Brooklyn’s Simmons Wins PTR/TIA Commitment to Industry Award

February 22, 2016 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
pj simmons

Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) presented its annual awards this week during the 2016 PTR International Tennis Symposium.  The event, which includes more than 40 educational presentations for tennis teachers and coaches, was held February 17-20, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

P.J. Simmons, of Brooklyn, New York, has been named the recipient of the PTR/TIA Commitment to the Industry Award. 

Simmons is a self-professed ‘tennisaholic’ who didn’t start playing until age 40, despite being infatuated with the sport since age 15.  In 2013, he founded The Tennis Congress in the hopes of building a supportive community of passionate players and professionals committed to achieving their personal best, helping others, and raising the bar for adult amateur tennis player development worldwide. After its second national event in 2014, The Tennis Congress received Tennis Industrymagazine’s inaugural Champions of Tennis award for Innovative Tennis Event of the Year.

In 2015, Simmons founded the NetGains Foundation to help promote active, healthy adult lifestyles through tennis and to leverage the passion and talents of tennis players and industry leaders in support of positive social and environmental impacts.

Simmons is also an iTPA Certified Tennis Performance Specialist (CTPS), ISSA certified personal trainer (CPT), and an ISSA certified Specialist in Fitness Nutrition.  He chronicles his own experiences trying to become a better player on the blog, The Road to 4.5 Tennis.

Simmons strives to bring the same energy, enthusiasm and impact to the adult recreational tennis community that he has brought to the global sustainability arena for nearly two decades.  Simmons is author of the highly acclaimed Green to Gold Business Playbook and co-founder and Chair of the Corporate Eco Forum, a preeminent network for senior executives from 70 Fortune 500 companies with combined revenues of over $3 trillion. 

PTR is the largest global organization of tennis teaching professionals with more than 15,000 members in 127 countries.  It has the greatest percentage of multicultural and women members of any such organization.  PTR is dedicated to educating, certifying and servicing tennis teachers and coaches around the world in order to grow the game.


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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