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"This is
real exciting for us," Emerson said, while demonstrating
the wand at a local club. "Our entire family has
been part of this adventure."
Wilson will be
incorporating the tennis wand into its EZ Tennis concept that
aims to increase the growth of tennis participation by making
tennis easier to teach and learn.
"It's
about tennis becoming a bigger sport for younger
children," said Stephanie Emerson, President of Emerson
Tennis, located in Mechanicsville. "So many kids
get into soccer or baseball at such young ages...why not
tennis?"
Young Sydney
Emerson, who learned to play tennis using the early versions
of the EZ Tennis Wand, grew up to be a district champion
tennis player at Atlee High School. She is now VP of Sales
& Marketing at her family's company. Sydney will be
working to market the wand by demonstrating the many ways the
EZ Tennis Wand can be used to teach. The
company has a website
which will be expanded to provide users with a place to share
training tips and approaches to tennis instruction.
Emerson
has a patent for both the EZ Tennis Wand as well as the
teaching method. A DVD featuring training tips and instruction
is available on the company's website. Steve Emerson,
who developed the teaching method, is USPTR Certified.
He says the premise for the wand is simple.
"If
you were a golf pro, you wouldn't take your student out to the
1st tee on Day 1. You'd take him to the driving range,
and focus on the strokes. Repetition is key."
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Steve
explained that when Sydney was learning to play, the family
spent lots of money on private lessons, but much of the time
was spent chasing or picking up balls. "This tool
alleviates feeding balls, and picking up balls, which are time
wasters, that take away from the full value of the lesson." |
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The EZ Tennis Wand |
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Steve's
Eureka! moment- when he realized that his
home-made training tool might be a viable product - occurred a
couple of years ago when he was using the wand with his family
at a public tennis court.
"A
guy came up to me and asked 'Where'd you get that from? Dick's
[Sporting Goods]?'"
While
the prototype wasn't as complete as the one that will be
available from Wilson (on January 8th), Emerson had improved
upon it over the years from the original watering pipe and
string. He and his wife decided to sell the wand on ebay,
with no luck. Then they created a website......nothing
happened. But then, out of the blue, they got a click,
and a check for an order from a customer in
Maryland.
"That
was pretty exciting," said Steve.
He
and Stephanie had more wands made, and took 100 of them to the
PTR convention in October, 2005. "We had no idea
how to price them. We really didn't have a clue what we were
doing. We just took a big chance, paid $1,000 for the
booth, and packed up the car."
The convention
started at 9:00 am. The Emersons showed up to set up
their small table-sized booth at five 'til the hour.
They had brought wands in
seven different grip colors. Their hope was to sell
thirty or so.
"The first customer comes up, hands me a credit card, and
buys ten......it was amazing. I wish someone had taken a
picture of Stephanie and me that day. Here we were, with
this small booth and it was a huge hit."
In what would be a serendipitous event, the tiny booth was
adjacent to the much larger Wilson Sporting Goods booth.
Since Steve and Stephanie had forgotten to bring a racquet to
demonstrate their wand, Steve asked the Wilson rep if he could
borrow one. Wilson obliged.
The Emersons sold 78 wands on the first day.
Steve chuckled, remembering that successful start.
"Everyone who came up and tried it out said the same
thing: Why didn't I think of that?'
"Well, I
don't know. But we did!"
A short time after the convention, the Emersons were contacted
by vendors. "It was a dream come true," said
Steve. "We've talked to so many people who design
something and are still waiting - five or six years - and
nothing ever happens. It just did with us."
Wilson waited several months after its initial approach before
pursuing negotiations. In September, 2006, at the US
Open, a deal was struck. The EZ Tennis Wand would be
part of a package of Wilson brand products marketed to
elementary schools and youth programs to encourage young
children to choose tennis. It will sell for
approx. $30 and will be promoted by Luke Wilson.
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The
Emersons: Stephanie, Jack, Gillian and
Steve. (Not pictured: Sydney) |
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Stephanie, who is the only non-tennis player in the family,
has proven to be a real asset when it comes to the
business. This weekend, she and the kids will
accompany Steve to an open house where they hope to demo the
EZ Tennis Wand to Zina Garrison. Garrison reached the
finals at Wimbledon in 1990 before losing to Martina
Navratilova.
Though Stephanie is clearly enthusiastic about the future, she
keeps it in perspective. "This all started as a way
for Steve to have something to do with our daughter.
When we married (20 years ago) we always thought we'd have
boys," she laughed. "Tennis was something
Steve could enjoy doing with Sydney.
"We're very excited about everything, as well as other
products our company is working on," said Stephanie.
"We'll see what happens!"
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| Teaching
the volley............. |
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| .....and
the backhand |
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