USTA Names John Newcombe Tennis Ranch as a Certified Training Center
August 10, 2009
*WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — * The USTA announced today that the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas, has been named as a USTA Certified Regional Training Center as part of its continuing expanded efforts to develop future American tennis champions. The John Newcombe Tennis Ranch joins the Austin Tennis Academy, which was named as a USTA Certified Regional Training Center in May, creating a Regional Training Center network to better serve the junior tennis community in the Texas Section.
“We are thrilled to partner with the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in Texas which has a history of developing some of the country’s finest players,” said Martin Blackman, Senior Director, Talent Identification and Development, USTA Player Development, who oversees the USTA Regional Training Center program. “John has some of the game’s top coaches on his staff, and our Regional Training Center program will allow us to share the USTA’s coaching philosophy while also learning from the coaches who are developing some of the top talent in Texas.”
The USTA Certified Regional Training Centers will expand the USTA Player Development program’s reach throughout the country by partnering with academies, clubs and tennis centers that have a proven record of identifying and developing tennis players. In December, the USTA named the Racquet Club of the South in Atlanta and The Junior Tennis Champions Center in Maryland as its first two Certified Regional Training Centers, and in addition to the Texas network, the USTA named multiple sites in Chicago as part of a Midwest network last month with one more site still to be announced. The USTA plans to name between eight to ten more Certified Regional Training Centers throughout the country over the next five years.
“We are extremely excited about our relationship with the USTA,” said Newcombe, winner of 26 Grand Slam titles during his career. “We look forward to working closely together to assist in developing the finest young tennis talent in America.”
In addition to continuing their already existing programs, the USTA Certified Regional Training Centers will also host USTA Player Development camps for players, ages 10-14, in their respective regions. These players will be selected in conjunction with the USTA National coaching staff and their respective USTA Section Coaching Commission. The Centers will also help identify talent in players as young as 6-years-old, run programs using the QuickStart* format and host QuickStart tournaments for players 8-and-under and 10-and-under.
“We feel honored to partner with the USTA,” said Jeremy Fieldsend, President and COO, John Newcombe Tennis Ranch. “They are true professionals in every sense of the word and we look forward to a long and rewarding relationship.”
The camps will be staffed by the top coaches at the USTA Certified Regional Training Centers with assistance from the USTA national coaching staff. The coaches at the USTA Certified Regional Training Centers will also work in conjunction with the USTA Coaching Education program by working with and training the top coaches in their region and USTA Section. Additionally, the coaches will attend training sessions at USTA National Training Centers.
The John Newcombe Tennis Ranch is located in New Braunfels, Texas, and has been in existence for over 40 years. The world class tennis academy uses every aspect of tennis training to develop a player’s full potential with a strong emphasis on match play and tournament competition. In addition to Newcombe and Fieldsend, the Ranch’s management team is comprised of Director Phil Hendrie and Assistant Directors Jimmy Brown and Graham Miller.
The new USTA Player Development unit has been created to identify and develop the next generation of American champions by surrounding the top junior players and young pros with the resources, facilities and coaching they need to reach their maximum potential. The Player Development program is based at the USTA Training Facility in Boca Raton, Fla., and also utilizes the USTA West Coast Training Center in Carson, Calif. Last year, the USTA began implementing its Certified Regional Training Center program as part of its expanded efforts to develop future American tennis champions, which will expand the USTA Player Development program’s reach throughout the country by partnering with academies, clubs and tennis centers that have a proven record of identifying and developing tennis players. The USTA expects to name approximately ten more Regional Training Centers over the next five years.