USAPA travels to New York for USTA visit

From the desk of Justin Maloof, USAPA Executive Director

USAPA/USTA meeting in New York productive, encouraging

Recently, USAPA president David Jordan and I were guests of the US Tennis Association and flew to New York to meet with several USTA officials at their headquarters in White Plains. The purpose was an opportunity to open a direct line of communication between the two organizations and explore possible synergies between our two sports.

For me personally, touring their headquarters and getting a firsthand view of their infrastructure, storied tradition and their entire national operation (including their US Open division) gave me a new level of appreciation and admiration. This year, the sport of pickleball celebrates its 50th anniversary with USAPA operating for 10 years. Tennis on the other hand has been played since the 12th century and the USTA has been operating for over 130 years. We clearly have a long way to go, however the USTA is to be commended for establishing a model blue-print for us to emulate.

Following the tour and initial operational overviews of both organizations, we arrived at the crux of the meeting. Both groups are keenly aware of the tennis/pickleball “battles” over courts and other local-level issues. However, rather than focus on negative topics, this meeting was about exploring cooperative initiatives… court utilization, youth and senior programming initiatives, referee/coaching development, possible tournament concepts, etc. It was clear that both organizations are willing to explore joint initiatives and agreed that all racquet/paddle sports need to unite and work together to find common ground.

While no deals were signed or agreements reached, both groups committed to continue the dialog and follow up many of the discussion points after sharing with our respective boards. Personally, I’m excited about the prospects and certainly encouraged by the USTA’s appreciation of pickleball.