Tennis vs. pickleball players — can’t we all just get along?

The USTA Southern Advocacy Task Force has been working on documents that help guide individuals and organizations to maintain or build more tennis courts and pickleball courts so we all have a place for the sport we love.

Paul Pittman and Rainey Johns are here to discuss tennis vs. pickleball.

USTA Southern’s Advocacy Task Force

Paul and Rainey are two members of the USTA Southern’s Advocacy Task Force and Paul is the Chair. He was the President of USTA South Carolina, was inducted into the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame, and has been on the Southern Board of Directors. He has captained 27 teams, 3 of which won state titles.

Rainey Johns served on USTA Kentucky’s Board of Directors for 12 years, including two as President, and is now on the USTA Southern Board of Directors. She also serves on the National Parks Committee. Rainey played both soccer and softball in college and started playing tennis as an adult.

Guidance for Advocacy

Is your or your organization experiencing pressure from pickleball players? The materials linked throughout are designed to inform decision-makers and promote tennis. The first document, What to Do Now: Action Items, offers important things to consider and pursue. Documents two and three, What to Say Now: Talking Points and What to Present Now: Working Template, is aimed at framing communication and providing support for successful tennis advocacy. The fourth document, What to Use Now: Essential Resources, cites useful resources.

Be An Advocate for Tennis

The Advocacy Task Force was not formed to only discuss issues like tennis vs. pickleball. It was formed for multiple reasons which include advocating for better public programming, new or expanded facilities or overdue repairs, or working to protect existing courts.

Pushing for programming that reaches new and under-served populations can also be difficult. However, there is a growing need to expand, repair, and protect tennis courts, and an even more pressing need to make tennis more accessible to everyone.

This is the reason USTA Southern had formed its Advocacy Task Force — to promote and maintain the game of tennis. We need YOU to be an advocate for tennis too!

Tennis Warehouse’s Tip of the Week

We hope you’ve heard some of our Tennis Warehouse’s Tip of the Week segments with Michelle. Use discount code SECONDSERVE in your Tennis Warehouse cart and get $20 off clearance apparel orders over $100. Clearance apparel can be found here!

For more in-depth discussions about gear, check out Michelle’s Talk Tennis podcast.

We hosted Michelle for several great podcast episodes too. You can find them here:

Ep. 118: Gear Talk with Tennis Warehouse’s Playtester, Michelle (Ep. 1)
Ep. 119: Gear Talk with Tennis Warehouse (Ep. 2)
Ep. 120: Gear Talk with Tennis Warehouse (Ep. 3)