Greetings From the Court of Conan Lorenzo:
As we prepare for the 2017 Spring Team Tennis Season with over 750 players we have much to look forward too!!! Please 
know the San Diego coaches make up team tennis here, and I can’t thank you enough. Here is some important info and updates for the Spring Season.
Important timelines to note on your calendar are February 19 for coaches to register their teams, and February 26 as that will be the start of the season.
Ratings
We are now going away from calling our teams Novice, Intermediate, Satellite and Advanced, and will be using NTRP ratings or what we call “Junior ratings.” Some players already have a NTRP rating which will be useful to use as a base for placing players on your teams. Please click here to answer questions related to ratings.
The NEW 2017 Band Ratings will be as followed:
- 4 and Below: Novice
- 9 and Below Intermediate
- 4 and Below: Satellite
- 5 and Above Advanced
Please note that to find a rating, it will be easier to log in as a coach and then click on “Find a Rating”. Once again, the list that is on the website has three seasons of play, and you can see all the players’ rankings.
Please look at the 2017 tab. If you are going to have parents sign up your players on the teams……I CAUTION YOU AS ONCE A PLAYER IS SELF RATED….. THAT IS THEIR RATING FOR THE SEASON AND IT CANNOT BE CHANGED UNTILL AFTER THE SEASON
Naming Teams When Signing Them Up On-Line: Here is an example of how you will name a team: L.J.B.T.C 14U 2.9 Ballers or L.J.B.T.C 18U 3.4 Kiss my Ace. Please include club, Junior Rating, and your cool team name when making teams in the system.
Sectionals
When it comes to Sectionals for our teams, we will have winners from the following divisions be crowned and invited to Sectionals in Palm Springs:
- 10U Intermediate
- 10U Satellite
- 10U Advanced
- 14U 2.9 and below
- 14U 3.4 and below
- 14U 3.5 and above
- 18U 2.9 and below
- 18U 3.4 and below
- 18U 3.5 and higher
No sectionals will be available for 2.4 and below Novice teams. Remember: any player can play up in level though it is not advised as the entire reason the USTA came up with the NTRP system is to have matches more even with less “blow-outs”
8U Red Ball
The clubs or areas that hosted 8U teams in the past were La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, Barnes, Bay Club, San Diego Dieguito and Coronado. I think one more will be interested in the league again this year. We will make a note to have “one parent” per court to mainly help with scoring and position. (Not 4 parents per court with 16 parents in all….) We will drop the net slightly to allow for more rallies. All other match information is located at www.sandiegoteamtennis.com. The scoring format is 6-Game set with no-ad scoring. First serve can be overhead in box and the second serve drop can be a drop-hit crosscourt anywhere. If a third serve is needed, it can be a drop-hit anywhere in court.
SafePlay
For th
ose who have not re-certified or need to certify themselves for the first time for SafePlay- please go to this website.
It is easy and takes only 45 minutes. I can help anyone on this. You will not be able to get teams registered and thus players on your team. If you are not SafePlay certified, you will have to re-take the video and exam. Fun stuff… but it is mandatory. It is also free! Do it now since you have 10 days to get your results back which means if you try to procrastinate you will be without a team because of lack of time.
Coaches Info
Please make sure the www.sandiegoteamtennis.com website is current with your coaches (new or old) information. Pl
ease include your email and cell phone. This is a site for coach, and it is essential for other coaches to be able to contact you throughout the season.
Thanks coaches and looking forward to helping any of you with your team and more!
– Conan Lorenzo
Director of Tennis
La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club
USTA Junior Team Tennis San Diego Coordinator
USPTA San Diego Division President
(858) 551-4605
clorenzo@ljbtc.com
http://www.ljbtc.com/Tennis
Special Thanks to Conan Lorenzo for his dedication, leadership and outstanding communication. This article was submitted by Conan to better the world of Junior Team Tennis in San Diego!