More From The Convention

The 175 or so coaches that made the trip down to Naples for the 2015 ITA Coaches Convention got treated to a slew of terrific speakers and demonstrators who gave them tips on everything from developing a championship team to learning how to add 10 miles per hour to their player's serve.

While Sunday was loaded full of strategy sessions and round table meetings, Monday and Tuesday was a lot more loose with a number of high profile guest speakers with many of them providing on court demonstrations.

The first half of Monday had 4 different coaches forums with each 45 minute forum talking about a different topic.  Pomona-Pitzer's Ann Lebedeff, who would also be awarded the 2015 ITA Meritorious Service Award at the banquet, talked about the history of coaching and some of the perceptions that student-athletes have about men's and women's coaches.

2015 ITA Coaches Convention

Last month the ITA's new COO, Erica Perkins Jasper, invited me to attend the ITA Coaches Convention as a guest of the ITA so I took her up on the offer and sat in on a lively day of discussion today in Naples at the lovely Naples Grande Beach Resort. The convention is open to all college coaches including assistants and I thought the turnout was pretty good for mid-December.

The charismatic and lively Tim Russell, ITA's new CEO, opened up the day with a few personal stories and then talked about a number of topics but said his main goal is to not only preserve college tennis but to strengthen, grow, and transform it. There are some other notes from Tim's opening speech further down below.

The keynote address was delivered by 1993 Michigan State graduate Molly Fletcher who might I add is a tremendous speaker. She brought a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration to the room which was a good thing because there was a lengthy strategic planning session that followed.