Please explain jr. Tournament levels :-)

[crosbydog]

Once my 10 year old gets her serve down she'll start entering USTA tourneys. Can anyone explain the levels of Jr tournaments for the St. Louis area please?
Thanks in advance!

[jmdlaw]

Try going to your regions usta site - they should have a detailed explanation on the tournaments levels.

[crosbydog]

There is no info on my region's site which is why I posted here. Unfortunately no one here wants to offer any answers

[Soianka]

Originally Posted by crosbydog

There is no info on my region's site which is why I posted here. Unfortunately no one here wants to offer any answers

What is your region?

[ClarkC]

Originally Posted by Soianka

What is your region?

Well, he said he was from St. Louis, which is part of the Missouri Valley region.

Unfortunately, there are three problems here.

1) The Missouri Valley region has its own stupid, non-standard names for tournaments: Segment I, Segment II, and Segment III.

2) The TennisLink tournament listings for St. Louis are not limited to the terminology Segment I, Segment II, and Segment III, as found on the region's web page. Instead, they also have Challenger II, Challenger III, Segment II Endorser, etc. Where do all these stupid names fit into the Segment I-III hierarchy? Who knows?

3) The USTA web sites, including the pages for the various regions, are the worst collection of web pages on earth.

My suggestion would be to send email to information@movalley.usta.com, asking the following polite questions:

1) Where do you have a web page or document explaining all of the different tournament levels in the region, so that I can understand what "Segment I" and "Segment II Endorser" and "Challanger II" and "Challenger III" mean, before I sign my daughter up for a tournament?

2) Why are USTA web pages the worst on the planet?

3) Why are you people so stupid?

The latter two questions can be omitted, of course.

[crosbydog]

Thanks ClarkC. You understood my confusion re: tournament levels. I will send the email you suggested.

[hound 109]

Dog....if you include questions # 2 & # 3 from Clark's list...you'll be my hero.

Regarding "Challenger"....I wonder if those are more local tournaments (in Texas we call them Grand Prix tournaments). Designed for kids wanting to get some tournament play without worrying about Sectional points.

My kid played in 6-8 "Grand Prix" tournaments when he was 9. They were great intermediate tournaments for him allowing him to get more "tournament tough" prior to competing in our Section's ranking tournaments.

Two other thoughts:

- Call the local USTA (St. Louis?) office.
- Ask the parents of a really good (ranked) 12 y/o (in St. Louis) what the drill is....they will have already run the gauntlet.

.

[Soianka]

Call the local USTA (St. Louis?) office.

Yes, call them and talk to other parents in your area.

Also, talk to the officials at any local junior tournaments. They are usually very chatty and full of good information.

[jmdlaw]

When first moving to the Southern Region I had to call our office to get an understanding of the tournament levels, they were quite helpful. Hopefully you'll find the same.

[tennisbuck]

I think the level is the MO Valley work like this:
Level 5-88 points for the winner
Level 4-idk they are rare
Level 3-220 for winner
Level 2-495 for winner
Level 1-660 for winner

[tennisbuck]

The challengers are not related to the Segments. They are just spread out through the indoor season the first one of the year being I, and the last one being VI.

Their are 3 Endorsers. Endorser I qualifies the winner for Super Segement 1. Endorser 2 qualifies the winner for segment 2 super and segment 3 is the same.

Lastly the Prince serious is an independent group of tournaments run by Judy and they are numbered in order of the time they take place. They like the challengers have nothing to do with the Segments.

I hope this helped.