Battle of the Sections Q&A

Interview with Neil Adams

Neil Adams has been coaching and developing juniors in the Texas Hill Country for nearly 30 years. A native of San Antonio, Adams was a standout junior player in Texas before playing and coaching for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is a longtime USTA Texas volunteer and is currently a member of the USTA Texas Management Committee. 

This July, Coach Neil Adams is taking a group of boys, ages 16 and 18, to the University of Notre Dame to compete together on a team and battle it out together against all sixteen other USTA sections. If you are not already familiar, this event is our annual Battle of the Sections. We sat down with Adams to ask one main question: What’s the Big Deal with Battle of the Sections?

How did the Battle of the Sections originally start?

Neil Adams: Battle of the Sections was an idea that the Junior Competitive group at the USTA came up with to bring an elite group of players together prior to the big National tournament. So for instance, Battle of the Sections for the girls, was in Los Angeles. Then, when they got done, they’d drive down to San Diego for the Nationals. The boys were playing in South Bend, Indiana, and then they'd drive up to Kalamazoo [Michigan] to play their big National tournament. 

So some see it as a warm-up, and others see it as their big opportunity to shine in a team event. Which is really what coaches want to see: how they perform in a team.

What is your favorite thing about coaching this event?

NA: First, I would say the relationships with the players, not just me and my experience with them individually, but seeing a team come together. [Players] spend the entire year beating each other up in Texas, playing tournaments against each other in various levels and now they're coming together, representing Texas! And to see them come together, it's really cool to see them mature as a team and learn how to be a team player. Because frankly, when you're playing at this level, there aren't a lot of kids playing team events. They're not playing on a high school team so they learn a lot.

It's just fun playing with people. It's just fun playing on a team. It's just flat-out fun.

What are the characteristics that make these kids good teammates?

NA: Openness to Vulnerability, because when you're open you're authentic and when you're authentic, then people really see you for who you are, which is probably a really good guy. It gets chippy out there, people get competitive, and I think these guys let their guards down, they open up, they become friends, some become closer friends, some become doubles partners later on in the season.

Humility, knowing that you're contributing to the team, wherever it is, you're playing. It's not about the points. When you come to this tournament, it's about playing on an elite team and competing for your section. 

Integrity needs to be there, because we hold our players to a high standard of sportsmanship; but you can still be competitive and be a good sport. And I think that's another thing that I like about our Texas players. They're gritty and they're feisty, but they're good sports.

Describe the atmosphere at Battle of the Sections.

NA: The first day, everyone's kind of jittery, you can feel the electricity in the air. When they get out on the court. It gets loud. It gets feisty when the heat comes as the match progresses. You feel an intensity that you do not feel at a regular tournament. It's palpable and coaches love that energy! That's what they live for because that's what they're season is all about, frankly. In the spring it's these team matches, these dual matches that they play against other schools. So, It would behoove them to come and see these kids compete in that kind of environment. 

But electric, a lot of energy. It can get rowdy. It's a college environment so it gets a little rowdy but they keep it under control and we know where the line is. We're not heckling anybody, but it's a team event and we're fired up and what we want to win! 

What do you think are the benefits of being on a team in a team environment?

NA: There are life skills you learn as an individual, playing an individual sport when you're playing by yourself. And there are also life skills you learn by being on a team.

Being on a team is important because getting along is important. And you have to learn to get along even if you have different personalities, different motivations, different goals, but you're on a team, working towards a common goal and there's growth there that you don't get from playing an individual event. So, that's one. 

Two, it's a lot of fun, it's a ton of fun.

Also, I think there's something about giving of yourself that's gratifying, that kids don't realize until they're on a team. You feel like you're a part of something and that makes you motivated to do it more for your team than you would be by yourself. 

When I was a college player, my results in the spring were way better than my results in the fall. And the reason was, in the fall, they were open tournaments, flighted tournaments, but we didn't play dual matches in the fall. I was playing for myself. I mean I had Illinois on my shirt, right? But I'm playing for myself. 

There is a gear that you can go into when your team needs you that you don't know you have until you're in that situation. And when you realize you have that gear, there is an empowering, overwhelming amount of confidence that you gain from something like that. Especially when a match is on the line and you come through. And you can build on that. 

We did that last year, we won our last three matches and we needed to win that match to win. And we did that three nights in a row. And the lights, sometimes after midnight and that brought the team together. And I think that's why we were able to possibly overachieve when it came down to it. When we got to the last couple of days, that togetherness and that fight together really brought them through because they wanted to finish strong. They were like “This is it. When we're done we're not gonna be on this team anymore. We probably will not be on a team together, these eight guys. So embrace this and make the most of it.” And they really did.

Last question. Battle of the sections, what's the big deal?

NA: You have an opportunity to represent your section. Take pride in representing your section. Fighting for your teammates. Be a good sport. 

It's the best team tournament out there. When do you get to play with your friends right now? This one you represent your section. This is a team of Texas players going to battle against other sections. There's nothing better than. There’s just nothing better than that. I can't emphasize it enough. 

If you can't get excited about this tournament, why are you playing? Seriously, why are you playing? Because this is where you want to be. This is the tournament you want to be good enough to play in.