Blackman Joins USTA Player Development; Happy Holidays from ZooTennis!
The USTA announced on Tuesday that Martin Blackman will be joining Player Development as Senior Director for Talent Identification and Development. I spoke to Blackman yesterday by phone for an assignment I have for the next issue of SMASH magazine, and I hope to have a more extended conversatin with him about his role when I return to Florida next month for one of the Futures, and the Plaza Cup. The USTA's full release can be found here.
I'm taking tomorrow off, but I hope to have my Dunlop Orange Bowl slide show ready for Friday and a Coaches Q and A post on hitting a heavy ball this weekend.
Happy Holidays!
Tags:
8 comments:
Merry Christmas Colette ! Thank you ! All the best in 09 !!!
Merry Christmas Colette!!
Merry Christmas! Your coverage is like a Christmas present everyday...that includes your husband! We need more people like you in tennis, look forward to another year.
Lord help US Tennis as Mr. Blackman is way out of his league.
Tennis Knowledge--
Martin has not even started yet and you are already complaining. He is a very intellectual guy who has a solid tennis background, both on and off the court. At least, give the guy a chance, just the same as your employer gave you.
Please take the "knowledge" out of your name, as you sound foolish
Tennis fan...
I know about Mr. Blackmon and what he brings to the table. He has very experience on a local level, but does not have the national level experience. The job requires more than just a playing background, which the USTA continues to think will make the organization thrive. The sad part for Mr. Blackman is that he is a great guy (my original comment was that he is out of his league), but with the USTA there is no training (it's sink or swim)and if there are no results you are done. That was the basis of my brief comment that he is out of his league.
By the way, I came to my present job with 15+ years experience, a proven track record and name reconition in my area of expertise, so my organization did not have to contend with a learning curve as there will be with Mr. Blackman. Based on the the USTA's self described urgency to have more USA champions, is there time for a learning curve?
As your name says, you are a tennis fan, as am I. Thank goodness Colette allows us to leave our comments, regardless if you like them or not, or agree with them or not. Name calling doesn't become you.
Happy New Year.
I have had the pleasure of working closely with Mr. Blackman for 4 years. "TennisKnowledge" your comment is very uneducated. If you truly know Martin Blackman, then you will know that US Tennis is in great hands. He was a heck of a player but an even better person. I have no doubt USTA made a great choice.
The Doctor...
My assessment is very educated of the skill set Mr. Blackman brings to this particular job. Please don't assume that you are the only one who has worked closely with Mr. Blackman. I am not saying he is not a good person or was not a good player or has not done good work in previous jobs... What I am saying is that he does not have the appropriate skill set for the job he has been hired. He is not ready or prepared from a business standpoint for the current national job, which is time sensitive by the USTA's own admission. You are letting your personal feelings of Mr. Blackman get in the way of logic. Nice/Good people are not always the right person for a job.
Unfortunately for Mr. Blackman, his limited skill set on a national level for the job he has been hired will become apparent and be played out in the media. It will be a shame for him. I hope I am wrong for his sake.
Post a Comment