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RACQUET SPORTS, TENNIS INDUSTRY
Tennis for Everyone: USTA Florida Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
(From "USTA Florida Weekly eNews")
Each year, USTA Florida observes Hispanic Heritage Month by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of the Hispanic and Latino citizens whose ancestors come from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. The timeframe of September 15 through October 15 is significant because several Central and South American countries celebrate their independence during the 30-day period. Read the article here.
USTA FOUNDATION Awards $60,000 to Youth Players Through Novo Nordisk Donnelly Partnership
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The USTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the United States Tennis Association Incorporated (USTA), announced that Ivy Wilson of Jenks, Okla., and Leena Bennetto of Vernon, British Columbia, have been named the 2021 Novo Nordisk Donnelly Scholarship national recipients, each receiving a $10,000 scholarship administered by the USTA Foundation. Wilson and Bennetto received their awards from Billie Jean King on Sept. 2 when they joined the sports icon for a day of tennis at the US Open.
Head Pickleball Professional at The Landings
Chris Hagman is searching for Head Pickleball Professional at The Landings, www.landingsclub.com. Truly, this is one of the top clubs in the south and an excellent opportunity with salary, commissions and benefits. Interested Professionals should contact chris@atlrec.net or 404-307-4893.
PROFESSIONAL COMPETITION
Leylah Fernandez: Forge Your Own Path
By Michal Kokta
(as seen on ONcourt-Canada's Tennis eZine)
Let’s take a little journey back in time together. Before the US Open final. Before the #28 WTA ranking. Even before the #1 world junior ranking. Before Canada had another young tennis superstar, joining the likes of Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Bianca Andreescu, who could serve as an inspiration for future generations of Canadians to pick up a tennis racket and give the great game of tennis a shot. You see, Leylah Fernandez was far from a sure... Read More
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BILLIE JEAN KING NAMED HONORARY TOURNAMENT CHAIRPERSON
FOR $600,000 SAN DIEGO OPEN ATP 250 EVENT AT BARNES TENNIS CENTER
The $600,000 San Diego Open has named sports icon and champion of equality Billie Jean King as Honorary Tournament Chairperson. The ATP 250-Level tournament is set for Monday, September 27 through Sunday, October 3, 2021 at Barnes Tennis Center.
The list of star players is impressive. From Felix Auger-Aliassime to Dimitrov, Fognini, Nishikori, Rublev, Ruud, Shapovalov to Andy Murray. Info and tickets here.
The Special Olympics Inaugural Pickleball Championships had to be canceled for Covid related reasons.
FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, ACCESSORIES
Pretty Brook Tennis Club Appoints BeyondTheBaselines.com as Interim General Manager and Search Consultant
Beyond The Baselines had been serving as management consultant to the storied club, founded in 1929 in Princeton, New Jersey, since early 2021. Already contracted as Sports Director through the end of 2022 and having hired the tennis, squash, paddle, pickleball, and fitness staffs, Beyond The Baselines "was well placed to understand our club's need for a General Club Manager," said Ken Lee, President of Pretty Brook.
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Information pertaining to the opportunity at Pretty Brook for interested General Manager candidates may be found by following this link to BeyondTheBaselines.com
Oncourt Offcourt Introduces Kinesthetic Learning Webinar with International Tennis Coach and Speaker Emma Doyle.
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But what’s kinesthetic learning all about? Basically, it’s all about feel and how our brains and muscles form pathways just by doing. All physical drills are kinesthetic in nature but this webinar takes a deep dive look into how we can unlock its full potential.
By using specific drills and training aids focused on kinesthetic learning, we can hone the smallest micro-movements necessary for fast development and progress - exactly like the pros.
Slinger Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2021 Results
Slinger (OTCQB: SLBG) a sports brand focused on innovating game improvement technology and equipment, today announced results for the first quarter of fiscal 2021, the Company’s strongest quarter to date.
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Net sales increased 349% to $2.5 million
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New orders totaled $3.7 million
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Boosted inventory production to meet increased demand through April 2022
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Commenced application process to uplist to the NASDAQ
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“We are thrilled to see demand for the Slinger Bag continue to accelerate and expect this trend to continue in the US direct-to-consumer channel and internationally through our strong distribution networks,” said Mike Ballardie, Slinger CEO.
Slinger Announces Partnership with USTA Chicago to Become the ‘Official Practice Partner’ of the District
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The Chicago District Tennis Association, a District of the USTA/Midwest Section, will bring the Slinger brand, Slinger Bag and future products and technologies to its avid base of tennis enthusiasts through the ‘Official Practice Partner’ designation
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With this partnership, Slinger will work with the CDTA to enhance its mission to create, sustain, and grow enthusiasm for the game of tennis throughout Chicagoland.
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With the ‘Official Practice Partner’ designation, the Slinger Bag will be introduced throughout the region and its 500+ clubs, courts and tennis facilities with upcoming media and demo days.
Slinger's Foundation Tennis Teams Up with Square to Reach New Businesses in the Sports Vertical
Slinger’s recently acquired tennis technology SaaS platform is now a member of Square’s App Partner Program.
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With the vision to become a leading connected sports company, Slinger announced that the Foundation Tennis technology platform it acquired in June of 2020 has joined Square’s App Partner Program. The partnership with Square is a significant milestone for Foundation Tennis and Slinger, validating the success of its platform, and its potential to reach new businesses and consumers in the tennis market, as well as other sports and wellness verticals with its robust CRM, subscription management, booking, and payment processing technology.
COACHING, LEARNING
TBD Tennis Innovation Week
October 27-30
If you want to discover how Tennis will be played, run in a club or Academy in 10 years from now then you can’t miss this opportunity to COME BACK FROM THE FUTURE OF TENNIS.
TBD Tennis Innovation Week is the first international virtual event and platform focused to integrate and bring together innovators, creators, developers, leaers, companies, and organizations that are making an impact with new proposals, products, apps, devices, services aimed at transforming and empowering the tennis industry.
Fernando Segal
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The Tennis Club/Academy of the future
More than 21 years ago I published a book called Tennis Concept 6/90 in which I described many ideas, concepts, principles, and proposals to develop and grow in our sport. It is a tennis development book. Read the article here.
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Tennis Development Coach as a Leader
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I´ve always thought that those who are taking responsibility, today by preparing for the future and improving their behaviors are putting themselves in a position to be successful in their journey. This includes all of us who have a direct relationship with the education, training, and certification of tennis teachers and coaches. We have a great responsibility and a deep sense of belonging and legacy. We should work to prepare future generations of professionals, with a better profile, environment, professional ethics, and competitiveness. Read the article here.
PTR Tennis Director Conference
December 10-11, 2021
Indian Wells
If you are a Director or on the career path to be one, this is the conference for you!
Get information here
CONGRATULATIONS
Roy Barth: Point of Impact
(see our review last December)
Point of Impact was accepted into the permanent collection of the library at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI. Congratulations!
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Roy writes that the new hardcover book with color images—the same one in the ITHF collection-is now available for purchase.
Signed copies, both hard and softcover editions, are for sale at the Kiawah Island Resort in person or through their website, kiawahresort.com, shopping cart.
Unsigned hardcover copies are available at barnesandnoble.com.
Unsigned paperback and ebook versions are available at Amazon.com
TECH NEWS
Rich's Favorite Sources of Daily News
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Every morning. Crazy good. Funky sense of humor. Brief but excellently written. Want to try it? Here's the link.
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We've chosen a few select items for recent issues of Morning Brew and Emerging Tech Brew.
40 One-Sentence Email Tips
Email doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Here are a collection of concepts to help you write better emails, optimize your inbox, and keep your sanity.
Facebook Is Making Camera Glasses, Ha Ha Oh No
Ray-Ban Stories can take photos and videos with a touch of a button and send them to your phone.
The first thing you'll notice about Facebook’s new camera glasses is that they are not called Facebook Glasses — they are called Ray-Ban Stories. This is because they are made in partnership with Ray-Ban (a cool company that no one hates), and Facebook has had a rough couple of years in the public eye. And “Stories” because, you know, Instagram stories and Facebook stories and also Snapchat "story," lol.
OTHER NEWS
Roger Federer-Backed Sustainable Running Shoe Maker Debuts on New York Stock Exchange​
On Holding AG, makers of the On Running shoes invested in by tennis great Roger Federer, debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, with its shares closing up 47% during its initial public offering.
On Running, a Swiss company founded by avid runners Olivier Bernhard, David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti, uses a patented Cloudtec cushioning technology for its Cyclon running shoes. They are made of 100% recyclable materials—with much of the upper material derived from castor beans—and are available on a subscription basis, with the consumer needing to return used pairs for new ones.
On also started its own running team, On Athletic Club, led by acclaimed coach Dathan Ritzenhein. OAC’s very first runner, Joe Klecker, qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in the 10,000 meters this summer.
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Back in the Arena: 2021 Consumer Trends​
Consumer research from Oracle shows US consumers are eager to return to stadiums provided certain changes are implemented. From pre-game day check-ins to ordering their favorite concessions, fans increasingly expect their favorite teams to provide an integrated 360-degree fan experience that makes it easy to enjoy game day their way – and they’re willing to pay extra for it:
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93% of consumers surveyed said they were nostalgic about stadium food – but many want operators to rethink current models
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67% of people would buy more if they could pre-order and avoid the line, and 56% would like to schedule their order so it will be ready at a set time
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57% of fans would love a "fast pass" system to gain priority access to food, shops, and facilities; this was most popular with families with 62% rating this option as "awesome"
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59% of consumers said that personalized offers and promotions for nearby restaurants/bars would impact their likelihood to go out before or after the event
With many exciting changes for our industry just around the corner, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest consumer trends. Access the full results from Back in the Arena: AU, UK, and US consumer trends and learn how Oracle can help you design optimal fan journeys and build the technology stack to bring them to life.
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