June 2009 Monthly Archive

Reaching Out to Facility Managers

In mid-May, I spent a week at the Tennis Industry Association office on Hilton Head Island, where I also was fortunate to be able to attend a few sessions at the first Tennis Club Owners and Facility Managers Conference,... (Click here to read more...)

Industry News

Information to help you run your business. (Click here to read more...)

Youth tennis

Private donations keep tennis free for island youngsters. (Click here to read more...)

A Cool Ride!

In tennis shoes, players are looking for ventilation and breathability to keep their feet cool and dry. (Click here to read more...)

First-String Service

Stringing provides your best margins. Here’s how to get the most out of this vital area. (Click here to read more...)

Racquet tech part 1 of 3: What technologies are you selling?

Have you and your staff ever wished you had a list of all the major racquet technologies, all in one place? Well, with the help of material from the U.S. Racquet Stringers Association, here it is. (Click here to read more...)

Playtest: Gamma TNT2 Tour 16

Gamma TNT2 Tour is a wrapped multi-core multifilament string with a somewhat unusual construction. In the core, a solid high-tenacity polyamide (nylon) outer matrix surrounds six high-energy monofilaments. The outer matrix is stiffer than the individual core monofilaments. Around... (Click here to read more...)

Take Charge of the Sport

A longtime industry insider says it’s up to all of us to keep this sport vital. (Click here to read more...)

How often to change racquets, revisited

Q: I have a customer who just obtained sponsorship from a racquet manufacturer, and as part of his contract, he receives a certain number of frames each year. What’s the best way of “managing” these frames? Should he put them... (Click here to read more...)

Racquet strength

Q: Here in southwest Florida we get lots of seasonal guests (the new, politically-correct terminology for snowbirds) who play recreational tennis for the two to six months they visit. Many string on arrival and leave the racquet in their condo... (Click here to read more...)

Cutting out poly

For me, removing the old poly string from a frame before restringing is more difficult than removing other strings. To make it easier to remove poly, I cut around the stringbed just inside the frame, so the entire stringbed comes... (Click here to read more...)

Customer tracking

I use the Filemaker product “Bento” to track all of my stringing jobs and customers. I used the built-in “customer library” to track names and phone numbers. I added my own list containing string jobs to track tension, string used,... (Click here to read more...)

Color your world

With spring in the air, I like to take advantage of the colored string offered by some manufacturers, starting with pink, orange, red, blue, optic yellow, and lime. It really gets people to notice what equipment I’m using. After I... (Click here to read more...)

Whatever floats your dampener

Some frames come with a vibration dampener on the middle grommets at the bottom. Using a stringing machine with “billiards” at six and twelve o’clock creates a problem; it’s not a good idea to pinch the dampener between the billiard... (Click here to read more...)