Dear Tennis Friend,
Hope you are having a nice Fall Season.
As you probably know, there was a very positive and productive meeting on Sunday, October 21, with Steve Bellamy and his concerned group with the USTA officials in Chicago about the state of our National ‘n Sectional Junior Schedule and Rankings that led to a pause on the new changes and a listening tour to be held across the country to make revisions that will be fair for all our juniors and that will hopefully bring a smile to everyone’s’ face.
I then met on the evening of Oct. 24 in Malibu and the early morning of Oct. 25 with incoming USTA President, Dave Haggerty, and USTA Chief Executive of Community Tennis, Kurt Kamperman. We met for a total of 7 1/2 hours and the discussions on my outline of American Tennis Concerns were fair and frank and sometimes hard hitting and a lot was learned on all sides of the issues.
Although we share many experiences in common with our sport, we come from different vantages and viewpoints – - – Dave, as the newly elected President, has served on several national committees and has been a very successful CEO of major tennis companies; while Kurt is employed by the USTA and was the former CEO of the Tennis Industry Assn. and knows Community Tennis in all sections of this country; and Wayne, who spends a good part of the year on the road emceeing ATP events and doing clinics on the tour and at clubs and schools and who coaches World Team Tennis and speaks to coaches and parents frequently.
All of us are passionate about the game and its health and future. Although the meetings were rigorous, they were at the same time cordial.
The issues discussed included:
James Paul Weber is known to his students simply as “Coach Weber”. It’s about the only thing that’s been shortened in his life-long pursuit of tennis excellence...
