Getting more women into the teaching profession is perhaps the biggest reason why the USTA Southern California section led by Director of Engagement & Industry Relations Nancy Abrams have worked tirelessly to host the second annual Women & Girls Who Ace Summit and Awards.
The event was offered by USTA SoCal in partnership with the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) and hosted by the University of San Diego Campus on their stunning campus.
The three-day festivities kicked off on Saturday, August 5, with a Women In Sports panel followed by NWSL action as the San Diego Wave FC face Angel City FC.
The multi-day event was created to celebrate the contributions of female sports leaders in Southern California and designed to provide unique learning opportunities for coaches and athletes. The event was run in parallel with the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16 & 18 National Championships which this year and in honor of the 50th anniversary of equal prize money at the US Open, offers the best American juniors the chance to compete for a spot in the 2023 US Open!
e.t.c coaching consultants (Linda Low and Sarah McQuade) were thrilled to work with the PTR (Milena Vidos, Director of Education and Diversity, and Marley Woods, Senior Coach Developer) to support the entire weekend of workshops for High School Coaches, High School Girls and Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Coaches.
The High School Coaches and ITA Coaches were introduced to the PTR-W Because We Can professional development pathway. This program has been created to give female coaches the opportunity and the tools for them to believe they can, the workshops to build their skills, and the networking for them to connect and be a part of something bigger.
Key learning focused on connection, communication and confidence. HS Coaches were given the opportunity to reflect on and share their values and ITA coaches explored the power of storytelling as an additional concept.
The HS girls were invited to a day-long workshop themed 'Engage. Effort. Elevate.' This unique program designed specifically for this event mixed on-court tennis activities, with observation of the Girls U16 and U18 National Championships and an off-court session which did a deep dive into the concept and application of GRIT.
GRIT assumes a passion and perseverance towards a long term goal. In this workshop the girls were given the opportunity to consider their 'ultimate concern' through a vision boarding exercise. They reflected on those performance attributes essential on court, off court, in school and in life that will help them achieve their goals. Using their observations from the Girls Nats they explored the key workshop themes of Engage, Effort and Elevate. They established that Effort counts twice!
Perhaps the highlight of the workshop was the opportunity for the HS Girls to meet Shae Yanez and Giovanna DeMarco from San Diego Wave F.C and listen to their stories about their long term goals, their effort and how they remain relentlessly gritty!
Many thanks to USTA SoCal and the PTR for trusting e.t.c to lead such a dynamic, engaging, thoughtful and developmental weekend.