Picture it: Montréal, Canada, 2015. It was Labor Day Monday, the last day of the annual Coupe de la Reine amateur tennis tournament. After a long weekend with hundreds and hundreds of matches played in singles and doubles across five divisions, the field had been whittled down to a few dozen finalists, and I was feeling the excitement of being in my first-ever final. Having hedged my bets on how long I’d need to stick around to play, I wound up skipping my early-morning flight and arranging to get a ride home with some acquaintances from NYC who were also playing the tournament (one of the lessons I would learn that weekend is, if you’re traveling to play a tournament, always operate under the assumption that you’ll be there until the bitter end). My final would wind up going the distance: after three full sets and nearly three grueling hours of match play, I wound up winning my first-ever tournament title. It was an emotional moment for me: after years of a few sporadic wins and mostly disappointing early-round losses, I’d finally managed to get on a winning streak and play my best tennis at the right time. But the high of winning my first title was temporarily deflated when I checked my phone and found a flurry of texts from the guy I was supposed to get a ride back with, essentially saying “sorry, your match went on really long and we needed to be back in NYC by a certain time so we left without you.” Not knowing how or when I was going to get back home and feeling slightly panicked, I turned for help to the person whose cool, calm efficiency had made the Coupe de la Reine run so smoothly that weekend: tournament director Kent Sanderson. After reassuring me that I would get home one way or another, Kent and his team sprang into action, researching same-day flights for me and having car services at the ready in case I needed to dash to the airport for a last-minute flight. They also got the word out among the remaining players, in case there happened to be anyone from NYC who was driving home and, quite luckily there was. Two perfect strangers from Brooklyn offered me a ride and, in the seven-hour trek across the border and back home, I wound up making two new friends.
The highs and lows that I experienced that weekend are not all that unusual on the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance (GLTA) amateur tennis tour (the GLTA is a not-for-profit international organization that manages and sanctions tennis tournaments around the world; while the majority of GLTA members are from the LGBT community, the tournaments are open to everyone). On any given week, there is a GLTA tournament going on somewhere in the world; GLTA events can be found everywhere from major tennis hubs like Miami, Palm Springs and Melbourne to charming smaller venues like Austin, TX and New Hope, PA. At the Liberty Open, New York’s GLTA-sanctioned tournament, players get the unique opportunity to play on the very same courts used by the pros at the US Open Tennis Championships.
In addition to all the intense emotions that go hand-in-hand with competitive sports, you’ll find that GLTA tournaments can also be a lot of fun. Whether it’s meeting new people at the welcome party, connecting with old friends at the awards banquet, or after-hours carousing with fellow players at the local bars and clubs, amateur tournaments are often just as much about social interaction and connection. In fact, a big part of the GLTA’s mission is to provide an atmosphere of inclusivity and community for LGBT tennis players.
If you’ve ever listened to professional tennis players’ speeches at trophy ceremonies, they tend to be pretty similar: Congrats to my opponent, thank you to my team, thanks to the ball kids, chair umpires, etc. Most of the time, they also thank the tournament director and staff for “taking good care of the players” and ensuring that everything about the tournament functions seamlessly. While it’s nice that they acknowledge the tournament directors for all they do, the fact is that, well, it’s their job. Professional tournament directors are often well paid and get plenty of prestige for doing what they do, and they have lots of incentive to make sure players get the VIP treatment. In contrast, amateur tournament directors do what they do not for a paycheck but strictly for the love of the game and the sense of community these tournaments build. By definition, amateur sporting events don’t pay prize money or try to turn a profit, but they understand that they are competing for the attendance of a limited universe of players. Most tournament directors realize that they need to offer the best possible experience if they want to keep players coming back. Since certain elements (like the playing venue and courts) are fixed or hard to change, they need to focus on the intangibles like the vibe and personality of a tournament: is it laid back? Is it organized and efficient ? Is it conducive to socializing? And, whatever their specific needs may be, do players feel taken care of? I know that, with my aforementioned predicament in Montréal and the lengths that the tournament organizers went to make sure I could get home, I absolutely felt taken care of. For me, there had already been a lot to love about the Coupe de la Reine that weekend, but it was the kindness and thoughtfulness I experienced on that Memorial Day Monday that made the Montréal tournament one I have returned to year after year.
To get a better understanding of the inner workings of a successful amateur tournament, I reached out to Montréal tournament director Kent Sanderson for his insights:
MG: How did you first get involved with the GLTA and with gay tennis leagues?
KS: My husband Stéphane and I immigrated to Montréal in 2005 from France and one of the things I was excited about when we moved here was that tennis seemed to be more accessible than when we were living in Paris. So I immediately sought out gay tennis leagues that first summer and struck up a few acquaintances and made the beginnings of some friendships and I quickly learned about the annual locally organized tournament, La Coupe de la Reine. My first year participating in that tournament was in 2006; for me it was an extension of participating with and becoming friends and acquaintances with some of the players in the local league. At that time I was a new immigrant in a foreign country and for me it was a way of integrating myself into Canadian and Montréal society.
MG: When did you first get involved with the Montréal tournament, and how did you come to take on the role of tournament director?
KS: When I first got involved, I never had it in the back of my mind that I would one day be in charge of a tennis tournament. Around five or six years ago, I volunteered to help out, but it was in the area of finance where I have more experience, so I was able to help with budgeting and planning. It was more of a peripheral role, but it gave me a bit of the flavor of what it was like to organize a tournament. A year or two later, there was a real lack of volunteers and we seriously considered not having the tournament that year, so that’s when I decided to step up and help organize the tournament. A lot of it was about wanting to give back to the tournament and the community that had given me so much as a foreigner in a new country.
MG: Congratulations on winning “Best Large Tournament” this year. What do you think has made Coupe de la Reine so popular? (Every year, the GLTA gives out awards to tournaments based on feedback from the players.)
KS: Thank you; we were so excited and honored to get that award! I think it starts with having a great team. I’ve found that, in general, people from Montréal are very welcoming and very focussed on providing excellent customer service. It doesn’t matter if you work in a hotel or a restaurant or you’re running a tennis tournament; there’s that common theme of exceeding expectations and it’s something I share with everyone who helps run the tournament. We’re fortunate to have access to such a great venue; because it’s all indoors and has so many courts, we don’t have to worry about rain-outs or splitting locations and that allows us to focus on other aspects of the tournament and providing more value for the participants in other areas like the banquet.
MG: There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes of managing a tournament that people don’t necessarily see or appreciate. What are some of the biggest challenges?
KS: From an organizational point of view, the most challenging part of running a tournament is the scheduling and logistics as far as match-ups. The draws and all of that stuff that seems to just magically appear on the GLTA website – that takes a special skill set of someone who can conceptualize all the variables; if you don’t have someone with the capacity and competence to do it, it becomes a really difficult exercise. And then a lot of it is about managing different personalities. We have some participants who are all about enjoying themselves and having fun, and other participants aren’t there to have fun; they just want to compete. We as organizers need to bridge that gap so not just one type of player has a positive experience, but so everyone has a positive experience. There are times when you can’t please everyone and part of my job is managing difficult situations where things are not going as they should. That might be because you have someone who’s playing in the wrong division or maybe you have a player who’s showing poor sportsmanship. It doesn’t happen a lot but, when it does, I do my best to find the best possible solution.
MG: What’s the most gratifying part of running a tournament?
KS: The positive feedback we get from the players, knowing that they’ve had a good experience – that’s definitely gratifying. Like you mentioned, we won Best Large Tournament this year and that was based entirely on player feedback, so we know we’re doing something right! I also get a great deal of personal satisfaction from working alongside very talented, creative individuals and organizing something that is ultimately a success.
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