Los Angeles – TGA Premier Tennis (TGA) is growing youth participation in a sport primed for a generational resurgence. The innovative, franchise-driven youth sports “delivery system” is helping narrow the glaring age gap the tennis industry faces while reversing the national trends of child obesity and inactivity.
Through TGA’s innovative in-school, after-school programs and local camps, children and their families are staying active and engaged in tennis in increasingly-impressive numbers. TGA’s innovative curriculum, strategic collaboration with prominent United States Tennis Association sections and the dedication of local entrepreneurs who bring TGA Premier Tennis programs to communities across the country is impacting tennis participation in impressive numbers.
TGA CEO Joshua Jacobs thinks the sport that’s most-played by adults but the least-played by kids can be reconnected to younger generations with the right leadership and the right model for success. Jacobs has a vision and a plan to inspire the tennis industry to collaborate toward a common goal of creating self-sustaining and scalable programs that build pathways for millions of kids to become lifelong tennis players. Here, Jacobs shares that vision and his insights on getting more kids to discover the many rewards that come from learning and playing tennis.
TGA Premier Sports has a great deal of success bringing golf and tennis into schools and growing participation with your innovative curriculum and pathway programs. In how many schools and facilities does TGA Premier Tennis operate?
TGA operates tennis programs at 2,200 schools, community centers and facilities. Our delivery system starts by bringing introductory tennis programs that combine athletics and academics to schools and community centers thus breaking down the barriers to entry in the sport. After instilling a passion into the sport’s newest participants, we bridge the gap between off-court and on-court and extend the player pathway by providing recreational programming for youth and the entire family at facilities and local courts.
Since adding tennis to TGA Premier Sports’ youth sports offerings, you’ve engaged more than 150,000 kids. If you stay on your intended trajectory, what kind of growth and impact on the tennis business do you foresee in the next five to 10 years?
Based on all of the positive feedback we are receiving from schools and parents on our tennis programs, we have made a concerted effort to focus on growth and expansion through a major infrastructure change that will add 15-20 tennis chapters each year for the next 3-4 years. Based on our average participants per chapter and current growth trajectory of franchises, we plan to reach 1,000,000 tennis participants by 2025.
What are the greatest benefits a child will gain from learning to play tennis?
TGA believes Sports Change Lives and the benefits of tennis in this day and age are endless. Youth and families are active in a sport that doesn’t take a long time to play, costs are low, hand-eye coordination and motor skills are developed, it’s a lifelong sport and studies have shown that youth who play tennis have better academics and attendance in school. A win all around and the earlier you start, the better.
TGA Sports Foundation is enabling kids who wouldn’t otherwise take up the sport to learn and grow from it. What’s the mission of the foundation and how is it having a a positive impact on youth across the country?
Our mission has always been too intertwine sport, education and life lessons to change children’s lives. The difference between the TGA Sports Foundation and other youth sports foundations is two-fold. First, we execute the programs and, second, we impact the development of a child’s sports career throughout all levels of the player pathway. Introducing kids to sports and creating a passion is one thing, but engaging a child who exhibits talents and giving them the tools to grow and continue on with a sport like tennis can make a lifetime’s worth of impact on them.
TGA Premier Tennis classes aren’t all serves and volleys. Your coaches incorporate STEM/STEAM education components and life skills into the program. Why is this important and what’s the overall benefit to this unique approach? How is it impacting kids and families?
TGA was the first program in the tennis industry to incorporate STEM/STEAM, mainly because we had to break down barriers to entry in bringing tennis into schools. Doing so made our programs be truly viewed as enrichment and an extension of the classroom. Adding this component also differentiated TGA’s sports programs from others in the marketplace making tennis programs more attractive to parents and students who are deciding on which sport to try or stay in. It gets tennis into places where it’s not and puts tennis on a level playing field with traditional sports in regards to attracting new participants.
Tennis has been tabbed as one of the sports, like golf, that is the most-played by adults but the least-played by school-aged kids. With participation shrinking among baby-boomers, what is TGA’s approach to helping reduce that generation gap, bringing more youth and millennials to tennis?
When you look at the industry’s numbers the past decade, tennis ball sales are in line, which would equate to participation being steady. What’s masking the participation decline is that tennis players are getting older and playing more but it’s the same people playing and they are aging out. There aren’t many new players coming into the game in America and that’s backed up by junior and adult racquet sales being off by over 40%. TGA’s approach is reverse customer acquisition for people ages 25-45. Normally you go directly to adults, but TGA’s approach is to go where tennis isn’t available for juniors, create the access, and activate the juniors first in a safe environment while opening a communication portal to the parents to engage them.
Another unique aspect of TGA is that it is the only youth sports business company offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to own equity in a tennis franchise. Your regional chapters are operated by a franchise owner who has a connection to the local community. What are some of the benefits of using this model?
In the past, tennis has relied heavily on volunteers and marketing campaigns to grow the sport. TGA’s model identifies local entrepreneurs whose livelihood is based on activating new tennis participants and retaining tennis players through unique programs that break down barriers to entry into the sport. TGA chapter directors engage new coaches, deliver programs and are vested in the sport’s success because their ROI is tied to them. A franchise model also allows for a higher probability of consistent programs through quality control measures which equates to increased retention through the tennis player pathway while engaging a multitude of generations.
As the developer of this business that’s impacted so many kids, families, communities and entrepreneurs, what is most gratifying about your role as TGA works towards enrolling its one millionth student?
I grew up playing tennis and want to see it thrive. TGA is one cog in the wheel that makes up scores of tennis programs and delivery systems that embodies tennis participation throughout the industry. There’s a pride among our organization that we are, in some communities, the first exposure to tennis for youth and adults. We get to set the table for the sport and the experience students and parents will have throughout their tennis career whether that be recreational or competitive.
