USTA Florida Tournament Directors Workshop Goes Virtual

USTA Florida hosted its first-ever Virtual Tournament Directors Workshop in early June in an effort to connect with and educate Tournament Directors across the state about upcoming changes to the Junior Competitive structure.

The purpose of the mandatory workshop was to support and align the efforts of USTA staff, local tournament directors and volunteers to grow USTA sanctioned tournament participation. More than 160 participants took part in the three-day workshop – held June 1, 2, and 4 – on the Google Video platform.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled with our 2020 Virtual Florida TD Workshop,” says Jason Gilbert, Director of Youth Tennis. “We had a record number of participants and we received some very positive feedback regarding the time sensitive schedule and the great collaboration with our USTA National colleagues.”

Tournament directors were required to attend the workshop in order to apply for 2021 sanctioned events. USTA Florida’s goal was to present the new tournament structure and tournament sanctioning process as seamlessly as possible. The training included:

• An update on USTA Florida’s tournament resumption strategy
• Answers to all Florida-related questions on the new 2021 tournament alignment structure
• Demonstration of the new Serve Tennis platform and a question and answer session about the use of Serve Tennis products
• Onboarding training for the Serve Tennis platform
• Presentation and training on operating the Tournament Application process and Tournament Desk

Participants who shared their feedback on the virtual workshop said they enjoyed the flexibility of the schedule and the approach of sharing the information over several sessions. They also appreciated the seamless collaboration between USTA Florida and USTA staff who answered questions quickly and efficiently through the chatbox feature of the virtual platform.

Participants were also advised that the 2021 tournament sanctions period has been pushed back. The period will open on Aug. 15, 2020 and run through Nov. 1. 

“With our sanctioning period pushed back, it gave our Florida Section team the time necessary to schedule regional meetings with our tournament directors to ensure that our providers feel confident about what tournaments they are applying for and how to apply for them,” shares Gilbert. “We look forward to capitalizing on this great momentum in order to make our sanctioning process as smooth as possible.”

For more information on the resources and additional materials available for tournament directors, please visit www.USTAFlorida.com/tournamentdirectors.