USTA Juniors, Why So Few Tournaments?

Last Weekend 39 L6 12u Boys Tournaments Were Available Nationally - About 1000 Spots For an Entire Country of 10-12 Y/O Boys.

I picked L6 to look at because these are beginner tournaments and most kids will end their competitive tennis interest at this level. The L7s are entry levels. Kids who never played tournaments start at L7s and only stay there until they have enough points to get into an L6 one. Because L7s are bottom up draws, successful kids are pushed to L6 after a few L7s. Every kid that gets good at tennis has to play L6 and a quick look at rankings show that most kids’ competitive tennis experience ends at L6. L6 tournaments are the tennis version of the super popular travel soccer and basketball leagues.

Last weekend there were 39 boys 12u L6 tournaments nationally. Even if they all had a 32 draw, that’s only 1248 spots. But some are only 16. So for an entire nation of 10, 11, and 12 year old boys eager to test their new tennis skills, we offered about 1000 spots.

Why some of the most populous USTA sections in the country have zero L6s on a weekend seems totally wacko. I guarantee there were plenty of other organized youth sports on offer. Sometimes it seems like tennis really doesn’t want to be that popular

Here’s the breakdown by section alphabetically listed.

• Caribbean: 0 Boys 12u L6 Tournaments

• Eastern: 3 Tournaments

• Hawaii Pac: 0 Tournaments

• Intermountain: 0 Tournaments

• Florida: 6 Tournaments

• Mid-Atlantic: 0 Tournaments

• Middle-States: 0 Tournaments

• Midwest: 7 Tournaments

• Missouri Valley: 2 Tournaments

• New England: 1 Tournaments

• Northern: 2 Tournaments

• Northern Cali: 2 Tournaments

• Pac NW: 0 Tournaments

• Southern: 9 Tournaments

• Southern Cali: 1 Tournaments

• Southwest: 0 Tournaments

• Texas: 5 Tournaments

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Because there are so few L6s offered and only about 10 L5s each weekend, L6s are the wild west when it comes to player levels.

Top seeds range from kids with serious national rankings to those with solid wins but not yet enough points to reliably get into an L5.

I took a look at the 3 most recent L6 12u boys draws for tournaments across USTA sections. The list is ordered by how many players are in the section. See my earlier post for info about tournament participation.

Any tournament with a top seed over 400 points is bolded because that’s a sign that the section is forcing their best kids and their newer kids into the same level. If it happens 1 out of 3 tournaments then maybe that’s just kids making kid choices. But 2/3 or 3/3 shows the section is not organizing enough tournaments.

• Southern:

  Southern does some great stuff in the draws to give the lowest rank kids a chance without taking away the seeded players first round advantage.

  1. Top seed has 349 points, lowest rank kid has 22 points

  2. Top seed 436, lowest rank 0 points

  3. Top seed 229, lowest rank 0 points

• Texas:

  1. Top seed 401, lowest rank 0 points

  2. Top seed 471, lowest rank 0 points

  3. Top seed 545, lowest rank 20 points

• Midwest:

  1. Top seed 1611, lowest rank 0 points

  2. Top seed 350, lowest rank 42 points

  3. Top seed 184, lowest rank 64 points

• Florida:

  1. Top seed 156, lowest rank 116 points

  2. Top seed 290, lowest rank 0 points

  3. Top seed 488, lowest rank 12 points

• Southern California:

  1. Top seed 477, lowest rank 20 points

  2. Top seed 351, lowest rank 76 points

  3. Top seed 477, lowest rank 22 points Same kid is top seed in #1 and #3.

• Eastern:

  1. Top seed 449, lowest rank 72 points

  2. Top seed 1012, lowest rank 58 points

  3. Top seed 383, lowest rank 76 points So close to a 400 point first seed here.

• Northern California:

  1. Top seed 694, lowest rank 222 points

  2. Top seed 568, lowest rank 0 points

  3. Top seed 563, lowest rank 0 points

• Mid-Atlantic:

  1. Top seed 189, lowest rank 60 points

  2. Top seed 391, lowest rank 0 points

  3. Top seed 436, lowest rank 140 points

• Missouri Valley:

  1. Top seed 245, lowest rank 0 points

  2. Top seed 309, lowest rank 0 points

  3. Top seed 664, lowest rank 26 points

• Intermountain:

  1. Top seed 808, lowest rank 0 points

  2. Top seed 555, lowest rank 54 points

  3. Top seed 292, lowest rank 175 points

• Middle States:

  Had to go back to Jan 1 to find 3 tournaments. Why so few tournaments in such a populous area? Scarcity makes it pretty impossible for new players. Once kids have too many points to reliably get into an L7s they will not have enough to reliably get into an L6.

  1. Top seed 752 , lowest rank 30 points

  2. Top seed 713, lowest rank 135 points

  3. Top seed 674, lowest rank 210 points

• New England:

  1. Top seed 406, lowest rank 66 points

  2. Top seed 458, lowest rank 0 points

  3. Top seed 461, lowest rank 0 points

• Pacific Northwest:

  1. Top seed 506, lowest rank 12 points

  2. Top seed 479, lowest rank 42 points

  3. Top seed 479, lowest rank 0 points Same kid is top seed in #1 and #3.

• Southwest:

  1. Top seed 334, lowest rank 95 points

  2. Top seed 458, lowest rank 0 points

  3. Top seed 989, lowest rank 32 points

• Northern:

  1. Top seed 138, lowest rank 0 points

  2. Top seed 283, lowest 0 rank points

  3. Top seed 133, lowest 0 rank points

• Hawaii Pacific:

  1. Top seed 1016, lowest rank 0 points

  2. Top seed 1768, lowest rank 54 points

  3. Top seed 909, lowest rank 20 points

• Caribbean: No L6s yet this year.

Thanks for reading!