Convention Info

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The annual Indiana Tennis Convention is less than four months away and the program is shaping up to be another power-packed weekend of great speakers and topics.  Here are some of the details and latest developments:

The convention is organized by the Indiana HS Tennis Coaches Association in conjunction with the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association & with the Indiana USPTA club pros in collaboration with the the USPTA Midwest Division.

LINE-UP:

Our keynote presenter on Friday will be John Embree, who is the CEO/Executive Director of the United States Professional Tennis Association in Lake Nona, Florida. You will enjoy meeting him! He has held a wide variety of influential tennis industry roles for more than 30 years. He has served as President of Prince Americas and President of Balle de Match. He also spent 17 years at Wilson Sporting Goods Co., where he was Vice President/General Manager in the Racquet Sports Division for six years.  He is on the Board of Directors of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. One of his proudest achievements in tennis was the creation of the USTA Adult League Tennis program in 1980, when he served as the first USTA Adult League Tennis Administrator for two years. He is coming to Indiana for the express purpose of talking to our high school coaches and teaching pros about the vital role that we all play in growing the game.

Although we have several regional and national level speakers, we have made a conscious effort to make sure that this year’s convention sessions will be very down to earth and practical for all skill levels.

For example, check out these topics designed to be helpful for newer coaches, for coaches with beginner players, and for middle school coaches:

* “Half of These Kids Came Straight Off the Couch!” — this session will be taught by Chip Fazio (USPTA Elite), who is the owner-director of First Serve Tennis in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.    This session focuses on how to get novice athletes into the game. This workshop will show you athletic assessments that are cleverly disguised as fun, competitive and tennis-relevant games.  The goal is to teach kids strokes that they will use and have a blast competing with in what may be their first year of tennis.  This workshop is also great for large no-cut teams. You will be able to get a lot of kids a lot of hits with this approach.

* “Basic Net Play for Beginners” — this session will be taught by Matt Boughton (USPTA). He is the tennis director, John & Fay Menard YMCA Tennis Center, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He will show how to teach volleys and overheads to newer players.

* “Serve Progression for Inexperienced Players” and “Helpful Tips for New Coaches” — These topics will be taught by Nick Bennett (USPTA Elite) of MatchPoint Tennis in Michigan. He has personally been developing a program at a small high school with novice players and is passionate about helping others in similar situations.

Of course, we also have plenty of sessions planned for more experienced coaches and higher-level instruction.  For example:

* “The Only 5 Things You’ll Ever Need to Practice” — this session will be taught by Scott Mitchell (USPTA Elite), who is Executive Director and CEO of Premier Tennis Consulting in Lake City, Florida. He will also teach a second session called “Go From Good Doubles to Great.” He grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, during the era of Bob Knight, Lee Corso and Jerry Yeagley. He played No. 1 singles for Bloomington H.S. North and was an all-state selection and state finalist in singles. He played college tennis at Indiana Univ. and following graduation moved to Hilton Head Island, SC to work for legendary Dennis Van der Meer. He has coached players of all levels and ages at clubs and high schools throughout several states.  He is a well-regarded convention speaker.

* “Slice Backhand — Why, How and When” — this session will be taught by Derek Ameel (USPTA Elite).  He is the director of the Ferris State University Professional Tennis Management program in Big Rapids, Michigan.  Derek is career tennis professional with more than 30 years of experience and is a veteran presenter at tennis workshops.  He has special interests in biomechanics, nutrition and exercise science.

* “Fast Action Drills with 6-8 Players on a Court” — this session will be taught by Tony Epkey, former Center Grove HS and Ball State Univ. star who is a pro at the UIndy Tennis Center.

* “Teaching High Percentage Tactics in a Group Setting” — this session will be taught by Chris Chopra (USPTA Master Pro).  He is the tennis director at the IU Tennis Center in Bloomington and is a popular convention presenter.

Another interesting speaker will be Beau Tillman, who will be joining us from Kansas. He is a former state and national champion wrestler and coach who now works with Winning Mindset, which specializes in developing athletes and programs through a focus on mental toughness.

And as always, we will have much more, including the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association’s Coaches Corner drills, some rules discussion by IHSAA assistant commissioner Chris Kaufman, and some instruction on Pickleball by Brownsburg Coach Spencer Fields and how to use it to help your young tennis players. IHSTeCA president and Delta HS Coach Tim Cleland will present on a topic to be determined.

We also are bringing back our Idea and Drill Exchange, which has been on hiatus for a few years. This popular addition to the conference is an invitation for all attendees to bring 100 copies of their two favorite drills and two things they do to make their program special to the players. Everyone who participates will receive a packet with all the drills and ideas. Rookie coaches also can get a packet, even if they don’t have anything to contribute to the packet yet.

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