The hare, the tortoise and the fabulous USTA by Javier Palenque

Every person reading this has read this Aesop fable at some point in their lives, we all know the story of how a methodical, hard-working and determined turtle ends up beating the faster and arrogant hare. This article though has a twist to that well-known fable, in my mind, and through my articles, I have tried to make the fabulous USTA understand how important it is to change and fast or the sport will end up like Blockbuster, Nokia, Motorola, Polaroid, Kodak and countless other brand names that the younger generations know nothing about. The indicators to understand this fable in the year 2021 are very clear:

• Low participation rates of kids, young adults, and adults. (please see last weeks article in which I prove the information USTA gives the public is false, see link)
• High attrition rates of those who do participate. ( this is data USTA hides consciously and with approval of board)
• A multitude of options for kids to choose from and an invasion of the electronic world to their daily lives.
• Aging of baby boomers and lack of anchors to the sport.
• Arrogant and incompetent leadership of the governing body and an unwillingness to understand the new world. Keeping the good old boys in charge when they are good for nothing and no longer…