Broward Tennis Blog: ‘The Spin’ Covers South Florida Women’s Game

The cover page of The Spin’s first issue.

The Spin, a new biweekly e-newsletter, has been launched by TennisVantage to cover the local world of women’s tennis in Broward County, the southern part of Palm Beach County, and the northern part of Miami-Dade. The one-page publication starts its stories embedded in the email, but then links to the website (www.tennisvantage.net). That’s dot.net — get it, net-rushing tennis fans? — not dot.com.

The venture was created by Lisa Ruderman and Leila Romano, who both sit on the tennis committee for their Heron Bay Country Club. As time moves on, the publishing duo hopes to reach the entire tri-county area.

The publication, which did a soft launch on May 12, will sport three stories embedded in the email on a rotating basis from its various regular columns, with the others appearing on the website alone. Those features include:

• Life (people and places, tennis staycations, player profiles, etc.)
• Play (a directory of courts in the tri-county area and tennis tips presented as short videos)
• Wellness (fitness and health)
• Shop (apparel, gear, gifts and more)
• News (local buzz and events)
• Fun (photos, contests, etc.)

The biweekly plans to attract advertising, all of which will be local.

Co-founder Lisa Ruderman has a grand vision outside the Grand Canyon.

Lisa will direct business development, while Leila, whose publishing experience includes a year-and-a-half running JuicyOC, a 20-page women’s lifestyle monthly magazine in Orange County, California, will be editor-in-chief. Her husband Rick, of Rainfire Media, designed the website.

TennisVantage already produced its first event, a Yoga for Tennis hour-and-a-quarter-long class at Heron Bay in Parkland, led by Yoga for Tennis founder Pamela Leal. Future events are planned, as is a one-day tennis expo, on a weekend some time this fall at a tennis center or country club, which will feature tennis pros leading clinics, a Yoga for Tennis class, equipment reps showcasing gear, as well as apparel vendors, and others.

In its premier issue, a tip-packed two-minute video, under the “Center Court” heading, featured Pete Davis and Shawn Craig, teaching pros at the Tennis Learning Center at South County Regional Park in Boca Raton. Their theme: Being an aggressive net player. The pair taught how to move with the ball, be opportunistic, and encourage your partner.

Under “Down the Alley,” there was an invitation for the May 20 Yoga for Tennis class that was held at the Heron Bay Commons Tennis Club. Under “The Toss,” there was a photo contest in which The Spin would provide a $100 gift certificate from the Match Point Tennis shops in Broward County.

Co-founder Leila Romano doesn’t lay low with her new tennis venture.

So why are these two ladies launching a local tennis publication?

“South Florida is a vibrant tennis community,” said Leila. “We want to provide a way for people to get more connected, to see videos from pros who they could actually take lessons from. It’s all about extremely local tennis,” she added.

“We want to engage the tennis-playing ladies of the tri-counties as much as we can,” said Lisa. The publication’s co-founder added that she’d like to make reading The Spin as much fun as playing the game we all love.

You can sign up for a free subscription to The Spin at their website, http://www.tennisvantage.net.