LA JOLLA, CA - MARIETTA, GA - May 12, 2003 - Active.com, the Web registration leader for participatory sports, and Tennis Technologies, Inc. (TTI), the developers of the industry's most popular tournament software, Tournament Management System (TMS), have partnered to provide tournament directors worldwide the benefits of online registration for their players. Active.com's online registration service, used by thousands of event, league and recreation professionals, is now integrated into TMS software so tournament directors can automatically provide Web registration when they set up and post tournaments online.
This partnership marks the first time TMS users will have access to a fully-integrated online registration product. TMS software, used by more than 7,500 tennis, squash, racquetball and badminton tournament directors globally, simplifies the daily administration required to run tournaments. Easy to use, the software allows tournament directors to perform multiple tasks with a click of the mouse.
"Online registration has never been easily available in any tournament management solution. This has been very challenging for anyone running a tournament, but even more frustrating for players," said Julie Wrege, vice president, Tennis Technologies, Inc. "Now, tournament directors can set up their tournaments using TMS and instantly begin taking registrations." Wrege, an experienced player and USPTA coach, founded and grew the business with her husband Doug, and son Shannon. Wrege brings a 40+ year background managing administration for hundreds of tournaments and is active on numerous state, sectional and national tennis committees.
Online registration provides convenience for both tournament directors and players. For tournament directors, online registration saves hours of administrative time, eliminating the need to manually sort through stacks of registration entries to assign players into tournaments and divisions. Players can conveniently register online using a credit card and transactions go through Active.com's secure servers so tournament directors avoid processing checks.
Added Wrege, "Another benefit of the Active.com service is tournament directors automatically receive a check every other week, so the money is flowing into the tournament committee as expenses arise and need to be paid."
For players, online registration saves time and enables anyone to register day or night, from any computer with Internet access. Players can search, register and pay for tournaments in minutes at www.tennisinformation.com, the Web site that hosts tournaments published by TMS. Every player receives an instant e-mail confirmation.
"We've built a reputation as the registration industry leader by providing the best Web registration technology to organizers and participants in multiple sports. Now we can extend our expertise to a greater section of the tennis and racquet sports market," said Matt Landa, president of The Active Network, parent company of Active.com. "Our work with TTI delivers maximum benefits to the racquet sport family and provides the means for the participant-tournament director relationship to continue to grow to a richer level in a much more efficient manner."
Like many tournament directors, Geoff Griffin has used Active.com to handle his online registration process, but has depended on TMS for his back-end management since the two products weren't integrated. "We've been waiting for a solution like this for a long time. To have online registration and TMS seamlessly integrated in one solution is a perfect marriage," explained Griffin, who serves as director of tennis and head teaching professional at Balboa Park, San Diego.
Added Bill Rennie, director of premium services, The Active Network, "TMS has been the software of choice for tournaments. Now players have the convenience of online registration and tournament directors gain the back-end player and tournament management tools. This is truly the ultimate solution for racquet sports." A former tournament director, Rennie was also a Canadian Davis Cup player and ATP ranked professional.
All players registering for tournaments online will have the option of receiving a free, 90-day trial membership to ActiveAdvantage (www.active.com/activeadvantage ), Active.com's customized membership benefits service. Through ActiveAdvantage, athletes gain discounts on airfare, rental cars, lodging, dining at restaurants nationwide, long distance phone and event registration fees.
Through ActiveAdvantage, players will receive $2 discounts on all future tournament registrations at www.tennisinformation.com. The trial membership also offers players $5 cash rebates on their next two online registrations and one $10 rebate when they register one year later for the same event.
In addition to the U.S., TMS is used by tournaments in Ireland, England, Hong Kong, Turkey, Canada, South Africa, Venezuela, Argentina, Jamaica, Mexico, Sweden, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. Both the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and Tennis Australia have purchased nationwide licenses for TMS.
New users can download TMS from www.tennisinformation.com, create tournaments and publish their tournament information in less than one hour. Tournaments can also be posted publicly on www.tennisinformation.com.
For tournament directors in any sport, Active.com's online registration service provides comprehensive data management capabilities. The company's technology enables tournament directors to access their player data and collect registration fees from any Internet connection in the world. Using the service, tournament directors can also e-mail and market to their players, sell merchandise online or even set-up online fundraising. The service saves time, money and resources, while offering convenience to players. Active.com's line of event management services can be viewed at www.active.com/onestopshop . For more information about Active.com, part of The Active Network, visit www.theactivenetwork.com.