I frequently talk about the adult tennis tournament culture in Texas. I have also touched on how playing tournaments with players from other regions opened my eyes to the fact that Texas tournament tennis is profoundly different from most of the other USTA sections. Today I am exploring what I believe to be one of the primary drivers for why that is the case.
Now is a really good time to mention that I do not for instant harbor the illusion that know all the answers or that I am speaking from any position of knowledge or authority. Recall that this blog exists for no other reason than as a public accountability mechanism in a goal I set for myself to write a page a day on tennis in 2020. In many ways, this effort is just me thinking “out loud” in a very public manner.
If I had to point to one thing in Texas that drives participation to levels higher than many of the other sections, I think there is an easy and obvious answer: The Masters. This would be the “Simply the BEST – 2020 Texas Adult Masters Championships.”
The Masters is an extremely powerful extrinsic motivator that creates an incentive for players to play in a lot of tournaments. While anyone can enter the Masters, only the top 8 from the rankings list get to play in the event. This creates a state of exclusivity that is energetically pursued.
Simply getting to the Masters is a reward. To illustrate this point, the centerpiece of the tournament swag given to every player at the Masters, is a tennis towel. At this point I need to make the observation that in my family, a tennis towel is pretty much the worst player participation gift that a tournament can offer. This is a photo of the shelf next to my backdoor that illustrates why:
The master’s towel is different. In fact, that stack of towels does not include a single one from the masters. Those are kept in a separate more secure linen closet deep in the bastion of the Fiend at Court household.
I have witnessed players at league playoffs and sectionals walking around with their Master’s towel draped across their shoulder – logo facing out, of course. Personally, I don’t carry my Master’s towels outside my house. I don’t want to risk losing them. This is kind of irrational behavior now that I say that out loud.
There are a lot of other benefits to playing the Masters, and at some point in the future I may loop back to those other things. For the purpose my current arc, access to an exclusive and very tournament is a powerful extrinsic motivator to get players involved with non-exclusive tournaments.
I am just getting warmed up on the topic of motivation.
- Simply the BEST – 2020 Texas Adult Masters Championships (Ad), page viewed June 14, 2020.
