Results of NWTO Survey of USTA Sections: Question 1
In 2022-2023, a Task Force of the Board of the NWTO completed a 10-question survey of 16 of the 17 Sections of the USTA (all but the Caribbean). The newsletter will be publishing the results of the survey, one question at a time. Learn more about this initiative here.
USTA Sections
QUESTION 1: Do you have an Adult Competition Committee? If so, what are the responsibilities of your Adult Competition Committee?
Florida: Florida does not have an adult committee but has adult league committees who spin off task forces to address issues and brainstorm ideas for changes.
Midwest: The Midwest Section discontinued their Adult Competition Committee at the end of 2022. They can’t say if this was a good decision or bad decision at this time as it was only done recently.
Intermountain: It is called the Adult Programs Committee which sets policy and regulations. It oversees tournaments, tennis on campus (colleges), and leagues. USTA National oversees any level 1 tournaments, the Section sanctions level 4 tournaments, and the Districts oversee levels 5, 6 and 7. The Intermountain Section has 6 Districts, basically measured by state boundaries (Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah). Each District is self-sufficient and has its own newsletter and website.
Eastern: They are focused on league play. It was discovered that Eastern no longer has an office. Staff is working remotely. They hope to move into quarters soon.
Pacific Northwest: Do you have an Adult Competition Committee? Yes
Southern California: SoCal has two separate committees, one for tournaments and one for leagues. However, some members sit on both to coordinate activities and share ideas from one to the other. They meet weekly or bi-weekly - largely reviewing the calendar and status and maintaining the well-being and integrity of individual and combined calendars. The committees are made up of the adult competition staff as well as volunteers from the community representing a wide variety of players, including juniors. Some of their responsibilities: level of distribution, distribution of tournaments, calendar, who’s hosting, and grievances.
Texas: There is a formally chartered Adult and Senior Competitive Committee that meets face-to-face twice a year and as needed via collaborative meeting technology and voice calls. Adult Senior Competitive grows the game of tennis in Adult and Senior Tournaments and provides competitive tournament play for players age 18 and over, rating, and family division events.
Southern: Rankings and rules, sanction and scheduling, budget, innovation.
New England: The Adult Competition Committee is focused on reviewing the first restructure and analyzing what did and did not work in the past. It updated regulations. Now they are trying to determine what formats are appropriate and if players are getting what they need.
Northern California: To approve sanctions for tournaments from L4 - L7. To work to recruit tournament sites and hosts. The USTA NorCal Adult Tournament Committee is responsible for:
Supporting the promotion and growth of adult tournament growth including participation throughout the section as well as the use of traditional and new, innovative formats
Studying all adult tournament activities and making recommendations on all policies relating to adult competitive tournament tennis
Recommending sites for USTA and USTA NorCal Adult Tournaments
Proposing new Adult Tournament programming and retirement of declining programming for the benefit of USTA NorCal players.
Southwest: The Adult Competition Committee consists of two men, Paul Burns, who is President of the Southwest Section and the Chair, and Matt Gleason. Mr. Burns does not show up on the Staff Directory and Matt's title is Managing Director, Community and Adult Tennis. It was suggested that they should enlarge the committee and invite players who are not on staff to join.
Middle States: Yes, there is an organized Adult Competition Committee. The purpose of the committee is to promote adult tennis, promote upcoming events, and address grievances that may arise.
Northern: The committee has been mostly league-focused until 2022 where we have specifically made a point to add tournament strategic items to the committee to help plan pathways to grow adult tournaments.
Hawaii: The Adult Competition Committee is responsible for knowing the “pulse of the section”. It oversees section events and handles normal rules and regulation business and any proposed changes.
MidAtlantic: We do not currently have just an ACC as such. We have Adult Play–social, competitive (not leagues). This committee structure is new–TBD on responsibilities.
Missouri Valley: We have 3 staff positions: Adult Leagues, Junior Competition, and Adult Play. Scott Howes is the staff person for Adult Play. He oversees recreation, college, tournament, and social play for the Section. The three staff positions and committees meet once a month to coordinate, with the Junior Play Competition meeting separately from the Adult Play Committee.
Missouri Valley has 7 districts: 5 states, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, and 2 cities, St. Louis and Kansas City (although the district’s name is Heart of America).
After reading the above, do you have any recommendations or suggestions on how Adult Competition is best handled? Please provide your feedback to Info @NWTO.us. We encourage you to reach out to your Section contacts with concerns or feedback:
Eastern – Lynn Buffamonti buffamonti@eastern.usta.com
Florida – Christine Ducey ducey@ustaflorida.com
Hawaii – Sara Yoshinaga yoshinaga@hawaii.usta.com
Intermountain – Monica Haller-Bradley mhaller@ita.usta.com
Mid-Atlantic – Rachel Kros kros@mas.usta.com
Middle States – Mary Wurtz Wurtz@ms.usta.com
Midwest – Toby Gaynor toby@midwest.usta.com
Missouri Valley – Scott Howes howes@movalley.usta.com
New England – Shawna Fors shawna.fors@newengland.usta.com
Northern – Taylor Heltne taylor@northern.usta.com
Northern California – Joanna Broda-Schnuk jbroda-schunck@norcal.usta.com
Pacific Northwest – Matthew Warren mwarren@pnw.usta.com
Southern – Milagros Sequera Huss sequera@sta.usta.com
Southern California – Anthony Shirley ashirley@scta.usta.com
Southwest – Matt Gleason gleason@southwest.usta.com
Texas – Veronica Nicholls nicholls@texas.usta.com
Caribbean – Angela Vargas adults@cta.usta.com
Learn more about this initiative here.