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ITA Coaches Convention Recap

This past week I went down to Naples to attend the ITA Coaches Convention which was definitely a nice change of scenery for me since the colder winter temperatures have finally hit the St. Louis area. The ITA always has a knowledgeable group of speakers lined up with each having a different speciality so as a visitor it was nice to hear what everyone else had to say. Unlike the past few years there were no talk of scoring changes, since no-ad is here to stay, but there was discussion about the NCAA Championship format along with the some changes on player conduct. It seems to be all but a forgone conclusion that effective in 2019 the NCAA Championships...

More From The Convention

The 175 or so coaches that made the trip down to Naples for the 2015 ITA Coaches Convention got treated to a slew of terrific speakers and demonstrators who gave them tips on everything from developing a championship team to learning how to add 10 miles per hour to their player’s serve.While Sunday was loaded full of strategy sessions and round table meetings, Monday and Tuesday was a lot more loose with a number of high profile guest speakers with many of them providing on court demonstrations.The first half of Monday had 4 different coaches forums with each 45 minute forum talking about a different topic.  Pomona-Pitzer’s Ann Lebedeff, who...

2015 ITA Coaches Convention

Last month the ITA’s new COO, Erica Perkins Jasper, invited me to attend the ITA Coaches Convention as a guest of the ITA so I took her up on the offer and sat in on a lively day of discussion today in Naples at the lovely Naples Grande Beach Resort. The convention is open to all college coaches including assistants and I thought the turnout was pretty good for mid-December.The charismatic and lively Tim Russell, ITA’s new CEO, opened up the day with a few personal stories and then talked about a number of topics but said his main goal is to not only preserve college tennis but to strengthen, grow, and transform it. There are some other notes from...