About the Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley's STEP Program

The president of Western Colorado University, Greg Salsbury is an experienced professional and business leader. Before starting to work at Western Colorado University in 2014, Greg Salsbury was the executive vice president of financial services company, Jackson National Life for five years. He serves as a board and finance committee member of the Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley (CFGV).

The CFGV focus point is to promote philanthropy, collaborative leadership and education, and grantmaking. It is a nonprofit foundation that encourages anyone to donate to the community and people in need at Gunnison Valley, Colorado. Among the many programs offered by the CFGV is the Sustainable, Tough, Efficient, Purposeful (STEP) program.

The STEP program is for people interested in getting advice from a consulting bank. Numerous people from different fields of expertise have agreed to donate hours for the STEP program. The community members can apply for up to 12 free hours of consulting time each. Among the topics of advising are board development, coaching, branding, leadership/team building, earned income development, social media, and more.

New Tiebreaker Rules in Tennis

Greg Salsbury assumed the presidency of Western Colorado University in 2014. Over the course of his first four years with the school, enrollment increased by 21 percent, the largest four year enrollment increase in university history. Outside of his work at Western Colorado University, Greg Salsbury enjoys staying physically active, particularly through tennis and pickleball.

The 2019 Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic is already being hailed as one of the greatest matches of all time, in part because it was decided by a tiebreaker, the first ever tiebreaker in a final set at the All England Club. Prior to the 2019 tournament, Wimbledon had adhered to advantage rules during the third and fifth sets of women’s and men’s matches, respectively, meaning players would need to break their opponents serve at least once in order to secure victory. Tournament officials opted to introduce a standard 7 point tiebreaker at 12 games all in the final set, partly in response to John Isner’s 2010 and 2018 marathon matches, which ended 70-68 and 24-22, the former lasting nearly 12 hours.

Wimbledon became the second major tournament to introduce a final set tiebreaker, following the US Open, which has utilized a traditional tiebreaker since 1970. Just weeks after the Wimbledon announcement, the Australian Open made a similar decision, though the tournament settled on a 10 point tiebreaker at six games all. Heading into the 2020 grand slam season, the French Open remains the only major to utilize advantage scoring in deciding sets.

Three Variations of Pickleball

Among his accomplishments as president of Western Colorado University, Greg Salsbury played a key role in securing the second-largest donation ever granted to a Colorado institution of higher learning. When not overseeing Western Colorado University’s expansion and growth, Greg Salsbury is an avid pickleball player.

Pickleball blends aspects of tennis and ping pong into a unique multiplayer sport. In addition to one-on-one variations of the game, there are several ways to play pickleball with an odd or even number of players:

Doubles: While many of this variation’s rules mirror those of one-on-one games, there are some key differences. For example, scores consist of three numbers. The first two represent the scores of the serving and receiving teams. The final number is either a 1 or a 2 and symbolizes the server number. 

Volleys: For situations where players cannot engage in a full one-on-one game due to injury or a joint condition, points can be scored based on consecutive volleys. Players can set their own criteria for scoring, for example, players must hit five volleys in a row before receiving a point.

Team Rodeo: Ideal for larger groups, this variation invites players to line up and take one swing at the incoming shot before handing the paddle to the person behind them. This fast-paced game uses the same scoring criteria as singles variations and can accommodate any number of players.