Rob Eppelsheimer Is The Man with the Plan

***image1***Rob Eppelsheimer’s calm demeanor today belies the overwhelming task he undertook to bring the world’s largest tennis tournament to Charleston for 2005 and 2006. His work to bring the event to the Charleston area began approximately 18 months ago when Eppelsheimer and his team of supporters first submitted their tournament bid to the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Southern Section.

Eppelsheimer worked hand in hand with the Charleston Area Visitor and Convention Bureau in developing their bid. Together they based the concept behind their bid on the idea that a tennis court is a tennis court, but what “surrounds” the court is key to a successful event. Competing against cities such as Baton Rouge, La., Cary, N.C., Mobile, Ala. and Chattanooga, Tenn. they focused on Charleston being a “destination” city – meaning its accommodations, dining options, shopping and attractions would be enticing to visiting league players.

While they had Daniel Island’s world-class Family Circle Tennis Center already set as the tournament headquarters, it took some time to pull together the rest of the area tennis facilities. Securing the use of Snee Farm Country Club, Creekside Tennis Center, Daniel Island Tennis Club, College of Charleston and Mt. Pleasant Tennis Center was one of the last pieces of the puzzle.

“While their really wasn’t any resistance in the community, the hardest part about pulling everything together was organizing with the five other sites we planned to use,” said Eppelsheimer. “Each facility has their own way of doing things and we didn’t want to come across as telling anyone what to do.”

When the USTA Southern Section notified Eppelsheimer in late December 2003 that Charleston had been awarded the championship bid, the Charleston Area Tennis Commission was born. An offshoot of the Charleston Visitor and Convention Bureau, the commission was formed with an overall mission to attract major tennis events to the area.

“The decision to award the championships to Charleston was not an easy one,” said Marilyn Sherman, director of adult tennis for the USTA Southern Section. “Each of the cities who submitted a bid were equally strong candidates, but Charleston’s image as a historic city swayed the selection committee in its favor.”

As it relates to the sectional championships, the commission became the event’s primary fundraising source. It also became a good arena where Charleston’s tennis leaders could get together to discuss the organization and planning of the event.

This original committee included Eppelsheimer, one representative from each of the five other facilities, Bob Peiffer, Low Country Tennis Association Coordinator, Ron Charron, who handled satellite facility logistics and Charla McDonald and Jean Aichel-Jamme from the Charleston CVB. McDonald and Aichel-Jamme have since left the CVB but they remain active in the Charleston Area Tennis Commission.

Eppelsheimer and the tennis commission did a fabulous job of securing dollars to fund the event from various community sources, including the City of Charleston, the City of Mt. Pleasant, Berkley and Charleston Counties and the Isle of Palms.

Speaking with Eppelsheimer at the beginning of the second half of the championships, he maintains that he was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly the first half went off.

“Compared to when I visited Columbia [last year’s host city] everything went much better than I thought it would,” he said. “They should be thankful that they didn’t have any rain wreaking havoc with the playing schedule like this event has had in recent years.”

As the Family Circle Tennis Center Director, Eppelsheimer manages the day-to-day happenings of the facility 11 months of the year. But it is really the experience Eppelsheimer has attained while working the Family Circle Cup that has helped him in the organization of this event.

 “My experience with the Cup definitely proved beneficial in working on the Sectional Championships,” he said.

While Eppelsheimer must be thinking about improvements he plans on making for 2006, he is tight lipped about what they might be. Perhaps he wants to see this year’s event come and go before tackling next year’s championship.