December 2009 -- Greetings everyone. I would like to use this message to give an update on the first 60 days of my term in office.

Our new national committee chairs have been set and we are beginning to move forward with action. Each of our national committees is working hard to be proactive in improving our organization. However, our national committees represent you, our USPTA membership, so I encourage each of you to contact your committee chairs with any ideas or innovations that you feel would improve our association.

We have modified some of the committees as follows:

Based on the advice of Linda Smith, a corporate diversity expert who spoke to our USPTA Executive Committee in September, we have combined the Women's Committee and Multicultural Committee into a newly formed Diversity Committee. This will be chaired by new national board member Bunny Bruning along with Molly Card Beckmann and Feisal Hassan. I look forward to the new ideas they develop based on some of Linda Smith's recommendations.

We have also formed a new national committee, the Job Market Committee, chaired by Will Hoag and Bunny Bruning. They are charged to research, study, and evaluate job market trends for the tennis professional, so that our association can adapt to the changing market and help secure our position within the tennis-teaching industry. This will be a very important committee that could potentially have an impact on every USPTA member!

Another national committee that is off and running is our Certification and Testing Committee, headed by Tommy Wade. Tommy has an excellent, hard-working team of committee members who are active in a complete certification and testing overhaul that you will soon hear about.

Our Membership Committee is now chaired by Mark Fairchilds. Mark's energy and innovative ideas will positively affect our total membership and how we are involved in the tennis industry. Chuck Gill is our new Convention Committee chair. Chuck is tweaking our World Conference so that it is more efficient, both operationally and financially, and so that it is membership friendly! Our Education Committee is co-chaired by Jim Loehr, Ed.D., and Dave Porter, Ed.D. Jim brings a fresh look to our educational benefits and Dave continues to implement the most sophisticated and comprehensive educational program that is available worldwide in tennis!

Public Relations continues to be chaired by Jack Groppel, Ph.D., who has already done so much to help our image and position in the industry. Tennis - for the health of it! has been a very positive initiative as Jack promotes our "That's Who We Are" campaign. Our Information Technology Committee is probably the committee with the most growth and that is due largely to Randy Mattingley, who is very active as that committee's national chair. As you know, technology is something that can be outdated in six months, so it is a constant effort to stay on top of that ever-changing industry and incorporate new and improved technological benefits for our USPTA members. No one has the infrastructure that USPTA has in this area and I hope members appreciate the fact that, even as we continually add member benefits, we have been able to streamline operations and keep annual dues at an acceptable level.

All of our national committee chairs are important to our association, so please review the other committee chairs and national liaisons listed below:

Awards Committee Chair - Bunny Bruning
Budget & Finance Committee Co-Chair - Mark Fairchilds/Chuck Gill 
College Curriculum Committee Chair - Dave Porter
Ethics Committee Chair - Harry Gilbert
Long-range Planning Committee Chair - Randy Mattingley
Master Professional Review Committee Chair - ­Joe Thompson
Nominating Committee Chair - Mike Andrews
Special Populations Chair - James Hunt
Sport Science & Sport Medicine Committee Chair - Jack Groppel
Sports Marketing Committee Chair - Jack Groppel
Tournaments Committee Chair - Chuck Gill
USPTA Archive Committee Chair - Harry Gilbert
ATP Liaison - Mark Fairchilds
CMAA Liaison - Tom Daglis
IHRSA Liaison - Randy Mattingley
ITHF Liaison - Jim Loehr
TIA Liaison - Tom Daglis
WTA Liaison - Bunny Bruning
USTA Liaison - Tom Daglis

You can see how engaged your national board and other USPTA leaders are in your organization. I wish to thank each of them for their commitment to excellence in our association.

Another group that I want every member to appreciate is our USPTA national staff. Our staff works diligently to implement all of our ideas and to serve our members. I especially applaud Tim Heckler, our CEO, who is in touch with the industry trends and displays his passion for the USPTA on a daily basis!

Finally, for those of you who were not able to attend this year's World Conference on Tennis, I have attached a copy of the opening remarks I made during the awards breakfast:

I am truly honored and humbled to become the next president of the USPTA and I am very excited about the future of USPTA. But most importantly, I am very proud to be a USPTA member and have a great deal of USPTA PRIDE !

I would like to open with some comments and background ­information:

I began my tenure with USPTA in 1983 as a district rep for the Florida Division under then-President Spike Gurney. From Florida, I moved to the Southern Division and was a division board member at every level, working my way up to Southern Division president in 1995. I was elected to the national board in 1997 and have spent the last 12 years serving the USPTA as a national representative.

I mention this timeline to demonstrate that I have been active with the USPTA at many levels for a significant amount of time, and during that time, you develop a realistic sense of: what the association is all about; what is important to the USPTA membership; and how USPTA fits into the overall picture of the tennis industry.

I consider myself a "tennis grunt," someone who has been in the trenches for the last 25-plus years trying to make a living as a tennis professional.

And I have learned many things along the way. One of them is politics . how ironic that I now reside in a suburb of ­??W­ashington, D.C. But politics is all about compromise and give and take. Many times, the USPTA has assisted our industry partners and when asked, we have jumped in with both feet forward, while other times we have assisted, but with caution. But the reality is that we have been helpful, we have grown tennis, and in return, we haven't asked for very much.

Well, today, I would like to ask. The USPTA Professional is very hard-working, is the original genuine tennis enthusiast, and gives back to the industry not once, but on a regular basis. USPTA plays a very large role in the grassroots and lifeblood of tennis.

So what is the USPTA agenda? Is it to rule the world? ... Hardly. Is it to control tennis? ... Not possible. We want to be an integral component of tennis - "integral" meaning we are part of the decision-making process, and we are given the respect that many feel is lacking. I have said this before, behind closed doors, and today I say it publicly ... Elevate USPTA Professionals, ... recognize USPTA Professionals . embrace USPTA Professionals ... and they will go through walls for you, and the entire tennis community. I don't think that is asking for too much!

Don't ever discount or forget what USPTA is all about. We are a nonprofit trade association, we exist for the benefit of our members, and to try to give each and every USPTA Professional a better standard of living. The decisions we make as an organization need to continue to reflect those ideals.

With that said, I have selected three main initiatives that I would like to accomplish during my presidency while carrying on with Mr. Gilbert's initiative of creating a more diverse leadership and membership.

My Three Main Initiatives are:

1. To integrate a component of mandatory education into our certification process

2. To grow our membership both domestically and internationally, and to increase our efforts to work in partnership and cooperatively with other tennis industry associations, especially in those areas that positively impact our job market.
3. To form one unified tennis-teaching organization in the United States.

I am going to work very hard to accomplish these initiatives, but I am going to need your help to realize and undertake these goals. I am asking for your help now!

So what can you expect from me for the next two years? No pretense! I am simply a very hard-working tennis professional who has a deep passion for this association, absolutely loves tennis, and wants what is best for USPTA. I am privileged to have a national board that is knowledgeable, tennis savvy, motivated, and tireless. Please know that all of us, in conjunction with the USPTA Executive Committee and the USPTA national office staff, will be working to serve our membership.

I hope you enjoy the remainder of the conference, thank you for listening, and I look forward to working with each and every one of you in the future.