August 2008 -- We recently sent out several hundred press kits to tennis industry representatives. These kits explained our newest initiative - Tennis - for the health of it!SM
We got a great response from the many people who received information on the campaign, and a particular question about whether we'd be designing an activity for
Tennis - for the health of it!
The answer:
Tennis - for the health of it! is not one activity, but a call to action to make people aware of the health and fitness benefits available through just one sport.
Yes, there are programs like Cardio Tennis that are already in place or ones that might be created in the future, but for the moment there are plenty of activities - including the programs run every day by teaching professionals - that keep people fit and healthy through the game of tennis.
So when we designed the initiative
Tennis - for the health of It! and its promotional materials (currently available in the members-only section of uspta.com, and then Career Center), we designed an umbrella under which teaching professionals and activity directors could promote existing and future programs with a new and powerful approach highlighting "for the health of it!"
Recently we ran a series of Tennis Across America™ clinics that reinforced the health benefits of tennis. In fact, every program we promote can easily be run as a means of getting people to participate in
Tennis - for the health of it!
This new call to action will make players - especially new ones - more aware that tennis is unique in its ability to not only provide anaerobic and aerobic exercise, but also fun.
It's especially important that we educate consumers and other organizations about the benefits of having fun and learning tennis under the guidance of a qualified teaching professional. Otherwise, there may be a lot of one-hit rallies and picking up of balls.
Through this "call to action," we are reaching out to any and all advocates who might have the same goals. In May we announced USPTA's historic alliance with the American College of Sports Medicine. The ACSM's campaign, Exercise is Medicine™, provides the perfect opportunity to tie the fields of sport and medicine in a common goal, and we're proud to be able to promote tennis as the best "medicine" for an exercise regime.
We hope the USPTA and ACSM alliance will allow us to get information on how tennis can increase health and fitness levels into the hands of doctors and other health practitioners, who will then pass it on to their patients in the form of "prescriptions" for health.
We also are working with WTA, which has a similar initiative, the tennis industry as a whole and individual advocates, such as the mayor of Oklahoma City, who graces this month's cover and advocates the sport because of his own experience with losing weight through tennis. See his story
here.
We're also talking to IHRSA about their effort to lobby health issues to Congress. And, while CMAA is not currently involved in its own specific movement, we certainly hope it will find
Tennis - for the health of it! an important umbrella initiative to recommend to its managers.
We intend to be very unselfish about this campaign, and this is evident from the very limited branding on our literature. We hope by highlighting just the initiative and keeping our logo small and distant on the materials that it will be more universally accepted.
Our goal is to draw attention to health and fitness and how it can be easily attained through tennis. USPTA certainly has many existing programs that its delivery force can use to highlight healthy activity, and we hope willing industry partners will want to showcase their programs under the
Tennis - for the health of it! umbrella.
As USPTA members, you're the industry's best ambassadors of the campaign to promote tennis as a fun way to improve one's health. You can deliver fun and tennis through the same things you offer every day - lessons, leagues, tournaments, drill sessions and weekend doubles mixers.
Some of USPTA's programs deliver exercise in a fun way to a variety of skill and age levels, including Little Tennis
®, Junior Circuit™, Adult Tennis League
SM, member-guest events and Tennis Across America clinics. USPTA also has supported and promotes Cardio Tennis, a TIA administered program. It offers consumers a great way to get in shape and improve fitness and fits perfectly into
Tennis - for the health of it!
All the resources you need to promote your programs as part of the
Tennis - for the health of it! initiative are included on our Web site, including detailed information on how to initiate your own tennis and health campaign among your club members. It includes a fact sheet, brochure, booklet and a poster that can be personalized for free and displayed at your club or facility to highlight the tennis activities that can help members get fit and healthy. Log on to the members-only area of uspta.com using your last name and member number, go to "Career Center" and then explore the box on the page that groups the
Tennis - for the health of it! resources into an easy location for you.
We hope you'll be the first to accept this call to action and encourage others in our industry to join us in doing something great for tennis, for our national wellness and all those who play
Tennis - for the health of it!
