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In an exciting step that continues to build the relationship between UTR and high schools across the United States, UTR has announced a new partnership with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
As the recognized national authority on interscholastic activity programs, the NFHS reaches all 50 state member associations and that of the District of Columbia. Its groundbreaking partnership with UTR will bring the opportunity for innovative tennis resources to 19,500 high schools who have more than 7.9 million participants in high school sports.
The partnership will allow NFHS to use UTR’s best-in-class rating system to significantly reduce “stacking” in high school tennis – whereby coaches place higher caliber players against lower caliber players to create favorable scoring matchups. Additionally, athletes’ UTR can now be used to assess talent level in order to simplify the seeding process for tournaments and events.
“High school tennis administrators have long been searching for a way to utilize data to help organize tournaments and maintain integrity in the sport,” said Lindsey Atkinson, NFHS director of sport and tennis liaison. “UTR has really stepped up and become a leader as an organization that provides these analytics and has been universally adopted from the amateur level up to the professional ranks. It will be of great benefit to the high school game going forward.”
UTR continues to grow in the high school space, with more than 5,000 high schools across all 50 states and D.C. utilizing its platform. An invaluable tool not just for administrators, UTR helps aspiring collegiate tennis players find where they fit in that landscape and provides resources and information to help them get there.
“UTR High School is completely free and connects high school players to the world’s largest tennis ecosystem,” said Anne Worcester, President of Universal Tennis. “UTR’s easy-to-use tournament management and dual match software allows players to earn credit for their high school performance and provides more accurate and objective matchups and tournament seeding. As the gold standard in college recruiting, coaches across the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA ask high school players one question – ‘What’s your UTR?”