Episode:#50 Shaun Boyce & Bobby Schindler
In this Host Talk episode we talk amongst ourselves. What is the GPTA? It is the Georgia Professional Tennis Association.
From their website: “The Georgia Professional Tennis Association is an association of certified teaching professionals serving the Georgia’s tennis community since 1977. Members also include out-of-state pros as well as sponsoring national and local tennis organizations and representatives of the tennis industry. The GPTA’s purpose is to foster continuing education, community service, networking and social interaction of tennis teachers and coaches with a goal of raising the level of play in recreational and competitive tennis.”
For more: https://www.gpta.com/
More about the GPTA: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialGPTA
Shaun Boyce USPTA: [email protected]
https://tennisforchildren.com/ 🎾
Bobby Schindler USPTA: [email protected]
https://windermerecommunity.net/ 🎾
Geovanna Boyce: [email protected]
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Transcript
(upbeat music)
Speaker:Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.
Speaker:Every episode is titled, "It Starts with Tennis"
Speaker:and goes from there.
Speaker:We talk with coaches, club managers, industry business
Speaker:professionals, technology experts,
Speaker:and anyone else we find interesting.
Speaker:We wanna have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.
Speaker:Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,
Speaker:powered by GoTennis!
Speaker:Check out our calendar of Metro Atlanta Tennis events
Speaker:at Let'sGoTennis.com and get your,
Speaker:where are they?
Speaker:The Atlanta Tennis Monster shirt.
Speaker:We got some cool tennis t-shirt designs.
Speaker:One of them by Bobby Schindler himself,
Speaker:something about peace, love, and tennis,
Speaker:that he just likes a lot.
Speaker:So we're doing a lot of that.
Speaker:We've got the 10% off for our free members currently,
Speaker:which is actually is going away at the end of the year.
Speaker:There will only be users and premium members
Speaker:and the premium members as an example
Speaker:on the Daniel Medvedev shoes get 25% off.
Speaker:We got 25% off.
Speaker:The dog was very excited about that.
Speaker:So today it is just me and my co-host, Bobby.
Speaker:And we are gonna talk about the GPTA,
Speaker:and I think I hit my notes here somewhere.
Speaker:There we go, hang on.
Speaker:Sorry about the view.
Speaker:All right, so I've hidden my notes
Speaker:and Bobby, give me a second,
Speaker:because I'm gonna do a little history and background,
Speaker:and I will actually leave this over here.
Speaker:So the GPTA is who we're gonna talk about today.
Speaker:We won't be too long, but we do wanna cover this.
Speaker:We wanna talk about what they're doing,
Speaker:maybe what they're not doing,
Speaker:because we are looking to partner with them.
Speaker:We're looking to do some work with them,
Speaker:maybe even share some resources in the future.
Speaker:That is in the works,
Speaker:we don't know how that's gonna play out,
Speaker:but we will share with our users and our followers
Speaker:what the GPTA is, what their mission statement is,
Speaker:the history and what they're supposed to be doing,
Speaker:how many members they have, things like that.
Speaker:And the member benefits is actually the thing
Speaker:that I wanna chat with Bobby about,
Speaker:and we'll talk about that specifically,
Speaker:but the Georgia Professional Tennis Association
Speaker:is an association of certified teaching professionals
Speaker:serving the Georgia tennis community since 1977.
Speaker:So that's a very, very long time,
Speaker:exactly as long as I've been around.
Speaker:And I am reading this,
Speaker:this is taken from their websites,
Speaker:this is their information.
Speaker:Members also include out-of-state pros,
Speaker:as well as sponsoring national and local tennis organizations
Speaker:as representatives of the tennis industry.
Speaker:The GPTA's purpose is to foster continuing education,
Speaker:community service, I assume that's fostering community service,
Speaker:unless they directly do community service,
Speaker:but they're fostering continuing education,
Speaker:community service, networking and social interaction
Speaker:of tennis teachers and coaches
Speaker:with a goal of raising the level of play
Speaker:in recreational and competitive tennis.
Speaker:So starting with that, Bobby and I love to pick apart
Speaker:mission statements and purpose statements and vision,
Speaker:and we do it with the USDA, we do it with the USPTA,
Speaker:we're gonna get to all those as well.
Speaker:We're gonna do other episodes similar to this
Speaker:of what is the USPTA, we'll do that next,
Speaker:it's an example, but Bobby, in this case,
Speaker:the purpose is to foster continuing education,
Speaker:which they do, a lot of us get our education points
Speaker:as professional coaches at their lunch and learns
Speaker:and some of their events, which is good,
Speaker:fostering community service, networking
Speaker:and social interaction of teachers and coaches.
Speaker:So I have two questions specifically
Speaker:and then I'll let you run with it.
Speaker:Is there a difference between a tennis teacher
Speaker:and a tennis coach, or is that just adding fluff
Speaker:in the language?
Speaker:Is there a difference between a tennis teacher
Speaker:and a tennis coach and then after you answer that,
Speaker:is there goal of raising the level of play
Speaker:whether recreational or competitive or not,
Speaker:actually the right goal for this organization?
Speaker:- Is there a difference?
Speaker:Should there be a difference?
Speaker:I think that the person who claims to be an instructor
Speaker:should be able to wear both hats.
Speaker:I do think there is a distinct difference
Speaker:between a teacher, teaching always seems to me
Speaker:to be more in the beginning stages.
Speaker:You spend a lot more time teaching fundamentals,
Speaker:going over the fundamentals,
Speaker:where coaching to me becomes more strategic,
Speaker:but a player has to have some capability,
Speaker:let's say to be able to perform the coaching
Speaker:of the strategies and that's always a hard thing
Speaker:when you're out there.
Speaker:Well, we want strategy.
Speaker:Okay, we'll hit the ball cross-court.
Speaker:Well, but that's not as straight.
Speaker:Yes it is.
Speaker:The net is six inches lower and you have six more court
Speaker:of feet to aim into.
Speaker:So it is definitely a strategy.
Speaker:And if you're a net person, you're playing doubles,
Speaker:which is Atlanta is driven by doubles,
Speaker:and you're playing doubles.
Speaker:That means if you poached 75 or 100% of the time,
Speaker:you'd be correct 75 to 80% of the time.
Speaker:So why you don't poach would seem to be a little bit crazy, right?
Speaker:But these are the things.
Speaker:So yes, I do think there is a subtle difference.
Speaker:I think you should be able to perform both.
Speaker:I think within our jobs, we should perform both.
Speaker:I think you get various individuals will say,
Speaker:I like to teach more.
Speaker:I mean, you work specifically with the younger kids.
Speaker:That's more teaching in my,
Speaker:and that's what we always laugh about.
Speaker:It's why you're tired after an hour,
Speaker:as opposed to I could be tired after three hours
Speaker:running around with kids,
Speaker:because I'm coaching more in staying active
Speaker:where you have to motivate both physically and mentally.
Speaker:And that's a physical grind.
Speaker:That's tough on everybody.
Speaker:So yes, I think there's a subtle difference.
Speaker:I'd be interested to hear what, you know,
Speaker:what, again, what mission statement saying.
Speaker:And I think it's a great question as far as the problem
Speaker:or the difficulty, tennis,
Speaker:and these certified organizations face across the board.
Speaker:As you said, what is the mission statement?
Speaker:What is the true goal?
Speaker:And, you know, we're big fans of the GPTA
Speaker:because, and let's say they have up their game tremendously.
Speaker:They have created the need,
Speaker:and this stems from the, you know, the USBTA and the USBTR,
Speaker:what would be our higher level organizations
Speaker:of certification for tennis teaching professionals?
Speaker:You know, where they now require additional education points
Speaker:where you're not saying, okay, I learned how to play tennis
Speaker:in the 70s and it's now 2024,
Speaker:but I'm still teaching chip and charge and serve in Bali.
Speaker:And, you know, where do you see that at the professional level?
Speaker:So I do think they've done a great job in trying to address
Speaker:a lot of the things that you said there to say
Speaker:in organizations such as this should try to do.
Speaker:They are involved in the community.
Speaker:They're big drivers behind Northside hospitals,
Speaker:Prescancer Awareness each year.
Speaker:They do a great deal to get the pros involved.
Speaker:And then, you know, the mission statement to me is always difficult.
Speaker:You know, what is our role?
Speaker:And I think that part of the difficulty comes
Speaker:from the GPTA stems from the lack of clarity
Speaker:from the organizations that are above us,
Speaker:whether it be the USDA or the two certifications,
Speaker:the USPTA and the USPTR,
Speaker:which are the two predominant certifications
Speaker:for tennis instructors.
Speaker:Listen, golf has one.
Speaker:You get a PGA card and, you know, you're revered
Speaker:if you have a PGA card.
Speaker:I always felt as a tennis instructor,
Speaker:the USPTA moniker, USP,
Speaker:doesn't carry the same clout or the same wow
Speaker:that you know, you, a PGA card counts.
Speaker:So I don't know if I got the second question as much as I needed to,
Speaker:but--
Speaker:Well, and I'll push and let's keep sticking with it.
Speaker:So I grabbed the USPTA mission statement,
Speaker:which is a little different from a purpose,
Speaker:but we'll stick with what they're publicly saying.
Speaker:But the USPTA is focused on basically elevating the coach,
Speaker:saying, hey, our job is to make the coaches better, right?
Speaker:Correct.
Speaker:So in that case, it's about coaching.
Speaker:We look at the UST-A tennis, I think,
Speaker:on the-- you see what I get there?
Speaker:Was that mission statement?
Speaker:Do I get there fast enough?
Speaker:Value, innovative and creative approaches?
Speaker:Oh my gosh, hang on.
Speaker:All right, no, you don't need to know my location.
Speaker:OK, so inclusiveness, I'm going to skip that.
Speaker:Foster unbounded passion for tennis.
Speaker:I think that's just in the Northeast.
Speaker:[LAUGHS]
Speaker:Mission statement, innovate, promote,
Speaker:and grow the game of tennis.
Speaker:All right, so generic and useless.
Speaker:Thanks a lot, UST-A.
Speaker:So that's-- their job is tennis as a whole.
Speaker:They can have a generic target.
Speaker:They were going to make tennis better, OK?
Speaker:Well, that means they can spend millions of dollars
Speaker:kind of however they want.
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:The PTA is coaching focused and smaller than the UST-A.
Speaker:The GPTA is small enough it should have a decent target.
Speaker:So I would pick on it a little bit and say the goal isn't
Speaker:raising the level of play at all because it's coach specific.
Speaker:There are only coaches that are members.
Speaker:So if they're going to focus on the coaches more like the USPTA,
Speaker:rather than focus on the players like the UST-A,
Speaker:or are they more business and industry, like most associations,
Speaker:like a professional association would be--
Speaker:I might push to say, maybe let's rewrite that a little and say,
Speaker:as I call you, you've got a master's in business administration.
Speaker:So you've got some education in this world.
Speaker:Would we not take them in more of the business coaching
Speaker:professional side than we would raising the level of play?
Speaker:Or am I just thinking too deep into this?
Speaker:No, no, no, you're right because again,
Speaker:it's the debate that we have to deal with on a daily basis.
Speaker:It was a perfect example.
Speaker:I had a conversation with one of my instructors yesterday
Speaker:that somebody stood him up for a lesson.
Speaker:And this was not the first time.
Speaker:And his knee jerk reaction was to send a scathing email saying,
Speaker:this is not the way we do things.
Speaker:And I was like, I get it.
Speaker:Trust me, I get it.
Speaker:It's the fine line that we walk is that people
Speaker:want us to be business like, show up on time,
Speaker:want us to act professionally, dress professionally,
Speaker:present ourselves professionally, yet they
Speaker:want us to be when it comes to their needs, very flexible,
Speaker:and say, oh, well, hey, I missed an appointment.
Speaker:Well, everybody sells you and miss an appointment.
Speaker:In today's world, you get charged for it.
Speaker:And you have to understand it from the pros perspective.
Speaker:They have so many hours in a day, especially this time of year.
Speaker:You only have so many warm hours in a day
Speaker:that you want to maximize the amount of income that you make.
Speaker:So if somebody does bail out on you an hour before the lesson,
Speaker:that affects your bottom line.
Speaker:And if that happens a couple of times during the week,
Speaker:that certainly affects your bottom line.
Speaker:And we want the coach just to take that on the chin.
Speaker:And that's tough.
Speaker:And that's where I say these organizations,
Speaker:I wish did a little better job of setting the foundation
Speaker:from the perspective, like you said, the USDA right from the get.
Speaker:We are trying to a job.
Speaker:We're trying to grow the game.
Speaker:Well, let's make it very, very clear.
Speaker:Yes, we want you to play.
Speaker:And yes, we want you to enjoy it.
Speaker:But please understand you're taking up
Speaker:the most difficult skill sport there is.
Speaker:This isn't going to be easy, guys.
Speaker:And to get to where everybody plays out of--
Speaker:and again, I'm going through this--
Speaker:I'm going to start going through this with I have a beginner's team.
Speaker:And I know a couple of the ladies.
Speaker:They can barely hit a ball.
Speaker:They're going to go play out.
Speaker:And they're not going to be happy.
Speaker:It's what we deal with the kids.
Speaker:And you deal with it.
Speaker:The 10-year-olds do have a team.
Speaker:Well, 10-year-olds usually don't love tennis matches
Speaker:because they can't serve.
Speaker:Or they don't serve well enough to get the ball.
Speaker:And they'd much rather drill.
Speaker:They'd much rather run around.
Speaker:Yes, compete, but be able to laugh and be up--
Speaker:I feel like they're having some influence in this,
Speaker:where when you play out-- and again, my mentor always
Speaker:had some great lines.
Speaker:And then I'll bring him up a cup to--
Speaker:he was approached by a captain, a mother, one season,
Speaker:and said, you know, we did great.
Speaker:But we really want to win.
Speaker:All we care about is winning the season.
Speaker:He goes, you only want to win.
Speaker:And she said, yes, so you do whatever we need to do to win.
Speaker:He said, OK, you only want to win.
Speaker:So they spent the majority of their eight-week practices.
Speaker:Serving.
Speaker:Most important stroke in tennis, right?
Speaker:If you want to win, you got to get your servant.
Speaker:And they won.
Speaker:They won their bag tag.
Speaker:They made it all the way to the city finals,
Speaker:where they got absolutely destroyed.
Speaker:And the mother came back and said, well,
Speaker:after they served, they couldn't do anything.
Speaker:And he was like, well, you said you wanted to win.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Well, that's what we spent the majority of the time doing.
Speaker:Unfortunately, you've ran into another team
Speaker:that was a little further along.
Speaker:So they had the next stroke.
Speaker:And we can get there.
Speaker:But it's a progression.
Speaker:But making people understand patience and effort
Speaker:and what it takes to achieve levels, that takes time.
Speaker:And that's where I think we, unfortunately,
Speaker:the organization not being really sure.
Speaker:Because if you ask the USDA, they always say,
Speaker:promote the game.
Speaker:But the second breath is, and create champions, two,
Speaker:unbelievably different goals.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that's difficult.
Speaker:Like you said, we're supposed to be coaches,
Speaker:but we are also the biggest promoters,
Speaker:because if you're a beginner, who are you usually going to,
Speaker:you're one of your first interactions will be with a coach.
Speaker:And whether that coach that experiences
Speaker:as positive or negative will greatly influence
Speaker:how you pursue the game from there on.
Speaker:And I try to be painfully honest with my people and say,
Speaker:look, guys, we're going to go through the--
Speaker:but I just want you to know, because I want you to be easy
Speaker:on yourself.
Speaker:Forget about what you think of me.
Speaker:I don't want you to go home and look at the mirror
Speaker:and say, I stink, because this is an easy--
Speaker:this is really hard.
Speaker:And forget about what you're seeing on television.
Speaker:Those guys are on another planet.
Speaker:So just don't even say, oh, I saw this.
Speaker:Oh, you know, shake your head and shiver.
Speaker:I don't care what you saw.
Speaker:That's another world.
Speaker:So you know, hey, it's tough.
Speaker:We are further down on the food chain
Speaker:and trying to run a business, create an environment
Speaker:where people want to be a part of our business.
Speaker:Therefore, we all benefit from it.
Speaker:Yet we have to play within ground rules
Speaker:that we don't necessarily establish.
Speaker:And more of a springboard, I will finish.
Speaker:I found on the GBTA website in their history
Speaker:what I think potentially should be their purpose.
Speaker:It's already written right here.
Speaker:And it was from their history section
Speaker:and talking about the GBTA providing a springboard
Speaker:for new and old tennis players.
Speaker:Let's not say old.
Speaker:Let's say experience.
Speaker:New and--
Speaker:I'm going to paraphrase.
Speaker:Experienced tennis professionals who
Speaker:want to continue to learn, grow, and network in the industry.
Speaker:I think that's a better target than raising the level of play.
Speaker:I think that's a different thing.
Speaker:So we know all of these people.
Speaker:These are the current board of directors.
Speaker:We're going to switch to a separate chapter in the YouTube
Speaker:chapter in here.
Speaker:Let me say one thing just again goes back
Speaker:to always why Atlanta is so unique,
Speaker:where the GBTA's creation, because of subdivision and HOA
Speaker:tennis, that it is not club dominated,
Speaker:that you do have an extraordinary, by which
Speaker:we call, independent prose in Atlanta.
Speaker:And the GBTA was created, A, to try
Speaker:to unify all these people out there.
Speaker:Try to give the people a better product,
Speaker:because you do have a lot-- to this day,
Speaker:you have people that are not certified, not taking--
Speaker:and I mean, and we've talked about this and other things.
Speaker:Yes, we have to do continuing education.
Speaker:Yes, we have to pass a background check.
Speaker:Yes, we have to take--
Speaker:what is it?
Speaker:Safe play, the testing of the Olympics
Speaker:for sexual harassment and make sure we know what to do
Speaker:in situations, whether it be at the home and what things
Speaker:we have to do to avoid in our practice of--
Speaker:when we're teaching.
Speaker:So they have up their game tremendously.
Speaker:And in Georgia, because you have somebody
Speaker:independent, the GBTA was designed,
Speaker:almost, hey, to be-- here's your club pro, your club manager,
Speaker:is the GBTA.
Speaker:And here's all the employees.
Speaker:Let's keep you up to date with what's going on.
Speaker:It gives you an opportunity for the racket companies
Speaker:to have one place to go, the court construction companies
Speaker:to have one place to go.
Speaker:So it did-- in the beginning, had a great purpose.
Speaker:It's just again, as Atlanta took off,
Speaker:it's hard to sit there and say, how do we maintain
Speaker:the mission statement?
Speaker:You said it's like '77.
Speaker:Well, Atlanta exploded in the early '90s.
Speaker:Everything changed.
Speaker:No, and that's good, because that's
Speaker:a reminder of where it came from.
Speaker:I don't really see that in the history
Speaker:as to how the gathering of those guys-- and that's a lot
Speaker:like Hurting Cats.
Speaker:And that's one of the things we talk about a lot.
Speaker:It's bringing a bunch of very individualistic type people
Speaker:and trying to get them on the same page is not easy.
Speaker:So board of directors, Danny Tarpley took over 2023.
Speaker:He runs tennisjobs.com.
Speaker:Give him a little plug.
Speaker:So he's helping with the jobs board, as I saw technically.
Speaker:I see his name also as treasurer and website, content,
Speaker:and technology.
Speaker:So I'll throw him an email and let
Speaker:him know that the Technic Fiber page is five years at a date.
Speaker:Stuart Russell looks like the first vice president.
Speaker:There's another vice president.
Speaker:Turen Bern.
Speaker:Bern?
Speaker:How do you say that?
Speaker:Turen Bern.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Bern.
Speaker:OK.
Speaker:And he's one of the guys at lifetime, right?
Speaker:So I think he's--
Speaker:Well, he also runs the majority of junior tournaments in Atlanta.
Speaker:I love doing that.
Speaker:I love cats, yes.
Speaker:He's doing memberships and sponsorships.
Speaker:So I would have thought he'd called me or you by now
Speaker:knowing what go tennis is doing, saying, hey, guys,
Speaker:I don't know if Stuart Russell came in and said,
Speaker:we need to talk, because one of the reasons
Speaker:we're having this conversation about the GPTA
Speaker:between you and me right now is that the podcast is doing
Speaker:something they can't do.
Speaker:Go tennis is going to do maybe 15 or 20 things
Speaker:that they just can't do.
Speaker:And we know-- and you and I talk about this all the time--
Speaker:we know these are part-time jobs.
Speaker:These are volunteer jobs.
Speaker:Go tennis for you and me.
Speaker:This is not what we do full-time.
Speaker:You're running a club.
Speaker:I'm running three separate businesses, two of them
Speaker:focused on tennis.
Speaker:So in this case, the Go tennis side of it is even--
Speaker:yeah, I'll get back to you after I finish my job.
Speaker:And there's a lot going on.
Speaker:And so we've got Alan Jensen and Stuart Russell
Speaker:doing speakers and events.
Speaker:I see a lot of the same guys in the speakers,
Speaker:like even the same people coming in,
Speaker:or like that-- I don't remember who the guy was.
Speaker:They brought in from North or South Carolina
Speaker:to teach us how to work with four 3.0 level players.
Speaker:Like, this is Atlanta.
Speaker:That is 101.
Speaker:That was the thing we learned first day.
Speaker:So maybe we need to talk to Alan Jensen
Speaker:as well about sponsorships and memberships.
Speaker:And then-- sorry, about the speakers and the events.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:The only name here, I don't personally know is Jim Richards.
Speaker:Do you know that name, Bobby?
Speaker:I do not know Jim Richards.
Speaker:No, I'm not.
Speaker:OK.
Speaker:Says he's the secretary.
Speaker:So I don't know who that is, but we'll follow that up.
Speaker:And then we got the banker, Dom.
Speaker:Maskian on--
Speaker:Maskian Tonio?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Maskian Tonio.
Speaker:I have emailed with him, but I've not met him personally.
Speaker:So we've got some old school guys in there.
Speaker:I would guess maybe Stuart Russell considers himself kind
Speaker:of a not as old school as some of the others.
Speaker:But I'm wondering, is that just the thing?
Speaker:You get through your career a little bit,
Speaker:and then you have a few extra hours a week
Speaker:that you can put in to something like this
Speaker:when you're young and out trying to find, you know,
Speaker:teach in tennis and find a house and have it a family.
Speaker:It just isn't the time for many of the younger coaches,
Speaker:probably, to get involved.
Speaker:But I was going through the GPTA site,
Speaker:and they're trying to do something.
Speaker:And there's a little thing that I would say-- one of the things
Speaker:go tennis is doing is we're going to compile a list
Speaker:of the Pro Am schedule, which since I started
Speaker:in this industry in 2001, officially got my first tennis
Speaker:teaching job and started playing a couple of Pro Ams,
Speaker:I thought, this is fantastic.
Speaker:Why doesn't everybody know about this?
Speaker:Where is the organization that promotes the Pro Ams in Atlanta
Speaker:as a product, as a whole thing?
Speaker:All of them.
Speaker:And it just didn't exist.
Speaker:Now, the GPTA claim to do it, but it's not here.
Speaker:I can't find it.
Speaker:So that would be also one of those things that go tennis
Speaker:can help with.
Speaker:You say, hey, we're compiling all these things.
Speaker:They have their coach finder.
Speaker:I think it's GPTA only, where hours
Speaker:goes about three steps further, really, honestly,
Speaker:where we have USPTA, everyone USPTA in Georgia,
Speaker:everyone GPTA in Georgia, I guess it's always only in Georgia,
Speaker:typically, and the PTR in Georgia.
Speaker:So everybody certified and everybody GPTA.
Speaker:We've got on ours as well, and we don't bring it up
Speaker:in competitive nature, because neither of us
Speaker:are charging for it.
Speaker:It's not the type of thing like a play your quarter,
Speaker:mytennislessons.com or your coachonline.com,
Speaker:whatever those things are that are going to add $20
Speaker:to your lesson and then charge you for it
Speaker:before you ever need to coach.
Speaker:This is--
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:You need to coach your in Lawrenceville,
Speaker:find the three people that are there and give them a call.
Speaker:Now, we're pretty sure there are more than three certified
Speaker:coaches in Lawrenceville.
Speaker:Yeah, considering, yes, which goes back
Speaker:to your point that there are a lot of uncertified.
Speaker:And there are a lot of probably good coaches out there
Speaker:that either don't bother, don't see a value,
Speaker:and certainly aren't involved in the GPTA.
Speaker:So how can we get together with the GPTA
Speaker:and help find those people and bring them in and shine
Speaker:a light on it?
Speaker:Well, this speaks to the culture that we
Speaker:talk about all the time.
Speaker:First of all, tennis-- and you mentioned earlier,
Speaker:tennis players are individuals, tendency.
Speaker:They didn't grow up in a team's four environment.
Speaker:They're very territorial.
Speaker:They look at a lot of this, the stuff that we sit here
Speaker:and shake our heads is competition.
Speaker:And if I introduce another pro, am I going to lose business?
Speaker:I remember when--
Speaker:and we've worked with Joel at T2--
Speaker:the tennis industry, the tennis instructors, first
Speaker:gasped at T2 and said, whoa, that's going to eat into less
Speaker:in time.
Speaker:And Joel, being a businessman, came from a different aggression
Speaker:because he's going to create competition among people,
Speaker:which will ultimately lead to more lessons or expand your year.
Speaker:And I definitely think over the long run,
Speaker:Slam Dunk, he was right.
Speaker:The knee jerk reaction was, you're taking us out of our--
Speaker:we know we have a seven week out-to-season
Speaker:followed by a seven week USDA season followed by--
Speaker:the schedule was thrown off.
Speaker:Whereas T2 got a fit.
Speaker:But he definitely was correct in 10 years or how many years
Speaker:later, T2 has fought-- it's got to be more than that.
Speaker:Oh, my God, yes.
Speaker:How long they've been functioning?
Speaker:That you certainly had grown your business
Speaker:because of T2 tennis.
Speaker:So again, that just shows the mental-- what we're trying to do
Speaker:is realize, as you said, I run a club.
Speaker:I have myself full-time, probably one other person
Speaker:that you would consider full-time.
Speaker:Then I have three entities, two independent contractors in yourself
Speaker:to run my 10 and under, my 12 and under business.
Speaker:I'm fortunate enough to know you that we have a history
Speaker:for 20 some odd years that we can go back to.
Speaker:So I could call Sean and say, hey, look, do this for me.
Speaker:I think it's crazy.
Speaker:And again, taking my head pro, who
Speaker:initially is like, we're going to give our business
Speaker:to now comes up to me and says, that is the best decision
Speaker:you ever made.
Speaker:Is to farm that out.
Speaker:Because on Wednesday, yesterday, it's cool.
Speaker:We have eight courts working.
Speaker:And you get to look down the line where you're
Speaker:going to be in your progression if you continue to play tennis.
Speaker:I mean, you would think energy creates more energy.
Speaker:I'm going to eat less than you get because parents come out
Speaker:there to do anything like this for adults.
Speaker:This is awesome.
Speaker:So we're contrairions in our belief that the energy
Speaker:and more activity will benefit everybody.
Speaker:I still, as much as it's great in people
Speaker:come to WINGAMEE, let's say, for North Side's breast
Speaker:cancer, they'll specifically sign up.
Speaker:We want to come see you once a year.
Speaker:Because the rest of the time, I don't
Speaker:want to really drive 10 miles.
Speaker:Once a year, I'll drive 10 miles.
Speaker:But to play every day in Atlanta, especially
Speaker:if you've got to go east to west, 10 miles can take you an hour.
Speaker:I don't want to do that.
Speaker:I'm going to try to get convenience.
Speaker:Well, I think the GPTA and what we're trying to do
Speaker:is put the premium on certified professionals.
Speaker:Try to-- I make people understand, to be a GPTA member,
Speaker:you have to be certified.
Speaker:The two predominant certification organizations,
Speaker:are the USPTR and USPTA.
Speaker:They are in competition with each other.
Speaker:Because there's been--
Speaker:this is government lobbying at its finest.
Speaker:They have been lobbying trying to get--
Speaker:with the USPTA, one organization.
Speaker:But each carries pretty much the same amount of people,
Speaker:one a little bit more domestic, one a little bit more
Speaker:international.
Speaker:But there's still well over 12,000, 13,000 members
Speaker:in each organization.
Speaker:So they're competing.
Speaker:And they look at each other as a potential threat,
Speaker:even though they're essentially doing the same thing.
Speaker:And again, and then throw-- and all this crazy
Speaker:is-- and then let COVID hit.
Speaker:And the idea of one of the driving forces with the GPTA
Speaker:was at least to go have lunch with a buddy once a month.
Speaker:To go have your continuing education.
Speaker:We have lunch.
Speaker:We hear the speaker, whatever the topics are,
Speaker:we get brought up to date.
Speaker:That goes away for the better part of a year and a half.
Speaker:The leadership that was involved at that point,
Speaker:they had to find other things.
Speaker:We always scramble.
Speaker:Hey, it was a crazy time.
Speaker:So now we're back in a phase where we're
Speaker:trying to reconstruct it.
Speaker:Like you said, something goes away.
Speaker:People start functioning without it.
Speaker:Now the question is, do I really need it?
Speaker:And I think in this world, we need it even more.
Speaker:Just like online registration systems and everything.
Speaker:The game is growing.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:I need an extra problem.
Speaker:I would love to be able to have a pro-born tailgate.
Speaker:Where is it?
Speaker:This guy's got Wednesday off great.
Speaker:I'll move my Tuesday clinic to Wednesday.
Speaker:This way I can get more help, I can grow it, type thing.
Speaker:And this way, somebody gets more work.
Speaker:They're more likely to stay in the industry
Speaker:because the big problem, and you brought it up too,
Speaker:with all these organizations, the new blood is not coming in.
Speaker:There's a lot of, unfortunately, all guys like me,
Speaker:still in the business, who've been in the business
Speaker:for 30 years, we're not getting the young guys
Speaker:in there like we can, or like we should.
Speaker:To be growing the game because we don't grow the pro,
Speaker:we have an issue growing to the next,
Speaker:how do we get to the next level?
Speaker:As we always talk about, everything we're doing scaling.
Speaker:How do you scale it?
Speaker:This is a labor-intensive business.
Speaker:How do you scale it?
Speaker:Well, I think we have an answer.
Speaker:I think we accidentally found that answer
Speaker:when you and I spoke and said,
Speaker:"Hey, how about I just run your 12U program for you?"
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And we can understand how the math works then and say,
Speaker:this grows everything, but then that zooms out
Speaker:to what if everybody has a shawn or a tennisforchildren.com
Speaker:in their windom ear, whatever that looks like?
Speaker:And if everybody has that, everybody's understanding,
Speaker:it's not a zero sum game that we're all working at this together,
Speaker:and the GPTA should be the ones
Speaker:that are capable of looking at the tennis industry in Georgia,
Speaker:and we focus mainly on Metro Atlanta, and that's okay.
Speaker:But Metro Atlanta tennis ecosystem has one big thing.
Speaker:And hey, we've got availability,
Speaker:and let's put these pieces together.
Speaker:I think that's where the GPTA and go tennis can get together well,
Speaker:and be able to help those pieces fit together
Speaker:as opposed to everybody fighting for their little area.
Speaker:And also what we've been developing for windom ear as well,
Speaker:and this goes back to my history of white coms,
Speaker:where white coms would put out a paper newsletter
Speaker:to the entire club.
Speaker:They would do it online, became more and more relevant.
Speaker:They would do it online yet when they really wanted
Speaker:to get something to the tennis players,
Speaker:they would say, "Bobby, could you hit your database?"
Speaker:Because they knew that most people were most likely to respond.
Speaker:So we're now developing a windom ear specific,
Speaker:tennis specific monthly newsletter,
Speaker:even though windom ear does an amazing digital newsletter,
Speaker:in tennis is two pages,
Speaker:where with our digital newsletter and our postcards,
Speaker:you're gonna get all of what go tennis has to offer,
Speaker:so you're getting a way to meet me
Speaker:in all the latest technology,
Speaker:everything that's going on in the community,
Speaker:as well as here's your drills, your relevant windom ear information.
Speaker:That's a win-win.
Speaker:I couldn't do that without help.
Speaker:My technology level isn't there,
Speaker:and I don't have the time.
Speaker:So, again, the ability to have that person,
Speaker:and this is where this whole idea,
Speaker:this ecosystem we're trying to create,
Speaker:the stemstrom is our experience saying,
Speaker:"Wow, how do we fill this hole?
Speaker:How can I make my life easier?
Speaker:Do the things that I'm good at,
Speaker:so I can spend more time there, do more events.
Speaker:I like to do events.
Speaker:I like to do big parties."
Speaker:Back in our day with Netcord,
Speaker:we threw some great mixers,
Speaker:and these people didn't fall.
Speaker:We did the mixers one time.
Speaker:We did it right after it was racquet club in the South,
Speaker:now it's lifetime, right after the tornado.
Speaker:So, we brought everybody out after they just had all the,
Speaker:you know, the million dollars in work done,
Speaker:because the club had gotten devastated by the tornado,
Speaker:everybody got to see the club.
Speaker:We had 80 to 90 people playing around Robin on a Friday night,
Speaker:all had a good time.
Speaker:Of that maybe 21 out and had Mexican food after,
Speaker:it's a couple of, you know,
Speaker:might have exchanged phone numbers.
Speaker:Hey, that's a good night.
Speaker:That's a good night.
Speaker:Everybody along the line made some money,
Speaker:and hopefully it translated into fun
Speaker:where they go back and say, "Hey, again,
Speaker:'cause we truly believe that it's the player that drives the land."
Speaker:Why, you know, I just did this at a club.
Speaker:Why don't we do something like this here every now and then,
Speaker:'cause it was a lot of fun.
Speaker:So, again, I would hope
Speaker:people would see that we're not trying to compete with you.
Speaker:I mean, we've said it a thousand times.
Speaker:There's enough of a pie where I think everybody can benefit
Speaker:on an educational level, on an economic level,
Speaker:and just keep yourself fresh, too,
Speaker:because we all know the benefit.
Speaker:Everybody, when there's more energy on the court,
Speaker:an energy comes from coaching with somebody else
Speaker:as well as bigger groups.
Speaker:Everybody benefits.
Speaker:I noticed that last night at your place,
Speaker:where I was all alone, 'cause our group gets a little smaller
Speaker:December, January, February, it's mostly due.
Speaker:And it was me in three, seven-year-olds,
Speaker:and I was way down on court six, it's getting dark,
Speaker:but it was a little bit of extra energy,
Speaker:'cause I knew you guys were there,
Speaker:and on our way out, I walked out with some of the 12 and others,
Speaker:and I said, "Hey, look, there's your high school group.
Speaker:Are you getting there?
Speaker:Are you that good?"
Speaker:And they're like, "Well, they're not that good, coach, Sean.
Speaker:Don't tell me that."
Speaker:But, you know, the beginners are looking at,
Speaker:"Well, I can do that."
Speaker:To your point of working together,
Speaker:and getting everybody together,
Speaker:and going back to 1977 as to what the GPTA wanted to do,
Speaker:and I think it's about the coaches,
Speaker:more than it's about the level of play.
Speaker:I don't, I would discuss that with them,
Speaker:but they haven't hired us, is their media consultants yet.
Speaker:So I'm sure when Danny Tarpley calls up,
Speaker:it says, "Hey, we need a media group, can you help us out?"
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- I forgot how to give them a super friends and family discount.
Speaker:But Bobby, I appreciate your time.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:We will follow up.
Speaker:We should do the USPTA in the same way.
Speaker:USPTR is not USPTR, just PTR, right?
Speaker:I'm PTA personally.
Speaker:I think it's just PTR.
Speaker:- Is it just P-Datri, just professional test registry?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We'll figure that out next week, maybe.
Speaker:I appreciate it.
Speaker:Thank you so much, and we will see you next week.
Speaker:Thanks so much, Bobby.
Speaker:- Thanks guys.
Speaker:See you later.
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Speaker:See you next time.
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