justin's Blog
BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup
As you can imagine, having a job in the sports industry definitely comes with a few perks. Tonight, I had the opportunity to take advantage of one of these perks for my job and attended the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup, which was run in conjunction with the USTA’s Tennis Night in America campaign. The BNP Paribas Showdown is a tennis exhibition that featured Venus and Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, and Ana Ivonavic.As I mentioned, this is a perk of working in the sports industry. When I woke up this morning I only had a ticket for myself and was planning on going to check it out with a few of my colleagues. By the middle of the afternoon I had four tickets, and was on the phone with some friends to see if they were free to come. Upon picking up my tickets at will call, I had six. These things have a funny way of constantly working themselves out like this – thinking that I’ve barely secured a ticket for myself, to having too many in the end. In any event, I did get 3 friends to come join me for the tennis action and we had a great time.
Venus played Jelena to start it off, and beat her 6-4. Then Serena played Ana, and she beat her 6-3. So the Williams sisters faced off in the final match, which was to be best 2 out of 3 sets. They’d truncated the initial matches in order to fit as much tennis in as possible. Before the final match, though, there was a special ceremony honoring Billie Jean King. I truly hope that all of you reading this, being interested in working in the sports, recreation, and fitness industries – especially female readers – are familiar with Billie Jean King and her many, many accomplishments on and off of the tennis court. I’m sure I’ll devote some more time writing about Billie and her accomplishments at a later date, as her organization, World TeamTennis, is intricately involved with the Tennis On Campus program and she is planning on attending the USTA National Campus Championship again this year.
The ceremony was a wonderful tribute to a living legend. There were several VIP female guests in attendance, including Lesley Visser (the first woman inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame), Nancy Kerrigan, Kym Hampton, and Rosie Casals. Giving the remarks, however, was the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton. Through my job I had the opportunity to hear a former president of our country speak about one of the most influential sports figures and advocate for greater social change. Clinton’s comments were touching and sincere. He thanked Billie for all that she had done for women in sport, and in other arenas in life, noting that his wife, Hilary, couldn’t be where she is, doing what she is doing, if it weren’t for her. These are powerful words – and ones that I can't echo too loudly. These kinds of events are the small opportunities that you really can’t put down on paper that make working in sport so special and so different from any other industry.
After the ceremony, Venus and Serena squared off in what could’ve proved to be a less than exciting exhibition match (I've definitely seen my fair share of boring tennis exhibitions). On the contrary, and to the delight of the crowd at Madison Square Garden, the sister’s slugged it out and played some really entertaining tennis with Serena coming out on top, 6-4, 6-3.
I mentioned earlier in this post the USTA’s Tennis Night in America campaign. Let me explain how this fits with the BNP Paribas Showdown that I attended. The BNP Paribas Showdown was broadcast live on HBO and DirecTV. Tennis Night in America piggy-backed off of the Showdown and served to “kick-off” the tennis season for the US. The Australian Open has already happened, and we’re closing in on the French Open, closely followed by Wimbledon, and then the US Open Series and US Open. My colleagues at the USTA organized over 700 viewing parties for tonight’s event. These viewing parties happened at local tennis clubs, pizza shops, even Wal-Mart in one town. In conjunction with these viewing parties was a youth tennis registration component, so junior tennis players from all over attended and signed up for a variety of tennis programs offered in their area.
What a truly awesome idea – the Showdown, Tennis Night in America, and Youth Registration Night. Now that I’ve been working with the USTA for a while, I can only say that I wish that these kinds of functions and opportunities had been available for me when I was growing up. Which again reminds me why my job is so special. I get paid to provide awesome athletic opportunities for others. Wow.
Until next time, are you playing TheField?
Justin
Posted: Mar 2, 2009