justin's Blog
Blur
This week has gone by in an absolute blur. After my phone call with Glenn early on in the week, I had high hopes that I'd be able to knock through a bunch of the work that I have in front of me for the USTA National Campus Championship. Not so. All of the side projects that I referenced in my last post took over. These side projects are great - they're fun to work on, I get to collaborate with my colleagues in other areas, etc. They just take time away from what I really need to be focusing on right now - the USTA National Campus Championship.I think the most exciting side project that I've been working on lately is a fundraising idea with the USTA Membership department. The Tennis On Campus program doesn't require a USTA membership to participate, so it's been historically challenging finding a way to collaborate. An idea was born back in the fall and it's slowly come to the stage of testing. Basically, we're empowering the college club tennis teams in the Tennis On Campus program to promote USTA memberships, and they are incentivized for each one that they sell. Nothing new, but it took us quite some time to put two and two together.
Our club tennis teams are always looking for creative fundraising ideas. As student-funded organizations on campus, they are constantly competing with other student organizations on campus - both other sport clubs and random clubs - for dollars from the university and local businesses. This simple fundraiser for the Tennis On Campus program allows the club tennis team on any campus to differentiate themselves from the other organizations. While you may think that the fundraiser also limits the pool from which they can fish, that isn't true. USTA membership offers so many benefits - for tennis players, tennis fans, and their non-tennis affiliated friends. We're talking discounts on sports gear, travel, hotels, rental cars, dining, book stores, etc. Most people don't know about all of these benefits, which is another reason this fundraiser may take off - it also serves to educate the clubs running the fundraiser on the benefits of USTA membership. This program is only in the pilot stage right now - there are 6 clubs testing it out for us right now - so we'll see if it's successful or not. I'm cautiously optimistic...
The other peripheral project that I've been working on is the first ever Tennis On Campus Awards. The Tennis On Campus program has been around since 2000, but has been in a constant state of growth. While we're still growing, there are club tennis teams that have been around for quite some time and are starting to mature and do some truly awesome things - creative fundraising and marketing of their club, coaching local high school tennis teams, working with their varsity tennis teams on campus, doing community outreach and community service projects - it's really amazing. It was clear that we needed to start recognizing the clubs that are going above and beyond just providing tennis for a select few students on their campus. We want to recognize and promote the clubs that are becoming woven into the fabric of the campus and greater communities.
This is a project that is going to be, eventually, led by the Tennis On Campus Committee, but since the committee is so new, I've been carrying the ball down the field. I'd written the criteria for these awards in late 2008, created an online application, and conducted the promotion of the award. The last day we were accepting applications was February 28, so we're now in the evaluation stage. There are a lot of great applicants - it's definitely going to be a difficult decision for the committee. We've got a conference call set up for next week to discuss the applications - more time away from working on the USTA National Campus Championship - but an important step forward for our program.
Oh, and in addition we're working on the Tennis On Campus Awards becoming a part of the official USTA Awards. I won't go into much detail about this, but it's looking good at the moment and this would really cement the Tennis On Campus program as a vital component in the spectrum of one's tennis life for the USTA.
Until next time, are you playing TheField?
Justin
Posted: Mar 6, 2009