League Play

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After your sport club becomes established, you may want to look into starting a collegiate club tennis league or joining an existing league. There are so many positives to playing in a league, many of which you will discover along your journey forming your sport club tennis team.

One positive aspect is the organization that a league provides. Schedules are made, matches are played, records are kept, etc. This also provides a constant competitive outlet for your sport club. Another plus is post-season play. Your league play can lead into a sectional tournament that uses the league standings for team seedings, which then leads to automatic berths into the USTA National Campus Championship! Please visit the USTA National Campus Championship page for more information on the event. League play also offers your sport club team a full schedule of other schools to play. This will greatly decrease the amount of work and time that you and your sport club invest in scheduling matches throughout the year and will instead maximize the time that you can travel and compete.

There are several collegiate club tennis leagues popping up all over the country. Contact your USTA section’s collegiate contact, the USTA National Campus Tennis Coordinator, or NIRSA for more information about starting or joining a league.

Outside of league play, there remains the option of dual matches against other schools. If there is no league available in your area, this may be your only choice. They can be as close as across town, or you can schedule them for long weekend road trips across the country. Dual matches offer great ways for your club members to compete and travel together. When you are scheduling matches, keep your school’s academic schedule, football schedule, tennis facility schedule, and members’ cost factors in mind, as they may impede on your plans. A great place to start looking for other schools to compete against is with your USTA collegiate contact. You may also want to contact other schools in your varsity athletic conference. Other possibilities for matches include community college teams, smaller colleges’ varsity teams, and even local USTA or World TeamTennis league teams.

Click here to continue reading: Chapter 5, Events: USTA Campus Championship

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