Record-Setting Spring Junior Team Tennis Season Sets Up Summer Campaign

A record-shattering 362 kids participated on a record-tying 53 teams during the recently completed USTA St. Louis Junior Team Tennis spring season. The successful spring campaign sets up the summer season and an all-new JTT Section Qualifier event to build upon the momentum already created in 2022.

Toni McDonald — USTA St. Louis Junior Team Tennis coordinator — credited the sport of tennis as “growing a lot right now” as reasoning for the rise of participating JTT players. While the 362 competitors are a record for any USTA St. Louis Junior Team Tennis season, the 53 teams likewise broke the record for spring JTT in St. Louis.

The players and teams battled across 10 divisions at five locations on Sundays. McDonald noted the 18 & Under Advanced Girls’ Division was especially competitive in the spring with three teams tying for first place with a 5-1 record. The tiebreaker was games won throughout the campaign, with the first-place team notching 255 games. The runner-up won 254 games while the third-place squad collected 245 games.

“It was very close throughout the season,” McDonald said. “If you were to actually look at the courts and the number of sets they won, all three teams won the exact same number of sets. It was very good competition for them.”

After a historic spring season, summer signups are likely going strong with registrant numbers on par or even eclipsing last year. The USTA St. Louis summer JTT season will run from June 6 to July 23 with districts for advancing teams occurring July 25-26. McDonald anticipates an evenly matched field with lots of good competition, as the participating clubs are familiar with each other from facing off in previous seasons.

McDonald said teams are always looking for players to jump in on the action and substitute with families going on vacation throughout the summer. If players are interested in participating in JTT, they can reach out to McDonald at jtt@ustastl.com.

While local Junior Team Tennis summer league play is rolling, squads can also participate in all-new JTT Section Qualifiers. This championship-level program was implemented at the USTA national level and features advancement opportunity. Each USTA Missouri Valley district hosts a JTT Qualifier. To learn more, click here.

USTA St. Louis will play host to its JTT Section Qualifier on June 28-30 at Dwight Davis Tennis Center. Teams outside of the USTA St. Louis district can parachute in to participate in this event. And USTA St. Louis squads can likewise travel to other districts to compete in their offerings. For more information or to sign up for JTT Section Qualifiers, click here.

“I’m excited about it,” McDonald said. “Hopefully after this year — if everything goes well — maybe we can attract some more of the higher, better players when they see there is not as much of a time commitment. There are a lot of benefits for playing. We’ll have six teams, three at each level. And then hopefully grow it from there.”

After the JTT summer season concludes, USTA St. Louis will reintroduce a fall Junior Team Tennis league the district hasn’t offered in a while. McDonald explained last fall, USTA St. Louis held all JTT programming outside at Dwight Davis and shortened the season. There were no offerings available from mid-October until the spring.

This year, the district is going back to just holding the boys’ high school JTT season outdoors. Meanwhile, the 10 & Under, 12 & Under and 14 & Under age divisions will go inside on Saturday evenings running from September to December.

A second JTT season starts up in January and continues until the outdoor JTT campaign begins. McDonald said with these fall and winter leagues, she will ensure scheduling works out to where JTT programming won’t conflict with Level 7 tournaments or junior-circuit events so players won’t have to pick and choose but can join all.