J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
In leagues and tournaments?
J
J
Is it the time commitment of a full weekend? Or do more people just prefer being part of a team vs the individual nature of tournaments?For leagues, I think they could do exactly what they just did to southern. Bump everyone up and create easier levels of play at the lower levels, which will reduce barriers to entry. Maybe even expand NTRP up to 8.0 at the high end and have more levels of play. 3.0 is functionally the low end of league play and for someone just starting that is a pretty intimidating level.
For tournaments, I am not sure it is possible. It appears that adults simply do not like having to commit to a potential weekend of back to back matches the entire weekend. Maybe if they spread tournaments out over a few weeks, but that would exclude a lot of people and essentially become a league by default.
Is it the time commitment of a full weekend? Or do more people just prefer being part of a team vs the individual nature of tournaments?
I think some avoid tournaments because they are afraid they'll lose first round and only get one match, and with tournament fees often being as much or more than league fees (where one might get anywhere from 2-8 matches) they don't see the value.
And there are two types of tournaments, well, really three. Level based (NTRP), Age divisions, and open. The average rec player probably won't play age division tournaments because they figure they'll lose first round (see above) if they aren't very good for their age. So NTRP tournaments are for them, but in some areas these have large numbers of players playing up and so the matches can be perceived as not worthwhile, or because tournament players don't get dynamic ratings/strikes it may be thought that there will be self-rated players that underrated that win so it isn't worthwhile.
Bring back the club ladder--club champion gets the #1 parking space and a case of Costco Penns.
Although I really like playing in leagues, the excitement of tournaments for me is about the elimination format, it feels like a really tough test to take. However, it is absolutely about the time and physical commitment for me. Working all week, if I commit to playing tournaments during the weekends, I just cannot plan for anything else family and home related. That is a deal breaker for me. If tournaments were held week-long, for example, and I got to play each round over the course of a week, than I'd participate in tournaments five times more frequently. Right now, I only do 2 or 3 a yearIs it the time commitment of a full weekend? Or do more people just prefer being part of a team vs the individual nature of tournaments?
I think some avoid tournaments because they are afraid they'll lose first round and only get one match, and with tournament fees often being as much or more than league fees (where one might get anywhere from 2-8 matches) they don't see the value.
Fees are certainly an issue with USTA....you have to join the USTA for the year to play, then pay more to register for a league, then pay more fees if you go to State, then more fees if you go past there, etc.I started playing tennis a few years back. As someone who has never played any USTA tennis, every time I go on the website to consider registering, it just doesn’t seem worth it.
Locally I have a really active GTN ladder, which I think is $10 a year. I’ve been able to get close to 100 matches played there this year. They also do seasonal tournaments at multiple levels which are $4 each. Tournaments are spread out over a few weeks time, so no full weekend commitment.
Also in my area there is Tennis League Network, which is about $20-$25 a season, on which I’ve been able to get another 30+ league matches.
While in terms of USTA you have to pay yearly just to register, work to find a league/team, and subsequently pay for that as well, all for what sounds like it could be a relatively small number of matches.
No offense meant by this post in anyway, as again I’ve only been playing for a few years...but is there something that I’m missing?
What area of the country are you in?I started playing tennis a few years back. As someone who has never played any USTA tennis, every time I go on the website to consider registering, it just doesn’t seem worth it.
Locally I have a really active GTN ladder, which I think is $10 a year. I’ve been able to get close to 100 matches played there this year. They also do seasonal tournaments at multiple levels which are $4 each. Tournaments are spread out over a few weeks time, so no full weekend commitment.
Also in my area there is Tennis League Network, which is about $20-$25 a season, on which I’ve been able to get another 30+ league matches.
While in terms of USTA you have to pay yearly just to register, work to find a league/team, and subsequently pay for that as well, all for what sounds like it could be a relatively small number of matches.
No offense meant by this post in anyway, as again I’ve only been playing for a few years...but is there something that I’m missing?
Maybe tournaments should have tiered fees then. Like a set fee where you pay $X per round and don't pay if you don't advance.
Fees are certainly an issue with USTA....you have to join the USTA for the year to play, then pay more to register for a league, then pay more fees if you go to State, then more fees if you go past there, etc.
Is it the time commitment of a full weekend? Or do more people just prefer being part of a team vs the individual nature of tournaments?
I think some avoid tournaments because they are afraid they'll lose first round and only get one match, and with tournament fees often being as much or more than league fees (where one might get anywhere from 2-8 matches) they don't see the value.
And there are two types of tournaments, well, really three. Level based (NTRP), Age divisions, and open. The average rec player probably won't play age division tournaments because they figure they'll lose first round (see above) if they aren't very good for their age. So NTRP tournaments are for them, but in some areas these have large numbers of players playing up and so the matches can be perceived as not worthwhile, or because tournament players don't get dynamic ratings/strikes it may be thought that there will be self-rated players that underrated that win so it isn't worthwhile.
Although I really like playing in leagues, the excitement of tournaments for me is about the elimination format, it feels like a really tough test to take. However, it is absolutely about the time and physical commitment for me. Working all week, if I commit to playing tournaments during the weekends, I just cannot plan for anything else family and home related. That is a deal breaker for me. If tournaments were held week-long, for example, and I got to play each round over the course of a week, than I'd participate in tournaments five times more frequently. Right now, I only do 2 or 3 a year
I like playing singles in tournaments, I get enough doubles in leagues. Having to play two or three singles matches a day takes heavy toll on my 50+ year old body.
In my area in Intermountain, USTA leagues seem quite popular among the 40+ crowd, but they are suffering from very low participation among young adults. This year the 18+ league was basically another season of 40+. I played 13 matches in the 18+ league including wildcard & district playoffs, against 19 different guys across singles and doubles, and exactly one of those 19 was under 40.
I don't know why younger adults are not playing, but it doesn't seem like it's necessarily a USTA problem. I'm also playing World Team Tennis and it's the same thing there - we have one random 23-year-old on our team and all our opponents do a double-take when they see him, thinking he's a teenager because he looks so much younger than everyone. They're practically pinching his cheeks.
Our local tennis coordinators have been trying to recruit younger adults with tennis socials / events targeted at them - we'll see if it works.
I’m in Southern California. I’m definitely not against playing on a team, USTA or WTT it just seems like the barrier to entry is figuring out when seasons start and then finding a team. Is anyone allowed to start a team, or do you need to have played before?What area of the country are you in?
Some areas have a strong/vibrant USTA League and in those, while there are still some of the negatives you hear about here, they are the exception and not the rule and players get a fun, competitive, and rewarding experiences 90+% of the time. Players like being part of a team, getting to play competitive matches against others outside their normal circle of players, and having goals to shoot for be that making local playoffs, sectionals, or even nationals.
Not all areas are like that though, either because other leagues or playing opportunity exist the USTA must compete with or discontent from players due to some of the negatives.
Take complaints seriously and not wait till the cheating team wins big and then have to retro-actively erase them from history. The signs are there.How?
J
For leagues, I think they could do exactly what they just did to southern. Bump everyone up and create easier levels of play at the lower levels, which will reduce barriers to entry. Maybe even expand NTRP up to 8.0 at the high end and have more levels of play. 3.0 is functionally the low end of league play and for someone just starting that is a pretty intimidating level.
For tournaments, I am not sure it is possible. It appears that adults simply do not like having to commit to a potential weekend of back to back matches the entire weekend. Maybe if they spread tournaments out over a few weeks, but that would exclude a lot of people and essentially become a league by default.
Maybe more round-robin tournaments with no ad and play lets. This way you get a full day of tennis with the chance to win or lose.
In order to increase participation, I really think there has to be a paradigm shift within the USTA regarding transparency in ratings and calculations. If you think about it, it's really a little outrageous that we all willingly play under a system that is mostly clouded in secrecy that no one will really tell you the details of and as a result, I think some of the decrease in participation is really the result of the lack of confidence people have in the system from not understanding it. Plus, it's hard to hold anyone accountable when they operate a system they won't tell you about.
For tournaments, what I have began using for my own events is transitioning from weekend-long events to one-day tournaments. I still do one large weekend event once a year (actually its Thur-Sun) where I have 400-500 people but during the rest of the year, it's now going to be one-day events. I am also about to try another alternative where a tournament is actually played over the course of three weeks where you play your matches during the week once a week.
I started playing USTA league about three years ago after taking a 25 year rest from tennis. At least where I live, it is really not easy to join a team. If you are a member of a club you usually can bypass all of this, but there are just too many obstacles for some people.
After navigating the less than ideal computer rating questions and getting a rating which may or may not reflect your ability level, you then have to have either someone introduce you to a group where you can be pulled from, know a captain, or somehow stumble on the rather poor "find a team" form on the local tennis association website.
Then, if you are able to do that, you have to navigate a local political system of captains, and/or organizers of which you don't understand or know the pitfalls of. Then, you have to ingratiate yourself with the local team "gatekeepers" either by being really good for your NTRP rating or really good and viable to understate your rating with your abilities. If you can't do that, you have to find a captain who is either needing warm bodies or just does not care about anything other than drinking beer after the matches or is not really competitive.
If you do all that, then you have to pay money for membership, team fees, court fees all with no understanding of how much you will play.
I don't expect it is like this everywhere but it was my path. Whatever can be done to remove these types of obstacles would help. I am familiar with the system now so it is much easier to navigate and a lot more enjoyable.
To me this is the #1 thing. Most folks don't even know it exists. Even if you do finding a team to get on is incredibly challenging for a non-club player.A. Finding a team / league. Unless you are active at a tennis club it is a total mystery. I hit with some park players who never play league. When asked why not, often the response is that they have no idea where to even look for a team/league. The USTA website doesn't help. Good luck finding the local league office if you even knew to look for one. So perhaps the USTA could:
- Adverstise ... crazy but that is a thing that organizations do to get more participants.
- Make the website user friendly (or even usable) ... say click here to find a team and have it actually do something in real time to find a coordinator who actually does something and gets you on a team
To me this is the #1 thing. Most folks don't even know it exists. Even if you do finding a team to get on is incredibly challenging for a non-club player.
Sounds like your local area is lucky to have that outreach coordinator. The only outreach done here is sending out a few e-mails and posting on facebook occassionally. Certainly nothing like an outreach coordinator who is willing to captain teams themself.I started playing league about a year ago and did not find it hard at all to get on a team, mostly because of our local "outreach coordinator" who is extremely helpful. She will find a captain who needs players to take you on their team, and if she can't then she'll create a new team that she herself captains via email, men or women. She'll fill her makeshift team with other new players, other players she somehow recruits, players she convinces to play up a level, etc. Her teams are never very good and she doesn't continue captaining the same group beyond the first season, but that's enough to get the new people into it and onto a team with a more permanent captain, or else some of the thrown-together teammates hit it off and decide to run their own team together.
I started playing league about a year ago and did not find it hard at all to get on a team, mostly because of our local "outreach coordinator" who is extremely helpful. She will find a captain who needs players to take you on their team, and if she can't then she'll create a new team that she herself captains via email, men or women. She'll fill her makeshift team with other new players, other players she somehow recruits, players she convinces to play up a level, etc. Her teams are never very good and she doesn't continue captaining the same group beyond the first season, but that's enough to get the new people into it and onto a team with a more permanent captain, or else some of the thrown-together teammates hit it off and decide to run their own team together.
We're just glad you allow us to use the same courts as you when you're not using them Mr. Federer.Captains of 3-3.5 team,s generally have no clue as to what tennis .... I've never seen a 3-3.5 team captain who knew beans about tennis--at 4.0, maybe about baseball.
Captains of 3-3.5 team,s generally have no clue as to what tennis talent is about--they'll hangout at the pick-up court scouting new on the scene recruits for their teams. The league team captain "usually" has very little knowledge of the sport of tennis and pick the best player to partner with. They are a necessary evil of the league system to be administrators to marshall their troops to the right place at the right time, supply the Costco Penns, put up the scorecards on the net posts and supply the veggie plate and kali dip and beer/wine coupon at the bar. If the team should make it to playoffs, they may hire the services of the r club pro to come along--who'll willingly oblige, and may set-up some warm-up time, give a few tips and come along for a free junket to a nice resort venue. I've never seen a 3-3.5 team captain who knew beans about tennis--at 4.0, maybe about baseball.
There was a 3.0 ladies team at a facility, who was offered the services of a Wimby champion as a team advisor gratis by management--the captain said : "No thank you, we don't need your help."![]()
You're welcome, my strokes look the same as RFed's, but the footwork's slowed down a bit. Take my court please, I'm off to Dubai where it's warm and to hit with some up and comings.We're just glad you allow us to use the same courts as you when you're not using them Mr. Federer.
All this driving around to other courts is one of the biggest contributors's to gw (global warming)--play at your home courts. Meet your neighbor's and work on your game until you can beat everyone at home, maybe hit with a highschool kid or a five year old, he/she may be another Steffi or Andre and you can say I played them when. When you can do that, enter a tournament and play against the best from the other provinces. Save the planet--but watch out, the sky is falling!Best captains send scouts to watch matches of their competitors.
That trip to Dubai has to leave a heck of a carbon footprint.Save the planet--but watch out, the sky is falling!
We ride bicyclesAll this driving around to other courts is one of the biggest contributors's to gw (global warming)--play at your home courts. Meet your neighbor's and work on your game until you can beat everyone at home, maybe hit with a highschool kid or a five year old, he/she may be another Steffi or Andre and you can say I played them when. When you can do that, enter a tournament and play against the best from the other provinces. Save the planet--but watch out, the sky is falling!