GROW THE SPORT, YES -
BUT NOT THIS WAY

By Charles E. Vasoll

APTA President Mark Fischl has made it a major plank of his administration’s program to “grow” the sport of platform tennis by expanding it in the public sector. It is a worthy goal but the means by which it is being carried out raises some serious questions.

The first major effort in this program has been the grant (contribution?) to the Chapel Hill Tennis Club of $12,500.00 to assist in procuring two new courts for its members. As I see it the source of these funds must be the dues of the membership. The currant issue of the “membership publication” Platform Tennis does not indicate any other source. The Association has no other income, except maybe some donations, which are unlikely to be this substantial, even with its boast of tax-exempt status under IRS provision 501 (c)(3).

In the February issue of this web site in the “My Serve” article, I hit a sensitive nerve. It stated: Ad Out - APTA financial grant to Chapel Hill Tennis Club to build platform tennis courts. With permission of the author, Rich Green, I have published, in this issue, under “Volleying”, his reply to my observation. Everyone can be in favor of expanding our sport but our dues should not be funneled to a private club for this purpose. I was unaware that the next issue of Platform Tennis, which arrived at my mailbox a week later, would have a cover story on the project.

The headline of the article reads, “If We Build Them – Together – They Will Come”. This premise may apply to a fictional baseball diamond but it is not true for platform tennis. Right here in Mr. Fischl’s own backyard on Long Island, the Town of North Hempstead built four new courts, two each in Manorhaven and New Hyde Park and no one comes. There was no public demand for these courts. They replaced courts, which were never used, that were constructed in the late 1970’s when our sport was anticipated to be as popular with the masses as soccer. It did not happen. The courts were not used, fell apart and were dangerous eyesores. The Recreation Department of the Town decided to demolish and replace them.

With some materials from the APTA office, the Long Island Platform Tennis Association scheduled a demonstration in October 2005. Unfortunately it rained on the day chosen and the demonstration was canceled. It could never be rescheduled and no effort was made in 2006. It is not true that, if courts are built, they will be used. It takes a lot of promotional work, hours of volunteer time by the local professionals and others who love the sport to make the dream of a public, or even a private, platform tennis program work.

Money is also a factor. As demonstrated in the article in Platform Tennis, even if there is a strong interest to provide the sport in an area because of a racquet sports base, courts are expensive. The court builders may love the sport but they also need to run a business. While there is no monopoly in the field yet, the number of firms in the business of constructing and maintaining courts has dramatically declined. There is just not sufficient business for multiple competing firms.

“ Enter the APTA”, is a sub-headline in the magazine article. It states that “with the APTA flush with some cash”, a “grant” of $12,500.00 was approved by the Board of Directors in May 2006. The article indicates that the “APTA will closely monitor the Chapel Hill experiment” but makes no mention of whether the “grant” will be repaid to the APTA.

What I find really scary about this program is that it is billed as a prototype of the Association’s plans to grow the sport in the future. That, in my opinion, is not the way our dues are intended to be used. Grow the sport, of course, but not with donations to private organizations or even semi-private or public ones. The assignment of the Association is to be “promotional” not “financial”.

This is an issue which APTA members need to voice their dissent. I urge you to contact the APTA Board. Go to the web site www.platformtennis.org and use the menu to “Contact the APTA” or click HERE to send an email. Inform them that your dues are not intended to subsidize the purchase of courts for others in order to “grow the sport”.

Make your voice heard!

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