July 2008 -- USPTA first unveiled its newest and most comprehensive push to promote our sport's unique benefits and our special ability to deliver them in the January 2008 issue of ADDvantage. In the last six months, Tennis - for the health of it! has been featured in every subsequent issue of this magazine, and in numerous industry publications through advertisements and articles.
The message, perhaps the most powerful to date, was adopted by USPTA's board of directors and seeks to publicize the health and fitness benefits of our sport and deliver these benefits to consumers through the unmatched membership infrastructure of USPTA.
This initiative was formally introduced by Jack Groppel, Ph.D., in his January "Ask the Professor" column. Jack, who is also a national board vice president and chairman of our Public Relations Committee, has been passionate about this topic for many years. He authored the "34 specific reasons" for playing tennis and authorized their first printing in the
USTA Sport Science for Tennis newsletter in 1997. He has thoroughly documented the research that substantiates the many physical and psychological benefits of playing our sport.
To further strengthen our initiative, USPTA formed a tennis-exclusive strategic alliance with the American College of Sports Medicine, and its initiative Exercise is Medicine™. The ACSM represents doctors and other health professionals who, given the information on physical and psychological benefits of our sport, will be able to prescribe tennis as a path to a healthy lifestyle.
According to Adrian Hutber, Ph.D., vice president of ACSM's Exercise is Medicine program, USPTA's infrastructure and certified tennis professionals make the partnership between the two organizations a very "natural fit" and offers "huge potential to make a significant contribution to the health of the American public."
ACSM is particularly impressed with our members' ability to provide technically sound tennis instruction and fun - the two keys to a successful exercise program that might be prescribed by a physician or other healthcare provider.
In the coming months and years, we will continue to promote initiatives stressing the health benefits of tennis. Our plans include working with ACSM to provide you with tools geared to communicating with medical professionals within your facilities and communities. We also look forward to providing valuable information to doctors and other health professionals as well, so they can direct patients to tennis activities and the health and fitness benefits they offer. Look for new information in
ADDvantage and on our Web site, which already has a link to many valuable resources for both you and the public.
USPTA has put considerable resources behind this program and particularly our efforts to promote the health benefits of tennis. We've reassessed our PR goals for the Association and its members, ramped up the news release program, more clearly defined our target markets, designed and placed new advertising and developed initiatives that will help us communicate important messages to the tennis industry and the general public on behalf of our members.
To help us reach every tennis teacher, health professional and community with our message, we've begun a campaign to recruit ambassadors who will promote
Tennis - for the health of it! and help USPTA accomplish this initiative's goals. If you have what it takes to be a USPTA Ambassador, see the ad on Page 9 of this issue or visit our home page at uspta.com, then click on "USPTA Ambassador." You'll be asked to apply by filling out a brief form and submitting it online.
Never in our history have we been poised to communicate a more important message through a more dedicated and extensive delivery force: USPTA Professionals delivering
Tennis - for the health of it!
