and Sportsmanship Awards.
 INDUSTRY NEWS

Fischer Tennis Has IBM, Heineken Renew

U.S. Distributorship US Open Sponsorships

F I
ischer Tennis is now distributing BM and Heineken have renewed
racquets from its Fischer Sports their partnership agreements for the
USA headquarters in New Hamp- US Open.
shire. IBM will continue as the “Official
Fischer, which is privately owned Information Technology Solution
and based in Austria, produces “tourna- Provider” of the US Open and also will
ment-player” frames, says Brian Hunter, continue as one of six USTA Corporate
the U.S. national sales manager for Fis- Champions. The multi-year deal con-
cher Tennis, who’s been with the com- tinues through 2009, and will make
pany for a year. Pros Marcos Baghdatis, IBM a 16-year sponsor of the US Open.
Dominik Hrbaty, and Meghann Shaugh- Heineken USA, the nation's largest
nessy use Fischer frames, as does about beer importer, extended its agreement
10 percent of ATP and WTA top 100 with the US Open through 2010.
players, says Hunter. “It puts us on the Heineken, the “Exclusive Beer Spon-
map as a player’s racquet.” sor,” is in its 15th year of sponsorship.
The company introduced three
frames at the end of the summer, the
Magnetic Tour (below) and the Magnet-
ic Vision and GDS Vision, both designed
for women players. “In 2007, we’re real-
ly looking to bring
the Magnetic
Speed series to
the forefront
in the U.S.
market,”
says
Hunter.
Fisch-
er Sports,
whose U.S.
division is
headed by
President Dave
Auer, is one of
the top ski manu-
facturers in the
world. Its Fischer
Advanced Composite
Components division
produces lightweight
components for the auto-
motive and aircraft indus-
tries. “It’s an innovation and
technology company,” says
Hunter.
Contact: Fischer Sports
USA, 60 Dartmouth Drive,
Auburn, NH 03032; 603-
314-7110 or 800-844-
7810; fax 603-314-7124;
email info@fischertennisusa.com;
www.fischertennisusa.com.

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 17


court MAINTENANCE
Lee’s Facility Analysis Survey Offers
“Roadmap” for Court Owners
onfused about how to improve the
C performance of your clay courts?
Looking for a long-range plan to
upgrade your facility, but don’t know
where to begin? Is your facility seeing the
effects of age, and you’re not sure just
what it needs?
When it comes to facility maintenance
and upkeep, it’s easy for tennis pros, gen-
eral managers, and other court owners to
feel overwhelmed and often confused by
recommendations from players, builders,
and club personnel. That’s why Lee Tennis
has stepped in, offering a “Facility Analy-
sis Survey,” or FAS, that can be a guide to
improving and upgrading your tennis
facility.
But Lee Tennis, best known as the
makers of the Har-Tru surface, goes
beyond simply looking at the
court surface itself, although
that is a big part of the FAS. The
survey, which is conducted by
an experienced Lee Tennis staff
member, includes gathering and
documentation of historical site
data, geotechnical information,
court orientation, computer-
generated three-dimensional
topographical surface maps, sur-
face thickness and base stone
measurements, analysis of the
irrigation systems, drainage,
curbing, lighting, nets, net A Facility Analysis Survey at Desert Highlands in Scottsdale, Ariz., led
posts, fencing, and court and to a renovation of the courts.
player amenities.
“Our goal is to create a
roadmap that will allow a court
owner or club to offer the best
tennis court experience possi-
ble,” says Lee Facility Analysis
and Consulting Services Manager
Ed MonteCalvo. “The report we
create includes short- and long-
term recommendations, as well
as three-dimensional maps of
every court.”
Lee’s FAS also offers recom-
mendations on irrigation, light- Typical three-dimensional court perspective included in an FAS report
ing, and, if the facility desires, indicates direction of water flow.
18 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
options on converting hard courts. “Our job
is to take the guesswork out of upgrading
your courts and to do it in a way that every
member can understand and ultimately sup-
port,” says MonteCalvo. “We’ve surveyed
over 800 clay courts in the last four years.”
The information gathered for the FAS is
put into a bound, full-color, easy-to-read
report, complete with photos, charts, and
computer-generated drawings specific to the
facility being analyzed. Lee Tennis personnel
also will present the FAS information to a
club’s board of directors, tennis committee,
members, park and rec departments, home-
owners associations, resorts, or other
groups.
In fact, that’s what MonteCalvo did for
the Elmcrest Country Club in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, when the club was investigating con-
For more on Lee Tennis’s
Facility Analysis Survey, call
877-4-HAR-TRU.
verting one of its six hard courts to a clay
court. MonteCalvo met with the board of
directors and others involved in the project.
“We had always talked about getting a
Har-Tru court,” says Cam Watts, who
recently retired as the tennis director at
Elmcrest. “Ed guided us toward subsurface
irrigation.”
According to Lee Tennis, the FAS
comes in handy in a number of instances:
Q For construction and maintenance guid-
ance prior to facility renovations or new
construction.
Q To evaluate existing court conditions and
offer improvements to court mainte-
nance.
Q To identify capital improvement needs for
long-term planning and budgeting.
Q To investigate the possibility of convert-
ing hard courts to Har-Tru.
A few years ago, Jamie Peter-
son, the tennis director at the
Chartwell Golf and Country Club
in Severna Park, Md., had an FAS
done on his seven courts. Since
then, he has redone two courts
according to the survey results,
“but the FAS also plans for the
other five to be improved,
which is in our capital plan in
the future,” says Peterson.
The FAS also has been con-
venient for Mark Finnerty, the
grounds manager at the Merion
Cricket Club in Haverford, Pa.
Merion had six Har-Tru courts
rebuilt in 1989, and Finnerty
believed they were no longer play-
ing consistently. “I thought it would
be nice to have an actual report to
back up what I wanted to have
done,” he says. “The FAS con-
firmed what I needed to have con-
firmed.
“I generally know what needs to
be done,” says Finnerty. “But to
actually have an outside company
come in, then write up a nice,
detailed report for you, that’s a real
nice service.” Q
 THE master pros
A Team Effort
Jimmy Pitkanen says both players and coaches have a lot to gain
from the team experience.
A
s both a participant and coach, Jimmy
Pitkanen of Knoxville, Tenn., has
enjoyed the camaraderie that comes
from being part of a tennis team. For
teenagers struggling against peer pressure,
he says, there may be no greater refuge.
“There isn’t a
better environ-
ment to learn,
This is the fifth of nine installments
on the teaching pros who hold Mas-
ter Pro certifications from both the
PTR and the USPTA.
perform, and
compete than on
a team,” says 53-
year-old Pitkanen,
a former director
of tennis at clubs
who now coaches
at the exclusive
Webb School of
Knoxville. In fact,
he says the only
trophies he kept from his “playing days”
were those he earned with his own high
school and college teams. “It means more,”
he adds, “when you’re not just in it for
yourself.”
That attitude goes a long way in
explaining why Pitkanen joined both the
PTR and the USPTA in the 1980s, and why
he worked so hard to earn the prestigious
Master Professional rating from both orga-
nizations in the 1990s—an accomplishment
shared by only five others in the world.
“It’s important to belong to the organi-
zations,” Pitkanen says. “It’s not what they
can offer you, but how you can work
through them to service the industry. It’s an
important part of a pro’s makeup and
career development.”
According to Fred Viancos, the USPTA’s
director of professional development, a
Master Pro must put in court, organization,
education, and business hours, in addition
20 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
BY CYNTHIA CANTRELL
to extensive education programming.
USPTA CEO Tim Heckler adds, “The Master
Professional rating is highly respected by all
members of the tennis community due to
the objectivity and accountability required to
earn it.”
“Jimmy is very involved in everything
from school tennis to USTA programs, and
always has been,” says Geoffrey Norton,
the PTR’s director of development. “He’s
very well known and respected in the
South. In our workshops, his name seems to
come up in every conversation as a good
source for information for this or that. He’s
a key guy who helps out in all aspects of
the industry.”
“I always say passionate teachers inspire
their students, and Jimmy has done that for
years,” says PTR CEO Dan Santorum, who
has known Pitkanen for 18 years. “Some
people go through the motions of teaching,
but some do it from the heart. Jimmy is one
of those people.”
Pitkanen says he maintains dual mem-
berships because the resources provided by
both organizations help keep him on the
cutting edge of the industry. “They’re also
both service-oriented groups,” he notes,
“and once you get involved in your com-
munity, you can’t sit still and not do more.”
Pitkanen, who coaches the girls’ and
boys’ high school tennis teams at the Webb
School of Knoxville, teaches his players that
community service is just as important as a
consistent serve by taking them to the local
boys’ club to hit and socialize with the kids.
Whenever possible, they take extra balls or
maybe even a new net to donate to the
facility.
“Kids really enjoy helping each other,”
Pitkanen says. “It’s wonderful to see.”
Pitkanen’s Tips
for Success
 Stick with fundamentals. A lot of pros get
caught up in teaching the latest fad, but
fundamentals—like “get into the ready
position” and “watch the ball as it comes
off your opponent’s strings”—never go out
of style.
 Give a kid a chance. Teaching pros who
favor teaching adults might want to recon-
sider. Kids stay kids for a short time, and
the lessons you impart about tennis and life
may have a powerful and lasting effect. Few
occupations offer such opportunity for job
satisfaction.
 One day at a time. Many young players
want to become pros some day, Pitkanen
notes, but the rest will become pros in
another area of life. Focus on teaching play-
ers how to get the best out of their
games—and themselves—so they’ll be pre-
pared for whatever career lies ahead.
 Team spirit. Pitkanen says students should
be encouraged to join competitive and intra-
mural sport teams and leagues. Although
teenagers often have many competing inter-
ests, he believes being part of a team can
be “one of the most joyous parts of high
school or college life.”
 Pitkanen was just a kid himself when he
learned tennis from his father at age 11. He
continued playing in high school and at the Uni-
versity of Tennessee. His decision to become a
teaching pro, he says, was natural.
“I love people and I love to teach. Com-
bined, there couldn’t be a better career for
me,” Pitkanen says. “There’s something special
about the immediate sense of satisfaction you
get from watching players improve not only
their strokes, but the mental aspect of their
games. I enjoy every single day.”
That sense of job fulfillment is enhanced by
calls, cards, and visits from former students.
Pitkanen says one of last year’s graduates called
recently so he could diagnose problems she was
having with her forehand. The captain of last
year’s boys’ team recently asked if he could join
a team practice when he came home from
college.
“I told him, ‘Bring your running shoes,’”
Pitkanen says, “‘because you’ll be running with
them, too.’”
That’s what teammates do. 

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 21

& SUCCESS
marketing
New Members:
Your Key to Staying in Business
“R
ecruit or
perish.”
Many BY JOE DINOFFER
organizations
live by that say-
ing. So, too,
should your club
or facility. Since
some degree of
annual attrition
is unavoidable,
if you don’t
bring in new
members, your
business will grad-
ually whither away.
The tennis club
business is just that—a business.
Profit and loss is calculated like any other most successful clubs, on the other hand, clubs in your area. Some ideas are to offer
business. Although there are many sources use this tool religiously and reap the ben- terrific participation prizes, in addition to
of revenue, such as food and beverage, efits of long-term success in the process. quality food and beverages that they will
lessons, pro shop sales, racquet stringing, come back to experience.
and ball machine rentals, the primary rev- FREE GUEST DAYS
enue stream comes from membership. Marketing campaigns always differenti- MEMBER INCENTIVES
Rates of attrition in the club business ate between cold-calling and contacting I recently switched dentists at the recom-
vary from region to region, but all clubs “warm” leads, always preferring a warm mendation of a close friend. The new den-
have this challenge in common: namely, prospect to a cold one. For our purposes, tist, as a thank-you, sent my friend a $50
how to bring in more new members than a friend of an existing member definitely credit, and he also gave us the same
the number of members who leave. For a qualifies as a warm lead and is a good amount as a first-visit discount.
club manager, who budgets revenues in prospect for membership. Consider a coupon for the pro shop of
each category, finding ways to bring more Establish a regular “free” guest day $100 as a thank-you to the referring mem-
members to any club or facility is like print- and be sure to offer the guest a special ber. It’s a substantial amount of money, yet
ing your own money. packet that they will value. Consider the actual cost of goods to the club may
Before sharing ways to bring in new including a discount coupon for the pro only be $50. And, for the new member,
members, we need to note the importance shop or an introductory lesson. Keep I’ve always been a fan of a free 30-minute
of conducting interviews with both incom- them coming back to your facility and introductory lesson. Even if the new mem-
ing and departing members. For incoming your ultimate success is guaranteed. ber doesn’t invest regularly in lessons, this
members, it is most important to determine is a great way to help them feel welcome.
their expectations and reasons for joining. MEMBER–GUEST SOCIALS
Obviously, if those expectations are met, One of the primary reasons people join NON-MEMBER USAGE RATES
chances are they will remain as members. clubs is to be with friends. If you want to For many potential members, the amount it
For departing members, exit interviews entice new members into your facility, costs to join your club or facility will play a
are essential to keep any facility vibrant and the best way is to create opportunities major part in their decision. Ideally, you
healthy. Many will leave for reasons totally for potential members to make new want to capture their hearts and get them
beyond a club’s control. However, some friends who, coincidentally, happen to be to regularly use your facility.
useful feedback will inevitably be gained members at your club. However, chances are as non-members,
from exit interviews. Just be sure to act on Nearly every club schedules member- they’re paying for guest passes, or paying
it. Surprisingly enough, a high percentage guest social events. The trick is to plan higher non-member lesson rates, or are
of clubs do not conduct exit interviews. The your social so it stands out from other unable to take advantage of member sav-

22 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007

 ings on pro shop and
club snack bar pur-
chases. These
“member benefits”
should gradually
convince the non-
members to take
the plunge and
join your facility.

SERVE THE
KIDS, RECRUIT
THE PARENTS
It’s an established
fact that clubs with
prospering and
expanding junior
programs have
healthy bottom lines
as well. Why? When
the young children
are well-served and
happy at a particular
club, parents naturally
consider how the facility can
benefit their entire family.

BIRTHDAY PARTIES
Parents are always looking for creative
options when planning their children’s
birthday parties. What if you designed a
series of theme birthday parties and pro-
moted them in a brochure for your existing
members? Themes could include hiring
clowns, magicians, or jugglers to entertain
the children. Hire your own pros to run
games with prizes on your courts (not ten-
nis-specific).
Now, imagine weekly birthday parties
with an average of 20 young children and
their parents looking on. Since the vast
majority will be non-members, what a great
way to regularly expose your facility to a
large group of potential members in a
favorable environment, all at the same
time. Just remember to give the guests a
packet including discount coupons along
with a special offer to entice them to enroll
their children into one of your junior pro-
grams. Q
Joe Dinoffer is a Master Professional for
both the PTR and USPTA. He speaks fre-
quently at national and international ten-
nis teacher workshops as a member of
both the Head/Penn and Reebok National
Speaker’s Bureaus. He is president of Oncourt Offcourt
Inc. and has written 16 books and produced more than
30 instructional videos.

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 23

 teaching PRO
W
ith a double major in marketing
and business management, Ondrej
Vana plans to get a job in business
after he graduates in 2008 from Ouachita
Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. He’ll
always have a second career option, how-
ever, since he became a certified teaching
pro through the Professional Tennis Reg-
istry’s “PTR on Campus” program.
“I expected to learn a lot, but not as
much as I did,” says 23-year-old Vana, a
native of the Czech Republic. “I know
how to play tennis, but it was hard to
explain it, especially because I’m an inter-
national student. But that’s not a problem
at all now. I really appreciate the PTR tak-
ing the time to do this.”
Vana’s teammate, 20-year-old senior
Chris Jones of Jonesboro, Ark., has been
using his new tennis teaching skills at a
summer sports camp at the T Bar M
Resort & Conference Center in New
Braunfels, Texas. “The PTR program was
great for me. I hadn’t considered teaching
tennis as a profession before, but it is
something I see myself doing until I finish
24 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
PTR on Campus Program
Trains and Certifies
Full-Time Students
with college and graduate school,” Jones
says. “The free certification was incredible,
and I would certainly recommend it to other
students.”
PTR on Campus trains and certifies high
school and college tennis players for a
career as a tennis teaching professional. In
exchange for a free, 10-hour certification
course, participants are asked to perform 10
hours of community service teaching tennis,
preferably in a multicultural community.
Designed for full-time students 16 to 23
years old with at least a 4.0 rating, the free
“PTR Teaching Essentials Workshop” (nor-
mally $95) usually takes place over the
course of a weekend. Students may also
purchase a PTR membership for the stan-
dard $100 initiation fee plus $25 annual
renewal dues instead of the regular $125
fee (until they finish their undergraduate
program). Optional liability insurance is
offered for $20 for students, instead of $40.
Dan Santorum, CEO of the PTR, says PTR
on Campus was created as a proactive solu-
tion to the anticipated retirement in the next
five to 10 years of thousands of teaching
professionals who began their careers dur-
ing the 1970s tennis boom. By offering free
education and special introductory prices on
membership, Santorum says the hope is for
program participants to ultimately fill tennis
teaching jobs at parks, camps, clubs, and
resorts nationwide. Until they graduate, he
notes, students who are certified can teach
during summers and throughout the school
year to earn money that may help pay for
college.
“We are graying as an organization and
facing a huge void of experience,” says San-
torum, noting that the average age of a PTR
member (as of June 2006) is 45.74 years.
“Tennis is growing, and this program is the
PTR’s way of building a workforce of young
teaching pros to meet that growth.”
BY CYNTHIA CANTRELL
PTR on Campus was launched as a
pilot program for the University of Wash-
ington’s women’s tennis team in Novem-
ber 2004, at which time about 15 current
and recently graduated team players
became PTR-certified. Patty Fendick-
McCain, a former Top 20 WTA Tour play-
er who was Washington’s head coach at
that time, says she was especially attract-
ed to the program’s community-service
component.
“As a college coach, I always felt we
could do more [to benefit] inner-city ten-
nis,” says Fendick-McCain, a two-time
NCAA Division I singles champion who is
now head women’s tennis coach at the
University of Texas in Austin, “but I didn’t
know how to connect the dots.”
Since PTR on Campus was officially
announced at the 2005 US Open, col-
leges and universities that have hosted
PTR on Campus have included Furman
University, Penn State, St. Mary’s Universi-
ty, South Carolina State University, Texas
Tech University, and the University of
South Alabama.
Emilien Rabin, who was one of eight
Ouachita players who participated in PTR
on Campus last fall, says he gained confi-
dence as well as teaching knowledge.
Originally from Beaupreau, France, 24-
year-old Rabin—who graduated in May
2006 from Ouachita Baptist—now works
at the Polo Tennis and Fitness Club in
Austin.
“It was good to be [among] only a
few people in order to be able to ask
many questions. It is also fun because you
get certified with people you know,”
Rabin says. “Bringing the classes to cam-
pus made it really convenient and easy.” Q
For more information about PTR on Cam-
pus, visit www.ptrtennis.org.
<
Junior PARTICIPATION
A
s a program coordinator for junior
players, I’m constantly on the lookout
for new ways to entice players into
the game (it takes a lot to pull a kid away
from his Xbox 360). So you can imagine my
surprise when I realized I didn’t need to
look any further than my own backboard.
That’s right. The practice wall.
A new program for juniors, called Rapid
Rally, uses low-compression balls and a
wall. Players stand behind a 15-foot tape
line to serve, then they hit the ball against
the wall as many times as they can in 30
seconds.
For Rapid Rally, the USTA partnered with
the U.S. Olympic Committee and Kellogg’s
Frosted Flakes to incorporate tennis into its
already existing junior skills competition
(other sports offered are soccer, basketball,
and track & field). I first heard about Rapid
Rally during the USTA’s Community Tennis
Development Workshop held in California
in early February. The program caught my
immediate interest.
Then, Rapid Rally came up during a
meeting with Karen Zuidema, a former
USTA Georgia Schools Program Coordinator
turned Tennis Service Representative.
For more on Rapid Rally, contact your local
Tennis Service Representative or visit
www.usolympicteam.com/joskills.
26 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
Against the Wall
With Rapid Rally, beginning players
have a fun way to get into tennis.
“Yeah,” Karen told me in mid-February,
her voice filled with enthusiasm. “Paige
Miller and I want to get 100 sites partici-
pating in Georgia.” Paige is the marketing
director for USTA Georgia. Karen rattled
off the program’s advantages while show-
ing me a sample of the kit I’d get for each
site I registered.
Our junior programs include an after-
school tennis gig where instructors bring
traveling equipment into 21 existing after-
school programs to instruct and play ten-
nis-based games. Why not do Rapid Rally
with them?
I brought
the idea up to
our tennis
manager/head
pro, Carl
Hodge, and it
didn’t take me
long to con-
vince him,
either. Its no-
cost feature,
combined with
the flexibility
and conve-
nience the
program
offered, were key factors. “And besides,” I
added for good measure, “it’s tennis!
Offered for the first time in a Junior
Olympics program. We have to support it.”
His comment was, “That’s how I
learned to play tennis—against the wall.”
So great was his conviction that he pur-
chased enough materials to construct four
practice walls, which are now permanently
hung on the bottom courts at our tennis
center, thus adding a 22nd site for us to
host Rapid Rally. We developed a program
beginning with Rapid Rally practice ses-
sions, followed by the competition. Then
we provided other events and classes that
players could enroll in.
BY ROBIN BATEMAN
Our local Rapid Rally season is over.
However, don’t let that stop you from
adapting the game, to kick-start your path-
way programs, or maybe incorporating the
activity into your Tennis Fun Day or Special
Olympics programs. We’ve done all of
these.
How did tennis stack up in its first year
as part of this USOC program? Among the
5,600 sites that participated in one of the
four USOC events, 1,700 were tennis.
That’s 30 percent! Approximately, 400,000
kids picked up racquets to hit against the
walls of gyms and city parks nationwide.
In Georgia,
close to 100 sites
registered. In my
area of Macon, we
introduced after-
schoolers to Rapid
Rally at our 22
sites. About 15
percent of all
those who
wrapped their fin-
gers around a rac-
quet continued in
follow-up group
drills over the sum-
mer at our Parks
and Rec tennis center. Of these, 35 young-
sters were invited to take our Fast Track
classes, instruction geared toward prepar-
ing the novice player for USTA sanctioned
tournaments.
Go ahead, kick start your pathway pro-
grams …against the wall. Q
Robin Bateman is the site coordinator for
the Tattnall Tennis Center in Macon, Ga.,
where she coordinates ten-
nis programs and leagues,
is a tournament director,
serves as a team captain,
and assists junior teams
competing at district,
regional, and section
events.
 CONTINUING education
T
ennis teaching professionals must be self-
motivated and goal-driven to be success-
ful. The organization that the pro works
for has the responsibility to provide them with
the necessary environment in which to perform
their tasks, but the professional must be able
to market his or her abilities to their customer
base. A club professional essentially runs his
own business, so having the skills and training
to perform his duties will provide the founda-
tion for that success.
But how does a pro acquire the necessary
skills and training when he’s spending 35
hours a week on court teaching and hours off
the court trying to fill appointments for the fol-
lowing week? The answer may be distance
education.
The U.S. Distance Learning Association
defines distance learning as the acquisition of
knowledge and skills through mediated infor-
mation and instruction, encompassing all tech-
nologies and other forms of learning at a
distance. Online distance-learning courses are
offered to students anytime, and online higher
education is part of a growing trend that is
providing accessibility to a segment of the pop-
ulation that, for whatever reason, may not
have the ability to attend traditional college
courses.
REGIONAL ACCREDITATION
What should someone look for in a college or
university that offers distance education? The
first concern should be accreditation. In gener-
al the most widely recognized and sought-after
form of accreditation in the U.S., by both col-
28 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
Busy Making a Living?
College Courses
Are Just a
Mouse Click Away
leges and employers alike, is "regional"
accreditation.
Six regional accrediting bodies exist
in the U.S. Because the standards and
requirements associated with receiving
“regional accreditation” are so high,
many colleges will only accept credit
from other regionally accredited colleges
or universities. Additional information
regarding the regional accrediting agen-
cies can be found at www.ed.gov/
offices/OPE/accreditation/regionalagencie
s.html.
Many students are curious to know if
a degree online is different from an on-
campus degree. Keep in mind that the
development of online classes or degree
programs must adhere to the same strin-
gent accrediting standards as the devel-
opment of on-campus courses and
programs. The only difference is in the
delivery. Online classrooms do a great
job of maintaining all the value of class-
room interaction with classmates and the
instructor, while maximizing the free
time of individual students.
In addition, graduates of online pro-
grams tend to show a number of distinct
qualities of benefit to the employer, such
as:
Q Proven comfort with integrated tech-
nologies.
Q Tendency to maximize resources to get
the most done in the least amount of
time.
Q Familiarity with the future of commerce
and business—the rise of internet- and
intranet-based business practices are
nothing new to online students.
Q Broad exposure to students from differ-
ent regions and around the globe—
often more so than campus-based
peers.
BY DONALD LEAVY
Q No loafing—online students need to be
engaged or they don't make the grade.
Q Heightened written communications
skills and a raised awareness of the
importance of good written communica-
tions in business.
“ASYNCHRONOUS”
CLASSROOM
One of the barriers prohibiting many busy
working adults from going to college is
the requirement to be in a particular place
at a particular time—a “synchronous”
classroom in “real-time.” But online pro-
grams have been specifically designed to
take advantage of technology, meaning
that an online classroom or program can
easily be “asynchronous”—neither time-
nor place-dependent. You go online to
read lectures, participate in discussion, and
possibly complete exams. Many of the
assignments and exercises required in
online courses will still be completed off-
line using word processing software. This
system is open 24 hours a day, seven days
a week.
If a tennis teaching pro is looking to
attend college for the first time, complete
or finish his or her undergraduate degree,
or is looking into a graduate program, dis-
tance education can provide the quality
and flexibility to balance one’s professional
and family life. Q
Donald Leavy is a USPTA teaching
professional in Grand Blanc,
Mich., and holds a BA in econom-
ics from the University of Michi-
gan and an MBA from Baker
College. He is the development
director for Baker College Online
Center for Graduate Studies. If you have questions
regarding the benefits of distance education, you
can reach him at donaldleavy@comcast.net.
 STRINGS OF
2007 STRING SURVEY

SUCCESS
How do you know what to stock for your shop? We
provide expert guidance that can help you—and your
customers—find the right strings.
BY BOB PATTERSON, MRT

here are a ton of strings on the market today; the num- Even for a veteran stringer, choosing which string you need

T ber and variety available is mind-boggling, to say the

least. In our September/October 2006 issue, we reported
on testing (performed by the U.S. Racquet Stringers Associ-
ation) on 478 different strings from 31 manufacturers for
stiffness and tension loss. In this issue, our annual String Sur-
vey points out that plenty of those strings meet the criteria
as favorites for USRSA members.
But regardless of the size and scope of your stringing opera-
tion, chances are you can’t stock all the strings on the market
today. So how do choose? And more importantly, how does
your customer choose?
for your inventory can be a daunting task. It seems that manufac-
turers constantly are introducing new strings made from new
materials or with new techniques. Should you stock the new or
stick with the tried and true? Since you can’t stock them all, how
many is enough? How many is too many? How many different
gauges? How many colors?
The questions seem endless, but making good decisions about
your string inventory, presentation, and your staff’s product
knowledge can make a big difference in your bottom line.
According to the most recent dealer survey from the Tennis
Industry Association, stringing and racquet service is by far the

30 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007

 most profitable segment of the tennis
retail industry. However, those great
margins can be eroded by poor inven-
tory selections and not providing the
consumer with the product they want
or need. That’s why we’re here to
help.
STRING SELECTION
Superior racquet service begins with
your selection of string. While having a
vast assortment of strings available for
your customers to choose from may be
impressive, it can also be confusing. You
need to walk the fine line between too much
and not enough.
Although there are plenty of new introductions,
many of the most popular strings have been on
the market for years. To satisfy a variety of play-
ers, you will need to carry a good assortment of
string types, gauges, and colors. Exactly how
many different SKUs depends on your vol-
ume, how much display/storage space,
and money you have to invest.
Once you determine the correct
size of your inventory, you’ll need to
decide what strings make sense for your
clientele. You need to carry at least a cou-
ple of choices in each category, along with a
variety of gauges to meet the varying needs of
your customers. Try to offer as many brands as
possible. By having a wider selection, your customers
will have more to choose from and won’t feel like
they are being steered to a certain brand because
that is all you offer. But again, too many choices
can be confusing to the customer.
You should be able to provide distinguishing
characteristics of each string. If you find yourself
explaining that “these three are basically the
same,” then you can probably eliminate two of
them and free up room to bring in a couple of others
that have something different to offer.
If your competitors have four different strings to
choose from and you offer a choice of 20, that alone will
set you apart. But if you can explain a clear difference in
each of the 20, along with the benefits of each one, that will
really separate you.
Although you should certainly consider new introductions,
don’t be too hasty to drop a string just because something new
comes along. If a new string has something to offer, it should cer-
tainly be considered.
Some of your customers will be anxious to try the newest
products, but many have found a perfect string and tension set-up
that works for them and aren’t interested in changing. If suddenly
you no longer stock their string, they may look elsewhere rather
than switch.
By constantly evaluating your sales you can determine which
strings should stay in your line-up and which are expendable to
make room for new ones. As you add new strings, make sure
you keep a good balance of the various categories making your
overall selection complete.
PRESENTATION
Having a distinct, professionally appearing racquet service
area and a well-merchandised selection of string, grips, and
overgrips says a lot to customers who come into your shop
or store. If your stringing machine and selection of string is
prominently displayed, there is no question that you service
racquets. Don’t make the assumption that everyone will
know that you do. If your machine is tucked away in the
back room and your string is kept in a drawer, the customer
may assume that you don’t service racquets.
Displaying your string selection can be impressive and infor-
mative. Try displaying strings in a methodical manner. Group
them according to brand, or better yet, by category. If your cus-
tomer is looking for durability, you can point out your selection.
If it is comfort that is most important, then they are all grouped
together. It will make explaining the selection easier for the
technicians and the customer can better differentiate their
options.
PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
Know your string inventory. There is plenty of information
available, starting with the manufacturer’s information, but
don’t rely solely on this. When considering a new string to
bring into inventory, gather as much information as possi-
ble from a variety of sources.
The USRSA’s annual string test and member survey provide
a wealth of information, as do the monthly string playtest in
each issue of RSI. Probably the best evaluation is testing the
string yourself. Put a set in your own racquet, even if it is some-
thing you would not normally play with. You can determine for
yourself if it meets the marketing claims from the manufacturer
and whether or not it will fill a void in your inventory and be
beneficial to your customers.
But knowing your inventory is only half the story. To take
full advantage of your product knowledge, you need to apply
that knowledge to the needs of your customers. Taking a few
minutes to get to know your customer and his or her game will
allow you to make suggestions of string type and tension that
may help them get the optimum performance from their rac-
quet. They will appreciate your expertise and willingness to
help them rather than just selling them a string job.
A small investment of your time will earn a customer for
life, and a happy customer will spread the word to many other
players.
Master Racquet Technician Bob Patterson of
Birmingham, Ala., owns Players Choice Ten-
nis and the racquet customization company
Racquetmaxx. In 2005, he was named RSI’s
Stringer of the Year.
January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 31
 2007 STRING SURVEY

hat string is best for your customer? It’s a tricky question to are included in the total sum and average for that string. We

W answer, since there are so many different strings out there added the scores from each respondent to obtain a sum for
that all have unique combinations of benefits. But once again, that string, then divided the sum by the number of respon-
we’ve gone right to the experts, the thousands of U.S. Racquet Stringers dents who rated it.
Association members, and asked them to rate strings in three categories: To ensure that strings with a reasonable breadth of distrib-
playability, durability, and com- ution are included, each string must be rated on at least 16
fort. questionnaires. We feel
Our 30th annual string sur- Most Responses by Gauge that having at least 16
vey, which is on the poster (percent) respondents allows us to
inserted into this issue of RSI, include enough strings by
is a compilation of survey Gauge 2007 2006 2005 2004 2002/3 2001 2000 enough manufacturers,
questionnaires sent in Sep- 16 58.4 64.6 62.0 62.4 61.9 58.9 54.8 including smaller market
tember to 2,000 randomly 17 25.5 24.5 28.2 23.1 26.2 27.0 31.8 share companies. Too
selected U.S. members of the 16L 6.0 4.6 3.8 4.3 2.8 1.5 - high a number will mean
USRSA (no chain stores). 15L 5.5 3.8 4.3 5.7 5.9 7.8 11.1 the survey results will only
18 3.7 1.9 1.3 1.4 1.8 2.9 0.9 include the top two or
Recipients were given a list of
15 0.5 0.6 - 0.5 - 0.8 0.8
every string on the market three manufacturers.
17L 0.2 - 0.5 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.6
and asked to rate the ones Remember, the cate-
19 0.3 - - 1.7 0.4 0.4 -
they are familiar with from 1 18/17 - - - 0.5 0.4 - - gory scores for each string
to 10 in each of the three cat- are averages of all the
egories. Then an average respondents’ rankings for
score was calculated for each Most Responses by Brand a given string. Often,
string in each category. (percent) these averages are very
For a string to qualify for a close; the differences
rating, the respondent must Brand 2007 2006 2005 2004 2002/3 2001 2000 between rankings can be
have strung at least 20 sets of Wilson 21.6 23.2 22.0 21.9 23.8 21.6 30.5 mere hundredths of a
that string in the past year. Gamma 21.3 20.4 22.9 24.7 25.6 25.9 27.2 point. Though only one
This 20-set minimum ensures Prince 16.4 19.8 19.6 19.8 19.2 20.7 23.7 string can claim the top
that respondents are rating a Babolat 11.9 9.3 7.2 7.1 6.1 6.9 6.3 spot in a category, many
Head 8.6 9.4 7.7 7.4 7.3 4.0 7.0 of the strings close to
string they know something
Luxilon 5.7 3.6 3.4 3.0 - - - each other in ranking are
about and that has some
Tecnifibre 4.8 4.5 4.8 4.1 4.1 4.7 3.4
vitality in the marketplace. For of equal stature. In prac-
Ashaway 1.4 2.0 1.6 1.8 1.7 2.2 <1.0
some businesses, 20 sets may Gosen 1.4 1.6 1.8 1.9 1.9 3.2 1.4 tice, each of these strings
represent 20 percent of their Forten 1.1 1.2 2.3 2.6 2.6 3.5 0.5 is one of the best of its
total business, and for others, Alpha 0.8 0.9 1.0 - - - - niche.
1 percent. Some businesses Kirschbaum 0.7 0.8 0.8 - - - - Hang our String Survey
may only sell 20 sets of the TOA 0.6 0.8 0.4 - - - - poster in your shop and
string; others may sell 500. Dunlop 0.5 0.6 1.2 1.1 - - - let your customers deter-
Klip 0.5 0.6 0.9 - - - - mine which strings may
Each ranking, however, car-
Others 2.7 2.3 2.3 4.6 5.2 4.4 - best help their games.Q
ries the same weight, and all
January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 33
 A TENNIS
WISH
LIST
As we begin the New Year, we
asked people in the industry—
including teaching pros, pro shop and
facility managers, court builders,
manufacturers, and more—to tell us
what they’d like to see. C O M P I L E D B Y M I T C H R U S T A D
I
wish more funds were available to
rebuild our public tennis courts. As a
lifetime public-park tennis player, I real-
ize the importance of having a nice facility
to bring the local tennis community
together. —Chris Gaudreau,
Racquet Koop, New Haven, CT
I wish those who hire tennis professionals
would realize a teacher’s importance, not
only to their facilities, but to the sport of
tennis as a whole, and compensate teach-
ing pros accordingly. The salaries and ben-
efits of these valued teachers have not
kept pace with other professions, especial-
ly at the entry level. With tennis beginning
to grow again, the primary way to derail
this momentum is a lack of young, quali-
fied tennis teaching pros. Teaching pros
are the engine that drives the tennis train.
It is in the best interest of the entire indus-
try to work with PTR and USPTA to
engage those responsible for hiring teach-
ing professionals to ensure wages and
benefits are attractive enough to maintain
the numbers needed, as well as a high-
level caliber. —Dan Santorum, CEO, PTR
My tennis wish for 2007 is that every ten-
nis player tells a friend about the fun they
are having playing our great sport. If we
34 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
do this, tennis will always be a healthy life-
time sport. —Max Brownlee,
General Manager, Babolat USA
My wish list for tennis in 2007 is: for ten-
nis to become the sport of choice by chil-
dren 8 to 18. The USTA's revitalized
Schools Program is introducing a new cur-
riculum at the elementary level, middle
school team tennis, and no-cut high school
tennis. We need to take tennis to where
the kids are and that's schools. Also, I’d
like to see American women again domi-
nate the world's top 10 and be in the final
of the US Open. And I’d like the U.S. to
bring home the Davis Cup.
—Jane Brown Grimes,
USTA President, 2007-2008
I want to see the TIA, USTA, ITF, ATP and
WTA continue to work together to grow
interest in the sport at the professional
level and use their combined resources and
influences to grow the game at the grass-
roots. The success of the US Open Series is
proof that marketing and cooperation can
generate interest. Also, I wish manufactur-
ers would consider the long-term effects
of their decisions on the entire market
rather than catering to the big-box and
online stores’ desire for discount racquets.
The current prac-
tice of special make-up rac-
quets for these dealers that are cheap
knock-offs of discontinued products may
result in quick sales, but it hurts their
brands and the tennis retail business in
general. —Bob Patterson,
Player’s Choice Tennis, Birmingham, AL
For 2007, I’d like to see tennis participa-
tion continue to grow. And also, I wish for
good growth in business for our retail
partners. —Kai Nitsche,
General Manager, Dunlop Sports U.S.
I’d like to see continued collaboration and
cooperation throughout the tennis indus-
try. Working together, we can continue to
grow the game of tennis, which benefits
us all. DecoTurf is committed to working
for an ongoing expansion of tennis with
our industry partners in 2007.
—John Graham,
Managing Director, DecoTurf
The thing that benefits all of us is the
growth of the game overall, and we want
continued growth in 2007. I think the
industry as a whole has to be very careful
about selling itself down. We all exist bet-
ter when our margins are strong, and
when we sell ourselves down, we do a
disservice to our consumer. There is some-
what of a trend if you look at the declin-
ing prices of our products, and that’s not
necessarily a good trend. The tennis con-
sumer is certainly price conscious, but not
discount-price conscious in every case.
—Doug Fonte, President, Prince
I wish that all the entities in tennis contin-
ue to put TENNIS first and continue to
work collaboratively so the growth we’ve
seen in the past two years continues. We
absolutely have to step up our efforts in
attracting and retaining more youth. We
need to make tennis the new team sport,
and we have to enlist parents to play a
critical role in that. Participation in virtual-
ly every other youth sport is being driven
by parents, and we need to capture par-
ents as well. Parents are never going to
replace teaching pros, but especially at
the entry level, it’s absolutely critical that
we engage them in the process of their
kids’ learning. —Kurt Kamperman,
Chief Executive of Community Tennis,
USTA
My wish is for Cardio Tennis to really take
off. It’s a fabulous way for people to get
fit and play tennis, and a great way to
get them out on the court and eventually
playing matches. Once we get people
passionate about the game, then from a
manufacturer’s standpoint, we’re all
going to sell more product.
—Sarah Maynard, Director
of Marketing and Promotions,
Völkl Tennis
We’d like to see the prices of construc-
tion materials stabilize; we’ve experienced
several years of rapidly increasing raw
material costs. We would also like to see
the price of fuel drop by about 50 cents a
gallon. And it would be nice to see the
housing industry rebound after a tough
2006. —Stephen N. Dettor,
President, Fast-Dry Courts Inc.
My wish is for tennis to be back among
the Top 10 Most Popular Sports in the
U.S., and to have Cardio Tennis listed as a
separate category on that list. I’d also like
to see an increased network of quality
Tennis Welcome Centers and Cardio Ten-
nis sites. And we need increased use and
support of the current technologies avail-
able to connect consumers to our indus-
try. Finally, I wish for the continuing
collaborative effort by all sectors—organi-
zations, manufacturers, retailers, court
contractors, media, facilities and busi-
nesses—in recognizing the power of pos-
itive thinking and synergies that are
necessary for our sport’s health and
growth. —Jolyn de Boer,
Executive Director,
Tennis Industry Association
I hope that the USTA continues to lead a
clearer path from junior tennis to college
tennis and on to the tour. And, related to
that, my goal for 2007 is to increase the
amount of writing I do for tennis publica-
tions, which means that there is an
increased interest in college and junior
tennis, which is the foundation of our
sport. —Marcia Frost, Editor,
CollegeAndJuniorTennis.com
Understanding the role that fitness plays
in tennis will enable the market to grow
and branch out to reach more people.
With more tennis enthusiasts getting into
Cardio Tennis and cross-training to stay
fit, tennis apparel with a "fitness" spin
will become the apparel of choice for
these customers. If the tennis industry
embraces this trend, our businesses will
grow. —Brad Singer,
V.P. of Sales and Marketing, Tail
My wish is that all entry-level players
learn the game quickly through the use
of slower and lighter balls on smaller
courts so they can enjoy this great game
as quickly as possible. If this would hap-
pen, tennis would have a much higher
retention rate from the 6 million players
who try our sport for the first time every
year. —Kirk Anderson,
Director of Recreational Coaches
and Programs, USTA
Our main wish is for the game to have
an upsurge in popularity in the U.S. This
can be done with the continued success
of upgrading the public courts through-
out the country. The programs within the
USTA, like Adopt a Court, Tennis in the
Parks, and Multicultural Grant Program,
continue to upgrade facilities.
—Michael Smith,
Courtsmiths, Toledo, OH
At the top of my wish list is the
growth of U.S. tennis at all levels—
from the recreational league player to
the development of American stars of
tomorrow. Let’s use the legends of the
game to help mentor a new generation.
Now more than ever, it’s critical that all
of us who have a stake in the future of
tennis work together to energize our
existing fan base and bring in new fans.
Adopting exciting innovations such as on-
court coaching, no-ad scoring, more
instant replay, and player names on the
back of shirts would be a good start.
Finally, I want to see the top-ranked U.S.
men and women supporting Fed Cup
and Davis Cup—in all ties—throughout
the entire year. —Ilana Kloss,
CEO/Commissioner,
World TeamTennis
I’d like to see an all-American final at the
Australian Open, French Open, Wimble-
don and US Open. Or, I’ll settle for an all-
American men’s final at the US Open, so I
can forget about work on that Sunday.
My second wish? Tickets to the final!
—Richard Zaino,
Zaino Tennis Courts Inc., Orange, CA
I wish for James Blake to win a Grand
Slam title in 2007. American tennis needs
its top players winning Slams to keep the
sport visible. Blake is clearly a tennis play-
er that the public can get behind—he's
classy, he's cool, he's college educated. I
believe that his raising his game to yet
another level would provide a nice shot in
the arm for the game. And, I would hope
his winning a Slam shines a light on the
level of player our collegiate coaches can
help develop. —Casey Angle,
Director of Communications,
Intercollegiate Tennis Association
I would like to see the frequent player
base grow in 2007 and that new players
continue to develop a love for the sport.
I hope everyone in the tennis
community can continue
to work
January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 35
 collaboratively. I would like to see Roger
Federer win the Grand Slam in 2007,
which would create terrific media buzz
about tennis. We at Wilson will be doing
everything we (K)an to support him,
including, in 2007, what will be the
largest global tennis racquet launch in the
tennis industry to date.
—Jon Muir, General Manager,
Wilson Racquet Sports
My wish is that the USTA would spend
more money on Player Development and
recognize that all great players in this
nation came from existing U.S. tennis
academies and local tennis programs, and
that it is important for this funding to fil-
ter through these same sources so we
can truly build great players. The USTA
has not yet succeeded for 25 years in
producing top-level players at its own
centers. As a result of it continuing to
attempt to control player development, it
is stemming the growth of grassroots
players who could be growing faster and
better were the funding made available
for them to do so. In plain words, the
USTA should stop trying to be responsible
for primary coaching, but definitely
become involved with primary funding.
Foreign players and foreign coaches
across the world recognize U.S. acade-
mies and coaches as among the very best
to learn from. It is time for our own lead-
ers to do the same.
—Tim Heckler, CEO, USPTA
I wish the weather to be kind to the
industry across the country so play is
healthy. I hope that tennis pros are busier
than they have been in the past few sea-
sons, which would mean lots of players
actively involved in the sport. I hope that
grassroots initiatives nationwide designed
to increase player participation thrive,
thereby bringing in scores of new players.
I wish the economy to continue its
growth so consumers have disposable
36 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
money to spend—all contributing factors
to making it a banner year at retail! Final-
ly, I hope the price of oil continues its
steady, downward trend, so manufactur-
ing/product costs can flatten or even drop
from the significant increase we have seen
over the past six months.
—John R. Embree,
Bälle de Mätch Tennis Wear
My wish is simple. I would like all the
inner-city parks that have tennis courts in
disrepair to have the funds to spruce them
up and make them playable. Tennis
should not be just for the well-heeled. It is
such a great game and we are not attract-
ing our inner-city poor who cannot afford
a private club. —Gene Niksich,
Unique Sports Products,
Alpharetta, GA
For 2007, I wish that the stature and visi-
bility of tennis continue to increase so that
many more Americans are aware of our
sport and want to play and follow it. One
way this will be accomplished is with
greater national and local media coverage.
Also, I’d like to see Americans achieve
more in professional tennis tournaments,
particularly the Grand Slams, Davis Cup
and Fed Cup such that no other nation
does better. And that tennis participation
continues to grow as a result of the
USTA’s efforts coordinated with all of our
tennis partners, particularly the teaching
pro organizations and as a result of our
programs and activities in the public
parks, working through the NRPA.
—Franklin R. Johnson,
USTA President, 2005-2006
We need more tennis clubs in New York
City. We have lost quite a few clubs in the
last few years, and this has affected
indoor play in NYC. Real estate values
have gone up considerably these last few
years, and
tennis
is not
the opti-
mum
usage at this
point. I would like to see clubs go up this
year and in the future. —Mark Mason,
Mason’s Tennis Mart,
New York City, NY
I would wish for all Community Tennis
Associations to send at least one or two
of their strong leaders to the USTA Com-
munity Tennis Development Workshop
every year. There's no better way for
grassroots leaders to get an overview of
what the USTA challenges them with each
year. Every time I have gone to this work-
shop, my bond and devotion to tennis
becomes stronger, and I have come away
motivated by more project ideas than I can
implement. My enthusiasm to grow the
sport is refreshed and renewed—as it
should be for every community tennis
advocate. —Robin Jones,
Grassroots Tennis Advocate, Founder,
Western Wake Tennis Association,
Cary, NC
I’d love to have ball sales double in 2007,
and I’d also like to see natural gut sales
double, too. I want player participation to
rise 25 percent, and I think a nationwide
USTA/USPTA/PTR/TIA initiative to offer free
introductory tennis clinics would help.
Also, it would be great for the USTA, ATP,
and ITF to run a national TV advertising
campaign for the sport. —Sean Frost,
Klip/Iso-speed/Völkl
My wish is to have a few more American
stars on the horizon who would re-ener-
gize the sport in the U.S.—both men and
women players who can take the sport to
non-players and get them excited about
watching and participating. Also, I’d like to
see the finals of the US Open on a Mon-
day night, when a ton more people would
watch it. Television coverage has greatly
improved over the years, but very few if
any doubles matches are shown. More
people play doubles than singles and
would relate more to watching doubles.
—Glen Agritelley, Owner,
TBarM Racquet Club, Dallas, TX
For 2007, I would hope the tennis indus-
try, including the USTA, teaching pros,
manufacturers, facilities, etc., continues to
work together at all levels to build the key
initiatives to bring players into the game,
like Cardio Tennis, Tennis in the Parks, etc.
It is crucial that we all keep our eye on the
key goal—growing the game—which will
benefit all of us in the long term. The
other hope is that a strong American play-
er emerges to increase awareness among
the casual tennis fan and bring even more
players into the game. —Greg Mason,
Director of Sales and Marketing,
Head/Penn Racquet Sports

I’d like to see us maintain the real
progress we’ve made in recent years by
working more closely together as an allied
industry for the benefit of tennis overall.
The USTA, ITF, ATP and Sony Ericsson
WTA Tour have made great strides this
year in the evolution of how tennis pre-
sents itself to television viewers, through
innovation and cross promotion across
networks sharing rights packages.
Because television is such an important
factor in driving any sport’s ultimate suc-
cess, I’d hope to see all tennis broadcast-
ers deliver increased focus on storytelling
and the amazing personal journeys of all
these great players. —Ken Solomon,
Chairman and CEO,
The Tennis Channel
We need more players! It would do so
much good for everyone: all the coaches,
all the programs, all the facilities, all the
stringers, and all the companies. For a
long time now, we've all been working
hard to grow the game, trying to intro-
duce young players to a life-long passion
for tennis. I think a payoff for this dedica-
tion would be my No. 1 wish. To simply
see more Americans playing tennis, from
the local city court to high in the ranks of
the professionals. —Matt Ferrari,
Gamma Racquet Sports
My wishes for the new year are that the
pro game sees some new stars on tour,
preferably Americans, and that our cus-
tomers have as good a year in 2007 as
they did in 2006. —Pat Shields,
Fromuth Tennis
I’d like to see both the industry and our
company grow as it has for the past two
years. I wish for good health of our indus-
try, with growth in participation and fre-
quency of play, and also for an increase in
players of all ages and abilities—so that
once again tennis is a leading sport in
America. —Paul Zalatoris,
Tecnifibre USA
I'd like to see tennis covered in the main-
stream media, and outside of the
sports section. While we do need all
the coverage we can score in the
sports pages, tennis is more
than a pro game—it's a
lifestyle. There are endless
angles for the business
and health sections of
newspapers, and maga-
zines and TV shows
devoted to them. All of
us have a hand in this by staying in touch
with trends in our game, and promoting
the game to our local media.
—Liza Horan,
TENNISWIRE.org and President,
U.S. Tennis Writers Association
I’d like to see new programs to attract
new players to the game that keep the
sport in the public focus. We also need
to keep hammering the benefits of our
sport through advertising. And I wish the
entities in tennis would set aside differ-
ences, stop worrying about themselves,
and really focus on making this game the
best it can be, the ideal vehicle for kids
and adults to learn, grow, stay healthy,
and have fun. —Pat Hanssen,
New Markets Manager,
Lee Tennis
I’d love to see the Tournament Data
Manager system + TennisLink offered to
tournament directors when they host
nonsanctioned social fundraising events.
Doing so increases the willingness of the
tournament director to host such events,
thus allowing players more opportunities
to play, and increasing the players enthu-
siasm and commitment to the game. As
a result, the industry as a whole benefits.
—Robin Bateman,
Site Coordinator,
Tattnall Tennis Center, Macon, GA
I wish each tennis academy and tennis
camp across the country would identify
and send one student interested in pur-
suing a career in tennis to a professional
tennis management program, like that at
Ferris State, which specializes in educat-
ing and training professionals to enter
the industry fully capable to handle a
broad spectrum of areas within the busi-
ness of tennis. When the number of
qualified professionals increases, the
potential for growth in our industry also
increases. Also, I wish that club owners
and managers would seek out not just
great tennis players to teach at their facil-
ities, but also professionals with a diverse
business background as well.
—Tom Daglis, Director,
Prof. Tennis Management Program,
Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI
My tennis wish for 2007 includes the
ATP and WTA getting off their butts and
marketing the sport properly in the U.S.
Get tennis on major network and cable
stations (not counting the US Open
Series, which was the brainchild of the
USTA, and the Slams). Have finals played
on Monday night, market more player
merchandise, partner with other organi-
zations for ideas. Proper marketing of
pro tennis would help the sport, and in
turn help grow all tennis-related busi-
ness.
—Richard Vach,
Co-Founder, Tennis-X.com
I wish for the greater acceptance of
wheelchair tennis as an integrated sport
in America. I truly believe that we in ten-
nis can increase sport opportunities for
people with physically disabling condi-
tions through tennis. This would include
the current programs such as Run/Roll
Tournaments (a Blaze Sports/USTA col-
laboration), high school tennis, USTA
Leagues, and USTA tournaments. I would
love to see growth in the number of peo-
ple playing wheelchair tennis and a simi-
lar growth in the number of people
playing tennis with people in wheelchairs
in 2007.
—Dan James,
National Manager Wheelchair Tennis,
USTA
To grow the sport in 2007, we must
think of the FAMILY. Get everyone
involved! Once this happens, you create
a buzz that spreads like wildfire. We typi-
cally tend to focus on either juniors or
adults. This is not the complete picture.
Juniors and adults playing as a family are
the key to retention. —Ajay Pant,
National Tennis Director,
Tennis Corporation Of America
January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 37
 MARK OF
RSI/ASBA DISTINGUISHED FACILITY-OF-THE-YEAR AWARDS
DISTINCTION
RSI and the ASBA bring you the best in
tennis court construction.
nce again, we’re proud to have joined with the American
O Sports Builders Association to bring you examples of excel-
lence in tennis court construction.
Each year, based on entries submitted by an ASBA member—
whether a contractor, designer, or supplier—the association
selects outstanding tennis facilities that meet the standard of
excellence determined by the judging committee. For 2006, there
were 25 courts or tennis facilities that were deemed outstanding—
or “distinguished,” as the award now reads—by the panel of
judges.
Four of those entries, however, were chosen for special honors:
the Boars Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va., received the
Indoor Tennis Facility-of-the-Year Award; Columbine Country
Club in Littleton, Colo., received the Outdoor Tennis Facility-of-
the-Year Award; the Vanderbeek Residential Court in Warren,
N.J., received the Residential Tennis Facility-of-the-Year Award;
and the Pennington-Ewing Athletic Club in Ewing, N.J. received
the Indoor Multi-Purpose Facility-of-the-Year Award.
The Boars Head Sports Club expanded its existing three indoor
courts by adding nine more cushioned hard courts, and now all 12
indoor courts feature ICA’s Elite indirect light fixtures. The award-
winning sports club, which is affiliated with the University of Vir-
ginia, also has 14 outdoor tennis courts.
The Columbine Country Club upgraded its outdoor facility. Five
existing asphalt courts were overlaid with post-tensioned con-
crete, and two new fast-dry courts with subsurface irrigation were
also installed, along with fencing, windscreens, and bench seat-
ing. Also, 5-foot-wide sidewalks were installed leading to courts.
The new synthetic turf court at the Vanderbeek residence was
built into the side of a steep hill and required a retaining wall near-
ly 20 feet high. More than 60 truckloads of rock was removed
from the solid bedrock hillside, then 3,000 cubic yards of fill dirt
was brought in, requiring five separate permits, to build up the
court area. After completion of an upper retaining wall, access to
the court was limited to foot traffic, so all remaining materials had
to be lowered by crane.
The multi-purpose Pennington-Ewing Athletic Center has two
indoor hard courts where members and their guests can play and
take lessons and clinics. The facility also includes three racquetball
courts, two international squash courts, an indoor track, basket-
ball court area, cardio area, and other workout rooms.
—Peter Francesconi
38 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
Distinguishing Honors
In addition to the Boars Head Sports Club, Columbine
Country Club, Vanderbeek Residential Court, and Pen-
nington-Ewing Athletic Club, these 21 locations were
chosen by the 2006 panel of judges for the ASBA as
excellent examples of court construction, receiving
Distinguished Tennis Facility-of-the-Year Awards.
You’ll read more about them in upcoming issues of
Racquet Sports Industry. (The nominating company is
in parentheses.)
Q
Ace Insurance Co., Hamilton, Bermuda (Classic Turf Co.)
Q
Bath Club, Miami Beach, Fla. (Fast-Dry Cos.)
Q
Boulevard Club, Vero Beach, Fla. (Fast-Dry Cos.)
Q
Center Court Ridge at Reunion Resort & Club, Kissimmee,
Fla. (Welch Tennis Courts)
Q Centre Court Racquet Club, Louisville, Tenn. (Baseline
Sports Construction LLC)
Q Clayton Residence, Carmel, Ind. (Leslie Coatings Inc.)
Q Ellis Methvin Tennis Center, Plant City, Fla. (Welch Tennis
Courts)
Q
Fleckenstein Tennis Facility, Mukwonago, Wis. (Munson
Inc.)
Q
Gooch Residence, Rumson, N.J. (The Racquet Shop)
Q
Hillsboro Club, Hillsboro, Fla. (Fast-Dry Cos.)
Q Kenyon Athletic Center, Gambier, Ohio (DecoSystems)
Q Lombard Street Reservoir/Alice Marble Tennis Center, San
Francisco (Vintage Contractors Inc.)
Q Powell Residence, Gladwyne, Pa. (Pro-Sport Construction)
Q Robinson Residence, Radnor, Pa. (Pro-Sport Construction)
Q Seiderman Residence, Parkland, Fla. (Fast-Dry Cos.)
Q
The Club at Olde Stone, Alvaton, Ky. (Welch Tennis
Courts)
Q
The Club at River Forest, Forsythe, Ga. (Welch Tennis
Courts)
Q Tivoli Lakes Tennis Center, Boynton Beach, Fla. (Welch
Tennis Courts)
Q USPTA World Headquarters, Houston (Dobbs Tennis
Courts)
Q Vaughn Athletic Center-Fox Valley Park District, Aurora,
Ill. (Kiefer Specialty Flooring Inc.)
Q
Wilson Residence, Rixeyville, Va. (Lawn Tennis & Supply
Co. Inc.)
Outdoor Tennis
Facility-of-the-Year Award
Columbine Country Club
Littleton, Colo.
Architect/Engineer: Renner Sports Surfaces, Denver
General/Specialty Contractor: Renner Sports Surfaces
Surface: Lee Tennis
Nets, Net Posts, Windscreens: Douglas Industries

Residential Tennis
Facility-of-the-Year Award
Vanderbeek Residence
Warren, N.J.
General Contractor: Pro-Sport Construction, Inc.
Lights: LSI Lighting
Nets, Net Posts, Windscreens: J.A. Cissel

Indoor Multi-Purpose
Facility-of-the-Year Award
Pennington-Ewing Athletic Club
Ewing, N.J.
Specialty Contractor: Sportsline Inc.
Suppliers: M. Putterman, J.A. Cissel, Re-Tek
Surface: California Products

Indoor Tennis
Facility-of-the-Year Award
Boars Head Sports Club
Charlottesville, Va.
Specialty Contractor: ICA Sports, Olathe, Kan.

For details on the 2007

Distinguished Facility-of-the-
Year Awards, contact the ASBA
at 866-501-ASBA or
info@sportsbuilders.org.

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 39

 science
Spin Off the Court and Strings
I
noticed something interesting at the Aus-
tralian Open in January. That is, I could
sometimes read the label on the ball as
the ball travelled over the net, even though
the players were hitting topspin ground-
strokes. The ball was hardly spinning at all
even though the players were trying to
make it spin. The problem was, the players
weren't hitting the ball hard enough to
make it spin. The ball bounced off the court
spinning rapidly but it stopped spinning as
soon as it came off the strings. Instead of
reversing the direction of spin, as the players
were trying to do, all they were doing by hit-
ting the ball was bringing the spin to a stop.
An interesting question is how the spin
off the court affects the spin that players get
off the strings. Men tend to hit the ball
harder and can therefore generate more
topspin than women. But if they hit the ball
with more topspin then the ball will come
off the court spinning even faster. That
means that men have to work harder to
reverse the direction of spin in order to
return the ball with topspin.
Suppose that two players get into a
long topspin baseline rally where both
players are hitting the ball at the same
speed straight up and down the middle
of the court. A typical rally is shown in
Fig. 1 where the ball travels over the net
with spin S1, bounces off the court with
spin S2, and comes off the strings with
spin S1. Provided both players keep hit-
ting the ball at the same speed and at
the same height over the net, the ball
will get stuck in a groove where it spins
clockwise at S1 or S2 while it travels left
to right and then spins counter-clock-
wise at S1 or S2 as it travels back from
right to left. The spin changes from S1 to
S2 every time the ball hits the court and
it changes from S2 back to S1 every time
the player hits the ball. In reality the
speeds and spins will change during the
rally but it is easier to figure out what is
happening if we assume that the speeds
and spins remain constant for at least
two consecutive hits.
SPIN OFF THE COURT
When a ball hits the court in a rally situ-
40 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
ation, the change in spin depends on the
amount of friction between the ball and
the court and on the vertical speed of the
ball. The spin will change typically by about
1,500 rpm on a fast court and by about
2,000 rpm on a slow court. A ball hit high-
er over the net will tend to hit the court at
a higher vertical speed, in which case the
change in spin will be proportionally high-
er, but 1,500 or 2,000 rpm is typical. A ball
hit with say 1,000 rpm of topspin will
therefore bounce off the court with about
2,500 rpm on a fast court or 3,000 rpm of
topspin on a slow court. If the ball is hit
with 1,000 rpm of backspin then it will
bounce off the court with 500 rpm of top-
spin on a fast court or 1,000 rpm of top-
spin on a slow court. Regardless of the spin
of the ball before it bounces, a fast court
changes that spin by around 1,500 rpm
and a slow court changes it by around
BY ROD CROSS
2,000 rpm, assuming that the ball is hit from
behind the baseline and lands about 6 feet
short of the other baseline. In other words, S2
= S1 + 1,500 on a fast court and S2 = S1 +
2,000 on a slow court.
SPIN OFF THE STRINGS
When a player hits the ball, the direction of
spin off the court needs to be reversed in
order to return the ball with topspin. Depend-
ing on how hard the player hits the ball and
how steeply the racquet rises up the back of
the ball, a player can change the spin by any-
thing between about 1,000 rpm and 6,000
rpm. Suppose that the change in spin is X.
Then the spin off the strings is S1 = X - S2. For
example, if the spin off the court is S2 = 3,000
rpm and the change X = 4,000 rpm then the
spin off the strings is S1 = 4,000 – 3,000 =
1,000 rpm. However, if S2 and X are both
equal to to 3,000 rpm then S1 = 0 and the ball
will come off the strings without any spin
at all. That's what I was seeing in some of
the women's matches in January.
Rearranging the above terms with a
little math shows the following handy
relationships: S1 = (X – 1,500) ÷ 2 and S2
= (X + 1,500) ÷ 2 for a fast court rally,
while S1 = (X – 2,000) ÷ 2 and S2 = (X +
2,000) ÷ 2 in a slow court rally. If we sub-
stitute X = 1,500 rpm for a fast court and
X = 2,000 rpm for a slow court then S1
= 0 in each case. The player therefore
needs to change the spin by at least
1,500 rpm on a fast court and 2,000 rpm
on a slow court to return the ball with
topspin. Otherwise the ball will be
returned without spin or with backspin.
Figure 2a shows a slow court rally when
X = 2,000 rpm, S1 = 0, and S2 = 2,000
rpm. Fig. 2b shows a slow court rally
when X = 3,000 rpm, S1 = 500 rpm, and
S2 = 2,500 rpm. Figures 3a and 3b show
the corresponding situations on a fast
court: Fig. 3a when X = 2,000 rpm, S1 =
250 rpm, and S2 = 1,750 rpm; Fig. 3b
when X = 3,000 rpm, S1 = 750 rpm, and
S2 = 2,250 rpm.
Note that the spin off a slow court is
faster, but that makes it harder, not eas-
ier, for the player to return the ball with
topspin. Q
 The Winner's Mind is a solar “Allen Fox's simple yet profound insights
plexus blow of reality and self- into the competitive process will be incredi-
discovery. According to Dr. Allen bly helpful to anyone who competes at
anything."
Fox, psychologist, world-class
—Billie Jean King,
tennis player, and successful Hall of Fame tennis great
businessman, winning is more fun
than losing—period! Fox’s concise “Illustrates simple principles for suc-
and eloquent analysis of what makes cess with fascinating stories about
a winner tick offers up a brilliant athletes, business people, and
prescription for success in any of life’s famous historical figures. It's a fun
endeavors. The Winner’s Mind unveils read, and I couldn't put it down."
the secrets of champions and reveals —Vic Braden,
how to put them to work for everyone author, tennis professional,
else. As described by Dr. Fox, success, TV commentator
failure, and achievement are more than just
states of mind; they are acts of mind played
out in the athletic arenas and corporate Only
boardrooms everywhere.
$17.95

Also Available from Racquet Tech Publishing

(an imprint of the USRSA)

$19.95 $12.95 $29.95 $29.95 $14.95 $19.95

Fit to Play Technical From Breakpoint The Physics and Biomechancical Taking Your
Tennis Tennis to Advantage Technology of Principles of Tennis Tennis On Tour
High Performance Racquetes, Strings, Balls, The A Practical Guide to Optimal Tennis Technique The Business, Science, and
Training Tips Courts, Spin, and Bounce Tennis Health and Performance Using Science to Improve Your Reality of Going Pro
Strokes

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

Member pricing available
www.racquetTECH.com
330 Main Street • Vista, CA 92084
Telephone: 760-536-1177 • Fax: 760-536-1171 • Email: usrsa@racquetTECH.com
Racquet Tech Publishing is an imprint of the USRSA
 string PLAYTEST

Prince Synthetic Gut

Multifilament 16
Synthetic Gut Multifilament is Prince’s 33 USRSA playtesters, with NTRP ratings
latest offering for the player looking for from 3.5 to 5.5. These are blind tests,
a playable multifilament string with a with playtesters receiving unmarked
strings in unmarked packages. The aver-
crisp feel and good durability, at a
age number of hours playtested was
midrange price. 23.
Synthetic Gut Multifilament is available Prince Synthetic Gut Multifilament got
in 16 and 17 in natural only. Its list whole- great ratings from our playtest team. To
sale price is $9 for sets of 40 feet, and date, our playtest program has tested 107 that Prince Synthetic Gut Multifilament
$145 for 660-foot reels. For more informa- strings from different manufacturers. Any might be for you, fill out the coupon to
tion or to order, contact Prince at 800-2- string that receives a score in the top get a free set to try. —Greg Raven Q
TENNIS, or visit www.princetennis.com. Be five—as Prince Synthetic Gut Multifilament
sure to read the conclusion for more infor- does for Control—is impressive. For that
EASE OF STRINGING
mation about getting a free set to try for matter, any string that scores in the top
(compared to other strings)
yourself. 10—as Prince Synthetic Gut Multifilament Number of testers who said it was:
does for Playability—is impressive. In addi- much easier 2
IN THE LAB tion, though, Prince Synthetic Gut Multifil- somewhat easier 9
We tested the 16-gauge Synthetic Gut ament scored well above average or better about as easy 22
Multifilament. The coil measured 39’8”. in every other category, too, which include not quite as easy 0
The diameter measured 1.29-132 mm Durability, Power, Touch/Feel, Comfort, not nearly as easy 0
prior to stringing, and 1.27-1.29 mm after Spin Potential, Tension Retention, and
OVERALL PLAYABILITY
stringing. We recorded a stringbed stiff- Resistance to Movement. It not only has a (compared to string played most often)
ness of 73 RDC units immediately after combined rating that is well above aver- Number of testers who said it was:
stringing at 60 pounds in a Wilson Pro age, it is the 15th best string we’ve tested much better 2
Staff 6.1 95 (16 x 18 pattern) on a con- to date, in overall score. This is especially somewhat better 10
stant-pull machine. impressive considering its midrange price. about as playable 6
After 24 hours (no playing), stringbed Only one playtester broke his sample, not quite as playable 14
stiffness measured 67 RDC units, repre- after 11 hours of play, which in itself is not nearly as playable 1
senting an 8 percent tension loss. Our con- noteworthy.
OVERALL DURABILITY
trol string, Prince Synthetic Gut Original (compared to other strings
Gold 16, measured 78 RDC units immedi- CONCLUSION of similar gauge)
ately after stringing and 71 RDC units after The overwhelmingly positive comments Number of testers who said it was:
24 hours, representing a 9 percent tension about Prince Synthetic Gut Multifilament much better 2
loss. Synthetic Gut Multifilament added 13 are entirely consistent with the fact that— somewhat better 9
about as durable 19
grams to the weight of our unstrung on average—the members of our playtest
not quite as durable 3
frame. team played with the test sample almost
not nearly as durable 0
Synthetic Gut Multifilament is easy to as long as they normally use their favorite
install, as attested by our playtesters. It has string, which comes out to a full seven RATING AVERAGES
a nice feel to it, and is soft without being hours longer than the minimum require- From 1 to 5 (best)
problematic on blocked holes. ment for the playtest. This is underscored Playability (#10 overall to date) 3.8
No playtester broke his sample during by the fact that the lowest rating it Durability 3.7
Power 3.3
stringing, none reported problems with received is still well above average, making
Control (#5 overall to date) 3.8
coil memory, only one reported problems it a well-balanced string that doesn’t have
Comfort 3.7
tying knots, and only one reported friction to sacrifice in one area to excel in another.
Touch/Feel 3.5
burn. As the name implies, Prince Synthetic Spin Potential 3.3
Gut Multifilament builds on the heritage Holding Tension 3.5
ON THE COURT and credibility of Prince Synthetic Gut, Resistance to Movement 3.5
The string was tested for five weeks by adding even more playability. If you think

42 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007

 TESTERS TALK
level than many natural guts and the playabili-
“ I usually do not refer to synthetic strings as
gut-like, but in this case, it does apply. This
ty is amazing. Highly recommended if you like

string is comfortably firm and powerful. After

a short break-in period, this string became soft
and even more powerful. Feel, comfort, and
playability were above average and possibly
better than any nylon I’ve used!
” “
4.0 male all-court player using Volkl V1 Classic
strung at 60 pounds CP (Natural Gut 16)
comfortable strings with controllable zip.
”
4.5 male all-court player using Volkl DNX 10 Mid
strung at 60 pounds LO (Natural Gut 16)
This has all the playing characteristics of
natural gut without the fraying. This string is
without question the best I’ve tried in a long
time. The comfort and playability are

“ Just when I thought nylon was out of

excellent.
”
4.5 male baseliner with heavy spin using Wilson
tricks, I discover a rare treat. This is one of Hyper Hammer 4.3 PH strung at 62 pounds LO
those strings that would play comfortable (Tecnifibre X-One Biphase 1.24 17)
across the tension range. It has wonderful
shock-absorbing qualities without sacrificing
feel. The tension maintenance is exceptional. “ This string has that elusive combination of
control and power. Its resistance to movement
Given its low trampoline effect (a common dis-
ease of multis), the stringbed plays with
is impressive.
”
5.0 male all-court player using Head Flexpoint Radi-
refreshing predictability and on-demand
cal MP strung at 60 pounds LO (Gamma ESP 17)
power, i.e., I didn’t have to adjust my strokes,
control and power were simply there. After a
while, I forgot I was testing. This is not a niche
string, it does everything well. It’s got loads of
“ This string produces good power, spin, and
control. It plays soft initially and settles after
several hours of play. There is little to no string
bite and dwell time for topspin, and excellent
movement. I would recommend this string to
depth and trajectory control for flat drives. This
string inspires confident tennis.
”
5.0 male all-court player using Wilson nPro strung
heavy hitters.
”
4.0 male all-court player using Head Flexpoint Pres-
tige MP strung at 62 pounds CP (Luxilon Big
at 62 pounds LO (Babolat Superfine Play 17)
Banger Original Rough 16)

“ This string is very easy to install and even

easier to play with. It has a higher comfort
For the rest of the tester comments, USRSA members
can visit RacquetTECH.com.

(Strings normally used by testers are indicated in parentheses.)

FREE PLAYTEST STRING PROGRAM

Prince has generously offered to send a free set of Synthetic Gut
Multifilament to the first 500 USRSA members who request it.
To get your free set, just cut out (or copy) this coupon and mail it to:
USRSA, Attn: Prince Synthetic Gut Multifilament String Offer,
330 Main Street, Vista, CA 92084
or fax to 760-536-1171
Offer expires January 15th, 2007 One set of free string per USRSA
membership. Offer only available to USRSA members in the US.

FREE! Prince Synthetic Gut Multifilament!

Offer expires January 15th 2007
Name:
USRSA Member number:
Phone:
Email:
If you print your email clearly, we will notify you when your sample will be sent.

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 43

 tips and TECHNIQUES
Readers’ Know-How in Action
FINDING FACTS FAST
Finding the stringing pattern for common
frames in the Stringer’s Digest is a step
that can be made a little quicker. Instead
of just putting plain tape on the page I
want to mark, I use my own string labels,
writing the racquet name in the "String"
field. This allows me to flip to the right
page in the book in about two seconds.
5 sets of Ashaway MonoGut 17 to:
Greg Jastrzab, Kearney, NJ
CAREFUL CLEANING
When using rubbing alcohol to clean a
44 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
stringing machine, keep the bottle away
from the machine! Bottles can tip over
and spill, damaging your machine. My
advice is to apply the alcohol to the cloth
and walk the cloth over to the machine.
This way, there is no chance for an acci-
dent to occur.
5 sets of Wilson NXT OS 16L to:
Fred S. McWilliams, CS, Arlington, TX
BUMPERGUARD STORAGE
I keep my bumper guards in a smallish
box that forces them into the shape of a
mild arc. This way when I need to install
them, they are pre-formed to follow the
form and shape of the racquet. It makes
their installation a lot easier!
Forten Tournament Bag to:
Terry Boyle, Columbine Valley, CO
TLC FOR THE RDC
I was getting varied swingweight readings
on my Babolat Racquet Diagnostic Center
(RDC). I took the cover off and found that
there is a ball bearing system on top that
is exposed to dust from outside the
machine. I blew the dust out with com-
pressed air and sprayed the ball bearings
with a silicone lubricant, and it works con-
sistently again.
5 sets of Gamma Flex Core Control 16
& Gamma Hat & Gamma T-Shirt to:
Dan Kerr, Warton, ONT, Canada
BETTER CLAMP CLEANER
Instead of using an alcohol-soaked cloth
or a regular pipe cleaner, I've found using
decorative pipe cleaners packaged as
 ment also seems to reduce the likelihood
that the string will slip, too.
5 sets of Klip Synthetic Gut 16 & a Klip
Hat to:
Steve Huff, Mechanicsville, VA
for the next stencil job.
5 sets of Volkl Power-Fiber 18 to:
Dan Kerr, Warton, ONT, Canada
—Greg Raven Q

Tips and Techniques submitted since 2000 by

CLEANER STENCILING
USRSA members, and appearing in this column,
I use my workbench to stencil. It can be
have all been gathered into a single volume of
messy but, before starting, I spread out
the Stringer’s Digest—Racquet Service Tech-
Chenille Stems found in craft stores much pages from my local newspaper. When I niques which is a benefit of USRSA membership.
better. They are longer and have a sturdy am done, I discard the top sheet of the Submit tips to: Greg Raven, USRSA, 330 Main St.,
core wire with soft bristles. Bend into a U newspaper, and have a clean work surface Vista, CA 92804; or email greg@racquettech.com.
shape, dip in alcohol and easily clean
clamps and gripper with one hand while
gently maintaining the gap between the
gripping surfaces with the other (never
clamp down on the wire). I do this often
and seldom have to disassemble for brush
cleaning.
5 sets of Head FiberGEL Power 16 to:
Eldon Whitlow, Pekin, IN

STARTING
WITHOUT SLIPPAGE
As others have pointed out, pulling ten-
sion on the first center main puts a lot of
stress on the clamp holding the other cen-
ter main. With no string tension behind it
to help, that first clamp can and will
move. To eliminate any clamp movement
when pulling that first center main, posi-
tion the clamp so that it is up against the
6 or 12 o'clock mounting post. Tightening
the first center main string will cause the
clamp to pull up against the mounting
post, at which point it’s not going to
move any farther. Preventing clamp move-

January 2007 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 45

 ask the EXPERTS
Your Equipment Hotline
RACQUETS GOING SOFT
DO RACQUETS GO SOFT WITH
Q age, and if so, how do you mea-
sure it?
A ALL RACQUETS DO “GO SOFT”
with age, partially due to tempera-
ture cycling and partially due to impact
stress. With wood racquets, the typical fail-
ure when subjected to temperature
extremes is either to warp (in the case of
heat) or crack/crush (in the case of cold).
The typical failure from impact is breakage.
According to materials engineer Tom
Kosinski, the carbon fiber and graphite in
modern racquets are subject to the same
stresses as wood frames, but they usually
fail differently. When heated, the filler
material (resin in most cases) will tend to
expand slightly, and will become more pli-
able. The overall strength and modulus of
the carbon fiber are such that you do not
really notice the expansion, and the
greater the ratio of pure fiber to resin, the
less expansion there will be.
Given enough temperature extremes
and enough temperature cycles over time,
however, even the best modern materials
will begin to develop microscopic cracks. It
is common in composites for temperature
cycling to cause the materials to fail on a
microscopic level, developing small cracks
in the material matrix. Over time, these
cracks grow and cluster, and the material
starts to “soften.” This is the mechanism
that people experience when their carbon-
fiber frames have seen a lot of use, and
the frame doesn't seem to have the punch
anymore. The frame will not look any dif-
ferent, but the material has lost the char-
acteristics it had when new.
In the cold, especially with frames
strung at very high tensions, the frames
Q I'M WONDERING HOW I CAN
tend to crack and snap. While the materi-
als are best under compression, microscop-
ic cracking will still occur, and the colder it
gets the more brittle the material
becomes. Typical failures in extreme cold
include the development of microscopic
cracks and the enlargement of other
defects in the material matrix. Every frame
has some defects in it after the molding
We welcome your questions. Please send them to Racquet Sports Industry, 330 Main St., Vista, CA, 92084; fax: 760-536-1171; email: greg@racquettech.com.
46 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
process. Most defects are small, or not in
an area where they can be a problem. In
cold temperatures the material will grow
those defects quicker and tend to fail
more catastrophically. Most frames that
have developed problems due to cold
will tend to crack on the inside of the
frame hoop, because the material in this
area is under tension, and carbon and
ceramics are not as strong under ten-
sion.
Modern composite racquets are
much more resilient to impact-related
damage than wooden racquets, but
repeated impacts over time do promote
the propagation of microscopic cracks,
just as thermal cycling does. Also, the
stress of re-stringing can speed the
breakdown of the composite matrix.
Even so, softening happens very
slowly over time. Most players won’t be
able to feel it happening because they
will adjust to the softening as it happens.
The only way to measure the amount of
“softening” is to use diagnostic equip-
ment such as the Babolat Racquet Diag-
nostic Center (RDC) or RA Test Machine.
Most players cannot afford devices such
as these, so those who want to track this
softening will need to find a local shop
or club that has one. In order to mea-
sure the change in flex of a racquet, you
have measure the flex when the racquet
is new, using a calibrated device, so you
can continue to measure the flex over
time and compare current readings to
the initial readings.
MARKETING AVENUES
promote my stringing business
beyond handing out fliers. Clubs
have their pros doing stringing at local
events so I always feel uncomfortable
marketing myself around there. Should I
ask the local pro shops if I can provide
backup when they get overwhelmed? I
seem to be walking on eggshells wher-
ever I market myself in the tennis com-
munity. Short of opening up a retail
store, how do stringers typically grow
their business?
A IN ADDITION TO FLIERS, YOU COULD
also do a website, on which you make
available information for customers and
potential customers. To draw customers to
visit your website, you could start an e-mail
newsletter. It doesn’t have to be very long,
or contain earth-shattering information, and
you can even report on news of interest to
your local tennis community. Tell your fellow
players that you are starting an e-mail list for
local tennis news, and start collecting e-mail
addresses. Each time you send out a
newsletter, include your website address.
You are right not to approach shop own-
ers or managers during tournaments—
unless the stringing team is clearly
overwhelmed. It couldn’t hurt to approach
them during a slack time, to see if they have
any need for an overflow stringer. It’s also
poor form to put up a flier for your services
at the pro shop, and this extends to any
courts that are adjacent to the pro shop.
One big boost you can give your market-
ing efforts is to get USRSA certification. If
there are other certified stringers or Master
Racquet Technicians (MRTs) in your area,
you’ll need to be certified, as well, to com-
pete, and if there are no certified stringers
or MRTs in your area, certification will give
you a tremendous advantage. Depending on
your area, players may have a lot of stringers
to whom they can turn. If you’re the only
certified stringer or MRT, you have a great
selling point when talking with potential
customers, and it will look good on your
website and e-mails.
In addition to passing out fliers, you can
also put up fliers with tear-off tabs at the
bottom with your contact information. Post
these at public courts where there is no pro
shop. Public-court players are "fair game,"
although you still want to tread lightly
because they may string their own racquets,
or they may have their best friend in the
whole world stringing for them.
Finally, we have compiled many other
marketing tips from other USRSA members
over the years. All of these tips can be
found on our website at www.usrsa.com or
in the Racquet Service Techniques book of
the Stringer’s Digest.
—Greg Raven Q
 Your Serve
A Growing Tennis Village
The TIA’s executive director says collaborations within the industry are
what lead to the growth of the sport.
O
ver the last 10 years, I’ve come to think
of the Tennis Industry Association as
Switzerland—a neutral ground where
ideas can be freely explored and developed,
where all brands can live in harmony, and where
there is a collective group of manufacturers,
organizations, retailers, teaching pros, court con-
tractors, facilities, pro groups, and tennis media
who all are working for the good of the sport.
All of these constituents have ownership in the
TIA and its mission, which is to promote the
growth and economic vitality of tennis.
In 1995 I started working directly for
then-TIA President Kurt Kamperman. That
year, we announced the Grow the Game
Initiative at the Super Show in Atlanta—the
start of numerous collaborative efforts
among industry businesses and organiza-
tions. When Kurt moved on to his current
position as USTA chief executive of Com-
munity Tennis, I knew it would be great for
tennis and a positive relationship-builder for
the TIA.
Jim Baugh succeeded Kurt as TIA presi-
dent, and during his three-year term I saw
single-minded passion that resulted in suc-
cessful launches of the Tennis Welcome
Center and Cardio Tennis initiatives.
It underscores a basic fact I've observed:
Industry-wide collaborations in tennis make
for successful ventures. And that's what is
truly unique about the TIA. This spirit carries
us into 2007, with new TIA President Dave
Haggerty of Head/Penn, and a fully commit-
ted Board of Directors and Executive Com-
mittee, which includes Jon Muir of Wilson,
Doug Fonte of Prince, and Kurt Kamperman
of the USTA. Our board members are lead-
ers in business who make up all areas of the
industry and give the TIA depth and direc-
tion. The TIA is everyone’s vehicle to impact
tennis.
MY EARLY TENNIS TRIBE
Growing up in Reading, Pa., tennis was a
major part of my life. Every day after school,
anywhere from eight to 16 (or more) of us
would be at various courts around the city.
We’d take turns playing, doing homework,
48 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY January 2007
BY JOLYN DE
eating, and then meeting back up on
lighted courts later so we could play after
dark. We had courts along the river, on
the mountain overlooking the city, under
the viaduct, at schools and parks—too
many to recall.
While my formal instruction was main-
ly through the schools, my tennis game
wasn't about the competition as much as
the social aspect. It was great fun. I was
an unofficial missionary for the game
back then, convincing friends and family
members to pick up a racquet.
I converted my future husband, a
“Industry-wide collabora-
tions in tennis make for
successful ventures. And
that's what is truly unique
about the TIA.”
commercial airline pilot, to switch careers
to tennis. Since 1990, he has been the
director of tennis at Sea Pines Resort on
Hilton Head Island, S.C. The majority of
my former tennis friends are still avid
players and many have made it their
career, including me. Nearly 24 years ago
my path was re-connected to tennis, the
last decade with the TIA. I feel very fortu-
nate to work in this game I love.
Throughout my history in business, I’ve
worked directly with—and learned
from—many great leaders and visionaries.
After college, I worked for retail legend
Albert Boscov in the special events and
marketing department of Boscov’s
Department Stores. Then I was hired by
the president of Club Med to help estab-
lish their first retail sales office in Manhat-
tan.
In the early 1980s, my “pilot-turned-
tennis-pro” husband and I moved to
Hilton Head, and I became the marketing
and advertising director for Dennis Van
der Meer, where I met the first of many
BOER
amazing people in this industry. After eight
years, I started my own marketing and
advertising agency, working with the likes
of Stan Smith, the Family Circle Cup, the
South Carolina Tennis Association, the TIA,
and many other businesses. I realized, how-
ever, that the TIA was where I belonged.
A BRIGHT FUTURE
The TIA is a group of positive people work-
ing for a common good, who want only
the best for tennis. That spirit of collabora-
tion has been pervasive in the organization
for many years. Our board, our members,
and the participating partners—many who
give a percentage of their sales—enable the
TIA to “perform” to its fullest. The USTA is
a major partner in our success, too, and we
very much value our growing, positive rela-
tionship.
Through our research partners Sports
Marketing Surveys, W&W Services Inc., and
Taylor Research Group, the TIA produces
more than 80 market intelligence reports
and surveys annually, including the annual
Participation Study, plus consumer and cen-
sus reports that monitor ball and racquet
shipments.
The TIA remains focused on improving
the health of the game for all constituents.
Tennis is on the rise and all areas of the
industry are working together to keep the
momentum going.
When I visit my hometown these days,
it’s good to see the tennis courts in Hamp-
den Park are full of tennis players, not
skateboarders.
And it makes me proud to be part of
this growing tennis village. Q
Avid player Jolyn de Boer is
the executive director of the
Tennis Industry Association.
We welcome your opinions. Please email
comments to rsi@racquetTECH.com or fax
them to 760-536-1171.