Fiend at Court Unplugged
One of the best way for individual tennis players to support tournament play is to enter tournaments. Paradoxically, I have heard players complain that no one entered a tournament that they themselves didn’t enter. I have even done the same thing myself. In addition to actually entering tournaments, players can maximize the chances that other players participate by throwing in their entry early. Timing matters. Waiting until the last minute to enter a tournament is almost the same thing as not entering at all when the goal is boosting participation.
How We Got Here
The fact that players are reluctant to enter events is an anachronism from the system that has recently been phased out of USTA tournament tennis. Previously, when a player entered a tournament under TennisLink, their credit card was charged immediately. Refunds were processed by the tournament organizers. Some tournament directors were proactive in issuing refunds. Others were responsive but only if a player requested a refund. Frequently it took a herculean effort to claw back the entry fee.
Active.com, the company behind TennisLink, historically skimmed a $3 “processing fee” off every transaction. The processing fees are non refundable. Entering a tournament division that was unlikely to make was tantamount to handing a third party $3. You can’t even think about it as a donation to support or help tennis.
That problem is fixed in the new USTA digital platform. It is a shining example of one way that the new system is significantly better than the old one. Currently players are not charged for entering a tournament unless their division makes. That removes a barrier that had a depressive effect on entries.
Culture Change Must Follow
While the new system has removed the financial disincentive that penalized players who entered tournaments early, it is unrealistic to think that the culture change will happen overnight. What is needed is a three pronged approach of organizational communication, player advocacy, and perhaps even creating additional incentives to move the needle on player behavior.
Tomorrow we will revisit how the USTA can better promote tournaments through improved organizational communication. Sunday we will consider additional ways that the USTA can further incentivize players to enter tournaments.
Players Advocacy To Make a Difference
Players can make a significant difference by simply entering more tournaments. It should be a standard practice to throw entries in as soon as possible. Those are simple no-cost behavioral changes that each one of us can do to support the tournament ecosystem.
Tournament players should also exercise advocacy at the grassroots level. In addition to encouraging people to enter tournaments in general, we can also evangelize the importance of entering early to our tournament playing friends.
Rather than sitting around hoping that someone will do something to stem the decline in tournament participation, each and every one of us can actually do something that makes a difference. It’s easy.
Enter tournaments early. Enter tournaments often.
Some of us are old school and really liked the tournament books! I appreciated San Angelo’s director posting on the Traveling Circus about her tournament. I am thinking seriously about entering. I am pretty tech savey but I find that searching on the USTA website is not user friendly.
Same. Another good thing about the tournament books was that they captured an annual planning calendar. I have a much better chance of playing events when I can block out the time on my calendar well in advance. Many Level 5 (and Level 4 tournaments in other sections) suddenly appear on the calendar less than a month before they occur. It makes it impossible to plan participation in advance.