Conga Sports Drumbeat 37 for 2/24/2025

Good morning. It's Monday, February 24, 2025

Please go here to check our list of tennis, pickleball, and padel providers, programs, and events in Southern California: https://conga-drumbeat.beehiiv.com/
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This week’s PUBLISHER’S VOLLEY BLITZ: The Pros and Cons of USTA Adult Tennis League in Southern California.

By the way, if you know a coach, teaching pro, club, program, or event that should be listed here, please connect me with the person who runs it. Appreciate it!

Please email me with updates or let me know if you want your programs and events added. As always, please send us feedback here.

Thank you,

Rich Neher
CEO, Conga Sports Inc.

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The Pros and Cons of USTA Adult Tennis League in
Southern California

My article A Brief History of USTA Adult Leagues and NTRP Ratings published in early 2022 in John Yandell’s TennisPlayer magazine, featured people who were involved in pioneering this groundbreaking program and getting it to the success it still is today. One of those pioneers was John Embree and his closing statement ends with this sentence: “League players are the backbone of tennis professionals and coaches.”

While this is probably still true today, I have compiled a list of Pros and Cons for new players to consider before trying to join a league team in their local area.

Prerequisites for Joining a USTA Adult League Team in SoCal

There are two main prerequisites: You have to be at least 18 years of age, and you must have a National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) rating describing your level of play as accurately as possible.

The USTA SoCal describes the steps for signing up here. It basically involves three steps: 1. Signing up for USTA membership, 2. Getting computer-rated for your own first NTRP rating, and 3. Signing up for a team. That’s the theory. In reality, step 1 is easy, but steps 2 and 3 are not.

Getting computer-rated for your own first NTRP rating
This is the most critical step that determines how much fun you will have playing USTA league, how much value you bring to any team, and how your play level (NTRP) will improve over time (if this is your goal.)

Your realistic estimate of your play level as described in the NTRP guidelines is key to the enjoyment the league can provide for you. Team captains can quite easily find out whether you over- or under-estimated your abilities. Worst case scenario: they won’t let you play because you’re not what you said you were and they want a winning team, of course. So, be honest and fill out that online self-rate questionnaire truthfully. It doesn’t guarantee you will get on a league team but it drastically improves your chances of enjoying the program.

Signing up for a team
There are different ways of getting on a USTA league team. If you know a team captain and they like you, great. If you don’t, you have to rely on your USTA League Coordinator to provide you with a team number. If that team captain doesn’t want you on their team, you are SOL but most of the time, that should work. More about this process here.

PROS of Joining a USTA Adult League Team in SoCal

• Social but competitive environment.

• Team get-togethers with wine and cheese after matches

• Pathway to coveted National Championships

• Great way to improve your NTRP rating over time

CONS of Joining a USTA Adult League Team in SoCal

• Cutthroat inner team competition: Who’s going to play next weekend and who won’t? Who will be your doubles partner? Why does my captain not let me play?

• So-called “professional captains” use any means possible to win with their team and are known to not shy away from cheating and lying about a player’s ratings (they love sandbaggers!)

• Rivalry, jealousy, favoritism, especially on women’s teams.

• Cheaters and liars. Key players on some teams are known cheaters and liars about their true ratings level.

• USTA SoCal section and area league staff can be biased, won’t always listen to complaints, never listen to suggestions, and are known to sometimes retaliate against complaining players or captains. League Coordinators sometimes display bias and favoritism with their own league teams they captain or play on. League staff letting cheating captains and known sandbaggers play season after season without consequences. (These are all incidents that were reported to me and covered in my past articles.)

Conclusion

Participating in the USTA Adult League program can be an enormously fun social competition experience for hundreds of thousands of players throughout the country. In Southern California, you need to very carefully evaluate whether you can tolerate the way the USTA section and local league staff handle their players and captains. Don’t expect great customer service and go in with low expectations. If you get on their bad side, you might as well move to another state if playing USTA league tennis is important to you.

Next week’s Volley Blitz:
How to find a good tennis club to join in Southern California

Question from our reader George C.
“Those darn lobbers! What are my best tactics when playing people who lob me all the time?”

Susan Nardi, renowned Southern California Tennis personality replies
There are a couple of things you can do:

1. Learn how to hit an effective slice that stays low to the ground. Makes it extremely difficult for them to lob.

2. Drop-shot your opponent and bring them to the net. Take your opponent out of their comfort zone on the baseline.

Susan coached at the Van der Meer World Training Center on Hilton Head Island, SC, where she worked with high-performance players. Coach Nardi was the head coach at Capistrano Valley High School, where numerous players went on to play college tennis on scholarship. She is the only female head coach of the All-Army Tennis Team.

Susan F. Nardi
President & Fun Engineer, Rhino Crash Sports Group, Inc. 
Website: https://playtennis.usta.com/RhinoCrashSportsGroup

2021 Positive Coaching Alliance National Double-Goal Coach
https://youtu.be/XgjTJ7WRuic

We are featuring LA TENNIS again this week to remind you of their great work in the Los Angeles public parks area.

The founders of LA TENNIS know that their business relies on delivering quality programs and personalized service. LAT separates itself from other tennis management companies and individuals in the tennis industry through its hiring, training, forward-thinking, and continuing education programs.

The coaches of LA TENNIS are considered some of the best in the industry. To navigate their website, find the location that suits you best and look around to find the professional that you would like to contact.

We are proud of our new Facebook Group
Racket Sports Connect Los Angeles.

Why don’t you become a member?
Just click on the image and sign up.

Should you contemplate traveling to Miami in March…

RacquetX 25 - A world-class festival and celebration of all racquet sports

Get ready for Racquet X at the Miami Beach Convention Center! This premier tennis and pickleball experience brings together enthusiasts, athletes, and industry leaders for an exciting showcase of the latest in sports gear, apparel, and technology. Enjoy live demonstrations, interactive sessions, and meet-and-greets with top professionals.

Read my article here

Each person is individually profiled and automatically added to their offline ‘black book’. Maclynn International extends an invitation to all Conga members and Drumbeat readers to become one of their Open Members. Maclynn's matchmakers commit their time to Private Members, individuals who pay for active service, then tap into their network of Open Members to hand-select the best matches and make one-on-one introductions. Pretty neat system, if you ask me.

If you would like to dip your toes in, follow this link to register and use this code: 

https://maclynninternational.com/open-membership/

Apply under ‘Open Membership’  The invitation code is: “Conga“