Found this short history of the US Clay Court Championships on the Supernetters blog - http://supernetters-teejohn.blogspot.com/2009/12/14us-mens-clay-court-championships.html. Its amazing to me that this is the only men's ATP clay event in the US. If the governing body of our sport is truly committed to bringing clay into the mix and inspiring our young players to spend time on this surface that will have to change.
It seems to me that there is a clear opportunity in the schedule. After the Australian we have a mini hard court season in the US with San Jose, Memphis, Delray Beach, Indian Wells and Miami. Meanwhile the clay court players are getting entrenched on their favorite surface in places like Vina del Mar, Costa do Sauipe, Buenos Aires and Acapulco. Why not transition one or two more US events to clay and give our guys a chance to play at home? I can't believe Federer or Nadal or any of the Europeans or South Americans would complain if Miami went to clay. A few might even stay to play in Houston.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
China
During the last three years I have been traveling in China quite a bit trying to set up a network and create demand for our Courts in China. When I tell people about being over there they ask about lots of the usual things like food, language barriers, getting around and etc. One of the most interesting things to me however is how the culture works from a business perspective and how they get things done. As you would imagine it is a double edge sword, no pun intended, those were the old days. Things are for the most part dominated by the government and the government agencies you deal with on the front end. Most of us who have had experience with our own government associate that process with delays, paperwork, unreasonable red tape and crazy demands. Well China has all that as well except the process is quite different when you are dealing with the decision makers. One of my first experiences was to have dinner with the head man in charge of building the highway system in the Beijing area. During dinner I asked him a question that points out quite a difference, I asked him how long was it before they began construction on the 4th ring road (which he was in charge of) once the decision was made to build it. My question was prompted by the fact, that 39 years ago when I came to Charlottesville word was that a connector road or bypass was going to begin right away connecting downtown to route 29 north of town. As you might guess from this example it is just now getting started and I still have my doubts whether it will be finished based on all the special interest groups that have fought it for at least the last 39 years. Anyway, my friends answer may not surprise you based on this long set up, but he looked at me like I had three heads and very matter of fact said “We started construction the next day”. They displaced several million people and basically gave them notice to vacate the next day. Neither of these systems seems quite fair but in a Communist World that’s the way it works.
The good news is when they make decisions it happens quickly as you can see from the two photos below. The first one shows the building just beginning in the last of August this year while I was there. The second photo shows them playing tennis in a finished facility basically 90 days later. Business happens fast in China and you win or lose quickly when you are selling to them. The good news is they are extremely loyal and friendly people and they do like Americans, unlike what you may have heard. The total experience of introducing them to Clay courts has been a joy and a great overall experience. If you ever get a chance to go there, take it; China is a fascinating place to go and the best news is we now have our courts scattered around the countryside and Tennis is alive and well in China.
The pictures below show Construction in late August ’09 and Playing in late November ‘09
Progress happens fast in China and they love American Red Clay.
John Welborn, Lee Tennis Court Products
During the last three years I have been traveling in China quite a bit trying to set up a network and create demand for our Courts in China. When I tell people about being over there they ask about lots of the usual things like food, language barriers, getting around and etc. One of the most interesting things to me however is how the culture works from a business perspective and how they get things done. As you would imagine it is a double edge sword, no pun intended, those were the old days. Things are for the most part dominated by the government and the government agencies you deal with on the front end. Most of us who have had experience with our own government associate that process with delays, paperwork, unreasonable red tape and crazy demands. Well China has all that as well except the process is quite different when you are dealing with the decision makers. One of my first experiences was to have dinner with the head man in charge of building the highway system in the Beijing area. During dinner I asked him a question that points out quite a difference, I asked him how long was it before they began construction on the 4th ring road (which he was in charge of) once the decision was made to build it. My question was prompted by the fact, that 39 years ago when I came to Charlottesville word was that a connector road or bypass was going to begin right away connecting downtown to route 29 north of town. As you might guess from this example it is just now getting started and I still have my doubts whether it will be finished based on all the special interest groups that have fought it for at least the last 39 years. Anyway, my friends answer may not surprise you based on this long set up, but he looked at me like I had three heads and very matter of fact said “We started construction the next day”. They displaced several million people and basically gave them notice to vacate the next day. Neither of these systems seems quite fair but in a Communist World that’s the way it works.
The good news is when they make decisions it happens quickly as you can see from the two photos below. The first one shows the building just beginning in the last of August this year while I was there. The second photo shows them playing tennis in a finished facility basically 90 days later. Business happens fast in China and you win or lose quickly when you are selling to them. The good news is they are extremely loyal and friendly people and they do like Americans, unlike what you may have heard. The total experience of introducing them to Clay courts has been a joy and a great overall experience. If you ever get a chance to go there, take it; China is a fascinating place to go and the best news is we now have our courts scattered around the countryside and Tennis is alive and well in China.
The pictures below show Construction in late August ’09 and Playing in late November ‘09
Progress happens fast in China and they love American Red Clay.
John Welborn, Lee Tennis Court Products
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
China - Big Country, Bigger Opportunity for Tennis
After just having completed my first trip to the Peoples Republic of China, it is easy to see what great opportunities China has taken advantage of as one of the world’s manufacturing powers and how extremely large the gap is between those who “can” play tennis and those who “want” to play tennis in that country.
Without a doubt tennis, like the entire Chinese economy, continues to grow and accordingly, most, if not all, of the major tennis companies in the US look towards China as one of the few true growth markets in the world right now. While their economy has taken a bit of a hit, I was struck by the amount of commerce being done and construction being built…if I saw one high-rise building going up in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong I saw a thousand – the skyline is riddled with tall cranes building 20 to 40 story tall buildings everywhere.
In addition to housing and factories, tens of thousands of tennis courts have been built since the Beijing Olympics, and it seemed as though every city had built, or was building, a world-class sports venue. Cities you have never heard of are building 50,000 seat soccer stadiums, NBA quality indoor arenas, Olympic size tracks, modern aquatics centers, and huge tennis facilities. It’s becoming commonplace for a relatively small cities like Nantong or Changshu to build a tennis center with over 100 courts…I know…it’s mind boggling to most Americans.
But what is even more confusing is trying to understand how “Tennis” will find a way to become a part of the recreational choices made by the majority of the “people” in China?
While the factory owners and business people are doing fairly well, the vast majority of the population earns very, very little. Of the five factories we visited last week, the average wage of the workers was about $4 ¥ (Yuan) or 60¢ in US dollars (USD) per hour. So with the vast millions of people making less than $2,000 USD a year and the majority of the “middle class” making only between $10,000 – 20,000 USD annually, who has the time or disposable income to invest in a love of the game of tennis?
Assuming a factory worker could buy a “knock-off” tennis racquet for $15 USD at an open-air market in a Chinese city, he or she would need to invest 1% of their entire yearly salary to do so…that’s a tough sell in any country. And even if their passion for the game ran so deep that they did acquire a racquet and balls, most of the tens of thousands of courts are locked out to the masses. Operators would rather let the courts stay vacant, than allow the commoners to enjoy our sport.
In fact, one of the companies we visited had built a beautiful tennis court on their property to showcase the products that they made, and even though the factory had an on-site dormitory to house its hourly workers and sales staff, the company kept the court pad-locked and would not allow access to it for the people who lived and worked there. The same people who had built the products being showcased on it and the same people who had made their company profitable and a successful seller of tennis goods.
It seems to me that while the cities, provinces, and national governments build top-notch facilities to show-off to the rest of their country and the world, they are overlooking the opportunity to invest in their biggest and largest asset they have – their people…and until they do, tennis will never truly flourish in China.
I urge the Chinese government and the American tennis companies doing business in China to reach out, take action, and help grow tennis at all economic levels in China. For if we chose not to, the entire global tennis community will have missed a golden opportunity to build-on and expand the “game” that we all dearly love.
Randy Futty
General Manager
Lee Tennis Court Products
Without a doubt tennis, like the entire Chinese economy, continues to grow and accordingly, most, if not all, of the major tennis companies in the US look towards China as one of the few true growth markets in the world right now. While their economy has taken a bit of a hit, I was struck by the amount of commerce being done and construction being built…if I saw one high-rise building going up in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong I saw a thousand – the skyline is riddled with tall cranes building 20 to 40 story tall buildings everywhere.
In addition to housing and factories, tens of thousands of tennis courts have been built since the Beijing Olympics, and it seemed as though every city had built, or was building, a world-class sports venue. Cities you have never heard of are building 50,000 seat soccer stadiums, NBA quality indoor arenas, Olympic size tracks, modern aquatics centers, and huge tennis facilities. It’s becoming commonplace for a relatively small cities like Nantong or Changshu to build a tennis center with over 100 courts…I know…it’s mind boggling to most Americans.
But what is even more confusing is trying to understand how “Tennis” will find a way to become a part of the recreational choices made by the majority of the “people” in China?
While the factory owners and business people are doing fairly well, the vast majority of the population earns very, very little. Of the five factories we visited last week, the average wage of the workers was about $4 ¥ (Yuan) or 60¢ in US dollars (USD) per hour. So with the vast millions of people making less than $2,000 USD a year and the majority of the “middle class” making only between $10,000 – 20,000 USD annually, who has the time or disposable income to invest in a love of the game of tennis?
Assuming a factory worker could buy a “knock-off” tennis racquet for $15 USD at an open-air market in a Chinese city, he or she would need to invest 1% of their entire yearly salary to do so…that’s a tough sell in any country. And even if their passion for the game ran so deep that they did acquire a racquet and balls, most of the tens of thousands of courts are locked out to the masses. Operators would rather let the courts stay vacant, than allow the commoners to enjoy our sport.
In fact, one of the companies we visited had built a beautiful tennis court on their property to showcase the products that they made, and even though the factory had an on-site dormitory to house its hourly workers and sales staff, the company kept the court pad-locked and would not allow access to it for the people who lived and worked there. The same people who had built the products being showcased on it and the same people who had made their company profitable and a successful seller of tennis goods.
It seems to me that while the cities, provinces, and national governments build top-notch facilities to show-off to the rest of their country and the world, they are overlooking the opportunity to invest in their biggest and largest asset they have – their people…and until they do, tennis will never truly flourish in China.
I urge the Chinese government and the American tennis companies doing business in China to reach out, take action, and help grow tennis at all economic levels in China. For if we chose not to, the entire global tennis community will have missed a golden opportunity to build-on and expand the “game” that we all dearly love.
Randy Futty
General Manager
Lee Tennis Court Products
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