Are All Tournaments Terrific? um, well, not really

 

Have you ever wondered how we select which tournaments to go to? Props to the late Andy Rooney-RIP...

I remember 6+ years ago when I discovered the Tennis Link website for the first time. WOWOW! There were tournaments EVERYWHERE. Quite literally...here a tournament, there a tournament, everywhere a tournament!!! If we'd wanted to, we could have gone to a tournament in my home state of MN, in Danny's home state of NC, and in pretty much every state in between. But how would we ever decide WHICH ones to go to?

Hmmm. Now that was the million dollar question! It was also the question for which we had absolutely NO answer!!! As in every other aspect of our business, we couldn't exactly google it...we had to LIVE IT to LEARN IT. We went through many trials and made more errors than we'd ever care to admit.

Back then, we knew almost zero about junior tennis...Sections? Levels? Open? Closed? Uh-uh..We really didn't know anyone or anything except this: we saw athletes in almost every other sport reviewing game film and using video technology to improve their performance...and we saw that no one was doing it for tennis...and we knew we were on to something.

A Brief Look Back

We went to our first tournament in January 2006 ONLY so we could get acquainted with the tennis community. We never in a million years expected to be going to even one more tournament (not to mention 25+ a year). Oh, but we thought "Just wait until they see what we can do for them!!!" We really thought coaches would be lining up to take advantage of our technology. What a great idea! We'd buy and learn this expensive, time-consuming stuff so they didn't have to. They could hire us once a week, once a month, or once a year and we'd help them become better coaches because they could concentrate on the coaching and we'd concentrate on the technology. Working with HIGH-TECH TENNIS, these coaches could SHOW their students instead of just TELLING them how to improve! What a great way to demonstrate the value of their instruction!

Except things didn't exactly work out as we'd planned. Not even close. In fact, we were almost out of business before we were even in it. So we had to regroup - and fast. Fortunately, a mother at that very first tournament really wasn't that interested in the fancy-schmancy Dartfish video analysis we were so excited about...but she was VERY interested in having us record her daughter's match. VOILA! We were so busy trying to sell cadillacs and all they wanted was volkswagons!

Tournaments-R-Us

As I mentioned, we discovered the wonderful world of Tennis Link and we didn't know which tournaments to go to...so we tried to go to them ALL. SERIOUSLY. We went to a tournament almost every single weekend for almost one whole year. Can you imagine?!? We went to tournaments in Belton, SC and St. Augustine, FL and many, many places in between. The only thing we were REALLY successful at in those days was in identifying the tournaments to avoid!!! Oh my...There were many, many times when we didn't even earn enough money to cover our gas.

YIKES...We learned some really hard lessons the really hard way --- but fortunately, we don't have to repeat those lessons because we've learned from our mistakes and today, we have a pretty good understanding of what we're doing and where we're doing it, LOL. We are very proud of our excellent repuation and we work to protect it in every way on every day. We know that one of THE most precious things we have is amazing relationships with amazing people. This is truly INVALUABLE to us. I'm talking about people who understand what we do...AND WHY. We are committed to making video technology available to help EVERY athlete improve his or her performance.

"All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents."
John F. Kennedy

We ask for absolutely nothing but access to an electrical outlet and the opportunity to enhance these tournaments by adding value AND fun for players, parents, and coaches alike....but our customers are often stunned to realize that we sometimes have to PAY A FEE for the opportunity to provide our services to you at tournaments. All tournament directors are different - some want $750 up front, some want 25%, some want something in between - and we always stress that we're responsible for all expenses but we have to control our costs in order to keep our prices as low as possible. As I shared with a tournament director just yesterday, we are comfortable with any of the following arrangements:

• Many TDs charge us nothing (and some even comp our hotel room) because they recognize we are an amenity that makes a good tournament better.
• Many TDs ask us to provide complimentary video recording for certain players (either from their academy or for those players who might not have financial resources to take advantage of video).
• Some TDs ask us to provide a complimentary tournament video they can later use to promote the tournament on their website.
• Some TDs ask us to contribute 10% to the county.

So...just in case you ever wondered, which I doubt you ever have...Now you know how we choose which tournaments to go to: We avoid TDs who are more interested in what's in it for them than in what's in it for the players.

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."
Arthur Ashe