Episodes

Tennis has a beautiful history, and Jim McCready is at the forefront of keeping that history alive and in front of tennis and sport fans across the world. Former Director of The APTA and a legend both on the tennis and platform tennis courts, Jim states that “tennis has been his life.” His collection subtitled, Tennis At The Turn, started at The Belle Haven Club in Greenwich, Connecticut with a couple of 19th Century beautifully crafted wooden racquets. 40 years later, Jim is still accumulating...

Jennifer Gelhaus has always been before her time. She started college early at the tender age of 16, after being recruited from her native Venezuela to play Division II tennis here in the United States. She left home and took a chance. She took a step into college coaching before moving to Long Island and serving as Director of Juniors at one of the most prestigious clubs in the nation, Maidstone Club. Now, she’s taken a leap once again, and has moved on to become Director of Tennis at East Chop...

Simon Gale, Director of Racquets, USTA National Campus Simon Gale is at the top of our industry. As the Director of Racquets at the USTA National Tennis Center in Lake Nona, Florida, Simon oversees four head professionals and nearly one hundred courts across the campus. From hosting national USTA league finals to teaching locals on a daily and weekly basis, Simon has taken the USTA National Campus to new heights. And this month, he’s taking it to new sports. Padel and Pickleball are set to be a...

Denise Duda, one of the leading Directors of Fitness in the country, is this week’s guest on the BTB Podcast. Denise Duda recently retired as Director of Fitness and Wellness at Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club in Orchid, FL. Having accepted a new challenge up in New York for just a few months a year, Denise now being semi-retired opened up to us about her work, her programming and her secrets behind her incredible success at one of the leading Platinum Clubs of America. What Denise never negl...

A Podcast in our Series: Women in our Industry Cari Buck grew up at one of the elite clubs in Massachusetts, The Wianno Club.. Her father was the director of tennis at the summer club in Osterville, Massachusetts. She’s never forgotten those days, and from those childhood summers and watching her father managing and marketing a tennis department she knew what she wanted to do. Cari, did just that, and is one of those rare finds: a female director of tennis. Cari is well-versed in our industry, h...

Doug Cash Joins the BTB Podcast Doug Cash, founder of CashFlow Tennis, joins the BTB Podcast and discusses how Covid has changed the club industry and what to expect as we head through 2021. Nothing will remain untouched by the virus, says Doug. From the large fitness national chains which have lost up to 70 percent of their monthly dues revenues, through to country clubs which, on the other hand, have been seen as sanctuaries and have raised dues. Every facet of club membership is evolving as ...

CNN and Fox News Contributor Vero Gibbons joins the BTB Podcast! Vera Gibbons joins the podcast today for a discussion of all things tennis, Presidents and the steady migration of Americans to Southern States and what that might mean for tennis and court availability next winter, dinner reservations and traffic up and down the Florida peninsula. Vera, a heralded newscaster, started her career on the financial side of journalism at the Kiplinger Report. She moved on to CNBC and the show “High N...

Butch Buchholz had an idea. He had an idea as to what professional tennis should look like. He had a dream and he played and toured the world with a vision. And in August of 1967 he played in front of a packed Centre Court at Wimbledon and guaranteed the presence of paid professional players returning to Wimbledon in June of 1968 and the beginning of the Open Era. Wimbledon, in 1967, had invited 8 of the touring pros – back before pros were allowed to play at all the Grand Slams. The pros were ...

Margit Bannon Joins The Podcast In Our Series On Women In Our Industry Magit Bannon, USPTA instructor, yoga teacher and now entrepreneur takes us through her jump into self-employment. Having a court in her backyard and looking at her 30 minute commute for many years, she has jumped into business for herself with her Play Tennis, Practice Yoga brand, based in Punta Gorda, Florida. What she didn’t realize? The amount of time she would be spending on marketing and social media along with the com...

Kelsey Waite, Head Professional at Bethesda Country Club Joins the BTB Podcast She once heard the term unicorn used to describe a female teaching tennis pro, and that picqued her interest. Kelsey Waite had completed her college degree and was figuring out how to apply her newly found skills in science and French when someone asked her to help teach tennis. She’s now a Head Pro at one of the country’s most elite clubs. Kelsey Waite – from waitress to head professional. Coming to the industry un...

Harry Gilbert really does direct an orchestra, an orchestra of well-trained staff members, junior players and adult club members. He does it with aplomb and always with a smile on his face as he has waved his racquet and baton at clubs up and down the East Coast and on the islands for the past 40 years. Director of Tennis for the last 23 years at Waccabuc Country Club, located in the hills on the Westchester and Putnam county line in New York State, Harry has built an engaging and enormous prog...

Patrick Kearns, Executive Director of 4-Star Camps, joins the BeyondTheBaselines.com Podcast in the third of our series “From The Director’s Desk.” Patrick Kearns, former Director of Tennis at Farmington Country Club and The Country Club of Darien, joins us as the Executive Director of 4-Star Camps based at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Although this past summer he had to cancel camp, this summer he is also looking to possibly defer camp for another year. He explains that Covid-...

Wick Simmons, former CEO of NASDAQ and Chairman of The Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, Joins The Podcast Hardwick Simmons has been in the financial world for over 45 years. He’s played tennis since the age of 8 and the first job he held was rolling courts at his beloved club in Marion, MA. He still plays tennis there at the club and remains active in finance and the business world. Just how did this Wall Street financier combine his work life with his love of tennis and help to bring the ATP to f...

Chris Gale, Director of Tennis at River Oaks Country Club, joins the BeyondTheBaselines.com and our “From The Desk of The Director” Podcast Series From his Australian birth, to the roots he set in New York, through to his work at some of the most elite New England Clubs, Chris Gale now finds himself at the esteemed River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas. Chris discusses how his personal growth and business experience in the industry allowed him to follow his path to a club with 4,500 members ...

Michael Morrison literally sees it all – from first serves to the longest drive. Having worked all the major tennis and golf tournaments and events such as the Olympics, Michael has a finger on the pulse of the ATP and WTA Tour like no other person. He monitors each golf and tennis major from the first tee off and first serve to the final putt or winning championship point. Serving the broadcast and sporting industries for over a dozen years, Michael has found a niche combining software developm...

by Ed Shanaphy, USPTA, PTR It’s the age old question: What should be a tennis professional’s compensation? Is your club paying too much for that junior tennis instructor, that Pilates instructor, or is your department head at tennis or fitness leaving annually because the compensation package is just too low for your region? There are so many ways to slice a pie, there seems to be no clear industry standard as to what a “regular” compensation package should be for an instructor or a Director of...

Author and outstanding player Judy Aydelott recounts the many places she and her husband, Gordon, have played and the people they have met through tennis in the half-century of playing as top amatuers in the nation. From the national husband/wife tournament to raising two daughters, both of whom are outstanding athletes, Judy takes us from the beginning of the family’s love of tennis, to the courts of Waccabuc Country Club, to the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow. Judy and Gordon ...

The inner self can be the voice that saves you. It can also identify and make you. Unlocking the learning from within is the key, according to Emma Doyle. Emma, one of the world’s premier coaches, has toured the world speaking and looking at making the female a better player, and unleashing the female potential not just on the courts, but in life in general. Fast-track your inner voice through self-awareness. Don’t allow your inner voice to be your negative agent. The Future Might Be Completely...

Dave Fish, former coach of the Harvard Men’s Team, joins us and reflects brilliantly on how the changes we are seeing in society at present can be traced in almost direct parallel through the development of the game of tennis in America and the establishment of the Davis Cup. He then looks across the Covid-19 issue and societal pressures and forms what he sees might be a new paradigm in local, national and international tennis. “Never Let A Good Crisis Go To Waste” Dave puts in perspective, by ...

As a business owner and leader in our industry, Kalindi Dinoffer has led the industry not only with training aids and creation of tools for teaching professionals, but also in marketing. Kalindi’s efforts in marketing her brand both at national industry conferences, through social media and video presentations have introduced her as a leader in our industry. As Kalindi starts to mix and dabble with mindfulness and combining that in her life and business with her tennis following an injury-prone...

The fourth segment in our series: “Women in Tennis” Avoiding the “type casting” of the female pro as “you’ve got the 10 and unders,” Christen Zawatsky has made her role a universal one. One of the leading junior development directors in all New England, Christen joins us at the BeyondTheBaselines.com podcast to discuss her many years at The Kingsbury Club outside Boston, Massachusetts where she is a revered coach for both adults and juniors. Coaching from red ball through to high performance ju...

Our National Town Hall held the week of May 18th investigated the workplace, restructuring and reclassifying employees, health care coverage and employment law in connection with reopening against the backdrop of the CoronaVirus Pandemic. With over 50 club managers, governors, directors of tennis and other industry specialists on the call, a fantastic Q&A session followed the initial presentation by BeyondTheBaselines.com team members. With Human Resources expert Renee McCarthy from Suntree Cou...

By Ed Shanaphy A second report in our series: Women in Tennis Amy Pazahanick always knew she wanted to start a tennis academy. She knew it long before she graduated from college. She knew it with every tennis ball she hit during practice as a kid. She knew it while she played nationals and headed to a Division I school. By the age of 26, she thought. Pazahanick did it. She didn’t just start an academy, however. Amy now finds herself running one of the fastest growing management firms in the nat...

At a country club, a Director of Tennis sees the members that come to the club on that day. At a Home Owner’s Association, every member sees when the Director arrives in the morning, when he teaches, whom she teaches, and when the Director leaves for the day. The 4 new courts at Stillwater HOA Tim Clay, Director of Tennis at Stillwater Tennis in Naperville, IL, takes us through a normal day at the his home owner’s association. Tim is a great pro, but a true business man. Tim runs a business. “I...