The High School Tennis Conundrum: Most Top Players Don’t Play, And It’s A Shame For Everyone

Unfortunately, over the last few years, the Long Island High School team champions are often the schools who have most of its strongest players participate, and not necessarily which high school has the best players. Additionally, many junior players are missing out on what I think is a great experience. I am 30 years out of junior tennis and still, winning a state title and three county titles holds more cache with people I meet than the four supernational back draw titles I won, the latter being the much tougher achievement. It would really be better for everyone, other than a fourth doubles team getting bumped out of the starting lineup or an alternate getting bumped from varsity, if everyone who attended school played high school tennis.

After speaking with some high school coaches I realized that the athletic director sets the mandate as to what commitment its’ top players need to make. Some schools require players go to everything, while I recently heard of an example of a player participating in the minimum matches required to qualify for the state tournament.

What I would say to a high school administrator who makes a player head-and-shoulders above everybody else on their team go to every practice

In most cases, a highly-ranked player or a number one singles player who is levels ahead of everybody else on his/her team has dedicated a lot more of their life and made many more sacrifices to tennis…in some cases more than the rest of the team combined.

If that player has nobody their level to practice with, you are asking that player who has got to be good at time management to get to that level to fritter away a couple of hours a day away from schoolwork and coaching from their personal coach.

Playing high school tennis reflects well to colleges but it really doesn’t make very much difference to a college coach. A junior girl who is ranked 150th nationally with an 8.4 UTR is going to be taken before the girl who is 300 nationally with a 7.3 UTR pretty much every single time, whether the child plays high school tennis or not.

Tennis is not like team sports where it’s necessary to work on plays or timing patterns. You don’t need to have everyone at practice together to get better. Your team is going to improve more by seeing your number one player come in for matches than it is by not having that player at all.

With so many top Eastern players getting home-schooled, it would be nice to reward the ones that go to regular school by accommodating their schedules a bit. Schools often give high-ranked players a couple of free periods at the end of the day to train, so how is this different?

As far as other players resenting it, honestly, I think that’s their own issue. It should be respected that this person has reached such a level and I think it’s sour grapes if other kids don’t like it. This top player isn’t slacking, they are training harder on the outside than any high school team trains. These top-players aren’t taking the easy way out and the rank-and-file players on the team should respect their training schedule instead of playing the victim card of “it’s not fair”. If one of my own children complained about it, I’d tell them to suck it up. The high-level tournament player has paid their dues and earned that right.

What I would say to a top-ranked player who doesn’t play high school tennis with players their approximate level on the team.

When you look back at your tennis career, you will have more memorable moments from high school tennis than you will from playing an ITF in Waco, Texas. It’s not even close. You know what’s a weird feeling? Sitting in homeroom that Monday morning after you won a Super Six Tournament and nobody in your class knows or cares what you did or accomplished that weekend. You know what’s a fulfilling feeling? Getting recognition in your school, Newsday, Long Island Tennis Magazine or your local newspaper when you beat somebody 6-0, 6-0 in a high school match against an opponent who wouldn’t even make a Super Six.

Is your club telling you it’s dumb to play high school tennis? There are motivations often behind this. They don’t want to deal with make-ups, skipping (and not paying for) the first two months of the semester or asking for a refund. As a coach, I admit my appointment book would be much easier to keep with school tennis but I would never fathom doing this.

99.9 percent of junior tennis players aren’t going to be known names outside of tennis circles from junior tournaments or professional tournaments alone…high school tennis can give you that feeling. You want to feel famous? This is the closest you are going to get. Being in the moment is fun once in a while! Very rarely will you hear that high school tennis is boring! Create some memories!

Solution:

Yes, I realize this won’t come to fruition most likely….it just makes too much sense. But to me, the solution is simple.

If the top player on a team is two full UTR points higher than the next player on the day tryouts start, then practices should be optional for that player. On game days, the player must travel with the team and stay at the match until it is over like the other players. A scenario such as this would provide a win/win/win for the player, school and credibility of a true Long Island team championship.