In the Trenches: Chaos Breeds Creativity

In the Trenches: Who's Sitting at the Decision-Making Table? 

By Susan Nardi

This is part 2 of my article from October 2026, "Chaos Breeds Creativity."

It was 1984, and I was sitting in the office of my academic advisor, Dr. Gary Nussbaum—better known to his students as Dr. Fun.

We were looking over my academic plan in Recreation and Leisure Services.

There was some concern within the department that I was thinking too narrowly.

To them, I was the tennis person.

Tennis was my passion. It was where I spent my time. It was where I saw opportunity.

But I remember explaining to Gary that I didn't see tennis as something narrow at all.

I saw something much bigger.

I believed we were moving toward a racquet-sports industry.

And I didn't simply want to teach within it.

I didn't even want to stop at running a tennis program or becoming a department head.

I wanted to understand the business, the people, the facilities, and the decisions that

shaped the industry.

Even at that age, I remember thinking:

I don't just want to be a stakeholder at the table. I want to be capable of sitting at the head of it.

That probably sounded ambitious coming from a college student whose professors

thought she was overly focused on tennis.

Maybe it was.

But more than forty years later, I think the question behind that conversation is one our profession needs to start asking much more seriously:

Are we preparing racquet-sports professionals simply to run racquet-sports departments—or are we preparing them to lead the organizations that make the decisions affecting our industry? 

For decades, our industry has worked hard to produce better teaching professionals.

Then better Head Professionals.

Then Directors of Tennis.

Then Directors of Racquet Sports.

Those are important positions.

They should be celebrated.

But they should not automatically be viewed as the end of the career ladder.

We need to start asking a different question:

What comes next?

Beyond the Department 

At a private club, why shouldn't the pathway look something like this?

Teaching Professional → Head Professional → Director of Racquet Sports → Director of Athletics → Assistant General Manager → General Manager/COO

In parks and recreation:

Teaching Professional → Racquet Program Director → Recreation Supervisor → Recreation Manager → Recreation Director → Parks & Recreation Director

And for the entrepreneur:

Teaching Professional → Independent Operator → Academy or Concession Owner → Multi-Site Operator → Business Executive

Three different environments.

Three different structures.

But the leadership skills required to succeed in all three begin to look remarkably

similar.

People.

Money.

Communication.

Planning.

Decision-making.

Leadership.

That is where I believe our professional-development conversation needs to grow.

We Are Already Managing More Than Racquet Sports

Look at what experienced racquet-sports professionals actually do.

We create programs.

We build budgets.

We hire people.

We train staff.

We manage schedules.

We solve complaints.

We generate revenue.

We market programs.

We manage facilities.

We organize events.

We negotiate with parents, members, customers, and employees.

We work with children, adults, seniors, families and communities.

We make decisions every day involving people, money, and limited resources.

Those are not simply tennis or pickleball skills.

Those are management skills.

The question is whether we recognize them as such—and then deliberately build on them.

The Entrepreneur Learns Quickly

Those who own academies, concessions, franchises or independent businesses often

understand this better than anyone.

When your name is on the business, knowing how to teach a great lesson is only the

beginning.

Suddenly, you need to understand payroll.

Workers' compensation.

Federal taxes.

State taxes.

Insurance.

Employment classifications.

Contracts.

Leases.

Vendor relationships.

Pricing.

Marketing.

Cash flow.

Accounts receivable.

Customer retention.

Risk management.

And the difference between having a lot of revenue and actually making money.

You may not have an HR department down the hall.

There may not be an accounting department.

There may not be a marketing department.

There may simply be you.

That forces you to learn quickly.

And sometimes painfully.

Entrepreneurship teaches a lesson that every leader eventually learns:

Everything is connected.

You cannot separate programming from staffing.

You cannot separate staffing from finance.

You cannot separate finance from customer service.

And you cannot separate any of them from communication.

It Starts With People

One of the areas I believe our industry needs to spend much more time teaching is

recruitment, hiring and retention.

We talk endlessly about programs.

But programs don't run themselves.

People run them.

Finding good staff is difficult.

Finding talented people who communicate well, understand expectations, fit the culture,

represent the organization professionally and actually want to stay is much harder.

Then comes onboarding.

Training.

Compensation.

Scheduling.

Mentoring.

Performance expectations.

Accountability.

Conflict resolution.

Recognition.

Professional development.

Succession planning.

And retention.

Retention should not begin when someone hands in a resignation letter.

It should begin on the first day they are hired.

A Director of Racquet Sports who wants to become a General Manager must understand this.

A municipal professional who wants to become a Recreation Director must understand this.

An entrepreneur who wants to grow from one facility to five must understand it.

You cannot scale a program, business or organization if every important decision still has to pass through one person.

Strong leaders develop other strong leaders.

Communication Is Leadership

If there is one skill that connects private clubs, public recreation and entrepreneurship, it may be communication.

At a club, you may be communicating with members, committees, the General Manager, other department heads, employees, parents and vendors.

In parks and recreation, you may be communicating with supervisors, city administrators, elected officials, neighborhood groups, contractors, residents and other departments.

As an entrepreneur, you may be communicating with customers, employees, landlords, municipalities, accountants, attorneys, insurers, vendors and business partners.

The audiences change.

The responsibility does not.

Can you explain an idea clearly?

Can you listen before responding?

Can you deliver bad news professionally?

Can you resolve a conflict without making it personal?

Can you explain a budget to someone who doesn't work in your department?

Can you present a proposal to a board?

Can you communicate expectations before there becomes a problem?

Can you defend a capital request?

Can you persuade someone to invest in an idea?

Can you tell an employee that their performance needs to improve while still preserving

the relationship?

Those are leadership skills.

The higher you move within an organization, the less success depends on what you personally can do and the more it depends on your ability to communicate, motivate, and lead other people.

Understanding the Numbers

Another area in which we need to think bigger is financial literacy.

Knowing how to build a departmental budget is important.

But a future executive or entrepreneur needs to understand more.

Revenue.

Expenses.

Labor.

Profit and loss.

Cash flow.

Cost recovery.

Pricing.

Capital expenditures.

Insurance.

Payroll.

Taxes.

Contracts.

Debt.

Forecasting.

A program can be busy and still lose money.

A department can generate impressive revenue and still be poorly managed.

A business can appear successful and still struggle to make payroll.

Financial literacy does not mean every racquet professional needs to become an accountant.

It means that if you aspire to leadership, you need to understand what the numbers are telling you.

Three Worlds, One Leadership Challenge

Private clubs, public recreation, and entrepreneurship can look like completely different worlds.

In many ways, they are.

A private club serves its membership.

A public recreation department serves an entire community.

An entrepreneur has to create enough value for customers to keep a business viable.

Their missions are different.

Their structures are different.

Their funding models are different.

But the leadership challenges overlap enormously.

All three require us to manage people.

All three require budgets.

All three require communication.

All three require planning.

All three require conflict resolution.

All three require customer or member service.

All three require recruitment and retention.

And all three eventually put someone in the position of making decisions about the future.

That is why the professional-development conversation within racquet sports has to expand.

Who Is Making the Decisions?

If we want racquet sports to thrive, we need more racquet-sports professionals preparing themselves for higher levels of decision-making.

Look at municipal recreation.

Someone decides whether courts are resurfaced.

Someone decides whether courts are converted.

Someone writes the RFP.

Someone decides how concessions are structured.

Someone recommends where capital dollars should be spent.

Someone decides whether new facilities will include tennis, pickleball, padel or something else.

Someone determines which programs receive staffing and funding.

Those decisions often happen well above the racquet department.

Wouldn't it be valuable to have more Recreation Directors and Parks & Recreation executives who truly understand racquet sports?

Not because they should favor racquet sports over every other activity.

They shouldn't.

A strong Recreation Director must serve the entire community.

But there is tremendous value in having someone in that position who understands the difference between simply having courts and creating a thriving racquet-sports community.

The same is true at a private club.

Capital plans are created.

Amenities are prioritized.

Departments compete for resources.

Budgets are approved.

Facilities are renovated.

Staffing decisions are made.

Who is in those meetings?

A General Manager who came through racquet sports brings a valuable perspective because racquet professionals often live incredibly close to the member experience.

We teach their children.

We hear their complaints.

We celebrate their successes.

We create social connections.

We introduce people who eventually become friends.

We build communities.

That is leadership experience.

Do Not Forget the Entrepreneur

The industry also needs to recognize that some of our most experienced leaders may

already be running their own businesses.

Academy owners.

Concessionaires.

Franchise operators.

Independent contractors.

Facility operators.

They understand that an idea means very little unless you can execute it.

They know revenue because they have to generate it.

They understand customer retention because every customer matters.

They know employees because the success of the business depends on them.

They understand contracts because they sign them.

They understand taxes because they pay them.

They understand risk because they carry it.

That experience should be recognized as legitimate executive preparation.

Some of the future leaders of our industry may already be sitting right in front of us.

We simply haven't thought about their careers that way.

What Should We Be Teaching?

We still need exceptional technical education.

We still need great coaches.

We still need programming ideas.

But perhaps the next evolution in professional development is asking a different question:

What does this professional need to know five or ten years from now?

Finance.

Accounting.

Human resources.

Recruiting.

Hiring.

Retention.

Communication.

Governance.

Public administration.

Contracts.

Taxation.

Risk management.

Technology.

Capital planning.

Marketing.

Strategic planning.

Negotiation.

Those subjects are not outside our profession.

They may be exactly what allows someone within our profession to become an executive.

Organizations such as the RSPA, CMAA and NRPA can help build those bridges.

RSPA does not need to become CMAA.

It does not need to become NRPA.

It does not need to become a business school.

But it can help racquet professionals understand what comes next.

It can create partnerships and build apond them.

It can expose professionals to management education earlier.

It can encourage certification pathways outside the traditional racquet-sports silo.

It can help a young coach see possibilities beyond the title of Director of Racquet Sports.

That matters.

Back to Dr. Fun

I stayed in touch with Gary over the years.

From time to time, I would call him to talk through an idea, ask his opinion, or get his perspective on something happening in my career.

His professional world was never racquet sports.

His area was outdoor adventure and recreation.

But he understood passion.

He understood recreation.

And he understood what it meant to find a direction and keep following it.

Years later, Gary came through Los Angeles, and we had lunch.

We talked about the industry.

We talked about my career.

And eventually we talked about that college student sitting in his office back in 1984 who was convinced that tennis was going to become something much larger.

Gary listened.

Then he looked me directly in the eye and said something I will never forget:

“You were right all along.”

I don't tell that story because I had everything figured out in 1984.

I certainly didn't.

What I had was a direction.

And maybe that is what we need to give the next generation now.

A bigger direction.

We should be proud when one of our professionals becomes a Director of Racquet Sports.

But we should be equally proud when another becomes a General Manager, Recreation

Director, a successful entrepreneur, amulti-facility operator, a COO, and a CEO.

Those professionals have not left racquet sports behind.

They have expanded the influence of someone who understands racquet sports.

Because the future of our industry will not be determined only by what happens on the court.

It will also be determined in boardrooms.

City offices.

Budget meetings.

Planning sessions.

Executive offices.

And business meetings.

If we want racquet sports to thrive, more people who understand our industry need to be in those rooms.

Don't just teach us how to run the program.

Teach us how to manage people.

Don't just teach us how to manage the department.

Teach us how to understand the organization.

Don't just teach us how to build a budget.

Teach us how to understand the entire financial picture.

Don't just teach us how to get the job.

Teach us how to recruit, hire, and retain the people who will help us succeed once we have it.

And don't tell the next generation that Director of Racquet Sports is the end of the road.

Show them what comes next.

In 1984, I wanted racquet sports to have a seat at the head of the table.

More than forty years later, the industry still needs that seat.

Let's prepare the next generation of racquet-sports professionals to lead the table.

Let's go: Adam, Veronika, Eric, Deniza, Joe, Sabrina, Demian, Kari, Ryan and Katrina.

Personal Note: Thank you to all those professors in the Radford University Department for all the knowledge and support you have shown me. Thank you, Gary, Lee, Mick, Rick, and Gary Upp.