Welcome to Season 11, Episode 19, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. In this week's episode, Lisa talks with Chris Boyer, a fellow Tennis Parent and a founding committee member for the new Southern California Pro Circuit.

Per a press release Lisa received:

The SoCal Pro Circuit is a transitional tour designed to create a path to the pro ranks for up-and-coming professional, college, and high-level junior players (with all main draw and qualifying wild cards to each event going to American players from Southern California or attending university full-time in Southern California). The first three $15,000 tournaments – part of the ITF World Tennis Tour and USTA Pro Circuit – will take place in San Diego County, with the final three events in Los Angeles and Orange County. 

“Southern California has a long history of producing some of the most celebrated tennis players in the game like Billie Jean King, Serena and Venus Williams, and Pete Sampras,” said Southern California Tennis Association (SCTA) President Bob Hochstadter. “We see the SoCal Pro Circuit as a way to keep this legacy alive.” 

In addition to Chris, the committee includes such SoCal tennis notables as Lindsay Davenport, Paul Annacone, Pam Shriver, Peggy Michel, and Marianne Werdel. Tournament dates are as follows:

 May 30-June 5: Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club 

 June 6-12: University of San Diego 

 June 13-19: Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego 

 June 27-July 3: Jack Kramer Club in Rolling Hills

 July 4-10: Los Caballeros Sports Village in Fountain Valley

 July 11-17: Lakewood Tennis Center 

Attending the events is FREE, so there is no excuse if you're in the area! Our friends at Cracked Racquets will be live-streaming and commentating on each event, so be sure to tune in if you can't attend in person. (Click here to listen to the Cracked Interviews podcast with Chris about the circuit)

For junior players, their parents, and their coaches this is an incredible opportunity to see professional tennis up close and personal. It is an invaluable learning opportunity for coaches to take their young players and use the events as a living classroom to teach warm-up protocols, tactics, footwork, mental skills, and the like. There may even be opportunities for area juniors to act as hitting partners for the pros.

An ITF iPin is required for entry into the qualifying and main draw events but NOT for the pre-qualies. If you need to get an iPin, click here for juniors and here for ages 18+.

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by clicking here. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!).

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices