Ashaway Forms Strategic Partnership with International Alliance of Racquet Technicians

Organizations to cooperate on educational and support programing to enhance member technical knowledge of strings and stringing

Ashaway, RI - Ashaway Racket Strings has formed a strategic partnership with the International Alliance of Racquet Technicians (IART) to help develop educational and support programs to help build IART members' technical knowledge of string materials, construction methods, and performance metrics, as well as build stronger member relationships with Ashaway Racket Strings in terms of product developments, marketing programs, and grass roots stringing industry news.

"The IART has made great strides in building its brand over the past few years," said Steve Crandall, Ashaway Vice President, "and is quickly emerging as the leading interactive online forum for stringers and stringing worldwide. Ashaway is delighted to partner with IART and help them fulfill their mission."

"The IART is a global organization that specializes in hands-on training for racquet technicians of all levels," said IART Founder, Tim Strawn. "As such, we are delighted to partner with a brand like Ashaway, which has such a long-standing commitment to the stringing community…and, of course, excellent products!"

Formerly known as the Grand Slam Stringers, the IART has a membership of over 125 top stringers from 18 different countries around the globe that participate daily through an interactive blog as well as informative discussions on their message forums. This community of like-minded people shares an interest in racquet service at the retail, club, and tour levels, as well as in supporting a large contingent of home based racquet technicians.

Established to provide a "community" atmosphere for stringers, the IART hosts an annual training symposium at Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Florida, that offers a variety of seminars led by world-class technicians and industry professionals. They also offer a line of professional stringing tools and accessories through their online store on their web site, www.gssalliance.com.

Typical of the activities planned for the Ashaway/IART partnership was Steve Crandall's participation in last September's IART training symposium. A leading expert and frequent columnist on string technology in Squash Magazine and Racquetball Magazine, Steve led a Round Table discussion on monofilament strings which compared strength, elongation, and dynamic stiffness of several brands of polyester and polyketone strings with natural gut, and how those properties translate into string performance.

Steve will also continue to contribute articles and other content to the IART website on advances in string technology and performance, and work with Tim on other member-related communications.