Fiend at Court Unplugged
USTA is a massive non-profit organization with a certain number of full time paid staff. However, most of the the work is largely performed by a cadre of volunteers grouped into numerous committees. Yesterday I wrote about differences between the Adult and Junior tennis tournament Regulations and Ranking procedures. The origins for that divergence can be traced directly to the USTA organization structure for the committees that own those documents.
At the top level, there are seven Council Committees chartered by the USTA. They are Adult Tennis, Delivery System, Player Development, Professional Tennis, Rules, Volunteer Development, and Youth Tennis. Each Council Committee shares a common purpose, communication and coordination within their scope of responsibility.
Councils
To help the USTA carry out its mission, seven councils have been established. The primary purpose of each council is to facilitate communication between the Board of Directors and the committees aligned under each council heading, and to optimize council activities in support of the USTA’s mission. The use of councils to assess and recommend priorities for initiatives and resources requested by committees also assists the board in making decisions and ensures that committee proposals are broadly constructed. Each council brings together the chair of each of the committees aligned under that council heading under the leadership of the council chair.
Excerpt from USTA Committees [1]
The Adult Tennis Council Committee is subdivided into three subcommittees. Competition in Adult and Family tournaments falls under the purview of the Adult Competition Committee. The other two other subcommittees are League and Tennis on Campus.
Adult Competition Committee
To assist and support the USTA national staff, the USTA network, and the tennis industry in promoting and providing recreational and competitive tournament play opportunities for players age 18 and over and for parent/ child events.
Excerpt from USTA Committees [1]
There are four committees under the Youth Tennis Council Committee. Tournaments primarily fall under the Junior Competition Committee. The other three committees are Junior Team Tennis, Local Play and Competition, and School/After School. The Junior Competition Committee is charter is subtly different from the Adult Competition Committee.
Junior Competition Committee
To assist and support the USTA network, tennis industry and USTA National staff in making improvements to the U.S. junior competition structure and increasing stakeholder satisfaction.
Excerpt from USTA Committees [1]
Additionally, some entry level junior tournaments fall under the charter of the Local Play and Competition Committee.
Local Play and Competition Committee
To assist and support the USTA network, tennis industry and USTA National staff to improve the quality, consistency and participation in Play Days, Local JTT, and Entry-Level Tournaments, in addition to growing the number of providers offering Local Play and Competition.
Excerpt from USTA Committees [1]
Here is what that all looks like on a traditionally formatted organizational chart.
Once again, the primary purpose of each Council Committee is “to facilitate communication between the Board of Directors and the committees aligned under each council heading.” Absent from that charter is a directive to facilitate communication between the committees and subcommittees of each council. It is a critical omission.
The reason that there are divergent tennis tournament regulations and ranking procedures between Junior and Adult tournaments is rooted in the fact that they are under the purview of separate committees. Additionally, those committees are not located anywhere near each other organizationally where communication and coordination would naturally occur.
It gets worse. As feedback, complaints, and requests for changes associated with the new “unified” tournament structure are submitted to the USTA, responding to those items are being addressed separately between Adults and Juniors. Consequently, it is possible for the respective committees to make diametrically opposite resolutions to identical issues.
The divergence will only get worse over time.
- USTA COMMITTEES, undated (but forensically appearing to be 3/23/15), viewed 12/17/2021.
As a footnote, I am low-key annoyed that the best reference for the USTA committee structures is an unlinked and undated document hosted on the USTA website that appears to be from 2015. Throughout this year I repeatedly notified that the USTA that the link on their “learn more about USTA Committees” page is broken with no response or resolution.
