The new United States Tennis Association National Campus in Orlando was opened to serve as a headquarters for the player development of aspiring young pros, juniors and existing pros. However, it’s shaping up to be much more than just that.
“We want to be a hub of innovation,” said Kurt Kamperman, Chief Executive of USTA Community Tennis. “Our goal is to be continually innovating so everything that’s new and available to test and pilot, we’ll be doing it here.”
By the time its doors were opened Monday, the 64-plus-acre facility had already been involved with innovation. Kamperman described the campus as a state-of-the-art facility that was developed with a slant toward technology and innovation. Though the description makes the facility sound as if it’s only to be used by tennis professionals, it’s actually designed to serve every type of tennis player, from a pro to somebody who is picking up a racquet for the first time.
With no membership required, anybody with an interest in tennis has the opportunity to use the technology offered at the USTA National Campus. That includes access to the 26 (soon to be 32) PlaySight SmartCourts.
The SmartCourt is a valuable tool for two reasons. First, it serves as a game improvement tool thanks to five on-court cameras. Kamperman explained, saying, “You can work with one of our coaches while taking a lesson or playing a practice match, and the SmartCourt technology will allow you to say, ‘Why did I miss that overhead into the net on match point?’”
You can then go to the on-court kiosk and look at the overhead shot from five different angles, all while comparing it to a similar shot you hit in the first set. “You could spend hours talking about everything from analyzing your footwork over the course of a match to analyzing your stroke technique,” Kamperman said.
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The second reason why PlaySight’s SmartCourt is so valuable is for its live streaming capabilities. This plays into the popularity of social media sharing for younger players. “If you’re a 14-year old boy or girl, and you’re down here playing in a tournament, you have the ability to take your top 10 shots and post it on your social media,” Kamperman explained.
This is the type of technology that the USTA hopes can increase the popularity of tennis among younger people who were introduced to things like iPads and cell phones at such a young age.
The SmartCourts are far from the only innovations offered at the National Campus. All 64-acres have WiFi which allows for more efficiently-run tournaments. The tournament desk will know the minute a match is over and will be able to have people ready to go on the court for the next match. At the typical large facility, it could take upwards of 20 minutes to reach the tournament desk if you’re stopping to talk to other players or spectators about the match.
The campus also features mid-mast and high-mast lighting. A typical recreational tennis court might only have shoebox-type lighting, usually about 25-feet high. All light poles on campus are either 50 or 75-feet high. “It not only creates better lighting or a very consistent lighting for all courts, but it also opens up the campus,” Kamperman said.
The lighting opens up the various types of courts that are offered at the National Campus. You will find 32 Har-Tru Hydro-Courts which are watered from underground, eight DecoTurf acrylic cushion courts as well as six European Terre Davis red clay courts. The six clay courts were constructed using 450 tons of red clay imported from Italy.
The Nemours Family Zone also features a grouping of short courts designed for kids and adults who want to learn the game on a soft surface with balls that bounce lower. “You could fall on these courts and you’d bounce,” Kamperman added. “You’d sort of be like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh.”
The advancements don’t stop there. “We’ve got what we’re calling a Racquet Bar,” Kamperman said. “When you walk in the main lobby it’s a big bar, like a sushi bar. We have five expert racquet stringers.”
The goal for the Racquet Bar is to educate tennis providers and consumers as well as to provide customization in a similar way that golf offers customized clubs.
The technology being used at the USTA National Campus in Orlando has the ability to change the game of tennis. However, that doesn’t mean they’re stopping as Kamperman commented, “If we’re not continuing to innovate how we deliver the game, then we’re not meeting our vision for the campus.”