Northeast Texas Coalition Tennis Association
Minutes of Officer & Coordinators meeting:  August 28 at 5:00 pm
(Modified: August 29, 2023)

​Present were: Troy D, Mark H, Edward K, Jim M, Gary O, Melinda R, Melissa W
*until you click them, the hot links are hard to see so look for <HL>

1. 5:00 pm Meeting called to order, introductions, ogle bag tags and net checkers; both are functional, fun, healthy and motivating - thanks for making that happen Gary and Judy.  
2. Review agenda & plan meeting. <HL> USTA Texas CTA Toolkit 
3. Approve minutes from previous meeting
4. Treasurer's report and financial review <HL> Actuals through 2022  + budget)
5. League reviews: USTA adult & JTT <HL> Adult Stats and JTT Stats
   1. Some leagues coming up as tournaments. Judy decides format based on participation. Discussion about formats, preferences (play the same team 4 times? vs. tournaments)
   2. Judy does not have dates for 2024 sectionals yet and is working on the 2024 league schedule with the information she does have. 
   3. Discussion about helping pros monetize USTA leagues and JTT. They can have a club price that includes our fees (lowest in Texas) and add "their money"  trainings, coachings, team practices, and other club pro involvement.  
   4. Other ways to get the word out about USTA Leagues and NeTxCTA:
      1. email blast software; get "Mailchimp" going again (600 or so emails. Review and work on adding more and making the blast more relevant (open rate).  
      2. take control of, update and make more relevant our facebook page. 
      3. Create a Poster, 14x17 or so that we can leave in places like clubhouses and tennis complexes to help players be aware of the opportunities we offer. 
6. Welcome Melinda as treasurer. Accounts are being moved to her control. 
   1. Melinda and Edward will have debit cards to facilitate organizational ongoing expenses. 
7. Discussion about league captains for adult and JTT: How to attract, train, incentivize and facilitate our captains. Co-captains? Parents make good JTT captains. 
8. JTT - How to help Ben get the JTT going again. Middle schools may be a good target. Help Ben interface with the other clubs and pros to get the pros and the kids at other clubs involved. Again: show the pros how to monetize the JTT program for our, JTT and the pros, benefit. Our biggest number: 2019 - 250 JTT registrations. 
   Edgar USTA-TX School Team Tennis Manager and Mark H. USTA-TX JTT manager can help with ideas and best practices.
9. 5:59 WTN - World Tennis Number: ITF initiative adopted now over the world including USTA and NCAA. Because of it's widescale adoption, will replace the UTR.  Scale for WTN is from 40 beginner to 1 the highest. All the USTA software is incorporating WTN to facilitate tournament seedings and accuracy of the algorithm and individual WTN numbers. Each player has a Singles and Doubles WTN when applicable. 
10. 6:15 Discussion on branding: NeTxCTA vs. NeTxTennis.org. "CTA" vs. "Tennis Association" that most the other umbrellas use: Dallas Tennis Association, Houston TA, Capital Area TA (Austin), NETT (Northeast Tarrant Tennis).  NETXCTA registers: <HL> "NeTxTennis.org"  
    1. Approval for expenses to create emails like "Judy@NeTxTennis.org" and business cards as necessary to implement our marketing plan. 
11. 6:27 All informal votes and actions since last meeting approved.
12. Allocate $1,000 for WTA event Oct. 26. Presumably for water and energy bars. 
    1. Talk with TASC about a "Kid's Day".  Kids on court?, Lunch provided? Kids in the stands? 
13. Support the Sectional in November with $300 bananas and water 
    1. The bidding process for Sectional events will be available in first part of 2024. As far as we know, Tyler does not have a sectional Tournament in 2024.
14. Free lessons: beginners, survivors, health enthusiasts, .... 
    1. review if and how we can work with TASC 101 class
15. 6:41 Next meeting is October 9th at 5:00
16. meeting adjourned 
17. Calls and Trainings since last meeting with links to notes and resources 
    1. G. & E. attend CTA learning series presented by:  <HL> USTA-National on Advocacy
       1. <HL> Webinar Slides
       2. <HL> Webinar Recording
       3. <HL> USTA Community Advocacy Handbook (50+ page PDF)
       4. <HL> USTA Advocacy Flyer 
       5. <HL> Statement of Guidance 
       6. <HL> Health benefits of Tennis (pdf) 
    2. Please consider attending:
       2023 USTA Texas Semiannual Summit: September 29-Oct 1, Sheraton, Georgetown 
    3. 7/17 Found this TV spot about <HL> 8 pickleball courts at Polllard Park 
    4. 7/6 WTN announcement: <HL> WTN July 23 updates annoucement (3 page pdf)
    5. 7/6 Virtual meeting with Bobbie Cantu, USTA-TX Adult Social  
    6. 7/2 Thank you <HL> note from Hamil Team 
    7. 6/19 Thank you email from <HL> TASC for sponsoring ATP tournament
    8. 6/28 CTA Quarterly Call with USTA-TX <HL> Link to recording (about 1 hour) 
    9. (see #11 above) Approve all informal votes since last meeting like: 
       1. Provide water and energy bars to ATP tournament at TASC
          1. Thanks Brian for supplementing on your own
       2. Aug 15 Board approved Melinda and Troy as officers.  (meeting minutes)
       3. Aug. 22 Brian resigned his officer position. 
       4. Aug. 29 Troy resigned his officer position.