Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) will present its annual awards during the 2017 PTR International Tennis Symposium — an event which includes more than 40 educational presentations for tennis teachers and coaches.
At the Symposium, the City of Irvine will be honored as PTR Public Facility of the Year. The city offers the only free public tennis courts in Orange County, CA. It is one of the largest city-run tennis programs in the United States with a population under 250,000.
In 2017, the city’s 20 facilities boast 94 courts, all of which are lighted for night play. That number jumps on the weekends to include 31 courts managed by the city at four high schools. Currently, the city has 22 contracted teaching pros, all of whom are certified and most of whom are PTR. An additional 45 teaching pros are expected to be on contract later this year, a number needed to accommodate the more than 18,600 program participants that generate more than $1.8 million in annual revenue, an amount that has doubled in less than a decade.
Also, to attract a diverse student base, lessons are available in several languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Tagalog. Longtime PTR Professional Steve Riggs coordinates this large-scale tennis program, working with fellow PTR member Victor Ranches.
The Symposium is scheduled to be held February 15-18 at the Sonesta Resort on Hilton Head Island, SC.
