FAC Tennis Network interview with Bob Shoulders

Bob Shoulders and his wife Katherine owned and operated FAC for nearly 15 years and have seen it’s start in 1995 and it’s growth from a small start-up one building athletic club surrounded by cow pastures in the far NE corner of Fayetteville in 1995 to a premiere athletic club with now 7,500 members. FAC Tennis Network interviewed Bob to gain insight and appreciation into the start of FAC and FAC Tennis. The top right 2004 photo was taken when the bubble was erected for the first time. Fayetteville FD wanted to inspect the bubble because it was the first air suspended building covering 6 tennis courts they had ever seen. [Please note in the interview where ‘narrative’ is placed -indicating the preceding answer by Bob is not a direct quote but a narrative of our conversation.]

1. Where did you grow up? St. Louis, MO generally… but more specifically the ball fields in my neighborhood.
2. If not from NWA - what brought you here? I moved here in the mid 80’s from KC MO to work at the precursor of Arvest Asset Management; back then we were Walton Bank, Investment Management Group.
3. Marital status, spouse’s name and children's names? Katherine is my beautiful wife, Nick is a senior at the U of A and Patrick is a sophomore at the U of O (ask Taylor[Dodds] what that stands for).
4. What do you do for a living now? I am heading up a new division for a company out of Charlotte that specializes in health club communication and member retention.
5. You’ve played in some FAC tennis tournaments over last few years– do you still play now? A torn rotator cuff and torn labrum in my right shoulder don’t allow for tennis, throwing to deep wheel routes, or middle relief.
6. What do you like and dislike about tennis? I love the sense of community it creates. I disliked Reuben [Ruben Reina, FAC Trainer and frequent tennis tournament partner of Bob’s] and I getting beat by Junior High kids at FAC tennis tournaments.
7. Speaking of young tennis players – you’ve seen a few promising young tennis players come through FAC Tennis: [Narrative vice quote here] Yes, my wife and I were recently thinking about a few; the Lundstrom kids, Kyle Henry, Robby Hotus who had never picked up a racket and now has a tennis scholarship – seeing those kids grow and develop in tennis is rewarding.
8. What else do you do for recreation, relaxation, hobbies: Until my shoulder surgery this summer, I was a decent golfer. I still stay fit with most other forms of exercise and try to keep up with my wife’s travel ideas and watching my sons become young men.
9. Have you played sports at the college level? Yes, I played football for two years until the aforementioned shoulder (ironic eh?) was damaged and then went across the street to the soccer team. William Jewell College outside of KC was a great place to go to school.
10. What has playing / competing in sports taught you about life? I was (and continue to be) slow, white and skinny. About 80% of my success in athletics was due to hard work and passion for the games I was playing. I admire pure talent but in the long run, I don’t think it gets you as far as hard work and perseverance.
11. What has been your most memorable athletic event / feat? Two of my three holes in one (or is it hole in ones?) dropped in the same years as my sons were born (‘89 and ‘91).
12. How did you start in the athletic club business? About the time Katherine and I got married, her family was building the Little Rock Athletic Club. They needed some help pre-selling memberships so I got started out in a trailer…down by the river.
13. When and how did the idea of a FAC begin? I lived in Fayetteville when Katherine and I met so when we got married and moved to Little Rock, we talked about how nice it would be to move back to NWA and raise our kids. Ken Wright had built and sold clubs in Russellville and Conway and when we saw him doing the same thing in Fayetteville in 1995, we jumped on raising the capital to take the project over.
14. Who is Ken Wright? [Narrative vice quote here] Ken was an investor/builder of convenience stores and who expanded into building athletic clubs – his first were in Russellville and Conway. Ken did the same here in Fayetteville, with what is now FAC. Ken was building FAC and was approached by two prospective buyers – Washington Regional and Katherine and I. Katherine and Bob was able to secure funding and had a buy/sell agreement with Ken a few months after FAC opened in the fall of 1995 and the Shoulders took over ownership and operations in 1996.
15. Starting anything of this size had its challenges – was there something that drove you to finish building FAC? We saw the growth opportunity in the region and knew there were not any large, multi-sport clubs to serve the area’s many new citizens. There was a burgeoning number of “small market dominators” such as LRAC, Red Larille’s, Genesis and other large health clubs in mid-sized towns so we really liked the business model and the potential. It was a lot of hard work but it was also very rewarding to positively affect people’s lives.
16. What challenges and opportunities did you see in investing in a tennis center? We knew we wanted to do build a “world class” tennis center and sought to incorporate design characteristics we saw at other clubs around the country. Food service, quality playing surface, spectator areas, tournament/event staging, year round programming and pro-shop became key elements for the facility. Not cutting corners was expensive but I think the FAC Tennis Center is exceptional. Keeping programs going all year is a challenge but the bubbles function quite well for winter play.
17. Was there any debate about the design, size, clay, hard, indoor, outdoor, # of courts, etc? We spent over a year working with architects, designers, engineers and construction people to incorporate the various elements into the site plan which was limited by the necessary additional parking spaces, landscaping, drainage, available acreage, etc. Ultimately, the six court configuration ended up fitting perfectly. From an expense standpoint, clay was never really an option so we opted for a “soft-hard court” or Plexipave cushioned surface poured over a post-tension slab. It’s as fine a playing surface as you will find anywhere and the Kinsey family that did the finish is a little known local treasure.
18. No doubt you evaluated the tennis environment in Fayetteville, NWA and the state before you built the center – what were your observations? There was definitely room for a quality offering. The youth/development market was underserved; leagues, professional instruction and team tennis have all been spurred on by FAC tennis. I love the progress FHS has made with their tennis program and watching kids that developed through the FAC junior programs is awesome.
19. Where there early family, community, government supporters in your dream of building a tennis center? From 1996 through 2004, I can’t tell you how many people told us they wanted tennis at FAC. When we finally built it, not all of them showed up but the program has grown nicely over the past seven years. Taylor [Dodds] and his staff have done a tremendous job and Rhonda’s [Baxter] commitment during her time at FAC was fantastic.
20. Was it originally called FAC? [Narrative] Yes. At the time Bob bought FAC, the total square feet was basically only 40,000 sq feet – which is the original main building without today’s pools, health and wellness (east side), child care building, and tennis center. The one original FAC building was basically the basketball court and child care which was in a little hall going to the left as you enter the main entrance. There were only 20 pieces of cardio equipment! You wouldn’t recognize it today. Though the original building was quite small compared to what FAC is today the original design features were advanced for fitness centers of the time allowing for ideally located add on buildings and features that allowed you to stand in anywhere in the main club and see 2 or 3 other activities going on at the same time. If you were at the Tennis Center you could see what is happening at the pool, if you were at the pool you could see the Child Care, etc. The original building plan worked out pretty well.
21. How large was the acreage? [Narrative] Originally it was 4 acres. We then bought 2 acres in 1998 and then we bought another 2 acres later. We ended up with about 9.5 acres.
22. Did FAC’s location (back in 1995), which was out in the country surrounded by cow pastures, in the far northeast corner of Fayetteville ever concern you? [Narrative] Some of the bankers were concerned and asked questions about its proximity to the Jones Center who didn’t charge for using their fitness equipment. One realtor said this wouldn’t work – you need to be closer to the Bypass. There were some original concerns at the time with so few homes in the area, but it all worked out.
23. Looking back, do you still consider it a good location? [Narrative] I think it all worked out well. The location worked out well because it is on the Fayetteville / Springdale border. Most of Fayetteville can get to FAC now quite easily.
24. When did the Tennis Center open up? It was November of 2004 – near Thanksgiving.
25. When did you put up the Bubble? [Narrative] We were unable to put up the first bubble in that first November because of post 9/11 shipping / import regulations and security checks and slowdowns. The bubble was fabricated in Italy, got hung up in shipping/security delays and changes and instead of arriving on an east coast port it arrived later than expected in a west coast port. In the end , the bubble didn’t arrive and get erected until February 2004. As soon as the bubble was erected, it was taken down 1April. It was quite quite a learning curve getting that first bubble up.
26. Is the bubble specially designed? [Narrative] Yes the bubble design is very customized to be installed on the sides of the building and how those corners are set up so that the walls of the bubble go straight up. If you ever notice on the outside alleys of courts 1, 3, 4 and 6 – its pretty hard to hit the side of the wall even when you are on the far side of the doubles alley because of the design of the sides of the bubble go straight up instead of a bell shape and that is somehow has to do with those engineering of those corner enclaves that allow for the connected walls to go straight up.
27. I never knew those odd small corner cubby holes in the bubble are really there for a purpose – to hold the walls up almost vertically.
28. I have have always heard that the elevated gravel parking lot was to be the location of the permanent indoor tennis courts – is that true? [Narrative] No – no truth to that at all. Laugh. It was just about the only excess space we had or anything and since it was leveled off and we were stretched for parking space we got permission from the city to make it an employee parking lot.
29. I have heard the tennis court surface – Plexipave, is it special. Why? [Narrative] If you Google Plexipave or California Courts, which has about 10 different types of rubberized surfaces you can pour. We choose to have 4 layers of additional rubberized surface that is mixed with sand to give it some grit. Because of that it does play a little bit slower than a lot of hard courts but it also has a fair amount more cushioning for your knees than most hard court surfaces and poured on a post tension slab which is a huge advantage of not cracks.
30. Has there been much interaction / cooperation with UofA Tennis or Fayetteville HS Tennis Programs and FAC Tennis? [Narrative] There was time when the Razorbacks didn’t have their current Indoor/Outdoor Billingsley Tennis Center on the UofA campus and would have a number of their outdoor tournaments at the Walton Life Fitness Center and have their practices here at FAC. There were a couple of years where FHS played their tournaments at FAC and I believe some of the FHS players are using the FAC courts with Taylor Dodds early in the morning before school starts. We have always had a working relationship with both FHS tennis and swim teams as well as UofA Tennis. Of course UofA Tennis now has one of the finest indoor/outdoor tennis facilities probably anywhere.
31. Over the years, it seems like Little Rock tennis teams have won a disproportionate number of State Tennis Championships as compared to other areas of the state. What can NWA team do to better compete at the state championship level? I think it is just a matter of playing in higher level tournaments more frequently and getting “tourney tough”. NWA players have the talent, they just need to get the mileage.
32. What is your favorite NWA restaurant and why? Bordino’s. Joe Fennel.
33. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I do a mean rendition of the” Star Spangled Banner” from my shower.
34. When I was 10, I wanted to be…..Bob Gibson.
35. Books I would suggest to a friend: Blue Ocean Strategy, Just a Range Ball in a Box Full Of Titleists, anything written by David Halberstam
36. Favorite movies: The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction, Repo Man
37. The person I most admire is: My wife Katherine for putting up with me for 25 years
38. The guests at my fantasy dinner party would be: My grandparents. All four of them were very interesting and lovable characters.
39. I ‘ve been fortunate to: Have the opportunity to build a career in the health club industry. I cannot imagine doing anything else.
40. One word to sum me up: Bob

FAC Tennis Network Interview with Tom McCartan

1. Where did you grow up? Montrose, PA. In Northeastern PA.
2. If not from NWA - what brought you here? Walmart Stores, Inc. Technology - Project Development.
3. Where do you live? On the east side of Rogers, 1 mile from the lake.
4. Marital status, spouse’s name and children's names? Wife Judith (met her on the registration line when I was a freshman at SUNY - she loaned me a #2 pencil- and she made her move), son Thomas (35), son Michael (27), daughter Elizabeth (23).
5. Other than tennis what do you do for recreation, relaxation, hobbies: Portfolio management, research - stock picking. Biking. Travel.
6. What do you do for a living/profession? Retired IT project manager.
7. What led you to get you into that profession? I started work at the Exxon Byway NJ Refinery after finishing my MBA. I was tracking toward a finance job in short range economics, which in those days included a year of training in the systems group. After 6 months I told them that I was right where I wanted to be - and they let me stay. In 2 years I moved to Houston and managed systems support and development for the various affiliates, e.g., shipping, pipeline, insurance, Exxon Coal and Minerals and several others.
8. What is your current NRTP ranking? 4.0
9. How many years have you been playing tennis? 20+
10. What prompted you to play tennis regularly? Needing to get fit. That and the great programs and facilities here at FAC.
11. What is your favorite thing/enjoyment about playing tennis? The inner game of tennis. Sometimes I can find a way to win when it's a very close match. Sometimes ...
12. What is your own favorite tennis shot/worst? I like to hit the ball deep to my opponent's backhand and then follow it in for a volley finish. Worst? I prefer the cool/risky shot to the disciplined-high percentage shot. I make a lot of mistakes accordingly.
13. Is there any life lessons learned by playing tennis? You just never know what kind of game you're going to face on the other side of the net. Better figure it out fast. Focus helps.
14. What is your most memorable accomplishment playing tennis so far? Team from my subdivision won the Houston suburban tennis championship - a long time ago. I recruited the team and we were all friends when the season was over - which is a big part of how I measure success.
15. Do you have a particular pet peeve that tennis opponents do that bother you? I hate lobs. I really hate them.
16. Do you learn more from your wins or losses and why? I keep making the same mistakes over and over, so I'm not sure I'm learning from either.
17. What is your favorite NWA restaurant and why? Bonefish. Terrific shrimp, scallops and associated veggies.
18. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I was once fit: I once rode my bike from Houston to Austin (150 miles). And I ran the Houston Tenneco Marathon in 4hrs and 57mins. (Several people had better times that year, but nobody had more fun).
19. When I was 10, I wanted to be… A pin setter at Carney's bowling alley. Pay was just .10 a game.
20. Favorite movies: The Natural 2001 Space Odyssey
21. The person I most admire is: Tie: Steve Jobs and Peter Lynch (Fidelity Magellan)
22. The last book I read was: Too Big to Fail
23. The guests at my fantasy dinner party would be: John Stewart Tina Fey McEnroe Arianna Huffington Debbie Wasserman-Schultz
24. I ‘ve been fortunate to..... live in the times and places I've lived - with an emphasis on the people.
25. One word to sum me up: Simple

FAC Tennis Network interview with Chris Cash, new FAC Tennis Pro

1.Where did you grow up? Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
2.From where are moving to NWA from? The Mile High City. Denver, Colorado.
3. Other than tennis what do you do for recreation, relaxation, hobbies? Recreation: playing guitar and singing - watch out Dickson Street! Relaxation: hitting on a ball machine, road trips, going to any lake or beach with friends and playing piano. Hobbies: guitar, songwriting, cheering/yelling at the Razorback and Denver Bronco football teams, flag football.
4. You’ve been teaching tennis since 2005 – what drew you to teaching tennis?
The opportunity to be outside and have some physical activity in a job. Working in tennis is a blast because, at the end of the day, it's always going to be a game. There's always a way to find enjoyment with any student. I've never had a problem taking myself too seriously and with tennis I get to have fun with the people I'm around. There's also a fantastic social scene within tennis.
5. What are some of the joys and challenges of teaching youth tennis? Joys: What they say. It might sound cliché, but I've heard some hilarious comments over the years. Another is how quickly they progress. Because they're learning basics they can pick it up very quickly if taught in the right environment. The last is how much fun they have. As long as you put up the energy they do and find a few games they will not be able to wait for each lesson.
Challenges: Keeping them involved the whole time. The new 10 and Under Tennis mentality blows the old one out of the water. Now our job as coaches is to keep the kids moving the entire time they're in the lesson and not have them waiting in lines. If a coach has 10 kids in a class you've really got to get creative for 45 minutes to an hour. The challenge is fun in itself sometimes. It keeps me on my toes and keeps my creativity up.
6. What are some of your goals in your role working with FAC Tennis youth? The first
is making sure that we establish a love for tennis at an early age. Because baseball, soccer and other sports have been around for so long they have an advantage on tennis. Now we've got some programming together and are ready to start competing against the sports traditionally aimed at children. I want it to be fun for them first and foremost. If the games are fun enough they'll want to come back. If they come back they'll keep learning better shots. If they learn better shots they'll fall into the game because they can see how they're progressing. Fun should be the foundation of youth tennis. The other is collecting a group of kids who absolutely love the game and have them compete throughout the state. If that fun foundation can be built after a year or two those kids will be ready to take on anyone, anywhere. This also builds a team mentality that so many people feel tennis lacks. A group of FAC kids is a team and teaching them sportsmanship, team support and encouragement are all part of that team experience.
7. What would you like to accomplish in your first six months on the job? Utilize the new 36' courts and build a strong program based around them. A tournament on those courts next spring and summer. Creating an after school program that shows how much fun tennis is. Doing a big social event that involves games that kids can play with their parents no matter their skill level. Making an FAC youth team that wants to compete in the spring and summer of 2012. Get a CDL [Commercial Drivers License to drive a bus] and with the kid's help create the most awesome tennis bus on the face of the planet.
8. What does it take to be a very good youth tennis pro? Energy. If you're not excited, why should they be? Patience. Kids progress at different rates and if a pro can't find a way to incorporate varying skill levels in lessons then some students aren't going to enjoy tennis. Communication. Parent's like to know what's going on with their kids but also need to know when they're getting too involved. Willingness to learn new things is a big one some pros forget about. There are new drills coming out all of the time. Learning new drills, new methods and new techniques allows the coach to make a game plan for each student.
9. Which are harder to teach – youth or adults? Adults. Most adults take tennis too
seriously. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it sometimes interferes with the reason we play the game in the first place. Kids, especially 10 and under, are still forming opinions and their view of the world. If they're playing a game and smiling they don't think twice and just have a good time. At the end of the day I love teaching both. There's definitely a competitive mentality I can be empathetic with in adults.
10. What is your current NRTP ranking? 4.5. Teaching has become much more of a passion than playing so I don't compete as much as I used to. I've always had a basketball point guard's point of view: I'd much rather see someone else scoring points than myself. Hence, the love of coaching.
11. How many years have you been playing tennis? I was a late bloomer and got serious about it when I was 16. This year marks the 10th year anniversary of tennis for me.
12. What prompted you to play tennis regularly? The Pine Bluff High School Zebras getting our tails kicked when I was 16. I hated losing so decided to go all-in with it the summer before my junior year and played five days a week until I got to college. We won district my senior year so it was good to see the work pay off. The summer after graduating gave me a lot of opportunities to travel around and compete as well. That made me train more because my parent's gave me permission to travel by myself and have some independence.
13. What is your favorite thing/enjoyment about playing tennis? The ability to play it for a lifetime. I played doubles with a 75+ years group and they could still compete! Being able to do something you love for that amount of time is outstanding. If I can make it to 75, I'll still be playing.
14. What is your own favorite tennis shot/worst? Drop shots are my favorite. It takes so much out of your opponent when they lose a point to a drop shot. It's also a good way to build confidence in a match. When I get a drop shot with nice touch I load up with confidence and start playing more aggressive. The worst is my serve. I broke my arm in the same spot twice as a kid so I can't generate much power due to injury. Luckily, power is the least important factor of a serve.
15. Is there any life lessons learned by playing tennis? Yes. The three I find the most are commitment, team building and handling life's ups and downs. Commitment to your club, your doubles partner, your USTA League team and your love/enjoyment of the game. Team building is important, especially in doubles, because you have to work together to get a win. Sometimes you'll struggle but together can find ways to overcome. The final is learning how how handle life's ups (wins) and downs (losses). You need to experience both because life's never perfect. You have to learn from your mistakes and move on when you're low. You have to analyze what you did right and celebrate when your high.
16. What is your most memorable accomplishment playing tennis so far? Winning district my senior year with the Pine Bluff High School team. I lost my finals match but our doubles team stepped up and took down theirs. That was fun because the school had never won it. My best friend was on the 1 doubles team so that was a good way to go out because we had lettered all 3 years.
17. Do you have a particular pet peeve that tennis opponents do that bother you? "COME ON!" It makes me laugh now when someone hits a bad or good shot then screams that. I'll sometimes respond "Where are we going?" to get anyone who is watching to laugh.
18. Do you learn more from your wins or losses and why? Wins. I'm too hard on myself so really drill myself when I lose. In a win, I can go back and watch footage to see what was done right without emotions getting involved. In loses, I find too many things wrong. It's hard to make a game plan with so many things to fix. I fix a few things after a win and really concentrate on solidifying those.
19. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Before getting back in to tennis I spent two years playing music and touring around the United States with three different bands. The last project played Rogue Pizza on Dickson street in February of 2011.
20. When I was 10, I wanted to be… The shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals. I vividly remember telling my dad when I was 10 that, "I don't need to go to school. I'm going to be playing shortstop and should concentrating on practicing." Needless to say, I went to school that day.
21. Favorite movies: The Shawshank Redemption, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Anchorman and Toy Story 3.
22. The person I most admire is: My dad Walter. It took me a while to find my niche but he was supportive the whole time I was doing music. He's very focused, loyal and could make friends with a brick wall. As I get older I see more and more of me turning into him and I'm fine with that. I have to give my mother Terri some props too. She was a little more patient and together they let me find my way. I'm glad because I found it with a tennis racquet and get to move back to Arkansas.
23. The last book I read was: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Economics has
always been one of my favorite subjects and this is the best economics book I've read.
24. The guests at my fantasy dinner party would be:
Andre Agassi, a Tennis legend.
John Paul Jones (bass player from Led Zeppelin)
Ozzie Smith (Hall of Fame Shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals)
Lou Holtz, TV Analysis and renowned former Football coach.
Brad Pitt, actor.
Alicia Keys, songwriter/performer.
Betty White, actress.
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple
Joe Namath, Hall of Fame Quarterback.
25. I‘ve been fortunate to……Land an amazing job with specialized 36' co in the state
where my lives and I love.
26.One word to sum me up…..Fun.

FAC Tennis Network interview with Ann Gallaher, FAC General Mgr

1. Where did you grow up? Ann: Born and raised in Springdale, AR Graduate of Springdale High School and University of Arkansas
2. If not from NWA - what brought you here? Ann: 8 generations of my family are from either Benton or Washington Counties.
3. Marital status, spouse’s name and children's names? Ann: Married 26 years to Marty Gallaher. Two children Bannon - 21 yo Jr. at University of Arkansas College of Education; Jessie 16 yo Jr at Har-Ber High School and Tennis Star!
4. What do you do for recreation/relaxation/hobbies? Ann: Anything outdoors (hiking, biking, camping, fishing, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and playing with my 3 dogs, cat and rabbit)
5. Do you play tennis? Ann: Not very well, but love to watch my daughter. She has taken lessons from Taylor for 3 years.
6. If you were a FAC Member before taking the job as FAC General Manager, what attracted you to being a member? Ann: yes, I joined in 2009.
7. Generally what is your duties and responsibilities as FAC General Manager? Ann: Primarily budgets, capital improvement projects, and personnel matters.
8. What do you like most about your current job? Ann: the people are the best. I love to see their growth and development over time. What do you dislike? mean people
9. What is your favorite NWA restaurant and why? Ann: Greenhouse Grill everything is fresh and delicious!
10. If you could have dinner with a famous person - dead or alive - who would it be and why? Ann: Jesus Christ for obvious reasons
11. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Ann: I drive a 10 year old Jeep with manual windows and locks
12. When I was 10, I wanted to be…Ann: a nurse
13. Favorite movie …. Ann: To Kill a Mocking Bird
14. The person I most admire is: Ann: my Mother and Grandmother because of the way they have overcome adversity in their lives
15. The last book I read was I can't remember. Ann: I don't have time for pleasure reading… ugh!
16. The guests at my fantasy dinner party would be … Ann: my entire family from generations past to present
17. I ‘ve been fortunate to live a..... "charmed" life.
(Format below is now narrative vice quotes by Ann as found above)
18. Who are the new owners of FAC? The owners are a conglomerate investor group who bought a bundle of notes and FAC was in that bundle.
19. How do you see the investors involvement in FAC? The investors have taken a supportive role rather than taking a direct involvement or hands on role in the management and operation of FAC. The investors are very supportive financially and are willing to give us the tools and resources to make FAC better. The investors have hired a 30 year veteran of fitness club management as a consultant who is directly involved with Ann and her management team. Club members can rest assured the club is in capable hands. The owners have already supported FAC with capital improvement money that will fund a number of large improvement projects throughout FAC. We just bought $750,000 new equipment that will replace almost all the workout equipment on the 2nd floor of the gym area. The Tennis Center is getting an entirely new roof to fix the leaking that has plagued the Tennis Center for years. Also the Tennis center will get new tiles / flooring. Ann wishes she had a way to expand the tennis center to provide more room but there is no room to expand with the current structure. The only option is to take over old Camille’s – which is not out of the question. Ann is currently working with a realtor to find the right tenant for Camille’s– but no takers yet. Ann realizes the need is to get the right ternate which will have the right menu options and similar hours as the tennis center. If a tenant cannot be found for the Camille’s area, one of many options is to make it FAC’s own special events catering kitchen. Ann realizes that her team has their work cut out for them since normal maintenance has been deferred for a number of years. Ann and her team has a number of big maintenance items scheduled and if the our members can be patient, Ann’s goal is to make the Tennis Center nice again. She doesn’t want to just get caught up on maintenance, she wants to get ahead of the maintenance cycle – and it will take time.
20. Tell us about your FAC Management Team: Ann’s management team consists of 8 members: William Prince who is Assistant GM (former football star at Mississippi State who Ann asks if all members can help teach him how to call the Hogs!). Monika Wiederkehr is Child Care Director, Stephanie Liles is Office Manager/hr Director, Mica Mitchell is Group Fitness Director, Virginia Kelsey is Personal Fitness Director, Taylor Dodds is Head Tennis Pro, Rob Clark is Maintenance Director and the Aquatics Director is open.
21. How should a tennis member submit a suggestion, compliant or recommendation to FAC Management? Ann said there are ‘comment cards’ which are probably the best, easiest and most effective way to forward a complaint, comment or suggestion to her. Ann reads all comment card personally and takes the comments seriously. Ann made a note to ensure these ‘comment cards’ are also placed in the tennis center.
22. Where does the Tennis Center fit into the whole FAC enterprise? The Tennis Center is a huge component of FAC, like a spoke in the wheel, each of FAC’s Centers makes up the whole. There is not one center more important than another. And Ann would like to ensure that the Tennis members, though the tennis center is remote in terms of distance from the club – Tennis is critical to success of FAC as a whole and she wants to make sure tennis members are happy.
23. What do you see as the issues and opportunities facing the Tennis Center? Ann said she is a ‘block and tackle’ girl – first taking on the fundamentals of the business which are the structures. Some fundamental type things which are primary for her are: repairing tennis center roof, tennis center flooring, putting up the bubble and ensuring minimum interruption of service to the members, etc – these are the type of operational concerns she knows they have to do properly. Ann mentioned the many other non structural items such as: when she walks out of the tennis center going toward the pool on a rainy day there is a large puddle of water because the side walk is too low – those are the types of things she see’s and wants to fix after the primary items are addressed.
24. What are the opportunities facing the Tennis Center? “Wow – when I think of the tennis center, I just think about the great people at the tennis center. I have never been over there when there wasn’t a real positive energy – what an upbeat group of members”. Tennis Center members have put up less than the best for so long without complaint - and that stupid broken couch. The things that the folks at the tennis center endure and put up with and haven’t even complained about. Those stupid tennis carts that the pro’s use which has only 3 wheels – can’t we do better than that old beat up couch and 3 wheel carts? Some current big opportunities for the tennis center: we have two new pro’s coming on board; Chris Cash who will be working with the Junior Tennis Development, Keith Heinz, another tennis pro, coming in from Tulsa in the middle of October. We have a huge opportunity developing our Junior Tennis Program so our kids have the same tennis skill development opportunities earlier as other have like in Ft. Smith, Bentonville, Little Rock, etc. We have to start kids in tennis at an earlier age so they are better positioned to develop a life long love of tennis, become better fit and for those youth who pursue tennis competitively – we want them able to compete for sports scholarships. FAC as a whole faces the same opportunity – to help get kids healthier at a younger age. We are hiring trainers now to develop these kind of programs for that age group, age 13 to 18, which often is being overlooked by fitness clubs. We have a number of initiatives being rolled out that will focus on getting that young age group more involved in fitness.
25. Taylor and Bobby just returned from a USPTA (US Professional Tennis Association) World Conference at Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa – was this a FAC management imitative? This was a mutual initiative by FAC, Taylor and Bobby. FAC paid for the whole trip and was part of FAC’s continuing education program required of our Pro’s by FAC. As we do with every training conference, we expect the participants to write a recap report which summarizes what they learned and what we can apply to FAC and the other centers. We will be using their written recap to help all our centers and learn from the best practices discussed at this conference.
26. Is there an ideal or ‘break even’ number of tennis memberships and is there a target court utilization %? I am sure there probably is, I don’t know if we ever had it, and I don’t know what it is right now. I know at some point, if we have too many members and if the courts become unavailable available to our tennis members – that would be a problem which we would have to address.
27. We asked out FAC Tennis Network Facebook members what questions they’d like to ask you during this interview:
28. There is no room to change in the Tennis Center or try on clothes: Not only is there not changing room but we don’t have lockers and Ann sees it is an inconvenience for tennis players to walk over to the gym to use the lockers. Again, the issue is the limited available space in the current tennis center building. Ann will continue taking any tennis member input on this an all issues and will continue trying to find solutions.
29. Why can’t FAC have court side tennis benches with shade: Ann has, instead of the simple court benches, she has bench cabana’s (like WLFC) earmarked for our capital improvements for 2012.
30. Early Morning Cardio for those that work: Ann welcomed the idea and recommendation and briefly asked about what would be an ideal time or number of days per week and asks that we continue this dialog about early morning cardio and determine possible days of the week, ideal times and who would be interested in participating.
31. Many Tennis Members question why they have to play a full FAC gym membership plus the tennis add-on fee when they never use the gym or pool. Why couldn’t there be a Tennis Only membership? Ann was very open to investigate this option. We discussed various challenges such as ‘how do you execute a tennis only membership without being a policeman’ without having gates, scanning devices at every entry; into tennis, from tennis to pool, from tennis to gym and adding personnel to enforce. ‘At the moment our current scanning system does not give us the option of separating gym only, gym and pool, tennis and gym, tennis and pool, tennis only, etc. Ann was eager to discuss this issue and was all ears in thinking through how it effects our members and any effective solution. Ann also doesn’t want to make it ‘laborious for members with multiple check in /scans for gym, then pool, then tennis and visa versa. Ann also saw the concern of those tennis players who year after year pay the FAC gym fee plus the tennis add on fee and never set foot in the main facility.
32. Shouldn't FAC have a Student Tennis Membership like other tennis clubs in the area?: Ann was eager to learn about this ‘student membership discount’ that other tennis clubs offered. We discussed the members FAC loses because of this student membership discount and that it would seem with our close proximity to UofA to be an attractive option for UofA students to become tennis/club members. Ann was curious how student memberships worked with other clubs; is it full time, part time, 1 course, local colleges and universities only, on-line, all colleges and universities, etc. She will investigate.