USPTA INTERMOUNTAIN July 13, 2020 President’s Message - Andy Zodin Dear USPTA Intermountain Pros- I hope your summers are going well, and that you are staying healthy. I hope the same for your staff and your clients. It has been a challenging year on so many levels. It seems everyone is doing things just a little differently from facility to facility, as we all have to assess our own situations using our best judgement on protocols, programming, etc. 2020 will obviously not go down as a great year for professional tennis. Is it on? Is it off? Fans? No fans? Travel concerns, travel bans, all have made for some frustrating, confusing, and scary times for all of us in the sport. My feeling is that we have to do some pretty creative thinking, to make sure we work together to maintain what we can, and re-ignite momentum based on the new normal. That said, has the new normal even been clearly defined yet? Probably not. So it's hard to give definitive advice, even though some people are pretty sure they are experts - though they have never done a day of medical school! I know you all have plenty of these folks at your clubs. So what advice I can give as we move toward (hopefully) better times, is to keep playing it safe. Conduct business, but conduct it with the big picture in mind. We all have lots of people who are "under our care", and that's a responsibility that we must take very seriously. I've said before, and I'll say it again, let's be a part of the solution. Tennis is a safe sport, I agree. It's especially safe if we adhere to the basic protocols of avoiding big groups of people in the same area, or on the same court! In a nutshell, do your thing, do it responsibly and be creative. Best to all of you. Have a great rest of summer! Andy Zodin Director of Tennis, Columbine Country Club President, USPTA Intermountain Division Show Host, Mile High Sports Radio 303 520 7676 (cell) Do your thing, but BE SMART! Big groups in one area may not qualify as intelligent or safe programming! USPTA Intermountain Summer 4 USPTA INTERMOUNTAIN July 13, 2020 Hello Tennis Pros, I wanted to let you know about a Tennis Ball Decontamination device that I have been using for the last 6 weeks to disinfect my lesson balls of any covid19 virus. The ThermalStrike Decontamination System is simple, easy to use, doesn’t involve chemicals and uses science that is backed by clinical research from Stanford University and the World Health Organization. Virus’ aren’t going away. These devices should be a part of every clubs’ teaching equipment along with ball hoppers and ball machines. Putting our lesson balls in the ThermalStrike (holds 230 balls) each day allows us to start the next day’s lessons with virus free balls. It is a great comfort to our teaching New Wyoming pros and to our students. It has become part of my marketing for our tennis programs to demonstrate to students that we are doing everything we can to keep USPTA Professionals their tennis experience safe. Congratulations to Kyle Maines, Seth You can check out a video that shows how it works https://www.youtube.com/ Davidson, and Brendan Lock on testing watch?v=ZM3Q3aeKyf8 up in Cheyenne Wyoming. Ginger Phillips continues to do an amazing job testing We are discounting the ThermalStrike Pro from $299 to $249 for Intermountain throughout the region for us. USPTA Pros. Congratulations to all and welcome to USPTA Intermountain. Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions. Larry Lewis USPTA [email protected] 970-988-6624 USPTA Intermountain Summer 4 USPTA INTERMOUNTAIN July 13, 2020 USPTA/USTA Dues Subsidy Requirements Get FREE 2021 Dues! Dear Certified Teaching Professional, As part of the COVID-19 industry relief program, the USPTA and the USTA have partnered to offer FREE 2021 USPTA membership dues to certified teaching professionals that meet the following requirements by October 1, 2020: 1. Reside and teach in the United States. 2. Be a USPTA certified teaching professional in good standing. 3. Complete USPTA Continuing Education requirements (details below). 4. Complete USTA Safe Play and background screening. 5. Make a "good faith" effort and introduce 50 new people to tennis. While the dues subsidy is available to all USPTA certified teaching professionals, requirements vary slightly based on your continuing education cycle. Those requirements are shown in the table below. In all cases, USTA Safe Play, including a background screening, is required. To get started, visit USPTA.com and log in to your account. Check your education status to determine your education cycle and the number of education credits that you have already earned towards that total. The table below specifies the requirements for each education cycle to qualify for the 2021 dues subsidy. ! There is more than enough time to meet your requirements, so don’t wait until the last minute. The USPTA conducts live weekly webinars and offers a library of recorded webinars for members to earn education credits. Additionally, the upcoming 2020 World Conference Virtual Event is another opportunity to earn education credits. For information on USTA’s Safe Play training and background screening, visit USTA.com. Should you have any questions or require any additional information on the 2021 Dues Relief Subsidy, please contact the USPTA Membership Department by email at [email protected] or by calling (800) 877-8248. Take advantage of this incredible offer and get your 2021 USPTA membership for FREE! USPTA Intermountain Summer 4 USPTA INTERMOUNTAIN July 13, 2020 IDAHO NEWS - Bill Gray - Idaho District President Idaho is welcoming the summer of 2020 in a much different way than in years’ past. The Coronavirus/ Covid 19 virus has definitely impacted the sport of tennis in this state along with just about every other aspect of the state. Idaho’s first confirmed case of novel coronavirus was reported on 3/13/20 in Ada County. On March 25, 2020, Idaho Governor Brad Little issued a statewide stay-at-home order and signed an extreme emergency declaration to last at least 21 days, effectively shutting down all tennis facilities and courts. Even most of the school tennis courts were padlocked and unavailable to tennis players. Needless to say, most tennis professionals and coaches were unable to work for several weeks this spring. On April 15, 2020 Governor Little extended that order through April 30th. He, along with the help of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and guidance from President Donald Trump and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, later announced an Idaho Rebounds Plan to reopen the state in 4 distinct stages. Gyms and tennis facilities were allowed to reopen with restrictions during the Stage 2 on May 16th as long as they had operational plans in place and were able to adhere to guidance to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19. Most clubs were allowed to reopen and adhered to the 6 foot social distancing guidelines, regular disinfecting of the business and the wearing of face mask/coverings. On May 28th, Idaho moved onto Stage 3 which allowed for increased gatherings of up to 50 people. Finally, on June 13th, Idaho moved onto the final stage, Stage 4, although just barely. Unfortunately, since reopening at Stage 4, Idaho has seen a sharp resurgence of cases and we regressed to Stage 3 on June 24th. This past week has seen daily cases of confirmed positive cases surpass 100 daily, with 310 newly confirmed and probable cases announced on June 26th. So what does all this mean for tennis in Idaho? Well, most tennis clubs in Idaho are open with restrictions to attempt to reduce the transmission of the virus. Face masks and social distancing are strongly encouraged along with such things as limited availability of chances of contamination with touching of tennis balls, water jugs, benches. Etc. Many clubs are conducting routine hourly disinfecting schedules and limiting places where people would normally gather. Tennis professionals are being responsible to make sure everyone they work with do not touch tennis balls without gloves, sanitizing often and not being able to touch ball hoppers or other equipment. Social distancing of 6 feet is strongly monitored. Staff and members are strongly encouraged to wear masks. Many clubs are allowing small group classes and activities with a strong emphasis on social distancing and disinfecting. Junior and Adult tournaments have restarted but with noticeably lower participants and increased restrictions. Idaho is in a position to see even more restrictions if the Covid-19 cases continue to escalate. As the graph below illustrates, the cases are escalating quickly since we entered Stage 4 although the majority of cases appear to be affecting the younger age groups so the hospitals are not being taxed too significantly yet. Unfortunately, this virus will affect tennis in many realms including rankings, tennis tournaments offered, decreased socialization, decreased revenues for clubs and professionals’ salaries, and overall participation. It is too early to determine how severely our sport will be affected but as tennis advocates, we will all cross our fingers and hope that this virus can be controlled sometime hopefully in the near future so that we can all get back to playing and enjoying all this wonderful sport. Please stay well during these unprecedented times! USPTA Intermountain Summer 4 USPTA INTERMOUNTAIN July 13, 2020 Matt Helm - USPTA Intermountain Board - Vice President Covid-19 has certainly impacted all of us in the tennis industry in a lot of different ways.