For decades’ tennis was a very popular sport and especially among American adults. The golden age of tennis in the 1970s, 1980s and into the early 1990s was sparked by professional stars like Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Chris Evert and Andre Agassi. It was a hot sport and participation was at an all-time high.
Then in quick fashion the sport double-faulted. Television ratings plummeted to an all-time low. Equipment sales dropped. The professional stars were suddenly being characterized as prima donnas, the brand of the sport took a hit and overall participation hit an all-time low, too.
Much of the story was outlined in a 1994 Sports Illustrated cover story titled “Is Tennis Dying” by famed writer Sally Jenkins. Her piece smashed the industry over the head with a racquet. However, it also ignited an industry effort to come together behind the leadership of the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The USTA started developing a plan and programs to grow the sport for the future.
The Jenkins article mostly explored the professional side of the sport and its struggle with players, tournament organizations and structure. It touched only briefly on growing the sport through inner-city programs. Similar to situations with other sports industries and their media outlets, the focus was primarily on the competitive side of the sport and in effect neglected to talk about ways to plant the necessary seeds to create future growth in the sport.
It is apparent this generation of American tennis stars have not impacted the growth of the sport either. The attention given today to professional tennis in America, in fact, is avoiding life-support thanks mainly in part to Serena Williams and the women’s side of the bracket.
Thank goodness for women stars and the USTA. The sport’s governing body has realized the importance of youth programming, and has focused on and developed a variety of successful grassroots programs including community tennis, 10 and Under Tennis, Junior Team Tennis and Tennis Play-Days.
While these programs work within the traditional tennis framework, a new model has surfaced where entrepreneurialism is challenging the conventional wisdom of how tennis should be funded (donations) and run (volunteers).
TGA Premier Tennis, founded in 2011, is 80% after-school “enrichment” programs for children (ages 5-13) in kindergarten through eighth grade, run at local school districts, private schools and community centers and 20% camps, parent/child events run at partner tennis facilities or community courts. But what makes TGA unique is it’s scaling through a franchise model, vesting local entrepreneurs to grow the sport of tennis in their area. Why…because their livelihood and quality of life depends on it.
TGA’s franchise endeavor started in the golf industry back in 2003 and today TGA Premier Golf is the leading introductory and recreational program with over 650,000 youngsters going through the program nationwide. The model is now impacting the competitive side of golf and creating lifelong players for the future.
“If you increased the number of kids ages 5-13 and adults ages 25-45 playing the sport by 5 million or 10 million, you increase participation rates and potentially develop the next champion,” says Joshua Jacobs, founder and CEO of TGA. “In order to do that you need to present a high value proposition for the sport across all ages to the people who do not play. Easier said than done with all the activities, responsibilities and sports options for people those ages.”
The TGA (Teach, Grow, Achieve) model caught the attention of the USTA, which quickly formed a national partnership helping to develop the program curriculum and provide industry support. Under their current structure, the USTA recognized the value of the franchise model and how it provides quality control for programs and accountability for measuring growth in participation rates and gathering critical consumer data.
To date, TGA is in 39 markets across the nation accounting for one in every four school programs, and is providing the only measurable quantifiable data in the industry when it comes to youth participation.
The self-sustaining model, which doesn’t require donations or has had any financial support from the USTA, allows prospective business owners and entrepreneurs a vested interest and incentives to grow the sport at the grassroots level. Entrepreneur Magazine even recognized TGA as a “Top 10 Franchise Value” with its affordable start-up costs and fees.
USTA Sections are also seeing the benefits of the TGA model. Tara Fitzpatrick-Navarro, the Executive Director of the USTA Mid-Atlantic Section recognized the innovative approach of TGA. She realized it would increase the sport’s exposure in schools and create job opportunities as well as give the staff incentive to grow the sport. In a recent Tennis Magazine “Heroes” story, Navarro was highlighted for her vision of acquiring the first “TGA Master Franchise,” which covers the states of Virginia, Maryland, part of West Virginia, and District of Columbia.
As Fitzpatrick-Navarro explained in the article, there are mutual benefits to bringing TGA into the region.
“We set it up, provide the training and resources,” she says, “and let the employees function within the support we’ve provided the overall company, while also getting to be entrepreneurial about running their own business within USTA Mid-Atlantic.”
TGA’s impact is at several levels. First, by bringing introductory tennis programs directly into schools and community centers through before- or after-school enrichment programs, it is putting tennis on a level playing field with other mainstream sports. Second, TGA creates a pathway for students and families from the school programs to recreational programs at tennis facilities that include camps, Play Day Series, as well as USTA Junior Team Tennis and Junior Tournaments.
TGA provides all of the equipment for kids at no cost in the program, and has launched its own line of custom tennis equipment to provide all players an affordable option to get into the sport.
Families and schools have embraced the model and its programs because it creates a healthier and safer environment for students at schools and community centers. The school-based curriculum includes tennis skill progression, education subjects and STEAM Labs, in addition to physical fitness and health components.
“Every new TGA tennis chapter is creating programming at schools, community centers and tennis facilities that impact students and families through the lifelong sport,” Jacobs says. “TGA believes sports changes lives, and through passionate business owners we are creating sustainable tennis programs that grow the sport in the communities we are serving.”
The model is working. Franchise inquiries on a monthly basis have grown into the hundreds from passionate entrepreneurs looking to start their own business and be involved in the sport of tennis and impacting youth.
Imagine where the sport might be today had this model been introduced during tennis’ golden era?
For more information visit www.franchisetga.com.
