The USTA is working with ClubSpark, developers of the Serve Tennis platform, to create a digital product to support high school tennis. The product under development is a variation of the platform currently in use in college tennis matches played under the auspices of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), which governs tennis in all three NCAA divisions.
The USTA High School Platform will have the following features:
- Every player will be identified by his/her USTA ID number. If a player does not have an existing USTA ID, then one will be created for that player when he/she is placed on the team roster.
- Every school will have a school site, with pages for different teams: men's, women's, varsity, JV, etc.
- Every team's page will show roster, schedule, and results.
- Every match will count toward a player's WTN (World Tennis Number).
- Tournaments will be handled through the USTA's Serve Tennis platform, in much the same way as USTA-sanctioned tournaments.
- Dual-team match results will also be recorded via the site.
- Communication with players via email will be built into the platform.
- The site will be "mobile-friendly", meaning that coaches can create lineups on their phones, and record scores as players conclude their matches, with no post-match data entry required.
The USTA's High School Council, which is providing feedback and guidance for the project, has identified North Carolina as a potential partner for testing the program during the 2023-24 season.
We are looking for conferences willing to be "beta testers", agreeing to use the program for their conference season, both for dual-team matches and for their conference tournament. At the end of the season, we'd like to get your feedback on how the system works, and what improvements are needed.
Click here if you would like to volunteer to be a beta tester, and receive an invite to claim your school's page on the site.
Aug 14th Update
USTA released a significant upgrade of the platform on Aug 14th. Coaches can now use the platform "live" in a dual-team match, so long as both coaches have claimed their schools and no exhibition matches are recorded on the site.USTA is working to purge duplicates from the list of schools, and to allow exhibition matches to be recorded without affecting the team score.
At present, 44 coaches have requested an invite to claim their school, and 26 of those have done so.
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