Do You Like Fun? Do You Like Free?
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
A guest post by Rob Gorden, United States Tennis Association. Rob presented at the Innovation Showcase at CultureCon 2026 in Madison.
Do you like fun? Do you like free?
The United States Tennis Association wants to give you fun. For free.
Tennis is the world's healthiest sport
You may know this already. A Harvard study has shown that tennis is the world's healthiest sport. We would like to add almost 10 years onto your life. We want to send you the equipment. We want to help you become aware of other tennis opportunities as your hunger for more tennis may grow. We want to give you fun at work.
We know what you are thinking. How? There is no way we can fit Wimbledon in our break room.
Don't worry. The tennis we want to give you is smaller, lighter and everyone can play it. It's called Red Ball Tennis.
A smaller court, lighter rackets, slower balls
Red Ball Tennis is played on a smaller court, with lighter rackets and slower tennis balls. These tennis balls are 75% slower than a yellow tennis ball. Everyone can play, and play anywhere.
Inside. Outside. Anywhere there is a 12 x 30 or a 20 x 50 or something in between foot space.
"I CAN'T PLAY TENNIS"
Everyone is invited. Everyone can play! Especially the people who say "I can't play tennis!" How do I know? I said "I CAN'T PLAY TENNIS."
Yes, I said it and I believed it. When I started with the USTA I had zero intention of playing tennis. I would watch. That's it.
Then a colleague approached me and said "when are you going to start hitting?" I said "I'm not." She asked why not and I replied, I can't keep the ball in the lines, I get tennis elbow right away. I CAN'T PLAY TENNIS.
She said she could fix all of that in 30 seconds. I said "Yeah right." Then she pulled out this:
She asked if I had ever seen one of these before, I said no. She said "do you think you could hit one of these?" I smugly said "Yeah." That's right, I said smugly.
Not 30 seconds later. 10 seconds later, I was a tennis player. Now, I'm an ok yellow ball tennis player. I would never be "ok" if it wasn't for that slowest tennis ball.
Now, it's yours
The USTA will send you equipment, the recommended rules, digital marketing materials and guidance. We want to help you help your workplace become a healthier place, with something very fun.
Check out redballtennis.com. If you would like to request equipment, please fill out this form.
Thank you!
One more thing, from CultureCon
If Red Ball Tennis sounds familiar, that is because our CultureCon 2026 welcome video was a documentary about it. We called it the most serious documentary ever made about Red Ball Tennis. That is still accurate, mostly because it is the only one.
Rob gave the full version live in Madison. Watch his Innovation Showcase talk from CultureCon 2026.
Want the equipment for your own workplace? Sign up for Red Ball Tennis here.
About CultureCon:
CultureCon, a Certified B Corporation®, is on a mission to inspire positive change around organizational culture. Through large conferences, online courses, consulting services, and certification programs, we deliver experiences that provide practical tools and motivation for our customers to become cultural change agents within their organizations. Our customers include business owners, CxOs, HR leaders, senior management, individual contributors, and anyone who wants to build more uplifting, inspiring, and healthy workplaces.
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