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Reaching Out to Facility Managers

By Peter Francesconi

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, which was presented by the PTR. The conference drew more than 60 club owners and managers, and seemed to be an enthusiastic step in our industry to reach out to this group.

Industry veteran Doug Cash, who has a tennis consulting business called CashFlow, led the two-day conference. Doug is a PTR and USPTA professional who has been involved in club management for many years, including as the COO of Tennis Corporation of America, from which he retired in 2005 after 32 years. He also recently was named the first Wilson Tennis Business Advisor to the company’s 2,500 sponsored professionals.

As many in this industry have known, and as was shown at this gathering, club managers are eager for this type of information. The agenda covered such topics as bringing in revenue through dues; programming for your club; partnering with the USTA to increase profits; filling courts; managing your staff; TIA sessions on the GrowingTennis System and TennisConnect; managing expenses, payroll, and staff; and much more. Participants not only heard from experts, but also had a chance to share their knowledge with their peers and to network.

In today’s economic climate, manufacturers, retailers, organizations and court builders, among other groups, are realizing that they have more to gain by sharing with each other. Now, club and facility owners and managers are pulling together, too, realizing that success is achieved through working together and sharing ideas and best practices.

I’m confident that we all can look forward to more workshops and conferences geared toward facility owners and managers as this industry continues to reach out to this vital group. What better way to ensure that participation continues to grow than to have those who manage tennis facilities — whether public or private — get together to share knowledge.

Peter Francesconi
Editorial Director

See all articles by Peter Francesconi

About the Author

Peter Francesconi is editorial director of RSI magazine.

From the June 2009 issue
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