justin's Blog
2009 USTA Campus Championship - Section Events
Now is a very busy and exciting time for me at my job, and for the Tennis On Campus program. We’re right in the middle of putting on the bulk of our USTA Campus Championship – Section Events. There are 16 of these this year, and all of them lead up to the USTA National Campus Championship. The section championships are actually put on by each of our USTA sections, but there is a lot of support work that goes into each one from the national office.Some of the main support mechanisms that we provide each of our sections for their championship include sweet t-shirts, product giveaways from our partners at Tennis Warehouse, banners and signage, and media support. At this point, all of the events have their t-shirts, product, and banners and are ready to actually put on their event. The bulk of the time that I have right now directed toward these events is media related. We work with The Sherry Group for additional support in this area, and I serve as a liaison between them and our sections. It’s a pretty simple model, our sections give us their results, photos, and media questionnaires from each team and then The Sherry Group works to generate stories and releases in local, regional, and national press, both print and electronic. It’s a pretty cool thing to see these stories actually picked up by papers. I only wish that I’d been able to take advantage of this kind of support from the USTA when I was playing club tennis at U of M. You can check out some of the articles that they've been able to generate for us on the Tennis On Campus News page.
Today, I’m working on gathering all applicable information from the 4 USTA Campus Championship – Section Events that took place this past weekend. As the central conduit between many points, I take this information and distribute to The Sherry Group, as noted above, for press, and to NIRSA, our partners for the USTA National Campus Championship so that they may continue to shape the national championship field based on participation and bids at the section championships. Further, I need this information so that I can update TennisOnCampus.com. Pictures, stories, results – we’ve got it all there, and it’s no small feat, either, when you look at all of the working parts.
Outside of that, I’m also preparing the next edition of the Tennis On Campus News. This is the monthly newsletter that we send out to our program sites, and anyone else who subscribes. The TOC News features the latest information on the program. For the March edition, we’ll be highlighting the USTA Campus Championship – Section Events (surprise, surprise), providing apparel and equipment discounts through our partners at Tennis Warehouse, and showcasing a Historically Black College & University that recently joined the Tennis On Campus family, Prairie View A&M University in Texas. I still need to secure some images of PVAMU. Time to get on the horn again about those. I love my job.
Until next time, are you playing TheField?
Justin
Posted: Feb 27, 2009