The USPTA Southern Division - USPTA divisions - United States ...

Page 2 Volume 12 Issue 2
HANDLING The Situation!
Handling the Situation is YOUR opportunity
to share how you handle various
situations. Everyone that sends in a
response will be entered into a drawing for a
USPTA shirt/T-shirt or other prize.
Situation: How would you handle a situation
in which you discovered one of your staff professionals/co
workers was pocketing lesson/clinic
money?
This situation should have been addressed
during the pre-hire process. Make sure that
during your investigation of the incident, you
have all of your facts in order. If you accuse
someone of something and you are wrong, it
could come back to get you. Having said that,
I might give the professional a “one chance”
pass with a written warning. The next time
this situation occurred, it would be grounds for
dismissal. These types of situations can have
enormous effects on the overall face of your
program and the integrity of the club. Be firm
but most of all, be right.
-Lane Evans, Hendersonville, NC
That one is easy. Termination.
-Matt Grayson, Roswell, GA
That person would be done working for me in
nearly every circumstance. The nature of our relationship
and other factors would determine how
long they could stay and how much assistance I
would give to help find another tennis teaching
opportunity.
-MJ Garnett, Memphis, tn
With my experience in the business, I have dealt
with most forms of insubordination & staff issues.
This however is a new one for me. The first
question is how and why do you take cash? Isn’t
everything billed through the club? Try to create
a system that does not allow this to happen.
Now that it has happened, I would send the pro
packing. Do you have a tennis committee that
oversees your area of the club? They should be
the first in the loop to back you on whatever
decision you make.
-Jeff Grey, Mobile, AL
An unfortunate consequence can be that the
employee may have to be terminated if they
have a contract that specifically has this consequence
for this violation. On the other hand, if
there is some latitude, and if you want to keep
the employee, I believe there may be ways
to address this issue that can have a positive
outcome for the Pro and Club. I would meet
with the individual and work through why this
has happened and I would also review the
procedures currently in place that let this happen.
Revise the club’s procedures to prevent
this from happening again. Remember the old
saying “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me
twice , shame on me.”
Discuss the situation with your entire staff
and reinforce that they are not sub contractors
but employees of the club. Be diligent
in setting up your policies and procedures in
a contract or employee manual to hopefully
avoid pitfalls like this one!
-Ed Gaskell, Baton Rouge, LA
nEXt Situation: You have a player who would
like to play on a league team. This player does not
get picked up by any of your league captains and
comes to you to complain that they cannot get
on a team. What do you do to get this player on
to a team? Send your solution to usptasouthern@
gmail.com.
Fast Facts
The Racquet Club of Memphis is the only private club that holds an ATP
and WTA event.
A can of tennis balls costs less today than it did 40 years ago. A can then
was an average of $3.50 a can. Now you can get a can for around $2.50.
The difference being plastic cans verses tin cans 40 years ago.
There are four and a half scholarships available for men’s division one
schools, and there are eight and one half available for women’s division
one schools.
In the early 70’s the Fairfield Bay Tennis Championships hosted such players
as Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Ilie Nastase, and Vitas Gerulaitis, just to
name a few. The tourney was moved to Memphis when North Little Rock
voted against a hamburger tax that caused the city to shut down the
parks and recreation department for an entire year.
Southern Officers
The “Standard” is the official newsletter for
the Southern Division of the United States
Professional Tennis Association.
President
Bill Phillips - 337-849-5821
phillips@sta.usta.com
Past President
Pat Whitworth - 678-482-6357
pwhitworth@aol.com
1st Vice President
Todd Upchurch - 704-258-7220
tupchurch1@gmail.com
2nd Vice President
Sophie Woorons-Johnston - 864-202-1917
sophie@brookstonemeadows.com
Secretary-Treasurer
Matt Grayson - 770-475-3802
tennis@ccroswell.com
Executive Director
Fred Burdick - 800-438-7782
usptaexdir@windstream.net
State Presidents
alabama
Kevin Theos - 337-981-0543
theos@sta.usta.com
arkansas
Jimbo Hobson - 501-835-9793
jimbopro@ipa.net
Georgia
Andrew Minnelli - 770-368-7040
ajm@acc1.org
Kentucky
Keith Cecil - 859-608-4640
kcecil@transy.edu
Louisiana
Ed Gaskell - 225-924-6273
edgaskell@bocagerc.org
Mississippi
Kevin Jackson - 662-840-3528
kjackson@tupcc.com
north Carolina
Scott Mitchell - 704-334-7461
nescott10s@yahoo.com
South Carolina
Teodora Doncheva - 803-326-3842
teodoradoncheva@yahoo.com
tennessee
Bill Riddle - 615-824-6642
tennisun@aol.com
Head tester
Tommy Wade - 256-341-4948t
wade@decatur-al.gov