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ADDvantage magazine

Cardio Tennis Interactive® makes its debut

by Brian O’Donnell, USPTA, and TIA Business Manager

August 2012 -- Cardio Tennis® was created in 2005 as the tennis industry's answer to the growing demand for fitness activities. In just seven years, it has grown to more than 1.3 million participants in the United States, with nearly 1,800 sites. Managed by the Tennis Industry Association, Cardio Tennis also has spread to more than 30 countries, most notably through Tennis Australia, Tennis Canada and the LTA in Great Britain, which have started national Cardio Tennis programs.

As demand has grown, so has the need for additional Cardio Tennis programs to respond to the ever-changing appetite for new and creative fitness programs.

So the TIA sought to create a tennis fitness program that would offer to USPTA tennis-teaching professionals and their facilities a complete wellness program for their tennis participants. The program also had to be fun, social, engaging and purposeful. In our quest to explore what the newest and latest fitness programs were doing to create this type of experience, we were introduced to Total Health Interactive, which provides advanced, easy-to-use technology to clients in the health, wellness and fitness industry.

THI was offering online fitness challenges to its clients, which seemed a perfect fit for Cardio Tennis. In addition, these challenges already incorporated the use of Polar Heart-Rate Monitors, which is an integral part of the Cardio Tennis program. For Cardio Tennis, THI's suite of interactive tools would allow participants to remain healthy, motivated and engaged in the Cardio Tennis program. We could now offer a program that all tennis providers, coaches and USPTA teaching professionals could use as a complete health maintenance tool for their members, teams and players.

Called "Cardio Tennis Interactive™," the new tennis wellness program has already started trial runs across the country. The program will also allow Cardio Tennis locations to have their own custom-branded online experience, extending a tennis facility's brand with Cardio Tennis participants - and providing an additional revenue opportunity for facilities and pros.

With each Cardio Tennis Interactive™ online health and wellness account, participants will be able to:
  • Track their exercise, nutrition, goals and results.

  • Upload their Polar Heart Rate Monitor data directly into their account to track results.

  • Participate in fitness challenges that will be specific to Cardio Tennis.

  • Receive customized programs designed for enhanced Cardio Tennis enjoyment, weight loss and more.

  • Gain reward points for using the site, participating in challenges and more. These points can be used in the Cardio Tennis Rewards Store for discounts on health-and-fitness-oriented products.

A select group of Cardio Tennis Authorized Providers has been chosen as "pre-launch sites" for the new Cardio Tennis - Get Fit® Challenge as a part of the new online Cardio Tennis Interactive experience. The Get Fit Challenge is designed to help participants gain even better results, stay engaged with the program for longer periods of time, and increase their enjoyment of the Cardio Tennis health benefits via an online web portal that tracks calories burned and participant activity, provides healthy eating guidance, and more. During the six-week challenge, participants compete against each other and/or other facilities to reach their fitness and weight-loss goals.

Get Fit Challenge participants each receive an online health and wellness account, which will enable them to:
  • Track their exercise, nutrition, goals, and results

  • Upload their Polar Heart Rate Monitor data directly into their account to track results

  • Participate in Fitness Challenges that are specific to Cardio Tennis

  • By participating in challenges and more, they can gain reward points, which can be used in the Cardio Tennis Rewards Store.

Facilities that have been selected as pre-launch sites for the Cardio Tennis Get Fit Challenge are receiving free marketing materials, a referral fee for every participant in the challenge, the ability to participate in fitness challenges that will be specific to Cardio Tennis, and the opportunity to have their own branded, Total Health Interactive site at a discounted price once their facility completes the challenge.

To further enhance the Cardio Tennis Interactive program and offer a more complete health experience, the Cardio Tennis Healthy for Life™ Challenge was created and will be making its trial debut this fall. This challenge will consist of an eight-week interactive tennis, fitness and wellness program that incorporates three primary elements: healthy diet (using the Healthy for Life wellness program), cellular nutrition (incorporating USANA nutritional products) and exercise (using the Cardio Tennis on-court tennis/fitness program).

Cardio Tennis will be the main fitness component of the program, which involves an on-court warm-up phase, cardio phase and cool-down phase throughout the one-hour workout, the core of all Cardio Tennis programming. Participants also will have a choice of other fitness programs and activities available through the Cardio Tennis Interactive site for which they will receive a certain number of reward points.

The Healthy for Life portion involves each participant in an online, eight-week interactive eLearning program, online journal with lesson and activity tracker, online meal planner with recipes and printable grocery list, and live webcasts, along with a private social network. Each week participants will be presented with a new set of tasks to help them focus on developing new health habits and lead them down a path to improved personal wellness.

After completing either of the Cardio Tennis Interactive programs, participants are encouraged to stay with their tennis fitness program by becoming part of the Cardio Tennis Interactive system on a monthly basis. In addition, any Cardio Tennis Authorized Providers interested in running their own challenges will have the opportunity to purchase a branded site through the TIA.

Thanks to the USPTA and its Tennis - for the Health of It! initiative, the door has been opened for programs such as Cardio Tennis Interactive to be well-received by not only tennis-teaching professionals, but also the entire health and fitness community.

If you would like more information on Cardio Tennis Interactive®, the Get Fit Challenge® or the Cardio Tennis Healthy for Life™ Challenge, please contact Brian O'Donnell at brian@tennisindustry.org.

Brian O'Donnell is the business manager for the Tennis Industry Association, based in Hilton Head Island, S.C. He promotes initiatives such as Cardio Tennis, Tennis Welcome Centers, the Youth Tennis Initiative and the Growing Tennis 50/50 Co-op Marketing Program. O'Donnell graduated from the University of Whitewater-Wisconsin in 1982 with a BBA in marketing. He is a certified teaching professional with the USPTA and has worked in the tennis industry for more than 28 years. Prior to the TIA, he was the director of tennis for Moss Creek Tennis Center on Hilton Head, where he specialized in developing innovative tennis programming for seniors. He can be reached at brian@tennisindustry.org.