The Future of U.S. Tennis Growth
The future of tennis growth in this country is in team participation at a young age. While most tennis experiences at the highest level are about the individual, the team concept is the sweet spot of growth for the sport. The USTA offers Junior Team Tennis for very young players; however, in its current form, it does not result in the participation growth needed for the sport to thrive. Accordingly, the USTA should go all in to the team format as the only format for 10 and Under Tennis, and do so for the following reasons.
1. It’s consistent with demographic trends
While overall youth team sports participation is down in this country over nine percent in the last 10 years, according to The Sports and Fitness Industry Association, with youth tackle football down over 18 percent. Most non-contact sports, like fast pitch softball, are up. Tennis participation is flat and is trending downward, with overall participation slightly up, but “core” participation (which is 90 percent of the tennis economic market) down according to the Tennis Industry Association (TIA). Simply stated, tennis is good at bringing new players into the sport, but not good at retaining players, with a high attrition rate. Team tennis will stop the revolving door of tennis participation and drive the market by getting new young players to love the game through healthy, fun and positive early competitive experiences.
2. It reduces barriers to entry
Ask most parents why their children don’t play tennis more seriously and they will likely identify two reasons: The cost and the culture. Training is expensive and tournaments are, as one parent of a young student describes, “a free for all.” Tennis will achieve cost efficiencies by pooling resources, while encouraging a less isolated, insular tournament environment dominated by the most aggressive parents. A team concept for young tournament players will encourage an atmosphere of engagement, learning and teamwork.
3. It promotes the value of team engagement
Adults who have played competitive junior tennis tell me with very few exceptions that their fondest tennis experience was as a member of a college team because they loved the feeling of being a part of something greater than themselves. Alas, you need to reach a high level of play to enjoy the team experience at a college level and it’s a shame that more coaches are not encouraging their top students to play high school tennis. I read with concern in last month’s Coaches Roundtable Discussion (see page 46 of the November/December 2017 issue of Long Island Tennis Magazine), the philosophy from one group that expressed “we encourage tournament players to play high school tennis, as long as the coach is flexible with the players schedule to allow them to train.” While that might be a useful practical compromise for the player and coach, it is also a philosophy of entitlement and that is not consistent with the value of team membership. Tennis is an isolating sport for many juniors, but it’s the sport of a lifetime because it encourages—not limits—socialization.
The solution
Eliminate all 10 and Under individual tournaments and recast them as team events. This change would transform the goal of entry from winning as an individual, to playing and winning or losing as a team. Let’s not forget that the idea of scaled down playing environments was sold by the USTA as an attempt to be more like Little League, Junior Basketball and other team sports which scale. Further, the success of The Laver Cup clearly demonstrates that a team event, run the right way, can be great for the sport. Players who enter 10 and Under events will be randomly placed on teams and the play will be similar as before. With USTA support, it can include professional coaching, skill development, and support and encouragement during play. Team tennis at a very young age is a great way to encourage children and parents to love the sport.
I expect there will be resistance and growing pains to the elimination of the individual 10 and Under format, and I see some practical implementation issues, but you cannot change the cutthroat culture that limits the growth of the sport with soft tennis balls, short rackets and blended lines, alone. Cultural change comes from bold, progressive action.
