Researching the area where James plans to hold his tennis events will give him an idea of what his target market will be. This research will show him the different age groups in that area that participate in tennis on a regular basis. The research also will offer him a chance to review previously conducted studies. Past research states that, "Participation in sport facilitates strong emotional value to consumers and therefore plays a significant role in their lives. If sport participation is a positive experience, individuals will continue to play and become more committed to maintaining their involvement. This continued participation is vital to many sports that depend on frequent participants to sustain the industry (Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2000). "In order to maintain its market share, the sport industry considers retention of current participants
             to be of great concern since future participation will likely result in future direct and
             indirect consumption of goods and services" (Deaton, 1992).
             Looking back at the early 1990's, when I was coaching tennis, participation went through a decline, in my opinion, but judging from the amount of tennis seen on television today the sport is currently enjoying an increase in interest from participants of all ages, with a number of people taking advantage of it as a means of conditioning, peer interaction and friendly competition. According to data just released by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), tennis is the fastest growing sport in America among individual traditional sports with an increase in participation of 43 percent from 2000 to 2008. According to the SGMA, tennis was one of only six sports to experience participation growth exceeding 40 percent from 2000 through 2008. Tennis is well ahead of other traditional sports like baseball, ice hockey, gymnastics and football, all of which suffered a decline in participation during the past eigh...