Walling Named by USTA Southern
July 28, 2011
ATLANTA — Chris Walling, of Atlanta, Ga., has been named USTA Southern Director of Adult Tennis and Section League Coordinator, USTA Southern Executive Director and COO John Callen announced today.
Walling has served in his present position as the Local League Coordinator for USTA Atlanta for three-and-a-half years. His accomplishments, while heading up more than 42,000 USTA League participants in the Atlanta area, include increasing participation by eight percent, organizing more than 30 volunteers and being awarded the 2009 Local League Coordinator of the Year by USTA Southern and USTA Georgia. USTA Atlanta is the largest USTA local league in the country by a wide margin.
“Over the past three-plus years, Chris has shown excellent leadership skills in promoting USTA League and expanding the program to more than 4,000 new tennis players using creative methods and gaining the support of the people he has touched,” Callen said.
USTA Southern Adult Leagues Committee Chairman Bonnie Vandegrift also noted Walling’s ability to understand the needs and the USTA League system. “USTA Southern’s goal is to grow the game of tennis and Chris has proven to be a leader who can reach out to new adult tennis players and support existing players in USTA Leagues,” she said.
Walling will begin his duties at the Southern Section Aug. 16.
About the USTA and USTA Southern
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level – from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. It owns and operates the US Open, the largest annually attended sporting event in the world, and launched the Olympus US Open Series linking 10 summer tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns the 94 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S., and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic games. A not-for-profit organization with more than 748,000 members, it invests 100 percent of its proceeds in growing the game. It is divided into 17 sections, of which USTA Southern is the largest. The 185,000+ USTA members living in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee make up USTA Southern, and account for approximately 25 percent of the total USTA membership. A professional staff housed in Norcross, Ga., carries out USTA Southern’s daily operations, but policy is formed and much of the organization’s work is executed via a board and committee structure of over 200 volunteers. For more information about the types of programs and services offered by USTA Southern, visit southerntennis.com.