As HIGH-TECH TENNIS Turns - September 29

HI and thanks for reading! WOW - it's Wednesday already?!? WHEW! It's been another wonderful week in our world and here are some of the highlights...

Instead of begging (and even having to line the pockets of greedy) tournament directors to allow us to offer our video services, imagine how excited we were to be INVITED to participate in the 43rd Annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships by our new friend Coach Manny Diaz - UGA. Tennis is tennis, for sure, so it was all pretty familiar...

However, we did pick up on a few differences between junior tennis and college tennis: juniors get 5 minute warm-ups at the start of the match (college gets 3), juniors often complete the match within 90 minutes (college often completes the 1st set!), juniors often call the ball out when it's close (college players often call it IN when it's close), juniors often demonstrate pathetic bad behavior when frustration levels rise (college players had much more control, which they should) and juniors are permitted NO signals/coaching whatsoever (college coaches are permitted on the court at any time). WHY IS THAT??? I'm no tennis professional (no kidding) but that last point seems exactly backwards to me.

Anyway, great thanks to Coach Diaz and the entire staff at UGA, to our new friends: Coach Winterbotham (UT), Coach Goffi (USC), and Coach Goebel (MEMPHIS), and to all the college players. We had lots of fun, recorded lots of super-high-quality matches, saw lots of old friends, and made lots of new ones so overall, I would say it was a HUUUGE success!!! An extra bonus: It was completely drama-free...YAAAY! :) We learned a long time ago that any success we can hope to have will be based in large part on terrific relationships with terrific people - and this weekend just confirmed that as a fact.

When we weren't even looking, karma introduced the notion of HIGH-TECH TENNIS 'N GOLF to us this past spring... Then, karma recognized that May was our busiest month of the year so the golf fundraiser we'd been invited to attend was rescheduled for September 27th (this past Monday)... Then karma realized we're just too busy to give golf the attention it deserved so Atlanta was engulfed in a 2-day rainout. LOL - You can argue with karma but you probably won't win. :)

Thanks, as always, to YOU for your amazing support. Our video cameras will be looking for YOU - but hope you're not in FL because we're not coming down there to look. Don't forget to check back next week for another exciting report from the world of HIGH-TECH TENNIS! :)

As HIGH-TECH TENNIS Turns - September 22

HI and thanks for reading! WOW - it's Wednesday already?!?!? It's been another wonderful week in our world and I'd love to hit some of the highlights for you...We've got GOOD NEWS and we've got not-so-good (but hardly surprising) news:

First the GOOD NEWS: It was our great pleasure to offer our video services during our 3rd consecutive ALABAMA OPEN at the Marvelous Mobile Tennis Center. TD Scott Novak GETS IT and his entire staff is a pleasure to be around...As predicted, the weekend in Mobile was the EXACT OPPOSITE of the previous weekend in Florida---THANK GOODNESS FOR THE SOUTHERN SECTION!!! We interacted with dozens and dozens of players and parents who were actually HAPPY that we were there and a record-setting number of players from the Alabama Open will be using video to their advantage in the weeks/months to come. WHAT A CONCEPT! Not only that, we had a blast at the Academy Video Session for the Scott Novak Academy... wow, just think: everybody won that weekend.

Now for the not-so-good (but hardly surprising) news: As it turns out, the USTA did not say what we were told they said. Huh? Not only did they not say what we thought they said, they said the exact opposite. We thought the troublesome, unpleasant issue concerning match recording of primadonna players with unreasonable parents was finally resolved when we were told they made the following statement: "Any match in a public or private facility may be recorded." HOWEVER, now we learn that they didn't really say that at all...What they really said :( was the following: "If one parent objects to a match being recorded, the camera must come down." Quite a difference, eh? Who knew we'd misunderstand their position so entirely...One would think we were actually recording children getting dressed...

We know you'll be unhappy about this news and we are VERY unhappy too. For the past 4+ years, we have been operating under the guidance that we were given (through a third-party) that went something like this: "If one player wants their match to be recorded, it may be recorded because the USTA supports the use of video for instructional purposes in the development of junior players." Clearly, something has changed - and not for the better (in our opinion). Instead of supporting our efforts to grow the game of tennis, the USTA caved. They are consistent - they have never done a single thing for us in the history of HIGH-TECH TENNIS.

How this will change our future is very unclear, but isn't it timely that we'll be branching out into the Southern Intercollegiate Championships this weekend and the official kick-off of HIGH-TECH TENNIS 'N GOLF on Monday. Not only that, we're trying to stay focused on the positive..."Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." (John Wooden) and "Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." (Leonard Cohen)

Sorrrrry this is soooo long, thanks for your amaaaazing support, and know that we'll certainly record your matches in the future - unless your opponent or his/her parents object, that is...We're not gonna stop doing what we're doing. This is a free country and what we do is extraordinarily valuable. It should be getting easier by now (it's been FIVE YEARS) but in many ways, it's getting harder. Great thanks to those who make it harder than it should be.

As HIGH-TECH TENNIS Turns - September 15

HI and thanks for reading! WOW - it's Wednesday already?!?!? It's been another wonderful week in our world and I'd love to hit some of the highlights for you:

We had another awesome Academy Video Session at Windward Academy last Thursday and then we left early Friday AM to head south to F-L-O-R-I-D-A. There were two reasons for this trip: 1) my folks live in JAX and 2) we'd been personally invited by the tournament director to provide video services at the JAX Designated. I'm happy to say that the outcome of the first part was surprisingly and unexpectedly positive - hotel rooms make family visits that much sweeter, i guess - but the second part brought just another round of the ongoing battle we've been fighting for the past year PLUS.

How can anyone think we'd even consider doing anything immoral or unethical with these junior tennis videos. Anyone who knows us even a little bit knows that we are completely and totally about using video technology to help tennis players play better tennis. Somehow, our honest intentions get misconstrued by suspicious people and they prevent us from doing what we thought we had permission to do. That hurts - not only financially but personally. We will persist, though, and have reached out to a much higher level at the USTA to see whether we can get someone to publicly take a firm position on this troublesome topic. Fighting stupid battles is a stupid waste of time that I don't have. STAY TUNED.

We left FLA 30 minutes after the matches started on the final day (sometimes, you just gotta know when to fold 'em) and headed for home sweeeeet hammock time at home. The pic at the top doesn't begin to capture the beautiful beauty of our backyard. I escaped to my new novel "Perfect Peace" by the terrific new author (Daniel Black) that we met last weekend at the Decatur Book Festival. YESSSSSS.

Oh must we never forget the horror of 9/11 - nine years have passed and it seems like nine minutes. Finally, my champion didn't win the US OPEN. Clearly, that's so insignificant in comparison that I hesitate to even include it after the sad reminder. But I know my champion didn't just stop being amazing (in spite of what some might have you think). Meantime, we're shaking off all the extreeeeeeme hassles of this past week (Dartfish is indeed awesome - except when it's not) and we're heading to the magnificent Mobile Tennis Center for the AL Open in the AM. Wish us good luck and good buck$ and absolutely NO DRAMA WHATSOEVER. Thanks for your outstanding support and our cameras will be looking for YOU! :)

As HIGH-TECH TENNIS Turns - September 9

HI and thanks for reading! WOW - it's Wednesday already?!?!? It's been a wonderful week in our world and I'd love to hit some of the highlights for you:

We had THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME to the US Open - everything else seems a bit of a letdown, right? :) Not really...We went down to see our good friends at Craig Jones Tennis Academy last Thursday for a great college recruit video session. I'm not naming names, lol, but I think Danny's working on a video for the best EVER college recruit he's ever seen. Coach Craig Jones was as gracious as ever - even treated us to lunch. What a guy!

For the first time in FIVE YEARS, we took the Labor Day weekend OFF. That meant we had time for one of my other interests: Decatur Book Festival!!! WOW - to be surrounded by tennis fans one weekend and by reading fans the next...It just doesn't get much better than that! We even gave our yard a little attention, which is unusual because we're normally TOOOOO BUSY to do much more than glance at it, lol. Oh and we're still doing our best NOT to become P90X dropouts (for the 2nd time!)

How could we top all that exciting stuff on the Tuesday that felt like a Monday?!?!?  EASY - we went to the wonderful Windward Academy last night for another Academy Video Session! WHY? Because Windward Academy is where it's AT and only the luckiest players in Atlanta train there...We're proud to be part of all the exciting stuff that goes on out there and we're so grateful to Dave Power, Greg Grover, Torrey Hawkins, and Will Wright for all that they do to include HIGH-TECH TENNIS - and how amazing it is for the players to know that the entire coaching staff believes in the value of using video to YOUR advantage!!!

So that's it...I'll soon be releasing this wonderful video of US OPEN moments and I know you'll want to check that out, lol. :) Meantime, thanks, as alwaaaaays, for your amazing support. Goooooo Roger gooooooo - Check back next week and until then: our video cameras will be looking for YOU! :)

As HIGH-TECH TENNIS Turns - September 3

What an amazing week in our world! Great thanks to our friends at Dartfish USA, HIGH-TECH TENNIS went to the 2010 US OPEN and it was the trip of a lifetime!!! We know that many of you are lucky enough to have attended this awesome event many times but this was a first for me (third for D, but hey - that was before he met me so it wasn't nearly as much fun!) I know that I'll be eternally grateful for this opportunity and if you've been to the US Open, I hope you realize how very fortunate you are...and I hope you thank whoever makes it possible for you to do something so extraordinary.

We had sooo much fun and saw sooo many quality matches. For the record, we saw the following players: Melanie Oudin, Robin Soderling, David Nalbandian, James Blake, Andy Roddick, Gael Monfils, Marcos Baghdatis, Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal, Arnaud Clement, Samantha Stosur, Lleyton Hewitt, Nicolay Davydenko, but NO ONE COMPARES TO THE KING - SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST: We saw my champion and my hero - the one and only ROGER FEDERER. You may know that I am completely obsessed with Roger so of course it was such a dream come true for me!!! I can't believe I'm so in love with him or that I really got to see him but I AM and I DID, lol, and I will never ever forget it.

We got back home sweeeeet home late Wednesday night and crashed like logs. Luckily for us, sleeep is soo overrated because early Thursday morning, we hit the road for a College Recruit Video session at Craig Jones Tennis Academy in Macon, where we captured video content for one of the most exciting players we've ever seen!!! :)

We just distributed the HIGH-TECH TENNIS HAPPENINGS - September 2010 issue to 2700 tennis enthusiasts but if you aren't on the distribution and you want to be (how could you NOT want to be?!??), contact us at video@high-techtennis.com and we'll add you right away. Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend and good luck at Papa John's or in Little Rock or wherever you're playing (we're taking Labor Day weekend OFF for the first time in 5 years - YAAY - so I am all about the Decatur Book Festival). Thank you AS ALWAYS for your amazing support and don't forget our cameras will be looking for YOU! :)