USTA Eastern Sanctioned 8 and Under QuickStart Round Robin Singles Tennis Tournament Format & Tournament Director s Notes This singles event is designed to provide a competitive environment with a team format for players 8 years and younger. All 5 QuickStart age-appropriate components (racquet size, ball type, court size, net height & scoring system) must be utilized. This tournament format has been developed by the USTA Player Development Department. All USTA Eastern Sanctioned QuickStart U8 tournaments must follow the approved format. Sanctioned QuickStart tournaments must be run by directors that have a thorough understanding of QuickStart tennis. Participant Ages: For 8 and under boys and girls. Boys and girls will compete together in this co-ed tournament just as they often do in other sports at this age. Tournaments for Children 8 Years and Younger: Children should not be rushed into competition until they have the basic tennis skills (groundstrokes & serve- underhand or overhead), the ability to keep score and a basic understanding of the rules of the game. Understanding success (winning and losing) takes time for kids to learn. But mix competition in a fun, team environment and the chances for success are greater! USTA Eastern QuickStart Tournament Name = QuickStart 8 & Under Tournament. This name should be synonymous with a sanctioned tournament on 36 ft courts. USTA Membership: All entrants must be USTA members. A USTA annual junior membership price of $18 is offered with lower annual prices for 3 and 5 year memberships. Entry Fee: A maximum fee of $35 may be charged (same as a L3 entry fee) for both indoor and outdoor tournaments. Court Size: Courts must be 36 ft. long and 18 ft. wide. Narrower size nets may not be used for USTA QuickStart tournaments. Tournaments may use caution tape in lieu of a net, however the caution tape must be setup at the proper height of 2 feet & 9 inches and the proper width (18 ft.). Since this is a USTA Sanctioned tournament, all of the required lines in the proper dimensions must be accurately marked on the court including the service line, centre service line, side lines and base line, including centre mark. Court Layout: Four (4) x 36 ft. courts are suggested to be setup widthwise on each full size tennis court being used. Racquet Length: Each player must play with a racquet that has a length of 23 inches or less. Tournaments should have an assortment of junior racquets available for players to use who come with racquets that are longer than 23 inches. Tennis Balls: a. Either foam or low compression (red) tennis balls must be used on QST 36 ft. courts.
b. The tournament should use the same ball type (foam or low compression) throughout the whole tournament. Because foam balls are greatly affected by wind, it is suggested that only low compression red balls be used for outdoor tournaments. c. We suggest placing a hopper with 10 balls on each half of the 78 ft. court would be convenient for the players. Keep the balls on the court for the duration of the tournament. d. The tournament may use new or used balls as long as the correct ball type is used. Note: Low compression balls last longer than foam and are more cost efficient. Scoring Format a. Each 8 and under match is played with the best two out of three game scoring. Games are scored with the first person to reach 7 points. (No alternate scoring format will be allowed) b. When a player wins 2 games, then the match is over. c. Each player serves 2 points and then alternate servers until one player reaches 7 points by a margin of at least 1 point. d. The serves must be hit cross-court into the correct service box. Two service tries are allowed per point. The service motion may be over-head or under-hand. The serve must be hit out of the air as it is not legal to use bounce and hit serves. e. After each game is completed, the players should switch ends of the court. Players may get a drink (if brought on the court) during each changeover. f. The player that serves first in the game should receive serve first in the next game. g. Spin a racquet or flip a coin to determine the choice of serve, receive or side for the first game. h. Each match should last about 20 minutes. Round Robin Singles Play Format: The players should be randomly divided into teams of 4 players (ideally) mixing boys and girls together to form teams. But depending upon the number or players, teams of 5 or 6 may be used. Each team will play against another team. Every player on that team of 4 will play a singles match against the 4 players on the opposing team. For teams with 5 or 6 players, each player should play a minimum of 4 matches against other players. Each Team should be assigned an organizer to help direct the players. Each team should have a team name which the team can choose or the tournament director may name them. Using player names like Federer, Nadal, Roddick, Blake, etc. has been well received. Each singles match should last around 20 minutes. If each team could stay on the same courts for the entire event, then that may be easier for the players, but this is at the discretion of the tournament director. If some courts use caution tape as the net and some use 18 ft. nets, then try to rotate the players so that they have an opportunity to play at least one match on a court with a portable net. Each group of 4 x 36 courts can have 2 matches played with 2 players from each of these 4 teams constantly playing on these courts, depending upon the number of available courts. As soon as each match is completed, a new match should be sent to that court. Advise the players sitting out who will play next and assigning a court will allow the tournament to run more smoothly. Warm-up: Players are allowed a 3 minute (minimum) warm-up. This can be done as a group prior to the start of play or prior to the players first match or prior to each match. The tournament director can determine what warm-up format works best for them based on their court availability and the number of competitors. The warm-up should be timed as kids at this age lack the sense of time-keeping. Score Keeping: Keeping track of the score is difficult for most 5 & 6 year olds, but 7& 8 year olds can do a better job. Counting to 7 is easy but in competition, children may forget the score. Using a visual score-keeping devices like clothes pins, flip cards or cones may help players to keep track of the score. Tournaments should use a court monitor stationed on every 2 (36 ft.) courts to assist players
with score-keeping problems and to help assist the players. Using a parent, club member volunteer, a club staffer or a junior player could all work as a court monitor. Recording Scores: Team scoring will be kept. All points won by each player will be recorded for that player s team. Wins and losses for players are not recorded. The final team score is the sum of all the points won by the players on that team. The winning team is the one with the most total points won. Each match score should be recorded by the court monitor and also reported to the tournament director (or staffer) in charge of team score keeping. Length of Tournament & Player Rest Periods The maximum length of the on-court round robin session should be no longer than 3 hours. But depending upon the number of courts used, this may be able to be completed within 2 hours. Players of this age need to have rest periods. Players may play no more than 2 matches in a row and then they must have a rest period of at least 15 minutes. Organizing the Teams, the Match Play & Team Captains a. It is important to find a way to organize and help direct the players on each team. After the teams are formed, each team should have a Team Captain that will direct the players on that team. The Team Captain is usually a pro, club staffer or junior. They are the primary supervisor of that team, but they also have certain on-court organizing and guiding (not coaching) responsibilities. b. The Team Captains will help to get their matches on court and started quickly and record the total points scored by each player. c. Either a Team Captain or a Court Monitor should oversee each on-court match Role of the Court Monitor Court monitors will work in conjunction with a specific Team Captain and the Tournament Director to help guide the kids out to the proper match court, make certain that the players report their score to the tournament director, keep the kids organized and ready for their next match. They may also be asked to fill-in for the Team Captain on-court from time to time. Court monitors may be a parent, junior or club staffer. Role of the Tournament Director: a. Will manage the tournament entries b. Will list all of the competitors in TDM c. Will place the players into teams d. Will arrange the round robin schedule e. Will record the match scores and keep the official team scores f. Will call matches to courts and help to get players on-court as quickly as possible g. After the entries close, will manage an alternate list of players wanting to get into the tournament h. May consider developing flights for novices and for more experienced players i. May separate boys and girls or have them play together k. Makes certain that all players get to play at least 4 matches l. Is responsible for the matches and organizing play within the sanctioned and scheduled time-frame m. Will address the players & parents before the start of play and review the rules n. Will check the player s racquets to make certain that they are no longer than 23 inches o. Will have extra racquets available for players to use Rules of the Game: Even though we are dealing with young children, it is necessary for them to learn and understand the basic rules of the game. Learning how to compete using the correct rules from the on-set alleviates the need to go back and correct bad habits. Some basic rules that they should understand includes the following:
a. You may not catch a ball in the air and call it out. Balls must bounce and land out for them to be called out. b. If a ball touches you before it bounces, then your opponent wins that point. c. Only call out balls. When a ball is in, do not call it in d. The server must hit the ball out of the air without having it touch the court first e. The server gets 2 attempts to serve into the correct box f. The server will first serve into the deuce court and then into the ad court g. You lose the point if your body or racquet touches the net when the ball is in play h. Learn the foot fault rule and do not to touch the baseline when serving i. If the ball hits any part of the line, then the ball is in j. If a player is uncertain if a shot is in or out, they must call the ball in k. There are no do-overs in tennis other than service lets & lets l. The server should call the score out prior to serving each point Good sportsmanship is expected from the players, parents and spectators. Do not ignore bad behavior. What you ignore, you permit! Rankings & Recognition a. At this age, children should be introduced to tennis competition in a fun, team environment. b. Similar to L3 Round Robin tournaments, QuickStart participants will not receive ranking points for participating in these events. c. Players will be recognized via the ETA website using an Honor Roll listing the participants. We will also attempt to show pictures of players from QST events. TDM Comments: a. Match scores and match-ups will not be shown on TDM. b. There will not be any rankings for the 8 and under division. c. Tournaments will not have any seeds. d. The co-ed option should be used when sanctioning 8 and under QuickStart tournaments. 8 and Under QuickStart Tournaments Equipment Needed a. An assortment of spare 19 /21 /23 racquets for players that may have the wrong size racquet b. New foam or red low compression tennis balls. Only 1 type of ball (foam or low compression) should be used in the tournament. Note: red low compression balls offer greater durability and more consistent bounces c. Tennis nets 18 ft. width and caution tape d. Tape (painters or masking) to properly mark the courts e. Clothes pins, flip cards or cones may be used as visual scoring methods for the kids on each court f. Scorer pads for enter the results. g. Master scoreboard for each 2-team competition should be utilized h. A simple gift for each competitor (like an award ribbon, t-shirt, luggage tag) and the option of prizes for winning team(s) and/or outstanding serve or outstanding backhand, outstanding forehand or sportsmanship award, etc. can be considered. ETA Sanctioning and Draw Size a. ETA sanctioning for QuickStart 8 and under tournaments requires that the sanctioning facilities must have enough nets, courts, helpers, etc. available to run a tournament that will accommodate at least 24 players, playing 4 matches each over a 3 hour (maximum) time frame. A minimum of two (78 ft. courts) over a 3 hour period is needed to accomplish this. b. While the ETA Junior Competition Committee is not in favor of limiting the draw size, in 2009, QST U8 tournaments will be allowed to limit the entrants to 24, 32, 40 or 48 players (or higher numbers
that are divisible by 8, based on teams of 4 playing against one another.) However, if a tournament needs to consider limiting the draw, then this must be noted on the Home Page of the tournament as soon as it is posted on-line. c. Procedures to randomly choose the players on a limited size draw would be provided to tournament directors by the ETA junior competition department. The player selection is NOT first come, first served. Tournament Planning best practices: a. All play for these tournaments must end no later than 9pm on non-school nights and must end at 7pm when school is scheduled the next day. b. In most cases all of the players should check-in at the same time. Have them arrive at least 30 minutes prior to going on-court so that all of the players and parents can be addressed by the tournament director, the teams organized, their racquet length be checked and the player and parent questions can be answered. c. Plan in advance to tape the lines on the court. Using small cheater marks on each court where the lines start and where they end will really speed up the process. Have enough helpers to lay down the lines. d. Plan in advance and have your nets assembled, have your caution tape pre-measured and have the balls placed in several hoppers for the courts. e. If a facility wants to run both a QuickStart 8 and under Tournament and a QuickStart 10 and under Tournament on the same day, then running them at different times is recommended.