Why USTA team tennis?
Players may have good looking shots in their game but can they compete under pressure? And that is where USTA Junior Team Tennis comes into play. It is incredibly effective in improving players’ competitiveness. Players may start playing league at an early age as young as 7 and progress through our USTA Team League Program. Our league program (10U and 12U) is designed specifically for competitive players development that goes hand in hand with the training we have at the academy.
We started our USTA Team Program in the Spring of 2014, and since our Academy has won 46 consecutive Team Play-off and Sectional Championship titles.
League Progressions
- 10U Orange League
- 10U Green League
- 12U Green League
- 12U-18U Yellow Ball League
How a Team is form?
During a busy league season such as Spring and Fall for us. We have up to several teams competing on a weekly basis throughout the south bay area. Our coaches consider the level of play and experience of each player when we form each team.
Usually, we would like to have 2-4 more experienced players on each team while filling in the rest of of the team with newer and less experienced players. This sets up a great environment for new players to gain valuable competing experiences while learning from more experienced teammates.
It is also possible that we also could form a team consisting of mostly less experienced players. This team will often be placed in a weaker league (group) to allow these players to gain more competing experience. These players will eventually progress and join stronger teams in the future.
Overall, players are required to train with our coaches at least 2-3 times per week depending on the duration and the nature of the training. This ensures that players receive adequate training and coaching from our coaches in correspond to the league season. Many players have gone through our league programs and now are competing at high level tournaments. Some are at Nationals level. Read more
Match and league format?
10U Orange and 10U Green
4 singles + 4 doubles matches. Top 4 players must play singles in the order of strength.
Each match is best to 4 games. Team with the most games (not matches) won will win the entire match.
12U Green, 12U Yellow and 14U Yellow
4 singles + 4 doubles matches. Top 4 players must play singles in the order of strength.
Each match is best to 6 games. Team with the most games (not matches) won will win the entire match.
A league consist of at least 5-6 teams or more. Each team will get to face all other teams in the league. In the South Bay, there are many leagues taking place at the same time in the same age group as well as other age groups. Match plays usually take place on each Sunday afternoon from 12pm, 2pm or 4pm. Each team meet lasts around 1.5-2.5 hours. There are many leagues taking place in other areas, such as Marin County, East Bay, San Francisco, etc …
By the end of each season, qualified teams will advance to Sectional Championships. At Sectionals, many top teams from all over the Bay Area will come together and compete for this top prize. More information is available below.
Team roster and order of plays
Usually, we will have 2-3 stronger players to support 2-3 less experienced players on each team. The top 4 strongest players will get to play singles and they will team up with weaker players to also play doubles. This will give less experienced players a chance to compete. They might not get to play as many matches compared to the more experienced players.
Throughout the league season, coaches might design games during practice to allow players to challenge one another. Players with higher results will get to play at higher position. However, when a player who might beat everyone of his/her teammates during challenge matches but struggled to produce results for the team may be moved to lower position -at our coaches’ discretion.
Our Coaches will have full discretion to create team rosters that they deem to best benefit the team. Not everyone will get to play in singles positions and players will likely not play the same position all the time.
It happens quite often that we might have a team consisting of many players who at the same level. In this case, each week, our coaches will rotate the players so that everyone can get a chance to play singles and/or doubles. Our coaches will make a determination on the roster each week to maximize our strength during competition -especially when facing a strong opponent.
Season end play-off or Sectionals
At season-end championship event, if qualified, each team will compete in 3 different matches that might take place over 1 weekend. The league fees for each season will cover for all matches taking place during the season; however, for sectional events, the USTA requires separate registration fee.
The USTA requires that all team rosters to be submitted before each sectional events. Once submitted, our coaches can not alter or change the roster during the entire sectional championships.
For teams with a combination of strong and less-experienced players, there won’t be too much changes to the rosters. For players who lack experience and competitiveness, our coaches might allow very limited number of matches during sectionals to ensure that stronger players could represent the teams more, especially against tough competitions.
One for all – Team effort
Our league program ties in with the competitive development of our players and one important aspect is team work and leadership. Each player competes for the team as a whole and together we will win as a team. Depending on the competition, our coaches might limit the number of matches for less experienced players to ensure a competitive match-up against the opposing teams.
Many of our players will someday be competing in High School Tennis and College Tennis, this reflect similar team set up. Coaches may adjust the team rosters to provide our teams with the highest level of competitiveness while ensuring a good learning opportunity for all players.
League & Sectional Fee
Our league fee is separate from group lesson or private lesson. Fee will be announced each season depending on number of matches scheduled, ranging from 5-7 team season matches. After each season, there might be Sectional Championship or play-off events for any leading teams. The USTA requires additional registration and fee for each of these events. In addition to the league fee for the season, for players who are on qualified teams, season-end events such as Sectionals or Play-off will be counted as 1 Group Team Practice on their lesson package.