Any Tennis Moms??

[Momling]

Can you explain the usta jr ranking system? Why does my daughter sometimes gets points from a win but other times not? Is it the rank of the opponent? The points won by? Or is it related to whether it was a quarter or semi or final or in the consolation round? I can't figure it out!

[snowbeltmom]

I have always found the U.S.T.A. ranking system illogical.  The U.S.T.A. is making changes, but the system currently rewards players who play a ton of tournaments, which cost a lot of $$$, rather than ranking players based on skill.  Luckily, for those looking to play at the college level, college coaches rate players via tennisrecruiting.net and universal tennis websites.  These two ranking systems use the results of U.S.T.A. tournaments, but rank a player based on ability, not how many tournaments (and therefore how many points) the player has accumulated.  

 

I don't know the entire ins and outs of the usta ranking system because my kids follow their rankings on the websites I mentioned.  However, here is a simplified version of how points are awarded:

 

1.  Local level tournaments are worth the least amount of points out of all the usta tournaments.  Local tournaments also do not have a feed-in back draw.  Therefore, very few points are awarded for wins in the back draw.

 

2. There are numerous levels beyond the local level.  Unlike the local tournaments, where all who sign up can participate, the higher level tournaments have selection criteria.  The higher the level, the more points a player receives for each win. These tournaments have a feed-in back draw. Players can obtain a lot of points in both the main draw and back draw of these tournaments.

 

3. At all levels, the further a player advances in the draw, the more points that each match is worth.  For example, a win in the first round is not worth as many points as a win in the fourth round.

 

In order to qualify for the higher level tournaments, a player has to have acquired enough points to gain admittance.  This is where the system, imo, is unfair: it awards those players who can afford to fly all over the country collecting points instead of awarding players based solely on their playing ability.  The Midwest Closed Boys 16 and 18's tournaments this past summer highlighted the failings in the current system.  There are rumors in the tennis community that selection and seeding will soon be based on a player's Universal Tennis ranking instead of usta points.  This will be a huge improvement over the current system.

 

The usta point system is more nuanced than what I have written, but I hope this helps a little.  

[Momling]

Thanks! My daughter is only ten so not on the rankings for the recruiting. She just started competing last summer and discovered the rankings last month. She's doing pretty well in g12 challengers, but she has big dreams and a lot of passion for the sport.

 

Since you seem to know more about it... At what point does a child try champs? Also, she's been to a Nike tennis camp and loved it and wants to go back again, do they have a good reputation? Besides regular lessons and a decent racquet, is the key to supporting a competitive tennis playing kid to just sign them up for as many tournaments as possible?

 

Thanks for helping a newbie!!

[snowbeltmom]

Thanks! My daughter is only ten so not on the rankings for the recruiting. She just started competing last summer and discovered the rankings last month. She's doing pretty well in g12 challengers, but she has big dreams and a lot of passion for the sport.

 

Since you seem to know more about it... At what point does a child try champs? Also, she's been to a Nike tennis camp and loved it and wants to go back again, do they have a good reputation? Besides regular lessons and a decent racquet, is the key to supporting a competitive tennis playing kid to just sign them up for as many tournaments as possible?

 

Thanks for helping a newbie!!

I am not familiar with the terms "challenger" and "champs."  Are these usta sanctioned events?  

 

If your daughter has played enough usta tournaments, she will have a ranking now on both Tennis Recruiting and Universal Tennis. 

 

I don't have much experience with the Nike tennis camps.  My daughter went to one last year with her friends and it was terribly run and a huge waste of money.  My boys have never attended one.  I think the quality of Nike and similar camps will vary from location to location and will depend mostly on the staff the week(s) your child is attending.  If your daughter loved the camp, I would sign her up again and, if possible, try to sign her up next year the weeks that the same staff from this year will be working.

 

I think how many tournaments you should play will depend on your daughter's personality.  My daughter loves the tournaments and is constantly searching the usta website and asking us to sign her up.  She plays way more tournaments than she would if my husband and I were making all of the decisions.  She loves the travel, staying in hotels and hanging out with the other girls between matches.  

 

My boys don't love the travel as much as my daughter, so they don't play quite as many tournaments.  This approach does have a slight downside because they are not always accepted into national level tournaments they are qualified for because they don't have as many usta points as some of the other kids that my boys beat.  For example, my son is ranked in the 30's nationally on one of the websites used by the college coaches, but ranked in the mid 400's on the usta list simply because he doesn't travel as much as the other kids.  In fact, most of the kids with a ranking in the top 50 nationally play 2 - 3 times as many tournaments as my son.

 

At your daughter's age, I would not worry about playing that many tournaments unless your daughter really wanted to do them.  Imo, spending more time/money taking lessons and practicing is more important than playing a lot of tournaments at this stage.

[Momling]

Thanks for the advice! My guess is that your kids are playing tennis at a much higher national level and we're still solely playing local tournaments (albeit some quite long drives away!) When I look at usta sanctioned jr tournaments in Oregon, they seem to be listed as rookie, challenger, champs and then I see a few that are level 4a, which I'm not sure what that is. And some that are just "open". Her tennis club's youth lessons are also tied to the rookie/challenger/champs groupings. There's also a tournament listed as sectionals, which I've heard is good to try. My daughter plays the challengers, which attracts most of the local tennis kids. The usta rankings are separated between challenger rankings and champs rankings and endorsement. I don't know what endorsement is. Also, she's not ranked in the tennis recruiting network, though apparently has a 1-1 record ;-). I'm guessing those rankings are just more advanced kids playing in a totally different 'league'. Anyway, we'll keep on enjoying tennis... I'm sure I'll have more questions for you. I hope you won't mind if I PM you sometime!