A loss for PNW USTA is a gain for USTA National

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I live in the Seattle area and thus play in the Pacific Northwest section of the USTA.  Playing in the PNW, I've had the opportunity to interact with local and section USTA staff including Adam Hutchinson who over the years has grown to be responsible for effectively all competition, Adults and Juniors, in the PNW.  I worked on a regulations change proposal with Adam and he has been a great resource for other questions and, in my opinion and despite occasionally not agreeing on everything, has done a great job with league play in my section.

I learned yesterday that, unfortunately, Adam is leaving the PNW section, but fortunately, he is staying with the USTA and moving to National to be responsible for adult competition including league and tournament play.

Adam has been an advocate for growing the game, and PNW is one of the few sections to have had USTA League participation grow recently, team count was up 8% from 2014 to 2019 and player count up 5%, despite the general trend the other direction across all of USTA League play, player count down almost 10% over the same period.  So while I'm sorry to see him leave PNW, I'm encouraged that National is getting someone with a proven record of running leagues and tournaments in an area that has shown growth.

Good luck Adam and don't forget PNW way off in the other corner of the country!