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Are There Too Many Hired Guns in Men’s College Tennis?

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The short report “” evaluates whether PAC 12 schools are bringing in “hired guns” to make their men’s tennis programs successful. The analysis evaluated rosters published on athletic websites in April 2013.

Only 8 schools in the PAC 12 had men’s programs (ASU, CU, OSU, and WSU did not have men’s programs).  Of the 88 players listed on the rosters, 32 players, or 36.4%, were in-state and 17 players, or 19.3%, were out-of-state.  In other words, 55.7% of the players were Americans and 44.3% were from other countries.

All schools had at least 1 in-state player. Only UCLA and California players had 50% or more in-state players.   Stanford and Washington had the least number of foreign players (3 of 13 and 3 of 11). At least half of the USC, Oregon, Arizona, and Utah players were from other countries.

Clearly, most men’s programs (at least in the PAC 12) look outside their state to find players to build their program. The effectiveness of this tactic might be debatable in situations where programs need to build local fan or alumni support.

For a similar analysis on women’s tennis go to the post “Are Women’s Tennis Coaches Looking for Mercenaries to Fill Their Rosters?”

 

What Sports do Adolescent Girls Play?

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A recent (2013) report produced by USTA Serves, “More than a Sport: Tennis, Education, and Health” promotes the merits of sports, specifically tennis. It identified the participation rates for the top nine community-based sports programs by race/ethnicity.

Overall basketball and volleyball are the top sports for adolescent girls.

The highest percentage of Blacks participated in basketball, track and field, and volleyball while the highest percentage of Hispanics played soccer, basketball, and volleyball. The top sports for Whites were basketball, volleyball, and baseball/softball.

As expected, team sports were more popular than individual sports.

As with the boys, the data shows that Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics prefer different sports. As communities are able to offer a greater variety of programs, more adolescents are able to benefit from participation in sports.

Sadly, a higher percentage of girls did not participate compared to the boys. Almost one-third of Hispanics and Blacks did not play in sports programs compared to one-in-five for Whites.

For Information about the participation rates for boys go to “What Sports do Adolescent Boys Play?”

For additional information contact USTA Serves.

 

 

What Sports do Adolescent Boys Play?

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USTA Serves, recently released the report “More than a Sport: Tennis, Education, and Health” to sell the positive benefits of tennis. It identified the participation rates for the top nine community-based sports programs and the participation rate of adolescent boys by race/ethnicity.

Football and basketball are the top sports for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. The highest percentage of Blacks participated in basketball, football, and track and field, while the most popular sports for Hispanics were football, soccer, and basketball. The top three sports for Whites were football, basketball, and baseball.

As expected, participation in team sports was greater than individual sports.

Interestingly, 16% of Whites did not participate in sports and only 12% of Blacks did not participate. About 15% of the Hispanic adolescents did not participate in sports programs.

The data shows that Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics prefer different sports. As communities expand their variety of sports programs, more adolescents are able to benefit from participation in sports.

For a comparison to the girls go to the blog post What Sports do Adolescent Girls Play?

For additional information contact USTA Serves.

 

 

 

 

 

USTA Study Shows Sports Participation Rates Favor Traditional Team Sports

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Back in the day… the boys’ sports with the highest level of participation were football, basketball, baseball, track and field and wrestling. In many communities, these were the only programs.

The limited programs for girls included volleyball, basketball, softball, and track and field. The combination of Title IX and the expansion of recreation and sports facilities and programs created more opportunities for youth to participate in.

A recent (2013) report produced by the USTA, “More than a Sport: Tennis, Education, and Health” identified the participation rates for the top nine community-based sports programs.  The report shows the “traditional” sports still have the highest level of participation and the remainder of the list is filled out by a mix of team and individual sports. Over the past 30 years, soccer has become a major sport

For the boys, the participation rate and sport were:
40% Football
40% Basketball
25% Baseball
20% Soccer
17% Track and Field
10% Wrestling
9% Swimming
8% Tennis
5% Cross Country
Only 15% of the boys did not participate in a sport.

For the girls, the participation rate and sport were:
25% Basketball
23% Volleyball
17% Baseball/Softball
17% Soccer
17% Track and Field
12% Swimming
8% Tennis
4% Cross Country
3% Lacrosse
Unfortunately, 25% of the girls did not participate in sports programs.

The good news is that a high percentage of youth are participating in sports programs, particularly given the financial constraints put on schools, municipalities, and the private sector to offer such programs during the volatile economic times of the past decade.

USTA Serves, Inc. is the national charitable foundation of the USTA. For additional information contact the USTA, or go to Resources/Research tab on the USTA Serves website.

 

 

Colorado Crossroads – Girls’ Sports Impact the Colorado Economy

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One of Colorado’s top sporting events does not include the Broncos, Rockies, Nuggets, or other professional athletes. Instead it is an event that spans nine days and involves about 12,000 middle school and high school girls competing for slots in the USA Volleyball Girls’ Nationals.

This year the Colorado Crossroads was held March 2-4 and 8-10 at the Colorado Convention Center.  A few key facts about the event are listed below.
• The tournament started in 1985 and is one of nine national qualifiers.
•It has grown from 100 teams to over 1,200 teams.
• The first weekend featured team play in the 16, 17, and 18 year-old divisions.  Just under 6,000 players competed on 651 teams.
• The second weekend play was held for 12, 13, 14, 15 year-old divisions.  About 5,500 players represented 594 teams.
• A total 41 of teams in the various age brackets qualified for Nationals in Dallas.
• Nearly 167,000 people visited Denver because of the event.
• Seventy percent of the participants are from out-of-state.
• The caliber of play at Crossroads attracted 292 college scouts from 44 states registered to attend the event.
• The event is played on 88  courts. Players compete in pool play the first two days of the event. A single elimination tournament rounds out play on the final day.
• This year, the Convention and Visitors Bureau’s economic impact model, provided by the Destination Marketing Association International showed that the 2013 event was worth about $26 million to the Denver economy. Tournament directors believe this is a conservative estimate.

In addition, there are many intangible benefits associated with the event. It promotes the value of physical activity for young women. As well, it showcases Colorado’s active lifestyle and demonstrates  the state is a wonderful place to live, work, and play.

 

Where is the Tennis Industry Really Headed?

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Spin is essential in the sport of tennis, both on and off the court.

For the past two months, the Tennis Industry Association (TIA) has been releasing information from the most recent annual TIA/USTA industry study. Like most sectors of the economy, the tennis industry felt the pain of the Great Recession. Unfortunately, the recovery has closely resembled the bounce of a dead tennis ball on a cold day.

The tennis industry has been in a mature stage since the end of the short-lived 1975 tennis boom.  Given the tradition of the sport and its global appeal, it seems reasonable to expect participation in the sport grow at a rate equal to or slightly greater than changes in the population.

Between 1999 and 2012 the tennis population expanded at a slower rate than the overall population. This would infer that Initiatives to generate interest in the sport may have prevented a decline or slower rate of growth; however, they have clearly failed to “grow the game” at or above the rate of population growth.

The tennis industry closely follows the Pareto Principle. Frequent players, those who play 21 times a year or more, account for about 70% of total spending and 17% to 25% of all players. Since 1999, this segment of the tennis population has declined, a sign that long-term efforts to “grow the game” in this critical area have not been successful.

Regular/casual players are responsible for about 30% of the total spending. Since 1999 this group has made up 75% to 83% of total players. Initiatives to generate interest in regular/casual players have had a minimal impact on long-term net increases in participation.

The growth of the tennis industry, as measured by the TEII, has been about half that of Nominal Personal Consumption and GDP for the period 2003 to 2012. The volatility of the global economy has created a challenging environment for the sport’s manufacturers and service providers.

It seems so simple looking on from the outside. Industry leaders need to develop strategies to effectively fix the problem in four areas:

  1. Retain and increase the number of frequent players. This is the easy part – Frequent players already know the merits of tennis. They simply have to be given compelling reasons to keep doing what they love to do.
  2. Convert regular player into frequent players. Again, regular players have a passion for the game. Teaching professionals should create reasons to keep them engaged. Like the age-old bumper sticker said, “Think Globally, Act Locally.”
  3. Create enough excitement about the sport that casual players turn into regular players. The onus for making this happen lies with the tennis professionals.
  4. Strategically introduce players to the game.

For a full review of the latest TIA data, without the spin, read, “Where is the Tennis Industry Really Headed?“

The Educational and Health Benefits of Tennis

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There is more great news about the value that sports has on American youth. This past week a report of high school students nationwide, USTA Serves Special Report, More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health, was released that analyzes the educational, behavioral, and health benefits to adolescents who participate in tennis.

Results from the study show that, when compared to non-athletes and participants in many other sports, young people who participate in tennis get better grades, devote more hours to studying, think more about their future, aspire to attend and graduate from college, and have lower suspension and expulsion rates.

A press release for the report identified the following key findings from the report as:
• Tennis is a unique catalyst for educational advantage.
• Tennis players had significantly lower rates of suspension from school and other disciplinary measures than participants in other sports and non-athletes.
• Educational advantages among tennis players occurred across all socioeconomic levels.
• Adolescent tennis players are well-rounded.
• Tennis contributes to adolescent health.
• Adolescent participation in tennis varies by race/ethnicity and gender, as well as across geographic regions.

The report used data from Monitoring the Future, a federally-funded survey, in order to compare the education and health profiles of tennis players with other high school athletes, as well as with high school students who do not participate in sports.  USTA Serves is the national charitable foundation of the United States Tennis Association.

The Common Body of Knowledge for Platform Tennis

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Every sport has a common body of knowledge (CBOK) that is the foundation for teaching and playing that sport.  At the highest level baseball players have to throw, catch, and hit. In the sport of platform tennis, the CBOK includes:
• Serve and first volley
• Return of serve
• Net play
• Playing in the backcourt
• Playing the screens
• Communications
Each of these six areas has multiple subsets.

When the USA Professional Platform Tennis Association formed in 1998 its first undertaking was to establish a common body of knowledge for the sport. That CBOK has since served as the foundation for its testing and certification process.

It was developed to eliminate myths, challenge current teaching methods, suggest efficient methods for instruction, and reduce unnecessary injuries by doing away with techniques that physically do not make sense. The CBOK was not intended to be an endorsement of one method of instruction, realizing that teaching professionals customize their system process based on their knowledge, personality, and number and skill level of students.

A group of professionals met the day before the 1999 APTA Nationals and taped their thoughts about what should be included in the CBOK. Over the next six months, Gary Horvath transcribed this session, put it in a document, and oversaw a series of discussions and further edits based on feedback from fellow professionals Hank Irvine, Gerri Viant, Rich Maier, Patty Hogan, Bob Callaway, Sue Aery, Bobo Mangan, Christi Hays, Connie Jones, Steve Nycum, Chuck Poe, Dave Romberg, and Rodney Workman.

Looking at the six points above, it seems like the development of the CBOK would be a simplistic task. It wasn’t.

As well as being the backbone of the teaching profession, students of the game should also take note of the CBOK. The playing and instructional programs at their facilities should include all six elements. As well, these programs should include the subsets under the six major points mentioned above.

 

 

College Tennis in Jeopardy?

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On the heels of a report by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and the Tennis Industry Association (TIA), the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released an update on the number of programs that have been dropped in college tennis.

The ITA report stated, “During the first decade of our research study (1970-1980), we have record of 6 programs being dropped. In the next decade (1981-1991), the rate of elimination increased ten-fold, with 60 known programs dropped. In the next decade (1992-2002), the rate of program elimination almost quadrupled, with 209 known programs dropped and more than 40% of these programs (92) dropped in the last three years of the decade. In addition, 175 programs were dropped over two decades (1981-2002), with precise years unknown. The trend of dropped programs appears to be continuing, with 120 programs known to have been dropped during the past eight years.”

College tennis is essential to the tennis industry. Many teaching professionals are former college players and a few even go on to play of the circuit. In many areas, college players coach in community and recreation programs and add to the quality of play in local tournaments during the offseason.

The ITA has provided a list of schools that have dropped programs, added them, and programs that are in jeopardy. It is UGLY!

On a positive note, the ITA is seeking advocates to speak out on behalf of college tennis. If you care about the sport then go to the ITA website and complete a form indicating your willingness to support their efforts.

http://www.itatennis.com/AboutITA/Advocacy.htm

 

TIA Study Shows That Industry Lost Market Share, but Participation Trends Upwards

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In December 2012 the TIA and USTA released its annual survey showing that tennis participation topped 28 million in 2012 for the first time since 2009. On the bright side, the sport appears to be making a comeback. On the down side, the sport lost market share in a big way. In 2009 the U.S. population was 306.8 million and in 2012 it had grown to 313.9 million, an increase of 7.1 million people.

There is good news when you look at different market segments.

Efforts to promote junior tennis appear to have paid off. Players in the 6 to 11 age category increased by 13% compared to 2011. Wholesale shipments of the red, orange, and green tennis balls (junior balls) were up significantly in 2012.

Hopefully, 2013 will be the year the USTA finally gets it right regarding 10U tennis.  Currently, the sport’s governing body mandates that 10U players cannot play in higher age divisions and they are required to play on the smaller courts with the lighter balls. On one hand the industry is taking steps to engage junior players in the game, while on the other hand the ego-driven policies of the USTA are taking steps to kill that growth.

On a positive note, there was an uptick in the number of “frequent” tennis players to 5.3 million in 2012, the same as in 2007.
2007 5.3 million players
2008 5.6 million players
2009 5.4 million players
2010 4.8 million players
2011 4.8 million players
2012 5.3 million players.
Industry experts have indicated that this group of players accounts for about 70% of total spending in the industry.

Finally, the TIA reported strong growth in both the rejoining and continuing players.

Like most industries, tennis was hit hard by the Great Recession. While it is great news that the sport is rebounding, it is frustrating to realize that that sport continues to lose market share overall.