Tennis Schedule of Events 2008

This was the schedule of 2008:

USTA National Open. Waco. February 16-20. 2-2
Price's Sun City Junior Open. El Paso. March 1-3. First Place
Jason Morton Tennis Classic. Sun Lakes. March 5-9. Singles and Doubles Open Champion
Arizona Junior Open. Tucson. March 21-23. First Place
USTA Interscholastic Championships West. Fresno. April 19-22. 2-2
Muterspaw Championships. Las Vegas. April 26-29. 4-1. Third Place
2A/3A Arizona State Singles Championships. May 2-3. First Place
USTA National Open. El Paso. May 17-21. 5-2. Consolation Semi-finalist
Tanoan Sweet 16. Albuquerque. May 30-June 1. First Place
SW Junior Closed. Tucson. June 14-17. 3-2. Fourth Place
USTA National Open. Denver. June 28-Jul 2. 7-2. Consolation Finalist
July 13-20 USTA Boys 18s National Team Championship. Urbana. July 26-29

Now it is over, the last tournament: 58 in the nation, RPI 35, head to head 62, and on to play the international competition of DI. You put your head down and go forward. On court the pressures were enormous for his team and after for him from the feedback. We finish with what we started, he can beat anybody in the country when he has a mind to it. The early maturity of youth sports was not his luxury. He still thinks it a fantasy he is 6' 3". His new coaches were told he is two years from realizing his strengths. It will be enjoyable to see the results.

DI College Tennis

DI, even DII tennis is very different from what USTA players knew, both because players are more mature and because a majority are internationals here on scholarship. Four and a half scholarships per team are mandated, with eight members of a team, apportioned percentage wise. The best most Americans can expect is 50% just because South Africa, Australia, Japan, England, New Zealand, Germany, Columbia, Sweden, Russia, etc. export their talent because no college scholarship is available. Americans want a winning record. Notre Dame was reputedly all American and Illinois one year. Examine the standings and see for yourself here. This occurs even at competitive junior colleges.

Recruiting begins in the summer events the prior year before graduation. Signings occur in October and April. Coaches stalk the Opens, clay and hard courts with clipboards. We overheard them for years. In DC in 2005 a coach said he didn't care so much about the boy's talent as the father's wallet. They don't know what to do beyond their eyes and stats and Stats don't lie, but they don't tell the truth. The cut comes from about 1-30 and 30-120 for American rankings, numbers, quantities, not qualities. Most players entertain in the choice of a college team that they may go pro after, but most are business majors that before the crash would have become mortgage brokers. The investment of time for a player affects studies, attitudes and values. "Forcing the call" is an investment tool, but not useful in science, literature or art. A player who doesn't go for either October or April signing sees hustling. One can always play Futures events, but at the end of the year coaches go nuts trying to be champs.

European and South American tennis feds, etc., endow their players in big camps by the dozen and half dozen, say 50K plus each! These play the international junior circuit ITF tournaments where one loss eliminates, but most Americans were eliminated long before by the cost. The cost for national summer events alone for people who live outside the area where they are played, that is most, was at least 10K under the old conditions of the price of gas. There are various subsidies to a few. When most American players arrive at the DI roost they do not play 1, 2 or 3. At 4,5 and 6 the best see some success. They are not NCAA individually ranked.

They tell you as a Junior that you are going to get "a full ride" because your clinic and coach made you great. The hype is great. Parents, who are never to coach, please no, are to believe in the system and pay, that way when their player gets a "ride" to an out of state institution, they will only be on the hook say for maybe 15K a year, when their child could have gone in state for 10 with no ride. Pay to play was the mission all along. This monetization of economically aspiring and upwardly mobile junior athletes for top USTA tennis does help them gain entrance to Ivy League colleges or the private prestigious universities at D III. Tennis can really grease the skids for admission, grades warranting, but of course the tab is larger. There are not going to be any figures about debt forthcoming with the news of full "academic ride." You can go to Harvard. Character, imagination, learning, love of nature, art can come later, if there's time. Read Anna Karenina (because it was the longest book you can find) on your first Open, The Fixer, Kafka and Borges on your last.