Get Out on Court for Play Tennis Month!
May 4, 2018
With thousands of programs and events across the country in the month of May, current and new tennis players are finding it easier than ever to get moving and healthy—and enjoying the sport of tennis.
Play Tennis Month is an industry-wide campaign that involves hundreds of tennis providers and locations in the U.S. Already, there are more than 1,500 events posted on PlayTennisMonth.com, and the number is growing daily, as tennis providers continue to add locations and programs to the searchable database on PlayTennis.com.(For Play Tennis Month Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), click here.)
“We have a goal for the entire month of May for Americans to burn a combined 10 million calories on the court in Play Tennis Month activities in support of PHIT America,” says Jolyn de Boer, the executive director of the Tennis Industry Association (TIA). “Tennis is the perfect activity for Americans of all ages to use to get moving and healthy. The impact of physical inactivity has wide-reaching implications in the U.S.” The TIA is working with PHIT America and its founder, Jim Baugh, as part of a nationwide awareness campaign to shed light on the country’s “inactivity pandemic.”
Many locations are focusing on Cardio Tennis, a group fitness session with an instructor on a tennis court in which participants often burn an average of 600 calories an hour. For instance, on Saturday, May 5, Midtown Athletic Clubs in Chicago will be offering the “World’s Largest Cardio Tennis Party,” involving all four of its clubs in the Chicago area on at least 20 total courts.
The lead-up to Play Tennis Month included a 200-person Cardio Tennis session held April 20 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. Participants burned nearly half a million calories at the National Campus that day. (Watch the video here.)
For Play Tennis Month, tennis providers can offer any programs they’d like. The tennis provider website RallyTheIndustry.org has suggested program formats that emphasize fitness and how fun and social tennis is. Among suggested formats are Cardio Tennis sessions, Try Tennis Free and PlayTennisFast programming, and POP Tennis on shorter, 60-foot courts.
Play Tennis Month also helps to support PHIT America. Many Play Tennis Month events will include fund-raisers to benefit PHIT America GO! Grants, which provide funds for physical education in schools, including supporting equipment and curriculum for the new Net Generation youth tennis initiative.
To find out more, and to find a location and programs for tennis, visit PlayTennisMonth.com. Follow us on social media and tag #playtennismonth to join the movement this May!