By Seth Appelbaum, Senior Leagues Vice President
Senior men’s and senior women’s tennis in the summer are league favorites for many ALTA members — with major grilling for the men and themes for the women’s teams and table decor. Tennis is played, but socializing is at the top of the list! Because these leagues are on the smaller side, it can take a bit more effort to find a team to join. One way is to get together with friends and start your own team, if your facility allows.
In summer 2023, the Senior Men’s league had 228 teams and the Senior Women’s league had 402 teams, totaling 10,653 ALTA members all 45 years and up.
Registration for summer 2024 starts March 19 and matches begin in late May. If you don’t have a senior team for the summer, don’t delay your search. The time to start looking is now! There are a variety of ways to search for a team on the ALTA website that include the obvious “Players Looking for Teams” and “Teams Looking for Players” options.
Using the menu at the top of the homepage in the green band, you will see “Find Players and Teams.” Clicking to go to that area you can list yourself as looking for a team by selecting the appropriate criteria as it applies to you. You also can review teams listed that are looking for players.
Using creativity, you can do other searches by going to “Facilities.” Thinking of facilities that are near your home, search and select them to see the teams that played in the summer of 2023. Be sure to select 2023 as the system defaults to our current year, 2024. You also can search facilities by zip code. Review those and check for facilities of interest. This might remind you of a neighborhood or two, or maybe even a tennis facility you had forgotten about.
Once you have facilities in mind, if a contact phone number is listed on the ALTA site, give them a call. If not, take a drive and see if you can connect with someone at the facilities to get the ball rolling.
You also can check “Division Standings” from last summer. What level are you comfortable playing? Maybe start with the standings for that level or close to it and check out the teams who could be returning this year. Again, you may want to visit and try to connect in person.
Are you getting the idea there’s some work involved in finding a team? Yep, there is! But the results are worth it.
- You need to be your own advocate. Ask teammates and opponents about joining teams.
- Talk with your pro or pros at facilities to see what is available.
- Look at facilities in your area as you drive by or visit.
- Use the ALTA website to gather as much information to help connect you to the right team.
- Start your own team!
We hope this information helps a little in your search and we hope to see you on the courts soon!
