Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) presented its annual awards during the PTR International Tennis Symposium.  The event was held in February on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, however one award was presented recently at the Indian Wells Tennis Coaches Summit.

Rich Neher, of Glendale, California, received the PTR Media Excellence Award.  Neher is the owner of Tennis Media Group, a consulting and marketing services company for tennis clubs, tennis organizations and coaches worldwide.  He is also the Founder and Executive Director of California Social Tennis Network, however Neher may be best known as the publisher of Tennis Club Business, a free monthly tennis, and now pickleball, e-newsletter.  Sometimes referred to as today’s Gene Scott, Neher is not afraid to tackle controversial subjects.

Equipped with a German engineering degree, Neher emigrated to the United States in 1985.  After five years in Philadelphia, he moved to Southern California where he pursued his passion for tennis; he started to play and learned the business of tennis.  Neher was on the board of the San Diego District Tennis Association and received the Community Tennis Award from the USPTA San Diego division.  It was in 1994, at the Bobby Riggs Tennis Club in Encinitas, California, when Neher began organizing drop-in tennis events for local, recreational players.  As Team Lead for Adult Leagues and NTRP Ratings on the USTA Tennislink Team, he taught the ins and outs of league tennis to more than 1,000 League Coordinators in all 17 USTA Sections.  In 2008, he moved from San Diego to the Los Angeles area to serve as General Manager, Toluca Lake Tennis and Fitness Club.  Neher started Tennis Media Group and became a sports writer for Inside Tennis and the Examiner Group.  He began publishing Tennis Club Business in 2014.  Last November, Neher fulfilled his longtime dream and became a U.S. citizen.

PTR is the largest global organization of tennis teaching professionals with more than 16,400 members in 125 countries.  It has the greatest percentage of multicultural and women members of any such organization.  PTR is dedicated to educating, certifying and serving tennis teachers and coaches around the world in order to grow the game.