For Tennis Parents by a Tennis Parent

Today, the USTA announced that nearly 30 top junior tennis players from around the USTA’s 17 sections were named to the inaugural USTA Junior Leadership Team in recognition of their leadership, sportsmanship, and character on and off the court. Each player was nominated by his or her USTA Section for excellence in tennis and in the community. The entire USTA Junior Leadership Team can be viewed on USTA.com by clicking here.

“These are players whose achievements speak volumes about their character, both as tennis players and as members of the community,” said Bill Mountford, the USTA’s Director of Junior Tournaments. “With the USTA Leadership Team, we’re glad to have a way to recognize the tremendous examples they’ve set on and off the court.”

I hadn’t heard anything about this new Leadership Team before today nor do I know the selection criteria used by the various sections. If someone from USTA is reading this and can shed some light, I’m sure we would all appreciate it.

I’m hoping USTA will utilize these outstanding young people in a way that actually does provide leadership to other junior players. There is a need for more peer mentoring in the junior tennis world, and this would be a great start.

The full USTA Junior Leadership Team:

Per USTA, each year more than 120,000 players compete in USTA junior tournaments. Players compete in levels of competition through earned advancement in the 10s, 12s, 14s, 16s and 18s age divisions. USTA junior tournaments help kids take their game as far as they want—high school, college or pros—or just have fun competing.

Congratulations to those on this inaugural list! And kudos to USTA for recognizing them!