2011 Highlights-Virginia Delegate's Report

2011 Highlights-Virginia Delegate's Report

This has been another exciting year filled with successes in both new and existing programs, events, and activities for USTA/Virginia. In Virginia and throughout the Mid-Atlantic Section we have seen the results of USTA President Jon Vegosen’s mantra that “Tennis is the universal key that opens doors, minds and hearts.” We have had a remarkable year in Tennis and it’s not over yet!

Currently have 332 active org memberships, up 15% from September 2010. This includes 133 renewals and 112 new organizations; 20% increase in renewals and 47% increase in new organizations. Virginia currently has 22, 422 active individual memberships.

League Participation exceeded 25,000 again. Adult, Mixed, Senior’s and Combo’s remain consistent. Our growth is in Singles – up 35% and almost 1,500 and Tri-Level – up 41% and now at 1,000! Over 3,000 Team Codes and 7,500 Match Codes were generated in 2010.

We added 1 new Area League Coordinators this year – Afthab Zainudeen, representing Thai Tennis.

Virginia Tennis hosts 114 leagues for our players in 2011, including 8 new leagues. We had 3 first time Senior Tri-Level leagues.

New leagues created in 2011:

NOVA Thai Outdoor Combo MixedFredericksburg Tri-Level

Richmond Senior Womens Tri-LevelVA Beach Senior Women’s Tri-Level

NOVA Senior Tri-LevelVA Beach Mixed Tri-Level

Fredericksburg SinglesNorfolk Singles

369 teams, 3,330 players, played over 2260 matches in District League Championships. Adult Districts hosted 127 teams, over 1500 players, over two weekends, requiring 32 courts with 1044 matches played. Senior Districts was completed despite Hurricane Irene, with 56 teams, 676 players and 288 matches played. Adult, Mixed and Combo Mixed had 53 teams, 400 players and 264 matches played. Singles in November will accommodate 50 teams, 250 players and 264 matches played.

2012 will be a very busy planning, implementing, and educating in preparation for the new league 18/40/55 structure in 2013!

VT has 40 total registered CTA’s in Virginia. New CTA’s added this year include Campbell County Tennis Association, Barcroft Junior Tennis Association and PlayTime Tennis.

VT currently has 38 registered NJTL’s. 19 of which are CTA/NJTL’s. This is an increase in 15 NJTL’s since 2010.

A QuickStart Coaches Workshop for Special Olympics coaches was held in Stafford with 16 coaches attending.

VT participated in this year’s Special Olympics Virginia Summer Games at the University of Richmond with 77 athletes participating. This is the largest annual statewide competition offered by Virginia Special Olympics for athletes with intellectual disabilities. This year, in addition to Match Play and Skills, a QuickStart Division was added.

The Summer Tennis Smash, a Special Olympics Unified Tournament, was held in Virginia Beach with 22 Special OIympics athletes taking part.

The 6th Annual USTA/Virginia Tennis on Campus Fall invitational was held October 8-9th at Old Dominion University. 18 teams participated including teams from Tennessee, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

2011 Jr. Team Tennis had 1,938 participants. Three new leagues were started in Reston, Norfolk and Campbell County. Virginia hosted its 4th Jr Team Tennis District Championship at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. There were a total of thirty eight teams present. 25 teams progressed to the Sectional Championship and 2 progressed to the National Championship.

The High School No Cut program has 83 registered coaches.

10 and Under Tennis events this year were phenomenal with the Richmond Tennis Association, Lobs and Lessons and Virginia Tennis hosting the “Young Aces Open”. Over 150 kids participated from 25 Elementary Schools on 38 QuickStart courts. Virginia Tennis staff assisted with two 10U events on the tennis courts at “The White House”; the “Easter Egg Roll and Let’s Move!”. Virginia Tennis Staff assisted with two SmashZone events; at the Asian Festival in George Mason University and at the Nickelodeon’s 2011 Worldwide Day of Play on the mall of Washington, DC.

Virginia Tennis conducted 23 In-Service Schools trainings so far this year. 130+ schools in Virginia are organizational members.

The Charlottesville Target Market Iniative has reached 8200 school children, and resulted in hundreds of participants in Play Days, Tennis Block Parties and Kids Clubs in Charlottesville.

 12 facilities in Virginia have added 10U Blended lines in 2011.

Over $92,000 in National, Sectional, and Virginia grants, scholarships and in-kind advertising was awarded to programs and organizations throughout Virginia this year.

Virginia Sanctioned QuickStart Tournaments rose from 49 in 2010 to 71 in 2011. 2011 also marked another new record high of 464 Sanctioned Tournaments (up from 450 in 2010)!!

Five TD Workshops were held in Virginia; Roanoke, Falls Church, Richmond, VA Beach and Charlottesville with a total attendance of 72 tournament directors. There is a TD Workshop being in conjunction with this USTA Virginia Annual Meeting.

USTA Virginia has added three “Competitive Training Centers” in Northern Virginia, Charlottesville and Roanoke, which, in November, along with the existing CTCs in Richmond & Newport News will be selecting the 20 top players ages 9-12 in each region of VA to receive 6-8 hours of low-cost supplemental high performance training per month.

The USTA Virginia Grassroots Player Development L4 & L6 Tournament Circuit launched in 2011, providing ultra-low cost tournament play opportunities for juniors in the Richmond, Norfolk and Hampton. Thanks to the colossal efforts of tournament directors Shima Grover, Bill Jaume and Eric Christianson, and their teams of volunteers and supporters, these events provided opportunities for players and families to experience, enjoy and benefit from the opportunity to participate in USTA sanctioned tournaments. In 2012 the circuit will grow into NOVA, Charlottesville and Southwestern Virginia.

USTA/VA Tennis is campaigning for a tennis license plate in Virginia! We are collecting 450 (state legislature has increase the minimum number of applications from 350-450, effective 2011) presale DMV applications to petition the VA General Assembly to approve the plate. Once approved and the first 1,000 plates are sold, a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Virginia Tennis Foundation.

USTA/VA continued three promotions for the license plate campaign: a Drawing for US Open Tickets for all applicants through August 2011; a Point of Sale Incentive- all applications submitted “on the spot” at USTA/VA events received a USTA Dri-fit shirt, polo or visor; and a Make a Difference Campaign challenging CTAs, organizations & individuals to collect applications in order to earn QuickStart equipment for their favorite club/school/facility. A Facebook campaign was also created in which advertisements were targeted to reach a demographic of 289,000 people with interests in: tennis, education & philanthropy. In addition to promotions, the Tennis License Plate was promoted at more than 25 events/workshops in 2011 and an online payment system for the plate was set-up via Click&Pledge for the Virginia Tennis Foundation.

USTA/VA Tennis used social media “meme” strategies to accrue more Facebook fans and encourage interaction w/ the page. Our Facebook page is currently at 685 fans and contains photo galleries, videos, events and links to keep tennis fans in Virginia connected to what’s going on at USTA/VA Tennis. The USTA/VA Twitter page is

currently has 254 followers and is connected to our Facebook page to efficiently update both social media sites at the same time.

The Virginia Tennis Foundation (VATF) & the Mid-Atlantic Tennis & Education Foundation (MATEF) partnered with the Washington Kastles to bring the Washington Kastles Fast Serve Contest to eight events in seven different cities, and five Washington Kastles home matches, with proceeds benefitting VATF & MATEF. The 3rd Annual Fast Serve Contest introduced new divisions this year for Wheelchair players & Military personnel. This “Honorary” division was held at the Midlothian Athletic Club Wheelchair Tournament and the Baltimore Wheelchair Tennis Classic, as well as the WOW Wounded Warrior Block Party. The Contest brought in over 400 participants, with the top finalists from each event invited to participate in the playoffs at the Washington Kastles last regular season match, with a total of $1,000 in cash prizes for the winners. The male and female Wheelchair winners were also invited to be recognized at this match and received tickets to the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

All Other Community Tennis Events and Promotions Virginia Tennis supported and participated in this year were:

16 Tennis Night in America Youth Registration Events

28 Tennis Block Parties (including 2 multicultural and 1 wheelchair Block Parties); 7 Recreational Coach Workshops; 1 NJTL Kids Day; 5 QuickStart workshops/demos and 4 QuickStart Tennis Block Parties; 9 school in-services, 5 Wheelchair Tournament and 1 Wheelchair Block Party

5 USTA/VA Tournament Director’s Workshops held throughout Virginia

Boyd Tinsley Kid’s Day in Charlottesville, VA with over 100 participants

USTA/VA Area League Coordinators Workshop held at Hermitage Country Club

NJTL Kids’ Day in Newport News, VA; featuring 7 NJTL Chapters with over 350 participants. NJTL Kid’s Day in Reston, VA; featuring 5 NOVA area NJTL Chapters with over 50 kids participating.

8th Annual Asian Games in Reston, VA with over 50 participants.

The 8th Annual Asian Festival & Tennis Block Party with Luke Jensen was held in a new location on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax. The Asian Festival brought more than 30,000 attendees this year and featured the USTA’s Tennis Smash Zone for the first time. More than 1400 young players attended the Smash Zone.

QuickStart Presentation at the annual VRPS Conference, held in Norfolk in 2011. 16 P&R representatives attended.

QuickStart Presentationa at the Virginia Association of Physical Educators, Health Education, Recreation and Dance Association Convention in Reston, VA

Hispanic Imagine Festival in Richmond, VA

USTA/VA Tennis on Campus Fall Invitational at Old Dominion University with 18 teams and 165 participants.

5000 VirginiaTennis.com silicone bracelets, Frisbees, water bottles, tennis ball beach balls, sweat bands, coozies and car magnets were distributed at many of these events.

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