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Since its launch in 2005, the Tennis Recruiting Network has been a valued source of information for the junior tennis community. With weekly rankings of boys and girls - along with original content focusing on junior and college tennis - the TennisRecruiting.net website is a popular online destination.

Today, April 1, 2014, Tennis Recruiting is excited to unveil its plans for the future. Having established its position on the tennis landscape, the company plans to begin coverage of an additional sport. And after much deliberation, that sport is Wiffle Ball.

"What can I say? We are obviously very excited about this new direction," said Dallas Oliver, Vice President of Business Development. "After doing well in the tennis market, we felt like it was time to grow in a new direction - and that direction is Wiffle Ball."

While other sports - such as golf, swimming, wrestling, and track - were under consideration, none of them ever threatened Wiffle Ball's position of dominance.

"We commissioned a task force in 2012 to start looking into other sports," said Oliver. "That task force had two recommendations: (1) go after an individual sport that can leverage our powerful ranking system, and (2) identify an established sport that is already well-organized within the NCAA. Although Wiffle Ball does not satisfy either of those criteria, we decided to just go for it."

NCAA president Mark Emmert was delighted by the new direction.

"While we do not have any official relationship with recruiting services, we are thrilled by the consideration of Wiffle Ball," said Emmert in a statement today, April 1, 2014. "The whole world watched as that acquisition of ESPN fell through a couple of years ago. It's great that Tennis Recruiting has shaken that off and is moving forward. And while the NCAA has no immediate plans to sanction Wiffle Ball, you should never say never. After all, we did add Bowling back in 2004."

Some critics, however, question the choice of Wiffle Ball, a game that is played using a light-weight, perforated, plastic ball and a plastic yellow bat. They claim that Wiffle Ball has only three types of followers: (1) 8-year-old children, (2) drunken fraternity brothers, and (3) out-of-shape, middle-aged, weekend warriors who pine for their youth.

But officials at Tennis Recruiting remain undaunted. And to bring attention to this new initiative, they also announced a new look for the website.

"As of today, April 1, 2014, we are excited to rebrand our website as the Wiffle Ball Recruiting Network - or WBRN for short," said Oliver. "Since we are already well-known throughout the tennis community, we felt it was important to make a statement to Wiffle Ball enthusiasts across the country. While the new look may be jarring for some of our users, we are confident that everyone will soon warm to that sweet, new WBRN look."

While Wiffle Ball enthusiasts seem to be excited about these developments, officials from the United States Perforated Plastic Baseball Association (USPPBA) - the governing body of Wiffle Ball - could not be reached for comment at press time today, April 1, 2014.

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