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But right now, he is content to learn. "The
President and First Vice-President work nearly full time hours
in their positions," said Joe. "Had I been
nominated as 1st V.P., I would have had to make a difficult
decision whether to accept it or not...it's a very demanding
job."
Joe is one of an army of
volunteers working hard to support and develop their favorite
sport. "Eric Perkins, who has
worked very hard on the USTA Rules Committee, puts in a lot of
time to help the organization," said Joe.
Eric is the current President of the Richmond Tennis
Association. "There are so many people committed to
growing the sport, and because of their efforts, there has
been phenomenal growth in the sport of tennis in the last several
years."
Joe is referring to recent studies showing that
tennis is
the only traditional sport that has shown an increase in
participation in the past six years. (Tennis participation is
up 8% compared to declines of 20-30% for basketball, baseball
and football.)
"We here at the USTA would like to take credit for a
lot of that," laughed Joe. "We've allocated
millions of dollars to community programs. We've hired
Tennis Service Representatives to help grow tennis in each
Section and District of the country. (Michelle Wood is the TSR
in Virginia).
Joe has served the USTA in many capacities over the course
of 30 years. His favorite job? Working with Adult
Competitive Leagues and with Junior
Rankings. He has been liaison to several
working committees, giving guidance and support when asked to
do so. He is particularly interested in NTRP, and how ratings can be
best used to make play more enjoyable for all
players.
"For example," explained Joe, "I would like
to see ratings used more precisely for doubles teams.....I
would like to see increased use of ratings down to the 100th
level particularly when combining two players for doubles
pairings. That would keep players rated on the upper end
from having to leave teams when one moves up in ratings."
(Note to readers: It's all very technical, and I'm not sure I followed our
entire discussion of ratings, so I won't expand on it
here. But, since Joe is very knowledgeable about it, and
he is in a position to make changes, now you know where to go
submit your opinions about the matter.....)
Joe grew up in a small town in central Michigan. He
met his wife, Shima, a Japanese student on full scholarship,
while in college there. Joe was, at the time, into the
sport of Curling. Shima was the one who encouraged the
family to take up tennis. "It was a family
activity, something we could all do together. Those
curling disks are pretty heavy for a 7 year old."
Weekends over the next few years were spent on the road
traveling to tournaments. "Tennis was our vacation,"
said Joe. Fortunately, all that driving quickly paid off. Joe's
son and daughter were ranked in the top 20 or 30 in the
Midwest as teenagers. His son eventually played
for the University of Michigan.
"It was a lot of fun mixed with
frustration....We met so many of our closest friends through
tennis. Our greatest friendships came out of those years
spent traveling with our kids."
Joe was recruited to work as a
Section volunteer in the area of youth competition. In those
days, rankings were done manually, and new rankings were
published annually. "You can imagine; that always
led to a flurry of letters and phone calls at that time of
year," Joe said.
Now that rankings are done
totally by computer, players and parents are able to see
rankings adjust monthly. “I
would like to see the Adult NTRP rating process and calculations be
as transparent to participants as the junior national ranking
calculations."
That is something Joe has set as one of his goals in the
upcoming term. He is "really into
computerization", and more disclosure of how ratings are
set and how they can be utilized more creatively.
Why have so much emphasis on
ratings? Joe believes they are important to keep players
from having too many bad experiences on the court. He would prefer
everyone has as much fun as possible, and keep playing tennis
for a lifetime.
"Ratings are important even at the club level. A
pro can use ratings to set up social round robins to make
everything on a more even playing field. Otherwise, you
have to resort to things like: Some people play left
handed or the good guys play with their boots on."
Joe is excited about the future
of tennis. He is also understandably big on the USTA's
role in growing the sport. "We offer organized
play, good competition. We'd like to see all of the 5
million or so players out there all be part of the USTA.
"Wherever there is a pubic
court, I'd like to see a program there to reach out to the
community. It upsets me to see courts like there are at
Godwin HS go unused over the summer months. We need to
get college student players or local pros out there running summer
programs," he insisted.
"USTA is committed to
providing the funds to support programs like this. We're
into court renovation, and we work with the National Parks
& Rec program to refurbish courts and to create more
opportunities to reach out to potential players.
"And, of course, we are
always looking at ways to keep current members playing.
We try our best to make every tennis experience a positive
one."
Hmmm. I guess it would
help if he could work it out that we could always win.
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