Roditi Earns USTA/ITA National Award
11/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas - The Intercollegiate Tennis Association and United States Tennis Association have named TCU men's tennis head coach David Roditi the recipient of the 2014 USTA/ITA National Campus & Community Outreach Award, one of college tennis' most esteemed awards.
The USTA/ITA National Campus & Community Outreach Award is presented each year to one men's and one women's college head or assistant coach who provides a leadership role in promoting tennis participation throughout his or her campus and local communities. Among the USTA/ITA partner programs available to assist coaches in giving back are Campus Kids' Days, Kids 10 & Under, Campus Showdowns and Tennis On Campus.
A three-time ITA All-American tennis player at TCU in the 1990's, Roditi returned to his alma mater as head coach in 2010. From 2005 to 2010, Roditi was the Lead National Coach of the USTA Training Center in Carson, California.
Roditi's promotion of TCU tennis extends from the youth level to adult level. Roditi and his players host a USTA/ITA Campus Kids' Day each spring in conjunction with a big home match, and each year they offer a different giveaway. In 2012, they gave away backpacks and in 2013 they gave t-shirts to the more than 350 fans that attended. The voluminous crowds attending TCU home matches propelled the Horned Frogs to two-straight ITA Attendance Race titles, both won by substantial margins. It is all part of Roditi's plan to introduce the most exciting form of tennis- college tennis, in Roditi's eyes- to as many young people and adults in the community as possible.
"We basically said, 'Forget about the tennis match, let's make it an event,'" Roditi said of his home match strategy. "What does an event have? It has a lot of energy, it has music, it has different people involved, it has prizes, and it has contests.
"We believe that college tennis is just so exciting, it's fun, there's so much energy out there, that getting the kids to watch it could be a huge influence for them to continue to play tennis," Roditi said. "That's the ultimate goal- to grow our sport and introduce as many young kids to our sport."
TCU regularly hosts USTA/ITA Campus Kids' Days and USTA/ITA Campus Showdowns, attracting junior players to its facilities. TCU players give free weekly clinics to members of the community, including to high schools. His players are embarking on a new initiative this coming spring: teaching tennis to senior citizens in the Fort Worth area.
"This year our new outreach program is going to involve senior citizens of lower income parts of town. That's the new group that we want to welcome and invite," Roditi said. "We're going to senior centers and using USTA 10 & Under equipment to let those seniors play, get them doing a little exercise, making friends. They'll come out to our matches, we get them involved, meet our players."
The matches are a spectacle, and will be even more so when the Big 12 Conference enacts its new crowd rules this year. Tennis has long been a sport of courteous fan etiquette but at Big 12 matches this year, fans are allowed to let loose as if it were a basketball game, and can cheer during points and attempt to rattle opponents. TCU's home court advantage, already with the best attendance in college tennis, will become an even more potent asset to Horned Frog players.
"They can scream and yell like they do in basketball, just like when somebody is shooting a free throw," said Roditi. "We just want to make it more of a college atmosphere and make it more exciting, and let the crowd be a bigger part of the event."
With the help of TCU's marketing department and a committee of TCU tennis lovers called "Keep it in the Purple," Roditi has extended his match day outreach to include numerous theme days in recent seasons: Family Day, Valentine's Day, Easter Egg Hunts, International Student Day and Alcohol Awareness Day. Roditi invites the sororities and fraternities to convey the themes through decorations, refreshments, costumes and more. Cheerleaders throw t-shirts to the crowd and fans interact on a "Prize Court" in between singles and doubles matches.
"Our marketing department is awesome," said Roditi. "They work really hard supporting us, supporting our crazy ideas. It's been a five-year process of reaching out to as many demographics and groups of people as we possibly can."
Roditi was flattered to receive the USTA/ITA Campus & Community Outreach Award but is more excited to share it with his support staff and athletic administration.
"It's always nice to be recognized. We worked really hard. At times I even felt guilty spending so much time promoting the matches, instead of recruiting," Roditi said. "But I just think there's a bigger picture out there about college athletics.
"I do believe our committee and our marketing department deserve this award more than I do," he said. "I might be the face of it but they're definitely the ones doing all the work and giving their support, staying out there from beginning to end, and their enthusiasm. It's been really fun."
Roditi and the women's tennis honoree, Erica Jasper of New Mexico, were selected from a group of USTA Sectional winners that included coaches of teams across the different divisions. Award applications are open each year to ITA member varsity head and assistant coaches from NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, NAIA and Junior & Community Colleges
Roditi will travel to the 2014 ITA Coaches Convention at the Naples Grande Beach Resort in Naples, Florida, where they will be presented with their awards during the ITA Membership and Awards Banquet on Sunday, December 14.
