Mission

The Clarke-Oconee Tennis Association (COTA) is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization whose mission is to promote tennis in the greater Clarke-Oconee area.

Strategic Plan

Vision Statement

COTA strives to be an inclusive, welcoming organization focused on filling the courts in our community with a diverse range of players (e.g., ages, races, levels, etc.) for social, competitive, and educational tennis programming. In everything we do, COTA will embody sportsmanship and integrity. Our primary goal is to promote the social and health benefits of tennis: tennis is fun, tennis is for everyone!

Core Values

COTA embraces the following core values that will ground our work:

• Inclusiveness and diversity

• Integrity and fairness

• Sportsmanship and respect

• Professionalish and competence

• Passion for the sport

• Teamwork

COTA Board Goals

• Increase participation in both leagues and community social/fun play

• Improve delivery of information about COTA and our programs to the community

• Increase volunteer participation, focusing on recruiting new board members and volunteers with skills that align with COTA needs/goals

• Develop educational and appreciation programming for captains and pros

• Develop a diversity initiative to focus on underrepresented populations

• Ensure ongoing financial resources to support our mission

Priority Issues and Strategies Organized Under Strategic Themes

Participation/Growth

• Host 2 social tennis events (e.g., mixers, tournaments, Grand Slam watch parties) per year

• Place COTA bulletin boards at ATC and OVP

  • Boards should be updated quarterly by a COTA Board member

• Start data collection in partnership with ATC to help identify how many people are participating in non-USTA tennis social play and programming

• Put on 2-4 supervised youth play days in partnership with public facilities and their pros (try to associate those with end of programming, e.g., camps, after school lesson sessions)

• Create programming to increase diversity in three areas: youth, men, and differently abled populations

  • Outreach and events targeted specifically for those populations

  • Develop a plan to increase racial diversity and begin new programming targeting African American and Latinx community members starting in 2022

Improve Organizational Process

• Hold an annual League issues “summit” in order to review and update rules, set calendar, evaluate leagues and decide on new league programming or procedures, etc.

• By 2023, develop a new website design and/or stand-along mobile app that aligns with USTA-branded sites in Georgia (e.g., USTA ATL) that allows for accessible and searchable delivery of information

• Designate a social media coordinator (Board member or volunteer) who is responsible for collecting info and posting regular updates to COTA accounts

• Recruit a volunteer coordinator who will be responsible for securing volunteers for various programming and events (including state tournaments)

• Recruit new Board members who can work on specific strategic plan action items

• Assign apprentices to ED and LLC recruited from new volunteers or from current Board or league Committee members

Develop Human Resources

• Create a formal Captain Education and Appreciation program that will provide mentoring for new captains and incentives and rewards for captains (including surprise gifts, captain appreciation/informational events)

  • Conduct a survey or focus group to probe issues captains face and their ideas for incentives and best practices

• Provide an annual local pro appreciation gift

• To increase awareness of COTA Board process, announce Board meeting dates, times and locations on social media within 48 hours and solicit concerns or input

Maximize Financial Resources

• Make ongoing decisions on bidding for State Championships (40+ and/or Trilevel)

  • Create a tournament committee (consisting of both Board members and volunteers) to better distribute workload for tournament planning and coordination