USTA Makes A Splash With A Unique Challenge Of Its Own…

There is no doubt the simple act of the Ice Bucket Challenge surpassed the imagination and expectations of those golfers who originally launched the idea on July  15 to benefit ALS  (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease).  From kids to heads of state to celebrities to athletes, the challenge is still going strong with groups large and small. While some have said enough is enough and others have questioned the need for funds just to ALS for such a wide promo, the fact remains that the simplicity of the message made it a phenomenon unlike anything else the philanthropic world has seen since pink became the call to action for breast cancer.

The challenge certainly wasn’t lost in the tennis world, and now with the US Open in full swing the list of participants in grassroots challenge to the most elite players continues to grow. Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, John McEnroe, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki are some of the pro stars who have shared videos, and even the USTA Florida Section got in on the action  challenging former Florida junior phenoms and now-retired pros Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick.

So is there a what’s next or a one up or another challenge with the bucket that might be noteworthy on a mass scale? Surely some organization will go for the world’s largest group or the world’s largest bucket at some point soon to try and cut through the clutter. However one of the most creative challenges has not come from a group or an individual, it came from, well, a bucket sort of. The day of the US Open draw last week, the USTA staff decided to make the trophy itself the challenge, dousing the Tiffany Silver Cup with ice and cold water of its own. The challenge was issued to? Other trophies, ranging from the Stanley Cup to the NASCAR Sprint Cup, The World Series Trophy and, of course, the smallest with the largest following, The World Cup.

While so far none of those organizations have taken the challenge to their respective hardware, it was a nice and fun attention grabber to change it up a little and give some buzz to a challenge that is, well, becoming a bit of a challenge to gain notoriety.  Hopefully some of the other sports and their large budgets take note and douse their trophies soon, it is all for a worthy cause and could get the Ice Bucket Challenge another jump start as the summer winds down, and the Open heats up.