Midland Community Tennis Center Latest Addition to Prince “Plugged In” Program
Michigan Academy Ready To Compete Against Best And Brightest From Across the U.SFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Zach Perles
One Advantage Court
Bordentown,
609-291-5932
zperles@princesports.com
06/05/07 - Bordentown, NJ - The Midland Community Tennis Center is the latest academy to join the ground-breaking “Prince Plugged In” (PPI) program. PPI is a network of the nation’s best junior academies encouraging top level competition and providing a platform for coaches and academy directors to share information and training techniques with one another. Since its inception in 2003, PPI has transformed teaching/coaching initiatives, re-thinking the way tennis and training information is shared and providing top junior programs the opportunity to compete with each other through a series of organized Challenge Cup events held at different academy locations throughout the year.
The MCTC’s Satellite and Tournament Tennis Academies is the 40th U.S academy to join the program and will be led by Patrick Jenkins, USPTA, director of competitive junior tennis at the academy.
“We are very proud to get ‘Plugged In’,” said Jenkins. “PPI attracts and engages the country’s top coaches and junior players by providing coaches and kids with resources that, until now, were not available. Instead of playing against each other repeatedly, our kids now receive invaluable exposure to other top juniors throughout the country. At the same time, coaches get plugged into an on and offline community where they can chat with each other, share program ideas, training techniques, diet tips and product information. With PPI, Prince has developed a template that helps raise the performance levels of this country’s academies and its young players.”
As with other participating PPI academies, this partnership will provide MCTC the opportunity to participate in intense college-style team tournament competitions called Challenge Cup events, on-court training sessions, and workshops featuring industry leaders. Some of the topics and forums they will participate in will include:
• What it takes to play college tennis and how to optimize opportunities for a scholarship
• Experiences on the Pro Tour from guest rookie pros
• Tips on nutrition and hydration for elite athletes
• Mental conditioning and optimal performance
• Physical conditioning and regeneration for athletes
“The response to the program has been completely overwhelming,” said Ken Merritt, director of teaching programs for Prince. “We are thrilled to have MCTC on board. Pat runs a top-notch junior program and we are sure that they will be a wonderful addition to the growing roster of academies, giving back in a variety of ways. PPI is a completely unique idea, providing young players with the opportunity to travel the country, meet and compete with other top juniors, and learn and hear from the greatest tennis minds in the industry. We are seeing an incredible response to the program not only here in the U.S but starting in Europe and Asia as well – it may not be far off before these youngsters can participate in international competition!”
About Prince Sports
Prince Sports, Inc., based in New Jersey, is a recognized leader in game-improvement technologies and engineering-based high-performance sports equipment. Since 1970, Prince and Ektelon have revolutionized tennis, squash and racquetball with innovations including “Oversize,” “Longbody” and “Extender” racquet technologies, Natural Foot Shape footwear technology, Synthetic Gut String and Electronic Ball Machines. Prince gives players speed, stability and a larger sweet spot with O3 racquet technology, building the brand with O3 Original Series (2005), O3 Hybrid (2006) and O3 Speedport (2007). In 2006, Prince introduced M Series footwear with Precision Tube Technology, an innovation that gives players maximum cushioning, stability and ventilation. Prince Sports has operations on three continents and distribution in over 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.princetennis.com.
Links:
http://princetennis.com/teamprince/TrainingCenters.asp?DocumentCategoryID=30
WWW.PRINCETENNIS.COM
