| The
Challenge
TC BW Sundern, a tennis club based in a small town in the
Sauerland region of Germany, was a virtual unknown in German
tennis and was consequentially having a difficult time recruiting
caliber players. The club retained ITMS Sports in 1993 as
a consultant to help build up their tennis program. The club’s
objective was to improve it’s men’s team, which
was at the time competing in one of the lowest tennis divisions
in Germany. ITMS Sports’ task was to build up the program
by recruiting tour professionals and attractive marquee players
to advance the club to one of the premiere clubs in Germany,
while also creating attractive events to draw in fans.
The Solution
ITMS Sports provided advice and counsel to the club on structuring
a goals-based strategy of putting together a team, budgeting,
and creating events. The first step was to have the club effectively
assess their ambitious goals. Then based on these goals, player
recruitment plans, event plans, and budgeting plans were developed.
Using its standing in international tennis and strong contacts
to the International tennis circuits and players, ITMS Sports
systematically built up Sundern’s program by signing
suitable ATP players to help advance the team on a yearly
basis. ITMS Sports also developed an effective incentive based
contract model and handled all player recruitment and contract
negotiations. Standard home matches were turned into original
events which brought in fans from all regions of the country.
The Results
ITMS Sport’s recruitment strategy helped to bring numerous
tennis professionals to Sundern resulting in the advancement
of the team into the premiere German tennis league. By 2000,
after a seven year partnership with ITMS, the club emerged
as a serious contender for the national league championship.
The next year a third place finish was attained, promptly
followed by a runner-up finish the following year, and finally
in 2003 Sundern won it’s first national championships
which they repeated again in 2004. In just 11 years Sundern
experienced an unprecedented ascent from the fourth division
to the very top of the German Bundes League. The Sundern area
of Germany also evolved into a tennis hotbed even as the rest
of Germany saw the popularity of the game wain.
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