5 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Palisades Tennis Club member Cynthia Neiman becomes first female USTA Southern California president
Cynthia Neiman was recently elected as the board president of the Southern California section of the United States Tennis Assn.
She became the first woman in the section's 138-year history to hold that spot. And she didn't know it until after the vote occurred.
'On the one hand, it's a long time coming,' Neiman said. 'But on the other hand, I just feel fortunate to be in a position to help in any way I can.'
Neiman, a member at Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach, said tennis is a big part of her life. She walked onto the team at UCLA in the 1980s and remains capable of competing at a high level, recently playing on a top senior women's doubles 4.5-level team.
'We made it to third in the country, so we had a pretty good run,' Neiman said, adding that the Tennis Channel is constantly on the television in her Long Beach home.
Neiman is now a history maker in her new role. She comes to it from a marketing background, formerly working at companies like Mattel and Ikea, among others.
Neiman is currently the chief experience officer for Rady Children's Health, created when Children's Hospital of Orange County merged with Rady Children's Hospital San Diego in January.
She joined the SCTA board in 2020. She said what drew her in was her experience on the board of the nonprofit Pete Brown Junior Tennis Program for under-served youth, run by her good friend Marty Woods in South Central Los Angeles.
'I really saw all of the good that tennis does, it's not just about the pros and elite players,' Neiman said. 'I'm so proud of what [USTA Southern California executive director Trevor Kronemann] and his staff do to really grow the game, promote the game. It's been incredibly rewarding. I view my role as supporting Trevor and the staff and removing roadblocks, and mirroring what the priorities are of USTA national. That really comes down to courts, coaches and programming.'
Kronemann said he thinks the world of Neiman, who is also a two-time breast cancer survivor, and that they are on the same page.
'She's a people person, and she's a hard worker,' Kronemann said. 'She's had an incredible career … Tennis needs these stories to be told. It's not that Cynthia Neiman has won four Grand Slams or 18 Grand Slams. It's that Cynthia Neiman has built a life through tennis, and through the community. These are the stories that I think are great stories.'
The USTA has an initiative called '35 by '35,' designed to create 35 million tennis players in the United States over the next 10 years.
Kronemann said there are about 25 million tennis players nationwide, and roughly 10% of them play in Southern California.
'What's really interesting is that there's another 25 million who have identified themselves as wanting to play tennis, but they've never played,' Neiman said. 'How do we attract those folks? Something that certainly I think about now is, how do we just bring in these people who have never picked up a racket and make it easy and fun for them?'
She said the Southern California chapter recently received a $70,000 grant from the national organization for a program called 'Taking it to the Streets.' The idea is to introduce the sport to people in an informal way.
'We're wrapping a van and going to show up in unexpected places, whether it's parking lots or malls or other venues, just putting up a court with a net and have rackets and balls for people to hit around a little bit,' Neiman said.
She added that she feels fortunate to have other stellar officers recently elected to the executive board, including Laguna Beach resident and former UC Irvine standout Neel Grover, a business executive who is currently the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn. chairman and has won 27 USTA National gold balls.
