TI names 2015 ‘Champions of Tennis’
December 14, 2015
Mike Woody, the national tennis director for Genesis Health Clubs, has been named “Person of the Year” for 2015 by Tennis Industry magazine in the publication’s January 2016 issue. Woody led off the magazine’s 15th annual “Champions of Tennis Awards,” which honors people, businesses and organizations dedicated to improving the sport and business of tennis.
Woody, who is based in Wichita, Kan., was the longtime tennis director at the Greater Midland Tennis Center in Midland, Mich., a position he left in July after 22 years. Mainly under Woody’s guidance, in 2008 Midland was named the inaugural winner of the U.S. Tennis Association’s “Best Tennis Town in the U.S.”
“If you were to pick a pied-piper for tennis, Mike Woody would top the list,” says Peter Francesconi, the editorial director for Tennis Industry, the world’s largest tennis trade magazine (tennisindustrymag.com). “His enthusiasm and passion for tennis has helped to grow this sport not just in Midland, but throughout the country. He’s a true supporter of the sport and of the tennis industry.”
“Tennis changes people’s lives in a lot of different ways,” Woody says. “You hear people talking about the sport from many angles—its health and fitness, how social it is, how competitive it can be, how much fun it is. Whatever the angle they find appealing, that’s what gets me pumped.”
In addition to its Person of the Year, Tennis Industry also named winners in 21 other categories for its 2015 Champions of Tennis Awards (visit tennisindustrymag.com for more on these winners):
Tennis Industry has been covering the tennis business and the sport for 44 years. Available in both print and digital editions, TI is the official publication of the Tennis Industry Association, U.S. Racquet Stringers Association, and American Sports Builders Association. Visit tennisindustrymag.com.