Southwest Award Winners! - United States Professional Tennis ...

A Division of the USPTA March 2011Southwest Award Winners!L-R Greg Prudhomme, College Coach of The Year, Mark Pachtner, Star Award Winner, Jimmy Parker, Men’s 55 and Over Player of The Year, LancyCarr, Co High Scool Coach of The Year, Binki Thalheimer, Women’s 55 and Over Player of The Year, Chris Brewer, Pro of The Year, (not pictured), StanAnderson, Co High School Coach of The Year.INSIDE: President’s Message - Time Wounds All Heels - Division ConferenceDistrict News - National News - Aggressive Margin For You

President’s MessageSara Stablein -SWPTA PresidentWe had an amazing 2011 SouthwestConference! Thank you to all ofyou who attended; I trust that youenjoyed your time at the CarefreeResort & Conference Center. Iwould like to thank Glenn Gerbino,our Conference Chairman and hisentire committee for making this agreat event. Thank you to all of thespeakers and congratulations to all of our Southwest Awardwinners! The dates for the 2012 conference are set forJanuary 27 & 28, 2012 and the site is TBD so keep youreyes opened for more information. If you would like tovolunteer for this or any other committee please contact meanytime. Also, if you are interested in speaking at our 2012conference we would love to hear from you as soon aspossible.to offer right now. This is a comprehensive software tooldesigned to run your leagues, ladders, round robins, court& lesson reservations, tournaments and your socialnetworking…just to name a few! This website is easy touse and it is just another added benefit of being a memberof the USPTA. Create your website today and startgrowing your business at courtsideusa.com.Good luck to all of you as you move into the summerseason. Please keep your eyes open for more informationon Tennis Across America as well as other Southwestnews. As always, I am available anytime to hear yourthoughts and suggestions.2011 Tennis Across America/Tennis-for the health of it: Mayis TAA month and it is fast-approaching! USPTA is offeringa new incentive program for participation in this year’s TAA.The division that hosts the most events per capita ANDincreases their number of TAA events from 2010 willreceive $1,000 from national for their division party at thisyear’s USPTA World Conference. The Southwest Divisionhas won this award many times thanks to all that you do.Let’s keep that winning streak alive this year! I am askingeach of you to run one event and tie it into the Tennis-for thehealth of it initiative. This can be anything you’d like from anadult clinic to a cardio tennis event to a member/guest event.Be creative and come up with any event you want to runand then you need to register your event. We will havemore information available with all of the details soon.Please step up and help the Southwest stay on top as thebest division for Tennis Across America.As all of you start to prepare for your summer programs youshould think about how to make your life a little easier. Iwant to encourage you all to become very familiar withCourtsideUSA, the official software of the USPTA. Thisvery well could be your most valuable tool the USPTA haspage 2March 2011

Time Wounds All HeelsPlantar Fasciitis Still the Number 1 Foot AilmentPlantar Fasciitis (PF) is one of the most prevalent foot maladies in the game oftennis due tothe hard surfaces we play on (in most cases). Generally the pain iscaused by inflamation of the fascia which attaches the heel bone to the metatarsalsin the ball of the foot. Plantar Fasciitis is characterized by pain in the arch/heel which is severe upon wakening (first syeps), subsides and then the painintensifies during the day, especially when doing a lot of standing, walking orrunning!RELIEF!1. Supporting the arch and fascia is imperative with either the correct over thecounter insert or custom orthotics.2. Ice the area by rolling the arch over a frozen bottle of water.3. Learn a good stretch for the achilles tendon that will not stress the fascia.4. Wear a Plantar Fasciitis foot sleep support to bed at night to help the fasciaheal in the stretched position.5. When not in tennis shoes, wear shoes that massage the arch and helpstretch the achilles tendon.52%42%37%% of most frequent areas of pain,mapped from 2,666 patientsSue OrischakBoard Certified PedorthistMarch 2011page 3

Great Turnout for Southwest Conference!What a weekend! Two days at the beautiful Carefree Resort and Conference Center surroundedby some of the top names in the industry and the Southwest Divsion. The conferencekicked off on Friday with eager new USPTA applicants beginning their testing. Whilethe testing took place attendees had the opportunity to join Southwest USPTA professionalJosh Basha in a morning Cardio tennis session. The day continued with Jason Jamison -USTA leading a spirited oncourt session featuring “Supercharged Drills for Teams andLarge Groups.” This was followed by Mark Fairchilds, USPTA leading the specialtycourse on singles strategy. Moving the specialty course to Friday was one of the popularsuggestions from last year’s conference. You were right! This was the largest attendedspecialty course in years.The weekend continued Saturday morning with Mark Frampton’s popular Smash and Dashclinic. A great way to kick start a day packed with speakers and informative question andanswer sessions. Jorge Andrew, courtesy of Head/Penn led an oncourt drill session focusedon Action and Reaction. No line drills here, this was about moving and keeping yourplayers moving. Southwest Division pro Alex Ramirez then spoke on Player Developmentskills and focus. Mark Fairchilds spoke on Saturday as well with a session on the SixZones of Doubles. And this was only the morning session!After the awards luncheon it was back to the courts as longtime Southwest professional JimReffkin from the Reffkin Tennis Center spoke on how to produce a Profitable QuickStartprogram. First time division speaker and Southwest pro Eduardo (Lalo) Vicencio followedwith an oncourt presentation focused on Coordination, Speed, and Agility. The final presentationfeatured Ken DeHart - courtesy of Wilson who delivered a session on the 50 besttennis tips for Players, Coaches, and Pros. Ken was even joined by his 94 year old fatherwho was seeing him give an oncourt presentation for the first time.After a long but informative day on court attendees headed to the conference center for theTrade Show and Party featuring the newest products from HEAD/Penn and many otherindustry representatives from across the country.Thank you to all of those who attended. We always appreciate your feedback on anythingconcerning the conference. This is your weekend and we want to make it worth yourwhile. See you on the courts and see you at the 2012 Southwest Division Conference.page 4March 2011

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page 6Southeastern Arizonaby David HendricksThe Southwest annual conference atCarefree Resort in January was awonderful event. Thank you to all thecommittee members.At Tucson Racquet Club USPTAProfessional Mike Gleason returnsfrom Naples, Florida after training atthe World’s # 1 tennis facility. Therewere some of Europe’s finest tennis professionals, EmilioSanchez Vicario and Luis Mediero, at Academia Sanchez-Casal. “It’s amazing what goes into their trainingprograms,” Mike said, having learned some of the most upto date training techniques in the world. He enjoyedworking on the facilities’ 37 clay courts. “Learning to playtennis on clay courts has its advantages. It slows the gamedown so players can pay a better focus on how toconstruct points. Something has to be said for serving it upthe Spanish way because Spain has produced many of theworld’s top players in the past 20 years, such as CarlosMoya, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Rafael Nadal. Theseplayers are great role models for today’s aspiring playersand serve as a strong testament to where Spanish tennishas been and will continue to go into the future.Mike is already planning to return in the near future formore of the Unique Training Methods of the AS-C System.USPTA Professionals Jil and Britt Feldhausen met with 90fifth graders from Ford Elementary school on TuesdayFebruary the 11th. They met at Reffkin Tennis Center andplayed 30 matches and received their own tennis rackets,covers and balls. The event was one of several graduationshosted by the Tucson Community Tennis Program.The Bhutanese Tennis group started in December 2010 hasnow met four times. Jil and Britt Feldhausen started withhigh school age juniors and the group now hosts all ages ofchildren some as young as six. Tucson Community TennisProgram did provide rackets for the older juniors whocontinue to find practice time on their own.The USPTA next lunch will be at Reffkin Center on 03-15-2011 noon. Do a 10-minute drill and you may win a prize.SOUTHWEST DIVISIONBOARD OF OFFICERSPresidentSara Stablein................. 602-636-9840sstablein@phoenixcc.orgRegional VPVicki Foster .................. 602-930-8423vfoster@firerockcc.comVice PresidentChris Brewer ................. 623-222-2423Chris.Brewer@surpriseaz.comSecretaryDayna Maltby Guizzetti...602-399-0293dsmaltby@cox.netTreasurerGlenn Gerbino..............480-595-3880swconference@live.comPast PresidentBritt Feldhausen............520-886-1885brittfeldhausen@mac.comPro EmeritusGerald Winder...............520-761-4777usptapro@msn.comExecutive DirectorJack Michalko ................. 602-740-0126usptasw@cox.netSouthwest CoordinatorsNorthern New MexicoCorey Matney ................ 505-473-6543cmatneystc@yahoo.comPhoenixMark Pachtner ............... 480-358-7718mpachtner@trooncc.comSoutheastern ArizonaDavid Hendricks.............520-571-1900david-hendricks@leavitt.comNorthern ArizonaLarry Lineberry ................ 928-282-4197Tennis@srcs.usSouthern New Mexico & El PasoLalo Vicencio................. 915-240-3919lalovic74@yahoo.comThe Southwest Magazine, official Publication ofthe USPTA Southwest Division, is published fourtimes annually. Items for the next publicationmust be in the hands of the editor no later thanMay 10, 2011.USPTA Southwest Divisionc/o Jack Michalko77 East Missouri Avenue Suite 62Phoenix, AZ 85012602-740-0126, Fax 602-265-2711USPTA World Headquarters800-USPTA-4U, Fax 713-978-7780uspta@uspta.orgMarch 2011

Phoenix, ArizonaSouthern New Mexico & El Pasoby Mark Pachtnerby Lalo VicencioMarch 2011The New Year started out with ourgreat annual conference at the CarefreeResort. High caliber speakers andexcellent on-court presentations wereonly some of the highlights. We alsohonored the USPTA Southwest awardwinners during our luncheon.Mark your calendar, our next district meeting will be onApril 8 from 6-9 p.m. at the Brunswick Via Linda Lanes at9027 East Via Linda in Scottsdale. Stop by for a socialmeeting with an open forum from 6-7 p.m. and then we willdo some bowling. We will have prizes for the highest andlowest scores.Do you want to play in the US Open this year? ScottsdaleRanch Park will host the 2011 US Open National PlayoffsSouthwest Qualifying Tournament. Here is the informationif you might be interested in participating. Mixed doubles isnew and included this year! Registration will start March15 for men’s and women’s singles and mixed doublesevents.Matches are played from April 14 through April 17 atScottsdale Ranch Park, 10400 East Via Linda, Scottsdale,AZ 85258. Call 480-312-7774 or go to www.usopen.orgfor more information.Our own Laurie Warder is back in town. Laurie worked inChina initially with their Fed Cup doubles players becauseof her ATP playing background in doubles (AustralianOpen Winner in 1993 and formerly ranked #12) but thenshe became the full time coach for Zhang Shuai from Estorilthrough the French Open, Wimbledon and to the ChinaOpen where Shuai’s ranking improved from 175 to 74within 6 months. After that Laurie started preparing withthe doubles teams for the Asian Games before returninghome to Arizona in December 2010. Welcome backLaurie!Chris Brewer was hired as the new Director of Tennis/Head Professional at the Village Health Club in Verrado.It is just the beginning of 2011 and itseems like we are going to have a yearfull of activities. Just a few weeks intothe year and many juniors from El Pasohave already traveled to Arizona acouple of times for their first tournamentsof the season. As I am writingthis article the adult teams are very busyrecruiting and making the final additions to their rosterbefore the spring season begins, good luck to all of them!During January the infamous “arctic cold front” broughtrecord low temperatures for many cities across the countryand El Paso was not the exception. For the first time inover 50 years we could see the thermometer pointing at 1Fsomething that El Pasoans are definitely not used to.Although the city almost came to a complete stop andschool districts were forced to cancel classes for 4 days,the tennis activity in all clubs was sidelined for a couple ofdays only. It was during these days that I had the chance tocatch up with Alberto Goenaga in a junior tournament inLas Cruces.Alberto is a USPTA 1 professional with over 30 years ofteaching experience. He played competitive college tennisfor New Mexico Military Institute and then transferred toTexas A&M where he obtained a degree in Parks andRecreation in 1980. After playing against the highestranked players in the NCAA, Alberto headed to El Pasowhere he briefly joined Tennis West before getting his firstassignment as the Tennis Director at Roswell CountryClub. It is the city of Roswell where Alberto has donepretty much everything! He has directed all operations atthe country club, has been a tennis high school coach, thenreturned to NMMI to become the tennis coach for fiveyears and among other things he has been a tennis consultantfor the City of Roswell for the growth of our sport. Itwas great to catch up with Alberto!Lastly, I have some good news I would like to share withyou. I have been asked to be the Fitness Coach forMexico’s Davis Cup Team in the series against Canada.The meet will take place in Toluca, Mexico March 4-6,2011.page 7

Northern ArizonaNorthern New Mexicoby Larry Lineberryby Corey Matneypage 8PrescottUSPTA member Jon Przybyl, managerof the Prescott Racquet Club in Prescotthas been appointed to the NorthernArizona Tennis Association board ofdirectors. He will help represent thePrescott area in USTA matters of NorthernArizona. Jon is also the tournamentdirector of six USTA sanctioned events in 2011, three adultand three junior events. Look for Jon and his wife Cherieto make some big contributions to Prescott tennis in 2011.FlagstaffUSPTA Pro Nicole Williams and her husband had a babyboy in October. Originally from South Africa, Nicole iscelebrating her 20th year in the tennis industry in theUSA. She is the director of tennis at the Flagstaff JuniorTennis Academy where she is producing some new Flagstaffjunior competitors and has now been at the FlagstaffAthletic Club for over five years.SedonaMaster Professional and Sedona Racquet Club director oftennis, Larry Lineberry, has secured a major five figuregrant from the Verde Valley Medical Center in Cottonwoodto begin a comprehensive USTA QuickStart programin key locations across the Verde Valley and Flagstaff.The program, beginning in April, will especially servethe diverse population of the area by keeping registrationcosts, equipment and professional fees very affordable forthose where price is a factor. The grant will affordappropriate professional fees, training costs and equipmentpurchase without placing those burdens on theplayers. Additional programming for the 11 and olderplayers moving on will also be created and financed withthis grant. Lineberry is also organizing a music concert inSedona by internationally known singer/songwriter, BruceHornsby, which will raise funds, in part, for junior tennisdevelopment in Northern Arizona.tennis.Hopefully all of us here in NorthernNew Mexico have been enjoying thewarmer than usual winter days! This ismy favorite time of year, because everyday you can see the weather getting alittle better and you know spring is just ashort time away, and with spring comesthe real beginning of another year ofOver the past few months, I have had the opportunity toattend several different USPTA and USTA conferencesand have come away with a wealth of new knowledge. Themost enjoyable and educational was the 2011 SouthwestUSPTA conference in Carefree, AZ. The event was a vastimprovement from past years and I encourage everyone tomake the trip to Arizona for next year’s. Special thanks toeveryone from Northern New Mexico who attended thisyear. We had a great showing at the conference and Ihope it continues.As I write, I know we’re all busy getting ready for thebeginning of some aspect of the tennis world. Whether it’sthe high school season just underway, the upcoming USTAleague season, middle school tennis, or tournaments to beorganized, we’re coming out of hibernation. Our USPTApros will be running tournaments, mixers, and 10-andundertraining over the next few months. During Marchand April, Robert Soneru at Highpoint, Warren Fulgenzi,Rockey Royer and myself at Shellaberger, David Pitts atTanoan, and David Ochotorena at TCA will host adult andjunior tournaments on different weekends. The tournamentcalendar will also be filled over the next few months withDick Johnson’s rookie series junior events. Also in March,a 10-and-under training program at Shellaberger will beconducted by fellow USPTA pro D’Wayne Begay. InMay, the highlight of our tournament season arrives, whenDavid Pitts hosts the New Mexico Open at Tanoan.On another note, congratulations to Jimmy Parker of SantaFe for winning the 2010 USPTA Southwest Men’s SeniorPlayer of the Year award. Jimmy received the award at thecontinued on page 9March 2011

Southwest USPTA conference in January. He continues toturn in great results at national and international events andwill most likely win many more of these awards. Great job,Jimmy.As I leave you, I hope you’re all ready for the wonderfulstorm of tennis that is approaching and that it is an enjoyableyear for all. I challenge each of you to make 2011 thebest year in tennis that Northern New Mexico has seen.Good luck, and enjoy.National NewsUSPTA and the HealthyWeight CommitmentFoundation team up inthe fight against obesityThe United States Professional Tennis Association andHealthy Weight Commitment Foundation commit to workingtogether in 2011 to reduce childhood obesity. TheUSPTA’s Tennis – for the health of it! initiative, whichstarted in 2008, promotes the great health benefits ofplaying tennis, and fits well with the goals of the HealthyWeight Commitment Foundation to provide resources toencourage energy balance and reduce obesity, especiallychildhood obesity.The sport of tennis and its tremendous health benefits (bothphysical and psychological) make it a key activity to helpyouth (and all age groups) achieve energy balance. Whilethe gym and fitness classes are great for the gym enthusiasts,for those who prefer an outdoor activity/sport instead,tennis can serve that purpose as fun, easy exercise.“There is no doubt that tennis is one of the best activitieswhen it comes to burning calories, enhancing brain developmentand improving one’s mental and physical health, andthere is strong scientific evidence/studies behind it,” saidJack Groppel, USPTA Master Professional and vicepresident, and co-founder of Human Performance Institute.“We feel that by keeping Tennis – for the health of it! andtennis front and center, we can really help promote energybalance and make a difference in the battle against obesityin general – and specifically childhood obesity.”The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a CEO-ledorganization, is a national, multi-year effort designed to helpreduce obesity – especially childhood obesity – by 2015.It’s a first-of-its kind coalition that brings together more than130 retailers, food and beverage manufacturers, restaurants,sporting goods and insurance companies, tradeassociations and NGOs, and professional sports organizations.The Foundation promotes ways to help peopleachieve a healthy weight through energy balance – caloriesin and calories out. It focuses on three critical areas – themarketplace, the workplace and schools. For more information,visit www.healthyweightcommit.org.The main goals of USPTA’s Tennis – for the health of it!initiative are to make the general public aware of thetremendous health, fitness and psychological benefits oftennis and encourage people to get out and play the sportas a part of their regular fitness regimen. An activity such astennis that is also social and fun can serve as a great alternativeto gym workouts or as an additional activity in a fitnessregimen. In addition, the USPTA and its members are thedelivery force through which the public can receive thesebenefits through lessons and other tennis activities. Formore information visit www.tennis-health.com.Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation also joins anartillery of heavy hitters already on board and committed tosupporting USPTA in its efforts to promote Tennis – forthe health of it! through Tennis Across America, which isthe original grassroots lessons program in its 22nd year. Theprogram is celebrated in May, which is also NationalPhysical Fitness Month.March 2011page 9

USPTA announces newmember credential— New Accredited Professional Coach classificationincludes mandatory continuing educationThe United States Professional Tennis Association hasannounced the launch of its Accredited Professional Coachclassification, a new membership classification that includesmandatory education. The new classification becameeffective January 1, 2011.It is open to Professional 1, 2 and 3 members and MasterProfessionals. USPTA Professional members are requiredto take continuing education in order to earn and maintainAPC status.The benefits of APC designation include opportunities forcareer enhancement through a commitment to tennis andtennis education and demonstration of expertise, andbuilding the image of tennis-teaching professionals andtennis as a profession overall.The APC is earned by accumulating 20 APC continuingeducation credits within a two-year period. The designationis maintained by continuing to earn 20 APC credits overevery two-year period. APC credits can be earned in avariety of ways including attending the USPTA WorldConference, USPTA division conventions, USPTA specialtycourses, USTA High Performance education, viewingDVD seminars, and more.Two hours of qualifying education will constitute one CEU.The opportunity to earn credits at USPTA World Conferencesand division conventions will require members to fillout a form for credit at the beginning of the seminar orspecialty course (that is collected at the end of the seminar),in order to verify attendance for credit. For moredetails regarding qualifying credits, e-maileducation@uspta.org.Once members achieve this distinction, they will be issued aspecial certificate with an expiration date and the designationwill be added after their professional rating. Thecertificate will be available online to print from the membermanagement area of www.uspta.com, where members canlog in with name and member number.page 10While the APC classification did not become effective untilJanuary of this year, those members who attended specialtycourses at the World Conference in September andcompleted the forms for credit will have those credits counttoward the APC classification.To apply for this new membership classification, in additionto being certified at the USPTA professional level, membersmust also take the Professional Tennis CoachesAcademy I and pass a competency exam at the 80thpercentile or higher. Those who have already taken thePTCA I and scored 80 percent or higher do not need toretake it.USPTA Professionals raise morethan $5 million for charityIn 2010, United States Professional Tennis Associationteaching professionals raised more than $5 million forcharity through the association’s Lessons for Lifeprogram.“Wow, look what we have raised over the last 12 years!Our members continually raise money, year after year,helping out our communities,” said Diane Selke, Lessonsfor Life chair, USPTA Master Professional and head tennisprofessional at Valley Country Club in Aurora, Colo. “Thatis what it’s all about: helping one another through the bestsport of all – tennis – the sport of a lifetime!”Lessons for Life became USPTA’s national charitableprogram in 1999 and since then the USPTA and its membershave raised more than $45 million in an effort tosupport various charities. Through this program, theUSPTA encourages its members to use tennis as a vehicleto help others through fundraisers and other activities intheir communities. The fundraisers take many formsincluding tournaments, pro-ams, auctions, black-tie dinnersand clinics. Many of the fundraisers take place at countryclubs and commercial clubs, where the majority of USPTAProfessionals direct tennis operations and programming.In 2009 an additional element was added to the programwhen the USPTA and Rally for the Cure joined forces toMarch 2011

aise awareness in the fight against breast cancer throughtennis and Lessons for Life under the broader Tennis – forthe health of it! initiative. Rally for the Cure has the toolsand materials for USPTA tennis-teaching professionalsinterested in running a Lessons for Life charity tennis eventin support of Rally for the Cure. This is just one more wayUSPTA teaching professionals can give to important causesthrough tennis and Lessons for Life.Lessons for Life is officially celebrated in October, butUSPTA members may direct and participate in fundraisersyear-round. Any fundraising that you do for recognizedcharities – giving free lessons or clinics, organizing tournamentsand play in pro-ams, conducting auctions, andhosting black-tie dinners – can be counted in Lessons forLife numbers. Reporting is easy if you send an e-mail toyour division liaison or to lessonsforlife@uspta.org or sendan electronic report via the Lessons for Life section ofwww.uspta.com.Lessons for Life ReminderIf you host a Lessons for Life orcharity event in 2011 please e-mail Gerald Winder, Southwestchairman with the details of yourevent and the amount of moneyyou raised so our division getscredit. You can reach Gerald atusptapro@msn.comCourtside USA is the official networkof the USPTA—Courtside provides online tools for allUSPTA teaching professionals—Courtside USA and the United States Professional TennisAssociation have joined forces to give USPTA tennisteachingprofessionals state-of-the-art tools to run theirtennis programs online. Courtside USA provides tennisteachers and clubs access to a free website to build theirbusiness and connect with their members/players from onecentral location.The site gives teaching professionals the technology theyneed to run leagues, ladders, tournaments, flex leagues andround robins. In addition, they can manage lesson bookings,court bookings and events, all from the convenience of theircomputer.Courtside USA also provides players with a free web pagewith interactive social networking capabilities, where theyhave the opportunity to organize their matches and connectwith other players. They can also register for leagues,events and programs at their local club or in the communityfrom their web page.“In this day when online networking and social networkingsites are all the rage and businesses are turning to them tobuild their brands and connect with consumers, it makesperfect sense for USPTA to partner with Courtside andTenniscores, the second largest tennis league managementsoftware in the U.S. with more than 300,000 users annually,”said Tim Heckler, USPTA CEO. “The questionbecomes: Can tennis-teaching professionals afford not to beon Courtside USA if they want to grow their businesssuccessfully and communicate effectively with their members?”“By partnering with the USPTA we are able to deliver oursoftware directly into the hands of the teaching professionalsand tennis organizers in each community, where it belongs,”said Nancy Biggs, president of Get Courtside Inc. “Byproviding the men and women who run tennis from theground up with ability to manage a successful businessonline, we guarantee not only their future but the growth anddevelopment of the game.”March 2011To find out more about Courtside USA, visitwww.courtsideusa.com.page 11

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Need Something? Go to www.uspta.comUSPTA members can find it all at one location. Go towww.uspta.com for all your tennis needs. Create apersonal website, check your educational credits, findlesson plans, watch USPTA.TV, register a Tennis AcrossAmerica event, research career center PR tools andmuch, much more.SouthwestMarch 2011page 13

Aggressive Margin for you!page 14by Gerald Winder - Education ChairmanAggressive margin has been deemedthe most important stat in our sport.Have you ever heard of it? Not sureit is important? Maybe ask formerStanford Head Coach Dick Gouldwhat he may think, since it playedsuch a role in aiding his great playersover the years of his tenure. To myknowledge, he had a couple ofmanagers whose job was to chart,among other stats, the aggressive margin of his playersduring the pre-season practice matches and early seasonmatches. Then they would graph the aggressive margins ofeach of his players, knowing that if their scores wentprogressively up, then they were playing better and betterlevels of tennis, even if they lost any of those matches! Thus,by the time their “real” matches began, they were, hopefully,at peak playing levels while most opponents were still tryingto find themselves.In Martina Navratilova’s final Wimbledon singles title, shenot only had her matches charted for these stats, but also allof the opponents that she drew, so that she knew what shewas doing well, and what her opponent’s strengths/weaknesseswere, along with their aggressive margin scores. So,if this particular stat happens to be so important, why doyou not see it on TV when the stats are given? Well, whenIBM first got the ok to have the original COMPUTENNISprogram for themselves, they actually included the stat intheir first presentations during televised matches for aboutsix months. That was it! I don’t really know why it wasdropped as I have always felt if the playing public andprofessionals like ourselves understood it fully, the playingpublic would benefit more in understanding how to play oursport.Well, all that is nice history, but what exactly is this majorstat in our sport, and what does it actually tell you andwhere did I get it in the first place? Early in my career, Idecided to get as many certifications in as many areas oftennis as I could, one of them being COMPUTENNISitself. Back then, I was hired to chart quite a few matches oftournament level juniors, some college matches, some of myjuniors, and did a few televised matches just to understandthe sport from a different direction, in a way that professionalswho haven’t done this couldn’t do very easily, if atall. Now, the stat itself is derived by adding winners plusforced errors, and subtracting unforced errors. Let’s sayyou play ten matches and chart all of them, including ofcourse, the aggressive margin figure. As long as you have aprogressively higher AM score, then your level of tennis isgetting progressively better, even if you are losing thosematches. Conversely, if you are winning those matches, butgetting a progressively lower score, your game is goingdownhill! As an example, a truly special level match, suchas the Laver-Rosewall of years ago, or the Federer-NadalWimbledon final of a couple of years ago, would register ascore probably in the low 20’s for both players. AD-1college match with quality players might be in the upperteens as a score, and downward as levels become lower inour sport. Actually, you can register a negative AM. I knowthis first hand as, unfortunately, I had one once, honest, justonce! Not a great feeling, for sure. Also, it is not possibleto lose a match if your AM score was higher than youropponent.Of course, all the rest of match stats, such as servingpercentages, points won, forehand errors, backhand errors,etc., certainly have their place, but this article was focusingon the most important one that most teaching pros, perhaps,were not even aware of. For your information, during theAussie Open, IBM had produced a superb graphic of statson both players. It would be fairly customizable for someonereading this to enhance their knowledge on this subject,since most of us are visual learners. Hopefully, IBM willcontinue this effort during possibly Indian Wells or theFrench Open.There are several charting programs available now thatinclude using IPhone and several standalone versions thatyou can use to develop this knowledge. I do not know ifany spcifically include the AM per se, but of course youcould determine it for yourself. But, it was sweet in theoriginal program to have it printed out for both players rightbefore your eyes. I hope all this info has intrigued you todelving into these types of programs, as I feel it will broadenyour understanding of our sport, as it did for myself over theyears. For those reading this far, if you wish to know thepercentage of second serve points won in a match to giveyourself a chance to win, e-mail me and you will get itquickly! Any comments, plus or minus, may be sent tousptapro@msn.com. Have a great Spring!March 2011

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A Publication of the USPTA Southwest DivisionJack Michalko / editor77 East Missouri Avenue # 62 / Phoenix, AZ 85012602-740-0126 / e-mail: usptasw@cox.netThe Southwest Magazine is published quarterly by the Southwest Division of the United States Professional Tennis Association.The opinions expressed in the Southwest Magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Southwest Magazine or theUSPTA Southwest Division.Copyright© Southwest Division/United States Professional Tennis Association, Inc. 2011. All rights reserved. Reproduction of anyportion of this newsletter is not permitted without written permission from the USPTA Southwest Division.Advertising information: All ads must be camera ready and in color if possible. Prices are per issue.Full Page.............$150Half Page............$1001/4 Page..............$70March 2011page 17