Welcome to Season 13 Episode 41 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Colette Lewis of ZooTennis joins me to discuss upcoming changes to junior tennis at both the ITF and USTA levels.

This episode was born out of an email I received from a member of the ParentingAces community asking about the potential trickle-down effect of a recent ITF announcement that coaching will be allowed at ITF Junior tournaments beginning in 2025. Who better to discuss this topic than Colette who attends several ITF Junior events throughout the year in addition to the Junior Grand Slams. She spends a good amount of her time at those events talking with coaches, federation insiders, and others about the state of junior tennis and what may be coming down the pike.

Colette and I discuss the potential impact of allowing coaching at junior tournaments as well as today's announcement from the USTA that it will be using electronic line calling (ELC) at the upcoming National Indoor tournament. There are still many, many unanswered questions, but I hope this conversation will lead to clarification from our governing bodies and better education for all involved.

If you aren't already, be sure to subscribe to Colette's daily e-newsletter at https://tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.com/. You can also follow her on X at https://x.com/zootennis.

For the article explaining the ITF policy, go to https://www.itftennis.com/en/news-and-media/articles/explained-off-court-coaching-to-be-allowed-from-2025/. For Colette's 2023 article on coaching at junior tournaments, go to https://tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=11269 (subscription required).

And don’t forget to register for our upcoming trip to Spain! More info at https://parentingaces.com/articles/join-us-for-10-days-in-spain/. The deadline is coming up at the end of November, so don't miss out!

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

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