News Release on Five Seasons' Manny Velasco Caps Small-World Story-Telling Connection

If you stay at something long enough, fun interweavings come about.

The first story that I ever got paid to write, nearly 27 years ago, appeared in the Marshfield (Mass.) Mariner. It was a feature on Chris Lapriore, a star tennis player from my high school. A two-time state champion, Chris was about to enroll at the University of Illinois.

A few years ago, as I was doing some PR on Hall of Fame tennis player Monica Seles' visit to Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Northbrook, I chatted with the club's head tennis pro, Manny Velasco. In the course of our conversation, I discovered that Manny (pictured below, with Monica) had played with Chris at Illinois.

So it was especially satisfying, and with more than a little feeling of nostalgia, that I wrote my most recent tennis piece last week: a news release on Manny's receiving Coach of the Year honors in the USTA's Chicago District.

Makes me wonder what stories I might be telling in the year 2038.

Honoring Pat Liss, Five Seasons' PR Tipster

Frequently, I write about new arrivals in an organization. But another satisfying part of my work is to honor excellent individuals upon their exit.

Such was the case earlier this week with Pat Liss, concierge extraordinaire at Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Burr Ridge for the first 9 1/2 years of the club's existence. Her last day was July 23.

For more than a few reasons, I will miss Pat and her welcoming, warm personality as I entered, roamed around and exited the club during my visits to the site. From a purely PR standpoint, here's one of the reasons: she tipped me off to numerous outstanding story ideas in the 3 1/2 years that I have provided public relations support for the Five Seasons clubs in Burr Ridge and Northbrook.

Pat was the one who sparked my media outreach about Five Seasons member Rick Rodrigues when, as a 55-year-old grandfather, he deployed to Iraq in 2007.

Spurred on by my news release, a media blitz ensued: the Chicago Sun-Times' Andrew Herrmann wrote a front-page story on Rick, TV stations profiled him, and national outlets also pursued his story.

All of that buzz--and the positive glow that cascaded on Five Seasons, whose training staff was preparing Rich physically for the rigors ahead--can be traced back to Pat.

Her insatiable curiosity about what is happening in others' lives and her others-focused desire to put the spotlight on them also happen to be powerfully effective PR traits.

So I was pleased to be able to turn the lens squarely on Pat last week, at her retirement celebration. You can see a TribLocal photo gallery of the event, which also links to the full release that I wrote.

In addition, Pioneer Press has picked up on the story.

Public Service, Pics Drive Five Seasons' Outreach

Remarkable athletes, accomplished coaches, fund-raising programs and family-friendly activities.

Since 2007, those broadly stated categories have formed the bulk of stories that I've shared as publicist for the two Five Seasons Family Sports Clubs in the Chicago area (Burr Ridge and Northbrook).

But last week represented a new opportunity to raise awareness about the Burr Ridge site at 6901 S. Madison, as Five Seasons hosted water rescue training for the Tri-State Fire Protection District. At TribLocal.com, you can see the news release, which went to a variety of other local media outlets as well.

In light of photographs' supremely vital role in drawing attention, I also created a photo gallery.

Something to keep in mind when posting photos: it's not enough to simply slap up a bunch of images. The more descriptive captions you can offer--such as the names of individuals in the photos--the more likely the media will use the photos in other formats, such as the old-fashioned print version.

On the PR Trail With `Road to Remember'

Five years ago, toward the end of my time as a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune, I wrote a feature on Marc DeLise, then a police sergeant with the Oak Brook Police who was raising awareness and money for Kids In Need and the Illinois Torch Run for Special Olympics.

Since then, Marc's retired from the force, but he's hardly the retiring type. He's now in the midst of walking 900 miles from Chicago to New York in a fundraiser dubbed Road to Remember. (That's him, above, during his law-enforcement career and below in Chicago, on the first day of his walk last week.)

The mission is to raise funds for children of police officers, firefighters and military personnel who perished in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

As it turns out, Marc is a longstanding member of Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Burr Ridge, where I have been the publicist since 2007 and where Marc prepared in anticipation of his cross-country walk.

So it was a pleasure--and a bit of deja vu--this past week to develop a news release in support of the Road to Remember cause, including a tie-in to Five Seasons.

You can see the release here at TribLocal and check out a photo gallery as well.

Want to track Marc's progress? Visit Facebook and type "Road To Remember" into the search box.

A `Biggest Loser,' Five Seasons & HealthyWage

A "Biggest Loser" is heading to the Chicago area on Tuesday--it's Pete Thomas, who shed 185 pounds in 2005 on the popular NBC show, "The Biggest Loser." Ever since, Thomas has served as an inspiration to others seeking life transformation.

I am helping spread the word of Thomas' visit to Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Northbrook, an Inside Edge PR client, as part of "The Matchup," a national weight-loss competition that's the brainchild of Healthywage.com.

You can read about the initiative here at Triblocal.

Tennis Star at Five Seasons is Latest Profile

My first story for pay, more than 25 years ago, was on Chris Lapriore, a two-time state tennis champ from my hometown of Marshfield, Ma.

One of my first stories for the Daily Northwestern was on Matt Akman, the school's #1player in 1987. Here's my latest tennis piece, a news release on Robert Stineman, a standout from New Trier High who is also a member of Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Northbrook.

You'll hear more about Robert, I suspect, as he seems to be hitting his stride in a big way on and off the court.

Pigs Get Fat, Hogs Get Slaughtered, PR-Style

"Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."

In other words, don't get too greedy.

From the standpoint of creating something that is a legitimate, well-rounded piece of news, rather than a wholly self-serving PR piece that may turn off the media, the pigs/hogs axiom certainly applies.

There simply are times when it's best to share the spotlight rather than try to hog all of it. A current example illustrating that truth is a recently issued Inside Edge PR news release on an event called "Pancakes for Soldiers."

I learned of it from Pat Liss, the concierge at Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Burr Ridge. You can read the release at Triblocal.com here.

Here is a photo gallery that I assembled, with great support from organizer Tina Vandenbosch of Willowbrook.

Over the last three years, Pat has been a great source of excellent story ideas, often human-interest in nature.

And in this case, Pat was also part of the story, as it turns out. Of course, because Five Seaasons is a client--and because it played a key role in supporting the cause--the release included prominent mention of the club.

But it's not at the exclusion of noting others' support, from a local Starbucks to another company that donated a propane griddle.

Sharing Client's Tennis Success a Team Effort

Last week, on the heels of some significant success among girl's tennis players who have been coached for years at Five Seasons Family Sports Club, I wrote a round-up and shared it with the local media.

Along with the news release ("Five Seasons Sends Top Frosh Crop to IHSA Tennis Tournament"), which you can see at Triblocal.com, I created a photo gallery to provide online visitors another way into the story.

That's Alysa Straub in the photo accompanying this post--she's had a spectacular season at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park.

Often, the difference between little or no publicity and solid P.R. is cooperation from clients. This outreach, for example, came about thanks to excellent collaboration with Ernesto Faisal, a longtime coach who provided me with the background information for the story.

In all, he invested over an hour of his time to help make it happen. Over the coming weeks and months, I firmly believe the time that he devoted will reap a solid return in the form of increased awareness of, and enrollment in, the stellar tennis coaching that goes on daily at Five Seasons.

`People Are More Interesting Than Things'

"People are more important than things."

My wife and I issue that truth to our children all the time--especially when they argue over who should be able to play with this block or read that book.

In the PR world, there is this variation: "People are more interesting than things."

In short, individuals are far more newsworthy than incidents. And events are much more likely to attract media coverage when you highlight people involved in the event.

Anyone can convey the time, location and other basics of an event. But it takes diligent effort to craft a compelling story linked to that event. This comes to mind on the heels of my current work on behalf of Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Northbrook, where on Sunday, Nov. 15 there will be an indoor triathlon in support of a bone marrow registry drive.

A key figure in the effort is Jim Kepka, a Glenview man who received a bone marrow transplant three years ago (that's him pictured, during the transplant). He and his wife, Angela Russian, are triathletes as well as founders of an organization dedicated to helping others receive the same life-saving gift that Jim got around Christmas 2006.

You can see the story here at Triblocal.com.