Dear Friends and USTA Members,
The USTA Florida Recreational Tennis Council finalized plans in early March to began the recruitment of part-time based QuickStart Tennis Coordinators to assist in the establishment of the QuickStart Tennis format of play for youth under the age of 10 among both public and private facilities throughout Florida.
With this initiative, USTA Florida is looking to build a bridge between entry-level players and USTA Florida Jr.Team Tennis, particularly in areas that offer after-school tennis.
By now, you undoubtedly have read or otherwise have been exposed to the QuickStart Tennis format of play, a USTA product developed with input and support from the Tennis Industry Association, Professional Tennis Registry, U.S. Professional Tennis Association and the National Recreation and Parks Association.
For the past three or four months, it has been highly encouraging and exciting to see more and more emerging stories representing optimistic testimonies from tennis professionals on the potential and promising aspects of QuickStart Tennis. Andy Durham, club pro from the Auburndale Tennis Center has introduced the new format at his facility with expectations that QuickStart Tennis can do for tennis what youth leagues have done for soccer by involving the parents. The QuickStart Tennis manual is designed to train the parents and get them involved.
Marcelo Gouts, director of tennis at the Lake Cane Tennis Center in Orlando and president of M.G. Tennis, which runs three other tennis facilities, wants to implement USTA Jr. Team Tennis using the QuickStart format of play. After hosting a Recreational QuickStart Tennis Workshop earlier this year, Gouts says, "We were looking for the missing link between after school tennis programs and USTA Jr. Team Tennis."
He believes that by utilizing the skills learned right from the start the kids will remain involved. "Play to Learn" is one of the format's motto.
Rita Gladstone, winner of the 2008 Janet Louer USTA Jr. Team Tennis award, led the Lake Cane Tennis Center Recreational QuickStart Tennis Workshop. Rita has implemented Quickstart Tennis among her 10-and-under group and has seen the largest increase in her USTA Jr. Team Tennis program this year...an increase that Rita attributes to the use of the Quickstart Tennis format. Rita started the USTA Jr. Team Tennis program in the fall of 2003 with 60 participants from several private and public tennis clubs and her numbers had climbed to 200. This spring season, a total of 325 participants from 12 public and private tennis facilities and some schools signed up for the spring season of USTA Jr. Team Tennis. On Friday evenings the kids gather at the Florida Tennis Center with their parents and their tennis coaches for an evening of great tennis fun. Parents are involved as team captains and assist in the supervision of match play using more of a "hands on" approach with the Quickstart Tennis format of play for children 10 and under.
Florida State University Tennis Coach Dwayne Hultquist, father of four girls (ages 1 to 9), found that the QuickStart Tennis format appealed to his oldest daughters who liked the aspect of sustaining rallies from the onset.
Speaking of parents, the USTA scheduled a training session at the USTA Annual Meeting in Naples entitled "QuickStart Tennis for Parents and Grandparents."
I could go on and on easily adding other testimonies, some of which are found on the USTA QuickStart Tennis website at quickstarttennis.com. Needless to say, not only do we hope the excitement and energy continues to build, but that it combines with the necessary influences in tennis communities to realize and sustain an abundance of youth tennis programs that rival the best soccer leagues in the country by getting the parents involved.
USTA Florida is doing its part by recruiting QuickStart Tennis Coordinators to work in the local communities.
"The new QuickStart Tennis coordinators will be responsible for recruiting private and public tennis facilities in a community to come on board and offer QuickStart Tennis at their facility," said Jodi Manning, USTA Florida Team Tennis Coordinator. "Coordinators will work with the after-school providers in town and help each interested tennis facility with attracting those children to their facility to get involved in QuickStart Tennis."
Because QuickStart Tennis is a hot topic right now, USTA Florida wants to ride the national marketing and publicity wave to get tennis facilities on board, staff and parents trained and get large numbers of children hooked early on our great sport of tennis.
Thank you for your support! Until next time...
Celia Rehm, USTA Florida President
