About Tennis Priorities Company Founder
Denny Schackter
(from the TPC web site)

Denny Schackter, Founder of Tennis Priorities Company has been integral in locating Professional Tennis Coaches for over 20 years. Understanding the need for promoting the profession of teaching tennis, Denny places the best tennis coaches at tennis clubs in Chicago, Indiana, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and the Greater Wisconsin Region.

While also serving as an ambassador in support of Tennis careers, Denny remains active in Tennis Associations at the Local, Regional, and National level.

A 2008 Inductee into the Wisconsin High School Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame, Denny currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Milwaukee Tennis & Education Foundation. Denny is also on the Board of The Milwaukee Classic, and The Chicago District Tennis Association. A former member of both The USPTA Midwest Board and United States Tennis Association’s National Committee for ‘Tennis on Campus’, Denny is currently Chair of the USTA Midwest Committee for Tennis Industry & Education and also a member of the USTA National Committee for High School Tennis.

Denny’s goal is to attract more talent into tennis industry positions and to connect them with financially lucrative and stable job opportunities. Denny works throughout the region to inform young adults of opportunities within the tennis industry and promoting the positive aspects of working in tennis. Denny advocates on behalf of such benefits as the tennis lifestyle, helping others, healthful benefits, and financial opportunities.

With a lifetime of connections in the Tennis Industry including sales posts, coaching, and now human resources, Denny works on educating executives in the club, resort and park industries on the long term financial benefits of hiring and retaining top tennis professionals as well as additional opportunities and resources available to help grow their business.

Questions for Denny Schackter

TCB: Denny, were are you from?
DS: I was born in Madison, Wisconsin.

TCB: Who introduced you to tennis and how old were you?
DS: I was 13 when a Lutheran Minister, who loved sports and played tennis, corralled me in.

TCB: Did you play in school?
DS: Yes, I played tennis in high school, tennis and basketball in college. I helped the coach in college and Men's Tennis Coach at University of Wisconsin, Madison.

TCB: What did you do after college?
DS: While coaching I became USPTA certified. In 1984 I moved to Chicago and worked as the local Wilson Rep for the next 22 years.

TCB: And after Wilson?
DS: In 2008, while working at two clubs, Northbrook Racquet Club and Midtown Athletic Club, I founded the Tennis Priorities Company in Palatine. I was also a volunteer for the USTA Midwest section.

TCB: Where do you source your tennis professionals?
DS: My focus is on Division III colleges in the 5 states that form the USTA Midwest section. I find players there that want to begin teaching. The easiest targets are sons and daughters of existing tennis professionals. My list acouple of hundred Div III colleges.

TCB: What kind of demand do you see from clubs today?
DS: Clubs mostly want American born players to avoid any Green Card hassle. Also, since the ratio of men to women tennis pro's is probably like 5 or 6 to 1, we see a much higher demand for females nowadays.

TCB: What are your challenges at Tennis Priority Company?
DS: 1. Convincing people that tennis is a great place to work in. 2. Overcoming the disadvantage of lack of benefits in tennis clubs. 3. Bad hours. especially for millennials who like to hang out with friends in the evenings.

TCB: What are your plans for the future?
DS: I am 71 and have no big expansion plans. I'm doing it for the joy of the game.

Thank you, Denny Schackter.