In 2018, the USTA launched the NTRP National Championships, a national adult tournament that leverages the NTRP rating system as a way to create level-based competition. USTA.com is highlighting the players from the 2019 tournament who made the event extra special.

 

In the latest NTRP Spotlight, we catch up with USTA member Misha Moore, who, at age 40, rekindled her love of tennis and went on to spread the passion to her family and community. Here’s her story. 

 

At 40 years old, Chelsea, Mich., resident Misha Moore (pictured above, right) was looking for both a physical and mental challenge. 

 

"I started looking around, and all my friends the same age were starting to do triathalons, and I couldn’t imagine anything more horrible,” Moore said. “It just felt like work.”

 

Around the same time in 2010, a friend of Moore’s invited her to a drop-in tennis clinic. ADVERTISEMENT Moore had played in high school and sporadically in subsequent years, but she didn’t find herself on the court too often. 

 

That all changed, however, at the tennis clinic. Thanks to a welcoming instructor and environment, Moore was “hooked.”

 

She began to go to the drop-in clinic regularly, meeting new people and sharpening her game. She was soon invited to play on a women’s 2.5 team, and the first team that she joined made it all the way to the USTA League National Championships. Tennis had become a permanent place in Moore's life. 

 

Moore began to compete regularly on USTA League teams, ascending to a 3.5 NTRP rating level, and she now plays on five League teams.

 

Her commitment on the court has inspired those closest to her. 

 

“It just sort of became a family thing,” she said about the game of tennis. 

 

Moore’s two oldest children competed on their high school varsity tennis teams all four years, and her husband Scott started to play. Moore’s youngest daughter also just wrapped up her freshman season on her high school’s junior varsity squad and enjoyed it greatly.

 

Her tennis matches have become a family affair, as well, as she is currently on a 3.5 mixed doubles team with Scott and 19-year-old son, Tobin, out of Liberty Athletic Club in Ann Arbor, Mich, from the USTA Midwest section. 

 

“We’ll take a hopper of balls on a nice evening and head over to the school courts and play as a family,” Moore said. 

 

Besides the ample quality family time on the court, Moore spends her time off the court giving back to the community and the game she loves dearly. For the past five years, she has served as the assistant coach for the local high school girls' tennis team. 

 

“Volunteer work can take a lot of different forms,” Moore said. “Being able to volunteer my time as a coach in-season, that’s probably 20 hours a week I’m spending on this, so it’s like a part-time job, but I love every moment of it.”

 

Earlier this year, Moore helped steer the girls' team to the semifinals of the state championships, earning 11 points in the tournament, the highest in the program’s history. She traveled to the event with her youngest daughter by her side, since she was a member of the varsity squad. 

 

In 2018, Moore looked to elevate her game and decided to register for the 2019 USTA NTRP National Championships. 

 

“I’ve been trying to develop my game, and this seemed like a good opportunity because there’s really nothing like match experience to help improve, and it would create a training goal for me,” Moore said. 

 

So in March, she headed to Naples, Fla., to compete in the 3.5 singles division. While Moore didn’t take home the trophy, she did take home the inspiration to keep pushing and improving her game. 

 

“I’m playing so much better, and I think it’s because playing at a tournament where people come from all over the country, and love the sport just as much as you do, and want to compete just as much as you do, it was really exciting.”

 

Moore has plans to return to the NTRP Championships next year, but in the meantime, she still has all the opportunities, friends and fun that tennis has afforded her. 

 

“Tennis has just really opened a lot of doors for me, in terms of being embedded in the community, having these social connections and doing something athletic. And we do it as a family.”

 

Learn how to qualify for the NTRP National Championships in your section here.