Written by Alberto Amalfi | @Itenisi_Manje | Tuesday, May 21, 2024
The USTA and ITA are strengthening—and expanding—their partnership.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association and the USTA announced an extended five-year agreement between the national governing body of tennis and the governing body of college tennis.
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The new agreement will “focus on training education, public use of college facilities and technology integration, among other initiatives,” the organizations announced.
“College tennis is an important part of a player’s path as it is not only the dream of thousands of young tennis players, but it also plays an important role in ensuring that players stay in the game for life,” said Craig Morris, Chief Executive Officer, Public Tennis, USTA. “The USTA is proud to continue our impactful work alongside the ITA to improve the college tennis experience as part of our mission to grow the game of tennis.”
“Given the complex, challenging, and ever-changing landscape of college sports, the world of higher education, and the evolution of the global tennis ecosystem, the ever-growing partnership between the ITA and the USTA creates an important and solid foundation for the success of our sport going forward,” said the President. of ITA and the Chief Executive of ITA, Dr. Timothy Russell. “Speaking personally, and on behalf of our Association, our members and fans of college tennis, I want to applaud and thank the USTA leadership team for their outreach efforts to advance college tennis. The ITA is committed to growing the game and the USTA. “
One of the key pillars of the agreement is to build on the organizations ongoing work to improve coaching education and recruit future coaches.
This includes support for the ITA Coach Education Center, which is a developing online resource and series of in-person programs for active college coaches and prospective college coaches. Additionally, the ITA will work with the USTA to identify candidates to join the coaching process, with a special emphasis on female and junior coaches.
American stars, including Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, John Isner, Danielle Collins, Ben Shelton, Peyton Stearns and Marcos Giron, to name a few, have all played college tennis.
Photo credit: Mike Lawrence/USTA
