Archive for October, 2012

How ITF Junior Tournaments Work

6
6 months ago
in ,

Just when I thought I had the USTA tournament thing finally figured out, my kid decided he wanted to try playing some ITF events.  And, after reading the current ITF Junior Regulations and searching all over the Web for information and coming up pretty much empty-handed, I started asking questions of those with way more knowledge than I have so I could understand how the ITF process works.  Here’s what I’ve learned so far about ITF events held in the US:

  • You must be between the ages of 13-18 to play in an ITF Junior tournament. You may enter a tournament starting at age 12 years 11 months, however.  Unlike USTA which uses the player’s birth month to determine age and eligibility, the ITF uses the calendar year.  For the 2012 ITF season, More >

A Great Fix

5
6 months ago
in

I recently met with Ross Greenstein of Scholarship for Athletes to talk about various aspects of junior and college tennis.  Ross grew up playing junior tennis and went on to play at the University of Florida.  He now works with junior players and their families to navigate the college recruiting process, so I trust him as a reliable resource on matters having to do with junior tennis and college.

He asked me to give him the down-and-dirty rundown on what’s going on with the USTA’s proposed changes to the junior competition schedule and the feedback I’ve been hearing from other parents as well as coaches.  Then, he shared with me what I consider a brilliant solution . . .

Instead of making the draws smaller at the big national tournaments More >

Growth & Development

4
6 months ago
in

My son is at an interesting place in terms of his tennis development.  As I’ve mentioned, he’s now playing up in the 18s even though he could still play another year in the 16s.  But, because of his July birthday, and because of his goal to play at Kalamazoo (which is the first week of August) next summer, he had to start working on his 18s ranking a year early.  That means he is often 2 years younger than his opponent, 2 years behind developmentally-speaking, 2 years behind growth-wise, and 2 years behind in the maturation process.

His goal during tournaments is still to win matches, of course, because he needs to get his 18s ranking to a place where he has a chance of getting into the National Hardcourts.  And, to that end, we look for More >

From TennisInsiders.com – USTA Pushed the Pause Button

1
6 months ago
in ,

The following is posted on TennisInsiders.com:

The junior competition committee of the USTA has spent the last couple of years working on a plan for growth that focuses on noble causes such as trying to lower costs for competitors, lowering school absences and adhering to Wayne Bryan’s “Don’t get on a plane to play a tournament until you can win the tournaments you can drive to and don’t get in a car until you can win the tournaments you can pedal to.”

After hearing the tennis industry’s reaction to the changes, the USTA agreed to have a series of meetings with a group of tennis industry insiders  to discuss the situation.

After in person meetings in NY, Los Angeles, Carmel and now Chicago with the industry group, the USTA has decided to More >

Hard to Believe It’s Almost Been a Year!

2
7 months ago
in

Our First Anniversary is coming up soon – November 3rd, to be exact!  To celebrate, we’re giving away a $50 Holabird Sports gift certificate to one lucky Parenting Aces reader! All you have to do is “Like” our Facebook page (click here), post on our Facebook Wall the title of your fav ParentingAces post from our first year, then “Share” our Facebook page with your friends. We’ll draw a winner on November 3rd. Good luck!

And a big THANK YOU to our friends at Holabird for their generosity and support!

Share this:Like this:Like Loading...

Who’s Really #1?

6
7 months ago
in

USTA rankings vs. Tennis Recruiting star ratings vs. Universal Tennis levels . . . is anyone else confused here?  I don’t know about the rest of you, but this obsessed Tennis Momma spends an inordinate amount of time trying to understand what the different ratings and rankings actually mean and how my son can best use the information to improve as a player.

A quick overview of some of the different ranking/rating systems out there . . .

USTA currently uses the Points Per Round (PPR) system which awards ranking points based on the level of tournament and which round the player reaches in the tournament.  A player’s top 6 singles tournament results and top 3 doubles tournament results for the previous 12 months are included in his/her More >

Southern Level 3s: One Parent’s Take on the New Format

18
7 months ago
in

We are more than 6 months into the new format for our Southern Level 3 tournaments, and, given that the Southern Section is often a testing-ground for policies that are later rolled out nationwide – and after spending yet another weekend at one of these events – I thought I would share my thoughts and experiences in hopes of generating some constructive dialog between us parents and USTA.

A quick recap on how the format changed in 2012 . . . the tournaments now have two 16-player draws for each age group with the brackets arranged by “waterfall” – for an explanation of exactly what that means, click here.  These tournaments must be played and completed on Saturday and Sunday with the goal of reducing missed school days.  Players are More >

Wayne Bryan Hits the Nail on the Head

13
7 months ago
in

I urge you all to read Steve Bellamy’s Open Letter to the US Tennis Industry published online at http://tennisinsiders.com/?post_type=featured_story&p=1323

Below is Wayne Bryan’s comment on the Letter . . .

Preamble:

a) The most important aspect of this is to get lots of input and opinions from all over the country – – – from experienced club pros and public park coaches and college coaches and high school coaches and academy coaches and veteran ‘n passionate parents from Florida to New York to Georgia to Texas to Nebraska to North Dakota to California to Oregon and everywhere in between.

b) Study the history of the National Schedule and Rankings over the past 30 years.

c) Remember that when the USTA asked my pal and great coach and mega More >

JuniorTennisMatch.com

1
7 months ago
in

I received the following press release earlier today and wanted to share it with y’all – take a peek and share your thoughts in the Comments box below:

New website helps junior tennis players find matches, easing challenges for parents.  Helps juniors become more competitive too.

Finding competitive matches for junior tennis players – something parents struggle with all the time – just got easier thanks to a new website recently launched by Paula McLure, a junior tennis mom.

The site – www.juniortennnismatch.com – allows parents find tennis partners for their juniors all over the country. Players under the age of 18 are considered juniors.

With more than 250,000 junior tennis players nationwide (some 20,000 in Texas alone) there should be More >

Mom’s Magic Mirror

2
7 months ago
in ,

Before this past weekend’s local tournament even started, my son told me that I wasn’t “allowed” to post any pictures or status updates on Facebook about it.  I asked him why.  He told me, “Because it’s just a Georgia Level 4, Mom.  It’s no big deal.”  I, of course, respected his wishes.  (He never said anything about keeping it off my blog!)

As I thought more about my son’s request, I realized just how far he has come tennis-wise and maturity-wise in the last year.  He played this same tournament last Fall (except he played in the 16s instead of the 18s as he did this year).  When he entered the tournament a year ago, he hadn’t won a single tournament since he was in the 10s . . . not a single one!  And, last year, he won this More >

Go to Top