Midwest / Chicago

2019 Year in Review Adult Social Tennis



One of CDTA's  goals is to grow the adult tennis playing population. Of particular interest is the 18-30-year-old “millennial” population. As a barometer of the demographics of adult play in Chicago, only 8% of our 3,000+ USTA Adult League players fall between the ages of 18 and 31; 72% of adult league players are between the age of 45 and 74. Read on below to see how the CDTA forged some positive partnerships this year to help introduce more people to tennis.

 

aSweatLife

In March, CDTA sponsored an event with aSweatLife marketed as a Better With Your BFF Tennis Social. We joined aSweat-Life, Outdoor Voices and Bumble at Midtown Athletic Club-Chicago for an evening of tennis drills and making friends. During the happy hour after the on-court fun, attendees got connected with CDTA reps to get more information on how they can keep playing. Founded in 2012, aSweatLife was launched to help readers live their best lives, with fitness as the catalyst. Learn more about aSweatLife here.

 

Following its successful partnership in March, CDTA continued working with aSweatLife to include some cardio tennis-type drills for all levels at Maggie Daley Park as part of #SweatworkingWeek in June. Interest generated from both events led to the creation of a downtown CDTA social play drill “league” at Maggie Daley Park in the fall.  CDTA staff and local pros conducted the fun, social and competitive drills. More than 25 players signed up for each of the two sessions and more were standing by on a waiting list. CDTA learned from these players that fun and fitness is foremost in their mind. Players rebuffed suggestions that they keep track of scores so that play could move “up and down the river.” This experience tells us a lot about what this younger, potentially new generation of tennis players, wants from play opportunities and CDTA is looking forward to finding ways to meet their needs in 2020.

 

For more information on adult events, please contact Jill Siegel at jsiegel@chicagodistricttennis.com

 

 

Second City Tennis Classic Tournament

The Second City Tennis Classic is the largest tennis tournament in the Midwest sanctioned by the Gay & Lesbian Tennis Alliance (GLTA). GLTA is a global LGBT sports organization that sanctions more than 70 competitive tennis events across the world each year. The tournament attracts nearly 100 players from all around the United States and other countries. It is a three-day event with four to five divisions for singles and doubles and a standard 32- or 16- player draw. CDTA sponsored the draw of the Second City Classic in August, which included providing hospitality to the players who were competing by the lakefront at the Waveland Courts and underwriting the cost of courts. Second City Tennis boasts more than 1,000 tennis playing members in Chicago. We learned how widespread GLTA players are across the globe and how far they travel for these events – at least one was from Australia. There were about 50 players in the consolation draw at Waveland and the tournament has the potential to bring 250 players to Chicago annually.

 

We are also happy to share Second City’s good news that their tournament has been selected as one of only five Master Tournaments of the GLTA in North America in 2020. When making the decision, the GLTA Board considered the latest survey results of all tournaments. 

 

 

CDTA-Sponsored Adult Socials

CDTA also hosted two weekend adult social events. The first at McFetridge Sports Center in Chicago in November was the launch of a new adult Team Tournament event that included timed rounds, on-court coaching (and cheering!) and some road block “Grand Slam” cards that teams earned to keep things interesting on court (reverse a call, anyone?!). Our second social event in December served as a thank you to our league players. Hosted by Courts Plus-Elmhurst, CDTA hopes this holiday Tennis Ball will become an annual event. Through these new types of community outreach and events, CDTA hopes to increase adult tennis participation and create new play opportunities that focus on fun, friendship, and the healthy benefits that come from playing tennis.

 

Up next for 2020. . . we are working to debut a new-to-Chicago concept: Adult World Team Tennis.

 

For more information on adult events, please contact CDTA's Adult League Outreach Coordinator Nancy Manolis at nmanolis@chicagodistricttennis.com

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