NOVEMBER 2019 Looking at the USTA/USPTA alliance and those bogus published participation numbers that distort the picture of the entire tennis industry

THIS ISSUE Publisher's Notes - Letters - Facility of the Month - Organization of the Month - Male Pro of the Month Female Pro of the Month - Spotlight Pickleball - Suzanna McGee Fitness - Marsha Friedman PR Trending - Rod Heckelman - Javier Palenque - Roger Stenquist - Rich Neher Feature - Gary Horvath Chris Hagman - Joshua Jacobs - Where Are They Now?

abc

IS THE USTA AT WAR WITH AMERICAN TENNIS CLUBS?

I read John Embree's below letter to USPTA members and couldn't help musing about what's really going on with U.S. tennis and how the Good Ol' Boys at USTA and USPTA are planning the future for tennis in this country. But, read for yourself:

To our valued USPTA members:

As you may know, the USTA has been undergoing an overhaul over the past two years of its Junior Competitive structure. On Friday of last week, the USTA, under CEO Gordon Smith's signature, sent out the attached communication to the USTA family at large. Some of you may be aware of these changes, especially those of you who work with high performance juniors. On the other hand, many of you may not have heard of the changes that are going to be coming soon but should certainly know about them.

Thus, I think it's important to keep you informed by forwarding this announcement. This is great news for all of our USPTA members who develop junior players.

It also has relevance to our status as the only accredited tennis-teaching organization of the USTA and the accreditation agreement that we signed with the USTA earlier this year. While the USTA is going to need a significant proliferation of more member org facilities (with 4+ courts) that are willing to host entry-level and intermediate-level events to support this national plan by 2021, as well as their need to retain all the current host facilities around the US, all of these USTA member org facilities (with 4+ courts) will be required to employ only USPTA-certified members in good standing as their full-time tennis-teaching professionals.

The USTA has agreed to assure full compliance of this requirement over these next 12-15 months, which is really beneficial to our dues-paying members.

Attached is the release that the USTA has issued regarding these changes.

Sincerely,
John R. Embree, CEO

Looking at the entire situation with the USTA/USPTA alliance and what's really going on with U.S. tennis, I have come to one conclusion:

Ah, yes. We're back at my favorite subject. As many of our readers know, I don't believe the published participation numbers for a moment.

Remember my irrefutable logic from our August issue, dissecting those numbers and trying to show you how inflated they are?

• If the ball sales numbers are correct (and I believe they are) then published participation numbers are exaggerated by about 300-400%
  c
• If racquet sales numbers are correct (and I believe they are) then published participation numbers are exaggerated by about 200-250%
  c
• If USTA League unique player numbers are correct (and I believe they are) then published participation numbers for core players are exaggerated by about 800%

I'm scratching my head wondering who to believe now. However, since neither the USTA nor the TIA ever comment or correct any of my theses, they must true. Right?

My estimation: there are 7 million adults plus 1 million kids participating in tennis. Roughly 38% of the published numbers, gathered with fuzzy methods, artificially inflated with voodoo math for the benefit of our governing body of tennis. I have stated before: They have a vital interest in keeping those numbers high because they are part of the building blocks for keeping their non-profit status.

Now, why do I keep telling you about bogus participation numbers? Here's why:

Let's look at John Embree's letter again, shall we?

A pretty realistic sounding scenario I am hearing out in the field is this:

1. The USTA has little confidence in the future of tennis. They know the recreational part of the sport is slowly disappearing. Tennis fans like to watch the U.S. Open and other big tournaments from the comfort of their sofas but they are not going on the court in ever-increasing numbers. All programs, plans, initiatives that seem to indicate that the USTA still knows how to grow tennis, are wool-over-the-eyes activities.

2. Participation numbers that were bogus to begin with, are decreasing rapidly in the coming 5-10 years. I expect to read a press release after Gordon Smith has left in which a 50% correction of those numbers is announced.

3. With an ever diminished player base and an ever-increasing number of facilities that close their doors, we will not need 24,000 teaching professionals. Get aligned with the USPTA, make sure the surviving facilities will only hire USPTA pros, forcing most of the PTR pros to change careers, and voila, the remaining tennis pros will have a decent enough business.

You think this is far fetched? Time will tell, right? A friend of mine put it this way: "I see a golden opportunity for UTR and WTT." And I think he's right. Both organizations have enthusiastic leaders who know what they're doing. They don't need the USTA to be successful.

I don't blame John Embree for trying to get the most benefits for his membership. However, I'm sad to see he's signed on to Gordon Smith's bloody feud with the PTR. Thankfully, Mr. Smith will be history soon. I hope they don't keep him on as a consultant or something. But hey, maybe Deloitte will have a position for him?

The USTA should really think twice about going to war with tennis clubs. Pulling tournaments from them into their new mega facilities, shutting them out if they don't employ USPTA professionals, it all undermines the clubs' ability to survive. That can't be what they want, right? Wait. Noooo. I refuse to believe that!