April 18, 2007
How to get to Nationals
Friday I left for Palm Springs California for one of the four United States Tennis Association Supernationals. Jeffrey Offerdahl and Jill Saunders are slated to competed in the Boys 14s & under and Girls 16s & under respectively. These four tournaments, one in July, one in August, one in December and the one we are traveling to this week are the top level of competition for players competing in the 12 & under, 14 & under, 16 & under and 18 & under level of junior tennis competition. Last summer, ATA’s Ashley Weinhold was a finalist in both singles and doubles at the Girls 18s Hardcourt Nationals in San Jose, California. At that event she won a wildcard into the USOPEN. She has been following a professional tournament schedule since then.
How does a player like Ashley or Jeffrey or Jill get to this level of competition? What is the pathway that leads to this level of competition? This week, while these players compete in the springs nationals, we will be sending emails back to ATA chronicling the process of the week and the process that led up to this week.
The journey of 1000 miles begins with one step. Most of the players who end up going to nationals from ATA start in All Stars or the junior development. Their goals have nothing to do with nationals, but with having fun and learning skills. In All Stars and in Junior Development we lay the foundations of the game, technically, tactically, physically and mentally. Many of the best tennis players from our program did not focus on tennis solely until they were 11 or 12 if a girl or 12 or 13 if they were a boy. Tennis is what is called a late specialization sport. Because of the multifaceted nature of tennis, many, many skills are required to be accomplished. The more “sport” skills a player has before focusing on tennis, the higher the ceiling his or her game will have in the long run. Running, tracking, throwing, swinging, all sorts of dynamic movement skills and many other skills are required in the game of tennis. As young players begin to learn the game and play the game, it becomes more important to learn the technical and tactical skills of the game. Some time during the process competition is also brought into the mix.
Players begin by playing games in their group lessons like around the world, tennis baseball, and jail. They move on to intra group minitennis tournaments. The first “real live” competition comes in the form of junior team tennis and CATA tour tournaments. Junior team tennis pits teams from different facilities against each other in a league, similar to little league baseball or soccer. There are a series of matches against other club and tennis facilities and a league champion is crowned. CATA tour tournaments are entry level tournaments for kids in the Austin area. CATA stands for the Capital Area Tennis Association, a local body that organizes tennis in Austin. CATA is part of the USTA Texas Section, which is turn is a section of the United States Tennis Association, the governing body of tennis in America.
Once children begin competing they often times want to compete more or at a higher level. The Texas Section of the USTA provides a three tiered system of competition for junior tennis players. There are ZAT tournaments (Zone Advancement tournaments) which are the entry level of individual competition. Players begin at the level trying to “Champ Up”. This means moving to the middle level of competition. Like at the ZAT level, the CHAMP level offers competition for boys and girls in the 12 & under, 14 & under, 16 & under and 18 & under age divisions. Players may compete in 12 and under until the month of their 13th birthday. Players may compete in 14 & under until the month of their 15th birthday and so on. Once players have made the CHAMP level they are on a mission to “SUPERCHAMP UP”. Once at the superchamp level, players compete for spots to the national level tournaments like the Spring Nationals Jeffrey and I are traveling to this week.
Each round a player advances in a superchamp event gives theim certain number of points. You take your points from your best 5 tournaments in a 12 month period and rank all the players by their points to get the age group rankings in superchamps. These rankings determine who gets an automatic spot to nationals.
Once you are an accomplished superchamp level player, you can vie for a spot at the USTA supernationals, the top tournaments for junior tennis players in the United States. College coaches offer scholarships based primarily on the Boys and Girls 18 & under USTA National Rankings. Players get high rankings at the national level the same way they do at the sectional level as superchamp players…points awarded for rounds advanced in the tournaments.
Jeffrey is playing his last year of 14 & under tennis. In the Texas Section of the USTA is playing mostly superchamp level tournaments in the 16 & under age group. During this year he will play 8 national level tournaments. In December he played the winter Nationals in Tucson, in February he played a National Open in El Paso (National Opens are the second highest national level tournaments) After Palm Springs, he will play another national open in May, in July he will represent Texas in the USTA Zone team championships for boys and girls 14 & under and then he will conclude his 14 & under career with the USTA Boys 14s Clay Court SuperNationals.
Both Jeffrey and Jill have started well in the Easter Bowl Nationals. Jeffrey is in the third round of the main draw this morning against the number 1 seed. He had a bye in the first round of doubles. Jill plays second round of both singles and doubles today after advancing in both yesterday(Sunday).
Posted by Jack Newman at 8:24 PM | Comments (0)
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