Welcome to Season 14 Episode 23 of the ParentingAces Podcast! This week's episode with JY Aubone was shot live at the brand new Intennse Arena in Atlanta right before opening weekend of this exciting new way to play tennis.

JY is working with Intennse to help manage the players as well as to do the live broadcasting via Twitch. In this week's episode, he explains how Intennse works, how it fits into a junior player's overall developmental pathway, and the opportunities it holds for recently graduated college players.

I had the opportunity to watch Intennse live during its opening weekend, both the qualies matches for a spot on the Challenge team as well as the pro and junior matches. What a blast! This is tennis like you've never seen before: played on a clock, one serve, co-ed teams with coaching and substitutions, with teams playing singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. If you missed my Instagram posts over the weekend, you can find them at https://instagram.com/ParentingAces.

To be clear, Intennse is NOT looking to replace traditional tennis or tennis tournaments. Rather, it is acting as a bridge for junior players who want to play college tennis so they can gain experience playing on a team and under pressure as well as for those players looking to play professionally but aren't quite ready - either developmentally or financially - to start a pro career. On the junior side, Intennse matches do count for UTR and WTN and, if a junior player wants to play qualies for a spot on that week's Challenger team, they have the opportunity to earn in excess of $1500 if their Challenger team beats the pro team that week. On the pro side, players receive a guaranteed salary plus prize money if their team wins a match. Intennse is allowing players to better manage their travel and competition schedule while receiving salary and benefits, a far cry from the current ATP/WTA tours.

For more information on Intennse, visit the website at https://www.intennse.com/home and be sure to follow them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/intennsetennis, TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/@intennsetennis, and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566418503744.

You can always reach out to JY directly via email at jy@forthesport.com.

As always, I am available for one-to-one consults to work with you as you find your way through the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through our website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://parentingaces.com/shop/category/consult-with-lisa-stone/⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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