Newsletter - United States Professional Tennis Association

USPTA Rocks the Panhandle
Joe D’Aleo, USPTA District President
On Saturday August 20, we had a great USPTA District 1
meeting and lunch at Roger Scott Tennis Center in Pensacola
with 17 professionals from the panhandle. We started the
meeting with introductions around the room with some newly
USPTA certified professionals present - Rita Dotson, Michael
Mickelson and Kevin Dunworth - it was great for them to meet
everyone. I congratulated Michael Edge on completing his
24 hours of teaching lessons that raised $2000.00 for breast
cancer that started at 8 a.m. on Friday and ended 8 a.m. on
Saturday before the meeting. I then talked about USPTA news
with the upcoming election, membership, upgrades and who
was attending the World Conference at Saddlebrook resort. I
also updated everyone on upcoming fall events and workshops
that will be in our area: the 10 and under tournament director
workshop on Oct 27 and a Cardio Tennis workshop on Nov.
19 both hosted by TOPS’L. The rest of the meeting which was
the highlight and great to see in our industry was a round table
discussion on events in our area, the 10 and under initiative, and
ways to grow the game in our district. The interaction with the
pros sharing ideas of what they are doing at their club or resort
and asking others how they run certain events and programs
was great to hear. The information shared by everyone in the
group was very informative and helpful especially with the 10
and under tennis and how it is growing the game for the kids in
our area and the parents getting involved. It was great to hear
the comments and feedback from Brian Sakey and Fernando
Guarachi, long time USPTA teaching professionals in our area
for over 30 years, and how they think the QuickStart.program
is the best thing to ever happen and how teaching children
has changed with this great new format. I want to thank Bruce
Caton, Director of Tennis at Roger Scott, and Michael Edge,
Head Professional at Roger Scott, for being the host site for
the meeting and helping me get everything organized.
Become a fan of USPTA Florida Division
www.facebook.com/USPTAFlorida
Group Photo- Back row – Bruce Caton, Fernando
Guarachi, Jeff Overton, Paul Einhart, Sean
Edwards, Michael Mickelson, Brian Sakey, George
Cobia, Kevin Dunworth, Erik Stenberg. Front
row – Michael Edge, Sam Vickroy, Joe D’Aleo,
Rita Dotson, Kelly Baker, Cameron Jones. Not
pictured Scott Harrison.
FLORIDA
QUICKSTART TENNIS HITS THESTREETS
OF DESTIN COMMONS
Destin Commons hosted a “Back to School Bash”
Saturday, September 17 from 5 to 7 pm. At least a
hundered children and their parents were introduced
to 10 & Under Tennis in the streets of the favorite
shopping center in Destin, Fl. Renee Broxson, Director
of Tennis at Hidden Dunes, coordinated the
QuickStart Tennis format with the help of Joe D’Aleo
USPTA Florida District 1 President & Director of Tennis
at TOPS’L Beach and Racquet Resort, and Jessica
D’Aleo, JTT LLC. For two hours kids came and
went through the street tennis setup using the foam
and red ball on the mini nets. With the extra help of
Jr Team Tennis players Jacob and Ethan D’Aleo kids
felt comfortable coming up grabbing a racquet and
ball and hitting around. Even parents couldn’t resist
getting into the action. It was a great night of Quick-
Start tennis and a great way to expose the area of
Destin to how children of all ages can be introduced
to tennis in a very simple setup.
25