USTA Junior Competition: Moving Forward January 2011 USTA Leadership Meeting Kiawah Island

THE AMERICAN PATHWAY 10 & Under Tennis Collegiate Varsity Competition Junior Competition Professional Tennis

The American Pathway College Tennis (99%) Pro Tennis (1%) Community Outreach U10 Tennis / CTC /Talent ID Ages 6 to 10 RTC / CC 8&14 & under play or competition NATIONAL Ages 14 PRO / COLLEGE High Performance Community Outreach Mentoring Champions

A New Charge for Junior Comp (1) To develop, promote and monitor competitive tennis and training opportunities which will serve to motivate and encourage junior players of various abilities to develop to the highest competitive level possible. (2) With the expectation that the new QuickStart (U10) initiative will be successful and create a significantly larger pool of junior players from diverse backgrounds, to prepare an appropriate national tournament structure and rating/ranking system for the future which: a. is affordable and will insure that competitive tennis opportunities are available for all American juniors regardless of their economic circumstances and where they reside; b. supports the importance of a traditional American education and does not require students to short-change their academic careers; and, c. creates an environment to generate a base of more and better American junior players to fill the ranks of collegiate programs and become potential future American professional champions.

ISSUES GOING FORWARD (1)Competitive Philosophy (2)Tournament Structure, Rankings, & Ratings (3)Team Events (4)Doubles (5)Local Innovations (6)Education, Marketing/Branding

Competitive Philosophy (1)Goal – develop MORE BETTER PLAYERS at lower costs (2)Base structure on sound pedagogical research  Players must get the most out of their competitive experience – i.e., 6-0; 6-0 not good for either player (3)Ideas to Consider –Competitive Matches players grow faster when playing tough matches competitive levels –True Earned Advancement –How much travel needed? –How many national championships? –Everything need not be age based

Tournament Structure, Rankings, & Ratings (1)America a very large country (2)Other sports (3)Valid and reliable rankings  PPR “incentivized play,” but at a cost  What do we want rankings to measure? (4)Possible use for ratings – NTRP and UTR

Tennis Ratings  Ratings measure level of play or 1-16  Andy Roddick = 7 or 16  Possible Uses –Could help USTA differentiate levels junior progression – red, orange, green, yellow ball –All matches count (junior team tennis; high school; TOC; College Varsity; USTA/ITA summer circuit, –Assist with placing high school level 18 year olds with USTA leagues –Assist with transitioning college players back into USTA leagues –seeding –Pilot with U10 – less concerning to some than rankings; assist with placement in flighting

Team Events & Doubles Mirror College Coached Match Play

Local Innovations ?????????? Campus Showdowns French Three-Tiered Entry Tournaments No age or gender barriers

Education, Marketing/Branding 1)The Pathway – College 2)The Philosophy *Tennis + Education 3) Website – Going to College/Turning Pro 4) Model future after Pro and College

The Plan Going Forward (1)Study Everything – Like Ph.D. dissertations –Including other sports (2)Meetings with Player Development Senior Staff (3)Meetings with Section PD Staff (4)Build Association-wide consensus top to bottom, bottom to top, for “Perfect System” for the next 10 years –Starting point = recent changes

Section Actions (1)Educate parents, junior players, and coaches about the new Pathway and Philosophy – see “Going to College/Turning Pro” document on national website (2)Have your Section PD staff members and junior comp committees begin brainstorming for the future national tournament structure, rankings, and ratings (3)Brainstorm local innovations (4)Let us know your thoughts! Make your voices heard!! 

Conclusion The paradigm has shifted... and, needs to continue to shift. Make our systems more efficient! Think developmentally! Think creatively! The future is now!