First Junior Tennis Tournament in the US- Tips for Parents

At 7 years of age, my daughter Elizabeth has just completed her first junior tennis tournament in the Washington DC area. She played at the Montgomery Tennisplex.

It was an interesting day. Some things went exactly as planned. Others were quite unexpected.

I think our experience might be interesting for other families who are planning to enroll their kids for the first tennis tournament here in the US.

When should your kid start participating in tennis tournaments?

7 years of age is a good time to enroll in the first junior tennis tournament if you feel your kid is well prepared. They should be able to play with orange or green balls, keep the score, and hit ground strokes and serves.

My impression from all the tournaments I’ve attended is that all the kids who participated were quite good players for their age and have trained intensively for at least a couple of years.

You’ll be enrolling your kid in the 10U (ten and under) tennis tournament. This is the age category where all little kids will play. There is no lower limit, so technically even a 5-year-old could participate. But that’s probably too early, in my view.

How to sign up

Parents would need to download a USTA app on the mobile phone or visit USTA website, get their membership first and then get junior membership for the kid. You cannot enroll your child under 18 unless you have adult membership. Once your membership is active, you can search for tournaments in your area. You’d need to specify location (e.g., 50 miles from your zip code) and tournament level (e.g., 10 and under for little kids). The fee is usually $50 but it could be more or less, depending on the tournament.

Types of tournaments

As you will see, there are quite a few tournaments during the year. In the Washington DC area, you’ll find indoor tournaments during the colder part of the year and outdoor tournaments for warmer times.

Signing up for indoor tournaments is good because then you don’t have to worry about the weather. The first tournament I signed my daughter for got cancelled because of the rain. This was very disappointing as we were so much looking forward to it. The next tournament we chose also had potential weather problems (luckily, the storm cleared up the day before, so the event happened as planned). If you can opt for the indoor tournament, it’s always better.

Some of the tournaments fill up rather quickly and only take 16 players for each type of ball (e.g., green or orange), so I recommend signing up well in advance (a few weeks or even a month).

For example, in the DC area, spaces for the JTCC, Holton Arms, and the Madeira school tournaments go fast. Some other tournaments might attract fewer kids, and you might be able to sign up later (keeping in mind that registration closes a few days before the event).

One important point on the tournaments. If the event is highly popular, you can expect better playing kids and more matches to play.

If this is your child’s first tournament, try going for something smaller and less flashy. Once they build up their confidence, you can go to a bigger tournament.

Green vs. orange ball event

For 10 and under crowd, you’ll be able to choose from two options: the green dot ball event or the orange ball event. Both of these types of balls are softer than the regular tennis balls, so they are easier for little kids to play.

Which one to should you pick, orange or green dot?

Well, here’s the thing. Usually, kids who sign up for the green ball event are older and better players. For the green ball, kids need to play on the whole court. It’s hard to cover the whole court when you are only 7 or 8 years old.

Younger kids normally sign up for the orange ball event. In principle, younger kids are not even supposed to be enrolling in the green ball events. The app states that they should play green dot ball tournaments when they reach the age of 9. Once they are 9, they have a choice to play either orange or green.

We’ve seen some 10-year-old kids play orange ball to build their confidence and have a higher chance to win. I’m not sure it’s a great idea, however, because the kid should be playing against kids of his/her age. Otherwise, once they turn 11, they’ll have to enroll in 12 and under tournament and face much tougher opponents. This might be tricky if they are not prepared. Also, below I’ve outlined some potential issues with an orange ball tournament. In my personal opinion, kids should always play the green ball if they are old enough.

The bottom line. If your kid is 9 or older, sign him/her up for the green dot ball event. If the kid is younger than 9, go for the orange ball event.

Tips for participating in the orange ball event

Playing in an orange ball tournament seems easy. But trust me, it’s not as easy as it seems. It requires a lot of special preparation, which is a bit of a pain.

Before playing the orange ball event, make sure your kid practices with orange balls at least a few times before the tournament. Many coaches use green balls, so if this is the case with your coach, have them use orange balls.

Also, keep in mind that your child will be playing on a shorter court with narrower alleys. This is a bit tricky. They won’t be able to hit the ball as hard as they normally do, and it will be tricky to get the serve in. If you can put some boundaries on a regular court for practice, this would be useful.

A big issue with the orange ball event is the boundaries. Organizers often put the tape on the court to mark the boundaries. Well, sometimes tape flies away. I’ve rarely seen it well attached. If it’s windy, expect problems. We’ve also seen some tournaments where they have orange ball lines which are not bright enough and very hard to see. So, correct scoring becomes a bit of an issue. To put it nicely.

All in all, be ready for some challenges if you are playing the orange ball.

The day of the tournament

A few days before the tournament, you’ll receive an email from organizers as to the time your child is playing and the opponents. It’s very easy to view the draw and players on the USTA app. You can also check the opponents’ credentials (what tournaments they played in, which matches they won/lost), and even see their pictures.

On the day of the tournament, you’ll need to come 15 minutes before your child’s first match time. When the match time comes, the organizers will provide 3 balls to each pair and allow 5 minutes of warm-up. After that, the match starts.

For smaller participants, the challenges with keeping the score are common. I don’t recommend to participate in the tournament unless the child is at least familiar with the scoring and basic rules (how to change sides, in which box to serve etc.) The adults are not allowed on the court and there is no umpire for kids’ matches. So kids are on their own. They need to know how to keep the score themselves. Obviously, they can (and will) make occasional mistakes, but these should be the exception, not the rule.

Depending on the number of participants, kids will play 2, 3 or even 4 matches on the same day. There are detailed rules on the USTA website, but the bottom line is that kids need to win 4 games (just 1 set) and there is no ad scoring. Each match is usually 20-30 minutes long.

Once the match is completed, kids go to the organizers and report the score. As soon as they finish with all their matches, they’re free to leave.

Medals and scoring

In some tournaments, all kids get medals for participation (something to brag about at school next day!) In other tournaments, only the first three places get a medal, others get nothing. If you have a young child, you’d need to manage their expectations.

After the tournament, all scores get posted on the app. This is actually quite good. Going forward, all your child’s tennis history will be at your fingertips. You can also check the history of your future opponents to get an idea about their level of play.

The final word

USTA offers a great opportunity for kids to participate in various tennis tournaments from very early age. Families should definitely take advantage of this. It’s easy to sign up, there are many tournaments to choose from, and kids have a great time learning how to compete from the early age. They also have a chance to make new friends.

Update: 2024

By now, my daughter has already participated in 5 junior tennis tournaments (all orange ball events). We try to do a couple each year. This seems about right till she turns 10 years old. After that, I heard that one needs to play in 5 tournaments a year to build up their rating.

This year, Elizabeth played a total of 6 matches and won 5 of them. She got the second place in one tournament and the first place in another. Pretty good results, I think. Next summer, she’ll be already eligible for green ball tournaments. We’ve stopped practicing with orange balls and are now going for the green. Looking forward to another tennis year!