In early April, the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) and
Universal Tennis announced a
five-year partnership agreement, whereby the ITA endorses Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) as “the official rating system of the ITA.” The accord formalizes UTR’s status as an important/a vital standard used by college coaches and athletes to assess tennis skill—for recruiting as well as match and tournament play. “The ITA is thrilled to be entering into a long-term partnership with Universal Tennis, a forward-thinking, innovative organization,” said Timothy Russell, Chief Executive Officer of the ITA, which oversees more than 1700 collegiate tennis programs. “We share a vision of how college tennis can better serve the sport, in America and around the world.”
“The agreement helps us move forward with something central to UTR’s existence:
level-based play,“ says Universal Tennis CEO Bruce Waschuk. “To its credit, the ITA is expanding/extending its approach to level-based competition
that will not only provide greater enjoyment of tennis, but will produce better play, showcasing college as a great development environment for student-athletes.” Russell adds, “I’ve been a big fan of UTR since its inception, so I was knowledgeable about it long before I became CEO of the ITA. I’m also a big fan of level-based play.”
"The ITA Summer Circuit tourneys will continue to enable play between juniors and college athletes—players whom the younger competitors never see at junior events."
The ITA Summer Circuit tournaments that welcome college and junior athletes will henceforth be branded as “powered by UTR,” and employ UTR’s Events platform as their tournament management system. All match results will flow into the UTR database to update the UTRs of players. The two organizations will collaborate in developing the ITA Summer Circuit as a model for level-based play. The ITA Summer Circuit tourneys will continue to enable play between juniors and college athletes—players whom the younger competitors never see at junior events. Athletes’ ages will play no role in setting matches; only their level of tennis skill, indexed by UTRs, will matter. “How can juniors and college players get more out of the game?” Waschuk asks. “The missing piece is level-based play.”
Summer Circuit 2016
“By its very nature, college tennis is level-based: the #1 singles players on each team face each other, and so on down to the #6 players,” Russell says. “The ITA Summer Circuit has not always been as level-based. Over the next couple of years, we’ll be moving toward that gold standard. Also, having the UTR events platform at our tournaments will be a huge upgrade for all the participants and tournament directors. In the past, there’s been a wide variety of systems in use—some tournaments would use Excel spreadsheets, others would keep track of results on a napkin. With the UTR Events platform in place, the Summer Circuit events will all have a uniform and highly professional look, and the events will enter the UTR system in an efficient and effective way.”
“The UTR partnership with the ITA is great news for coaches and players.”
As the value of level-based play gains wider and wider recognition, eventually it will open the door to contests between well-matched male and female players as well. “We’re not expecting an instant miracle to happen at the 50-plus events this summer,” Waschuk explains. “We can’t tell now if it will take one, two, three, or five years to transition to a fully implemented, rewarding level-based-play environment.” “The partnership could lead to other things ITA and UTR could do together,” says Russell. “For example, we have about 80 ITA regional tournaments every fall. I could see those events adopting UTR’s tournament management system.”
“The UTR partnership with the ITA is great news for coaches and players,” says Traci Green, head coach of women’s tennis at Harvard. “This will help grow our toolbox to track and enhance competitive development.”
Bring level-based play to your courts, on a campus or anywhere else! Sign up for a free UTR membership here.
Feature photo: TCU Tennis Center (Credit: TCU Athletics)
