By Wendy Fee, Junior Leagues Vice President
As the ALTA Junior Leagues Vice President, the most common questions I receive include the following:
Do you have to be on a team or roster, or can you play as an individual? The answer is BOTH! You have to play on a team. However, in each match you can play 1 singles or 2 singles, if you want to play individually or 1 doubles and 2 doubles, if you want to play with a partner. You will need to be added to a team roster by a team manager before you play in a match.
What are the different age groups? The age groups are 10U, 12U, 15U, and 18U.
Are the Juniors a mixed league? No, we have a Junior Boys League and a Junior Girls League.
How do I find a team to play on, and how do I find out what teams and age groups are playing in my location? Finding a team to play on can be a little challenging. ALTA can assist, but here are a couple of ways to look up teams that might be the correct age group and possibly local to where you live.
Go to altatennis.org, click on the menu icon and then “Division Standings.” Enter the appropriate information in the search boxes. Then click on the level you are interested in and see what teams are listed. You will then need to contact that facility to ask if you/your child can join a team.
Another approach is to go to “Facilities.” Enter your city, facility name, and/or zip code and click “Search.” You will see all the neighborhoods and clubs that meet the criteria you entered. Click on a facility you are interested in and then click the ellipsis on the far left on the page (…). After you click “Teams,” you will see a list of teams that have played out of that facility, and this will tell you if they have any Junior teams. You will need to look up the facility’s contact information and ask if they are accepting players.
Public courts/facilities are always a good place to start. Word of mouth is a great way to find out about existing ALTA teams, and tennis coaches/pros are great resources as well.
Since you won’t have access to the contact information for the team managers, we can also try to reach out to them for you. You will have to tell us what teams might work for your location. Now is a good time to look for teams for fall 2024. Some teams do age up, so they may have played in a younger age bracket in previous seasons.
If you have eight or more junior players at your facility, you can register a new team. We always welcome more Junior players and new teams to play in our ALTA Leagues.
