Intersectionals: What Is It?

Comments and questions after I wrote about Intersectionals last weekend made me realize that I needed to describe the tennis competition in more detail. As is so often the case with the content on this site, writing about this topic sparked a journey of discovery. What was originally planned for one post today, expanded into a full three-part “Unplugged” weekend series. Additionally, this has added a couple of tangential post ideas which will be explored in the near future.

Team competition has a long and storied history in tennis. The Davis Cup was first contested in 1900 at the Longwood Cricket Club. The Wightman Cup for women, which was modeled after the Davis Cup, started in 1923. While it may be natural to associate Adult team tennis with USTA League play, the reality is that team tennis competition pre-dated that innovation by half a century.

My participation in Intersectionals this year, revealed that a lot of tennis people in my life have never heard of the event. That is also a confirming indication that no one (besides me, I guess) reads the USTA’s Friend at Court from cover to cover. Intersectionals is mentioned a few times in that document, including a nice definition in the glossary.

Intersectionals. These are team tournaments in the Adult and Junior divisions in which teams compete against teams from other Sectional Associations. In the Adult divisions, these competitions are known as the USTA National Intersectional Team Events. In the 14 and 16 Divisions, these competitions are known as the USTA Intersectional Team Championships. In the 18 Divisions, these are known as the USTA National Team Championships.

2022 USTA Friend at Court, Glossary

The USTA Adult Tennis Council is subdivided into three committees: Adult Competition, League, and Tennis on Campus. The Adult Competition Committee (ACC) is chartered with promoting and providing recreational and competitive tournament play opportunities for Adults and Family events.

(As an aside, I just realized that the committee name nomenclature implies that USTA League play is in fact… not competition. Otherwise, it would be under the committee that presides over all Adult competition, right? Sorry to be the one to break it to you, USTA League players. Your format is by definition not competition.)

Intersectionals falls under the purview of the ACC, which means that the next stop to check for official information is the USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking, & Sanctioning Regulations. As expected, the Regulation framework for Intersectionals can be found in that document.

USTA National Intersectional Team Tournaments. Annually the USTA Adult Competition Committee may sanction USTA National Intersectional Team Tournaments in the divisions listed in Regulation IV.A. and B.

USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking, & Sanctioning Regulations, IV.E

The last part of that Regulation “in the divisions listed in Regulation IV.A. and B” sent me down another rabbit trail that will spawn a whole series of posts. In a rare fit of focus, I am trying to stay on point this weekend.

Before consulting the Regulations, I went through the mental exercise of reversing the current sanctioned divisions from this year’s Intersectional Competition results. The easier way to find that out is to simply read the USTA’s own comment to Regulation IV.E.

USTA National Intersectional Team Tournaments are currently sanctioned in the following divisions:

• Men’s Divisions: 55, 60, 65, 70, and 75
• Women’s Divisions: 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, 80, and 85

USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking, & Sanctioning Regulations, IV.E Comment

When people ask me what Intersectionals is, this is what I say: “Intersectionals is a tournament between teams that represent each section. The divisions of that tournament are restricted by age rather than NTRP levels.”

Tomorrow’s post will describe the recent history that I have patched together on this topic as well as a sampling of how some of the Sections select their teams for this competition. Sunday’s topic is my personal testimonial about how my first selection to the Texas Intersectionals team transformed my tennis life.

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1. Friend at Court: The Handbook of Tennis Rules and Regulations, USTA, 2022
2. USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking, & Sanctioning Regulations, USTA Regulation, December 2020.