Hey, Thanks for all the advice. I'm 35. I'd like to try some national level tourneys for 35+, but I know that's no joke either.
There are occasional guys over 35 at futures-even in main draw. Ryan Haviland who used to play at Stanford did well at some this year. There was even a 60 year old at Memphis $25K Quali which is a step up from $15k. Think he lost 0,1. There is a mix at Futures Qualis, esp at the 128 draw Futures. You have a good chance of getting in a Qualifier. What happens is players are listed in order first by ATP ranking and then by national ranking. After that, I think the computer randomly generates an ordered list of applicants. Often close to 500 players register for a Future, but 200-300 withdraw by the freeze deadline. A player could start out as alternate 150 when list first comes out and still get in Qualifier. The ITF site stops updating the list at 1pm the day before sign in at 5pm. e.g. Thurs at 1pm for tournaments with Quali sign in at 5pm within matches starting on Saturday. Often 5-20 players still on the alternate list on Thursday sign in on Friday and get in. A lot of applicants wont drive to the site and sign in. If you live 3 or less hours from a site, you should go for it. The 128 draw may have Thurs sign in and start on Friday. Son only play 32 and 64 draw future Qualis which started on Saturdays.
As an adult, you can get on national 500 list for US by finishing 1st or 2nd at a level 13 tournament. Each section has 4 a year. The 2018 list of qualifying tournaments for national 500 list had not been updated, but you can check out 2017 list-most of the tournaments are the same each year
http://www.playerdevelopment.usta.com/Top500/ (2017 event list is in middle of page). If you played well at USTA Open regional playoff, you have a good chance of being competitive in the first 2 rounds of Qualifying at a Future. My son when he was in HS got on national 500 list from reaching QF of 2016 regional Open playoff and was able to win some in Future Qualis and have competitive losses for the rest-got in one Main draw. Sign up for ipin (think it is $60/yr) here to get started:
https://ipin.itftennis.com/newregister/index.asp and then register 4-6 weeks ahead for tournaments of interest. You do not have to pay to register for tournaments so register for all you could possibly pay and then withdraw before freeze date for no penalty if you cant play. If you want more info, start a private conversation. It was fun for son to play vs guys he had watched at NCAAs in May.
Sign up now as there are a lot of Futures in CAli in Jan and March. You missed the deadline (12/14) for 2 in Jan, but there are at least two in March. See if there are any adult tourneys in Cali that qualify for national 500 list. However national 500 list only comes out 4 times a year so if you earn nat 500 points in mid Jan, they would not show up until March 15 list but the deadline for March Cali Futures is around 3 weeks before tournament so there is a lag. If you have already played Cali adult sectionals or USTA men's open nationals, you might already be on national 500 list. The Dec 15 list has not come out yet; the last published list was in October.
Good luck. There have been 2 star HS sophs who got in Future Qualis. Since the alternate list is random for players who dont have ATP points or a national ranking, 2 stars got in while ITA top 10 players were way back on the alternate list. Of course those guys could write TD to ask for wild cards, but WCs usually go to players from host college or top college players, grads, or juniors in local area. Top ITA from college in another state-less of a chance. Some futures have a WC tourney for a spot in the main draw the week before the tourney starts.
