JTT summer season off to strong start; local qualifier takes place at Dwight Davis
In the summertime, many junior tennis players—including high schoolers—take advantage of their offseason and join a Junior Team Tennis (JTT) squad. Continuing to play with a team builds camaraderie, strengthens technical skills and exercises new strategies.
“JTT is a great way to start competing,” said Toni McDonald, USTA St. Louis JTT and 10U coordinator. “You are with a team and with a coach there to help. For more experienced players, it is a fun time to play with friends.”
Most of the matches are held outdoors, so the clear summer skies play into the season’s success. Luckily, there have been little weather disruptions so far with the USTA St. Louis JTT summer season.
“The season is still new. (We are) just a couple weeks in,” McDonald said. “So far, no rainouts which makes the season a lot easier. It is going smoothly with only a few minor issues.”
Although the summer season has just begun, juniors all over Greater St. Louis are hitting the ground running.
“The season is going well so far. We have 65 teams,” McDonald said. “We will host districts for the top teams on July 23-24 at Dwight Davis. Teams that are participating are Highland High School from Highland, Ill., and Greg Nester from Belleville has a team. Edwardsville Academy, Breakpoint, Net Rushers, Forest Lake Tennis Club, CCRC, MAC, Vetta Concord, Vetta Sunset and Vetta West all have teams participating.”
Local teams competed in a USTA Missouri Valley JTT Qualifier on June 24-25 at Dwight Davis Tennis Center. The two highest-finishing teams became eligible to advance to the Section Championships, which take place July 16-17 at Edmond Center Court in Oklahoma.
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“We had five teams in the 18U competing for two spots to go to sectionals,” McDonald said. “We had a round-robin with each team playing the other four teams. Each match had five courts going at once with a boys’ and girls’ singles, boys’ and girls’ doubles, and one court of mixed doubles.”
The JTT Qualifier featured a sportsmanship winner in Chakradhar Sarvepalli from Net Rushers, and the final team standings were as follows:
Forest Lake
Edwardsville
St. Clair
Vetta West
Net Rushers
“It was very hot, but the kids were troopers and played hard,” McDonald said. “Each team had four matches in two days.”
The summer is flying by, so it is not a bad idea to start planning for some fall tennis. Check out your local tennis club/facility to find a JTT squad or feel free to contact Toni McDonald for help. She can be reached at jtt@ustast.com.
“Most of our teams are either club teams, organizations or some high school teams in the fall,” McDonald said. “If their club is having teams, they can contact their coach. If they don’t belong to a club that has JTT or aren’t members of a club, they can email me and I’ll help connect them to a team.”
Individuals interested in participating in JTT can reach out to these club contacts to learn more or join a team:
Breakpoint Tennis & Life Skills Academy
Ben Gildehaus
bengildehaus@gmail.com
Creve Coeur Racquet Club
Toni McDonald
toni@ccrctennis.com
Forest Lake Tennis Club
Kalie Snyder
kaliesnyder@forestlaketennisclub.com
Missouri Athletic Club
Conner Stevenson
cstevenson@mac-stl.org
Vetta Sports Concord
Brett Helbig + Sammy Lhotak
bhelbig@vettasports.com
slhotak@vettasports.com
Vetta Sports Sunset
Brent Gruno
bgruno@vettasports.com
Vetta Sports West
Beth Jameson
bjameson@vettasports.com
To learn more about Junior Team Tennis and getting involved for the first time, click here. To read a USTA St. Louis article on the JTT program’s record-shattering 2023 season, click here. To read a story about Breakpoint jumping into JTT action last year, click here. The USTA Missouri Valley's Josh Sellmeyer contributed to this report.
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