Junior Competition Committee Announces Program Changes

The USTA Missouri Valley Junior Competition Committee (JCC) and section office staff have continued progress to identify strategic steps in order to resume play. While analyzing youth competition in the section, several key challenges facing the section and district were identified, including:

● Different local health regulation in the seven districts

● Dates that play can resume

● Unknown factors dealing with Hard Court Championships

● Fair playing and ranking opportunities for players in the seven districts

● Creating a safe and healthy environment for spectators, players, and coaches

As all seven of the USTA Missouri Valley districts are following different reopening protocols set by local governing agencies, the JCC has enacted several important changes to the junior structure. Starting in June, the section will be allowed to start local play through the Level 5-7 tournaments, which will be closed to only residents of their respective districts. The JCC voted to make June an exception month, where this decision will not impact the total number of closed versus open tournaments a district can have.

Throughout this summer, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced section staff and the JCC to evaluate certain aspects of events. After looking at several factors, the JCC has elected to suspend all doubles competition in USTA Missouri Valley junior Levels 3 to 7 tournaments through July 31. The safety and well-being of players, spectators and coaches is at the forefront of the decision making process.

In order to create a fair playing environment for players across all of the districts, the JCC has made the decision to utilize the March 12 USTA Missouri Valley Junior Standings list to make selections for all June level 5-7 and summer section tournaments. Once all districts are able to offer consistent and fair playing opportunities, the JCC will determine the date to publish a new junior section rankings list. All USTA Missouri Valley sanctioned tournaments will receive the tournament’s respective ranking points once a new list is published.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the USTA Missouri Valley JCC has been forced to postpone the June Level 3 and 4 tournaments. While this step was necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of our section, the JCC planned to publish a section endorsement list into USTA National Level 1 tournaments at the conclusion of our events. After weighing the options, the section office and JCC have elected to publish the March 12 USTA Missouri Valley Junior Standings List as the section endorsement for all National Level 1 tournaments in the summer of 2020.

The USTA Missouri Valley JCC and section staff recognize that using the March 12 Junior Standings List is not an ideal situation. However, the current situation has vastly changed the landscape of junior tournaments for the remainder of 2020. Before making any final determination, the JCC considered many different options on how the USTA Missouri Valley should proceed, including the use of ratings, as well as past and future standings list. The committee and section staff concluded that each district’s player had an equal opportunity to compete in junior tournaments from January to March 2020.

If you have any questions, please contact Junior Competition Manager Noah Bortnick at nbortnick@movalley.usta.com.