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ATA Junior Team Tennis Heads To Nationals

 
This Thursday, a team of Austin Tennis Academy’s top athletes will travel to Surprise, Arizona to compete for the USTA Junior Team Tennis National Championship. Coach Kendall Brooks will lead the team of seven junior athletes as they attempt to bring a national crown back to ATA.
 
          The Team –
 
The team of Josh Hagar, Andrew Parks, Charlie Shin, Liam Leddy, Brooke Hughes, Meredith Parks, and Meghan O'Malley, will compete against the best JTT teams from across the country at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.
 
“We have great senior leadership and TONS of Team Tennis experience from Josh Hagar and Brooke Hughes,” Coach Brooks said. I am pretty sure they have been on every team we have ever taken to Nationals. It will be a new experience for all of the others, but they have a lot of enthusiasm and desire to be on this team and to do well. I also think we have great depth on the team as a whole.” 
 

         

          The Format –
 
The team will compete in a non-elimination round-robin format tournament, with playoff crossovers. Teams will be separated into 3 to 4 flights predetermined by random drawing by section- no seeds.
 
The winner of each flight/division will be determined by total games won, and then placed into the appropriate Championship draw (1st-4th, 5th-8th, etc).

“We will play 3 rounds of pool play- 2 Friday and 1 Saturday, and then the semis (hopefully) Saturday afternoon and finals (hopefully) Sunday morning,” Coach Brooks said.
 

   
         
          The Scoring –
 
A match consists of a boys’ and girls’ singles match, a boys’ and girls’ doubles match and a mixed doubles match. The winner is determined by total games won.
 
All matches will be 2 out of 3, 6 game short sets (no-ad scoring), with a 12 point tiebreak at 5 all and a match tiebreaker for the 3rd set. Team score will be based on total number of games won.
 
“This is tough because we could win 3 out of the 5 matches, but still lose in total number of games- or vice-versa.  EVERY GAME COUNTS!!!” Coach Brooks said.
 

         

          The Goal –
 
Coach Brooks explained that bringing home the Championship title is always the goal when going to JTT Nationals, and that the way to do that is to embrace the format that values each game so highly.
 
“We will have to show up and take care of business every match,” Coach Brooks said.  “Like I said, every game really does matter. So whether we are down or up, we need to scrap for everything.  Also, everyone will have to fill their role...whether that’s playing doubles or singles or mixed or being the team supporter, we need everyone to contribute.”
 
While the team’s goal is to win it all, it’s not everything to Coach Brooks.
 
“Like every tournament, my expectation is for the team to handle themselves with pride and class- respecting our opponents win or lose, representing ATA, and competing at the highest level.  My other expectation is to give the seniors on this team as unforgettable an experience and send-off that we can...while having a lot of FUN!”

 

 

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