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Grab Every Opportunity You Can

By Peter Francesconi

You’ve heard it from us before, but it bears repeating: Take advantage of all the opportunities you can when it comes to furthering your knowledge in this business.

And one of the best opportunities — for tennis teachers, coaches, and others involved in the tennis business — is coming up in New York City, coinciding with the start of the US Open. It’s the 36th Annual USTA Tennis Teachers Conference, set for the Grand Hyatt New York from Aug. 26 to 29.

More than 700 are expected to attend the TTC, and they’ll be treated to seminars and presentations from some of the best in this business. This year, five-time US Open champ Jimmy Connors will be a featured speaker at the conference. Also presenting will be tennis luminaries such as Jim Loehr, Peter Burwash, Rick Macci, Stan Smith, Vic Braden, and more. Sessions will take place both at the Hyatt (where a full-size court is set up in a ballroom), and also on the courts at the USTA National Tennis Center.

The TTC is put together by a talented and passionate group from the USTA that includes Kirk Anderson, Pat Freebody, Karen Pacent, and many others. The goal in all of this is to grow the sport in the U.S. — to get more people playing, which will create more customers for your business.

The USTA also puts on the highly successful Community Tennis Development Workshop each February, also well worth attending. And, of course, two other mainstays in the tennis education business are the USPTA’s World Conference on Tennis (coming up Sept. 18 to 23 in Las Vegas) and the PTR’s International Tennis Symposium (held each February). For court builders, the American Sports Builders Association offers excellent opportunities to expand your knowledge, especially at its annual Technical Meeting, set for Dec. 1 to 4 in Daytona Beach.

In addition, the USTA (together with the Tennis Industry Association), PTR, USPTA, and ASBA all offer smaller development workshops, held at various locations throughout the year. Check out the websites for these organizations to find out more — and to sign up.

We all should feel fortunate in the tennis industry that there are a number of organizations doing all they can to help you expand your knowledge and your business. The key now, though, is to make sure you and your staff take every advantage that you can. It will be worth it for you, and it will be worth it for your business.

See all articles by Peter Francesconi

About the Author

Peter Francesconi is editorial director of RSI magazine.

From the July 2006 issue
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