Executive Director’s Message Ron Romano - Executive Director
The USTA Hawaii Pacific Section had an exciting year of growth, enhancements and increases in
participation for most programs and events.
The year began with our signature event, the 2014 Royal Lahaina Challenger at the Royal Lahaina Resort on
the island of Maui. The Hawaii Pacific Section is the only USTA Section to run its own Pro Circuit event. The
Royal Lahaina Challenger is a $50,000 men’s Pro Circuit event the second week of the Australian Open. The
USTA Hawaii Pacific Section has hosted six Futures and five Challengers in the past eleven years.
As part of the Challenger wild card opportunities, the Section ran three tournaments which provided
winners an exciting opportunity to enter the main draws or qualifying draws in either singles or doubles.
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The Royal Lahaina Challenger Wild Card Tournament at the Oahu Club - The USTA Hawaii Pacific Section awarded a main draw wild
card to the winner and a qualifying wild card to the finalist.
Triple Crown of Tennis - Hawaii’s top men’s doubles teams battled for the prestigious title of Champions at three exciting events hosted by the USTA Hawaii Pacific Section, the Oahu Club and the Kailua Racquet Club.
2013 Oahu Club Open Championships – Over 35 of Hawaii’s open, collegiate and high-performance juniors competed in the 2014
Oahu Club Open Championships.
The 2015 Royal Lahaina Challenger will be held at the Royal Lahaina Tennis Ranch. (www.royallahainahchallenger).
Adult tennis saw some significant changes in their results this past year.
• Overall Player registrations were up 5% for USTA Leagues over the previous year.
• Adult tournament registrations were up 10 % over the previous year.
• The Hawaii Masters series continues to grow with singles and doubles play in the 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 age divisions. There were
four Hawaii Master Series events in 2014 with the finale in December during the Christmas holiday.
• The Triple Crown of Tennis also grew in 2014 with the greatest increases in the men’s events.
Junior tennis continued to evolve and grow in 2014:
• There was an increase in Red/Orange/Green Ball play days and tournaments.
• Our 5th Annual Family Fun Doubles Tournament continues to be success with more entries every year.
• The Talent ID camps were a big success with Hawaii juniors coming from all islands and other talented juniors coming from Southern
California.
• The National Selection Tournament was comprised juniors from all of the Hawaiian Islands and some of the top juniors from several
USTA Sections.
Community Tennis had many success stories, but at the top of the list is the continued growth of the Schools Tennis and the Play to
Learn program. These programs are self-sustaining and the number of participants continues to grow:
• Schools Tennis grew with the addition of a second Schools Tennis Organizer position. In 2014 we added 8 new schools as a result of a
21st Century Grant opportunity. In addition, we added 4 fee based schools programs. Lastly, a visit to our Guam District resulted in the
largest increase in Schools Tennis with 7 workshops, 83 new coaches trained, and 2,100 youth participants!
• The Play to Learn program is a group tennis instruction program at over thirty public park sites in conjunction with the Department of
Parks and Recreation. There are approximately 8,000 participants a year with 60 % youth and 40 % adults.
• Orange and Green Ball Junior Team Tennis is now a year round program with spring, summer, and fall seasons.
• Monthly Play Days and Entry Level Junior Tournaments are now monthly events in Hawaii.
The USTA Hawaii Pacific Section is striving to improve in all areas to support the mission of the USTA and the USTA Hawaii Pacific Section.
We are excited about all of the opportunities to promote and develop the growth tennis in 2015!
STAFF
Jony Conching
Office Manager
Madeleine Dreith
Director of Community Tennis &
Tennis Service Representative
Eduard Merc
Director of
Adult Te