To promote and develop tennis in Virginia.

Diversity

There are over 30 million tennis players in the United States and 1 out of every 3 new players is either African American or Hispanic. Out of 1 million players in the Mid-Atlantic Section, over 30% are multicultural. These trends are at the fore-front of USTA/Virginia's initiative to create diverse tennis programming for all. We are focused on connecting to our increasingly diverse membership in new and innovative ways, while gaining an even greater diverse audience through USTA programming and events. USTA/VA supports multiple multicultural programs and special events each year. These events include the Asian Festival, Asian Games, and Richmond's Imagine Festival.

Any good financial adviser will tell you to diversify your portfolio if you want to maximize its value. The same theory applies to the diversification of tennis. By making tennis open and accessible to all people of varied backgrounds, the value of the sport, the overall crowd appeal and the potential for high returns will increase. It is with this in mind that the USTA has made multicultural participation a Level I Strategic Priority, and approved a Diversity Plan to make the priority a reality.

"The effort to have 30 million tennis players by 2010 was an aggressive and achievable goal with the commitment of USTA leadership, staff and volunteers who are constantly working together to grow the game," says USTA Chief Diversity Officer, Karlyn Lothery. "The USTA is working to bring diversity to all aspects of the business: from grassroots recreational players, to job candidates and vendors, to the ever important community and professional tennis players." This unilateral outreach campaign is designed to help grow the sport of tennis by making it more attractive and accessible to people of all backgrounds.

Diversity and Inclusion is a strategic priority for the USTA and one of our core values. Diversity allows us to touch “All of America” and Inclusion allows “All of America” to touch us.

Our responsibility as the National Governing Body for the sport obligates us to identify and lead in removing barriers to allow us to be inclusive so that tennis reflects all of America.

Multicultural Participation Committee

Goals:

To identify major barriers which prohibit multicultural participation in the USTA.
To develop promotional, program and leadership initiatives at the national and sectional levels that will substantially increase multicultural participation in the USTA.
To promote inclusion of people from all backgrounds in all areas of the USTA.
To build linkages to tennis organizations that serve multicultural communities to better promote tennis in their community.
To identify methods to monitor and evaluate multicultural participation in USTA programs and on sectional and national committees.

Grants

Financial disparity is consistently identified as a significant barrier that prevents multicultural players from getting into the sport. To help boost tennis participation among aspiring multicultural players, the USTA has created the Multicultural Grants Program, which offers grants to programs, community tennis associations and individual players.

Read News You Can Use about how two players, Zina Garrison and Katrina Adams, made it to the pro tour before a multicultural grant process was established.

Supplier Diversity

It is the policy of the USTA to ensure that opportunities to participate in the bidding and procurement process are provided to certified Diverse-Owned businesses*. Grounded in the organization’s culture of High Performance, this policy promotes diversity among the USTA’s supplier base, and is reflective of the desire to “Look like America” across all disciplines.

The effective implementation of our Supplier Diversity policy broadens the USTA’s access to the widest selection of qualified supplier candidates, increases competition in the vendor selection process and demonstrates our resolve to have a positive impact on all communities in which we live, work and play .

For more information on the USTA’s supplier diversity program, or to register as a Diverse Supplier, please click on the link: http://supplierdiversity.usta.com

Please note: to register as a diverse-owned business with the USTA, businesses must be certified by a third party. The USTA recognizes third party certification by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (www.nmsdc.org), Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (www.wbenc.com), or that of federal, state or local governments.

*Diverse owned businesses are defined as businesses that are 51% owned by women or members of the following minority groups: African-American, Latino American, Asian-Pacific American, Asian-Indian American, and Native American.

UR10S Online Radio Talk Show

Virginia Tennis Alex Chan is currently the host of Asian American tennis shows for UR10s, a tennis advocacy group that provides a voice for under-represented tennis populations. Come listen to upcoming and past shows by visiting www.blogtalkradio.com/ur10s.

If you or anyone you know are interested in being interviewed on the show, please contact Alex Chan at CLOAKING .

Resources

USTA/Virginia Tennis Organizations with a Multicultural/Diversity Component:

3H Foundation

Ad-In (Indian Tennis) Association

American Tennis Latino Association (ATLAA)

An Achievable Dream

ANT Tennis

Apple Ridge Farm

Arlington County Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services

Chimborazo

Filipino-American Tennis Association

Institute for Corean-American Studies (ICAS)