A trend for meeting planners is clearly tennis, which should come as no surprise because in a recent study, it had the highest growth rate of all 114 traditional sports tracked in the US, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.
“It’s very simple [to organize]. It’s no more complicated than one or two phone calls to a pro to give him a list of the players,” said Veronica Scrimshaw, who plans meetings for NPA, The Worldwide Recruiting Network, in Grand Rapids, MI.
Tennis professionals agree that for the planner, a tennis activity can be a hassle-free addition to the meeting agenda. For a basic event, a planner need only call the tennis director with “a ballpark idea of how many people will play,” said Karen Brandner, director of tennis at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO.
Tennis pros are familiar with working with planners who are unfamiliar with the sport, so they know what questions to ask to determine the skill level of attendees and the setup that will suit the group best.
For the most part, tennis pros recommend striving for a fun, social event over an aggressive competition, to make beginner and intermediate players comfortable and keep competitive players from becoming mean-spirited and confrontational.
Group clinics can accommodate a range of ability levels, and for neophytes an introduction-to-tennis clinic is an easy, non-threatening way for attendees to get a feel for the game.
And golf, perennially popular with planners? Tennis between 2000 and 2005 grew more than 12%, while golf grew only 2.4% for that period.
Tennis also wins out in costs: golf is an average of $100 a player, while tennis is only $20, according to planners.
Report by David Wilkening
