Capturing the Potential of High School Tennis

Capturing the Potential of High School Tennis  

High school coaches, athletes, and their teams are an overlooked market segment of the tennis industry. For this reason, it is in the best interests of the sport for the teaching organizations (RSPA, ITA, and PTR) to work with NFHS (national, state, and local) to identify ways to help high school tennis reach its potential. They would review their findings with the USTA, and it would fund their best efforts. All groups would cooperatively implement them.

The following discussions about the state of high school tennis, distinctions between high school tennis and other market segments, and the organizational infrastructure for high school tennis provide insight into ways the industry can work together to strengthen this market segment.

State of High School Tennis

In 2025, high school tennis is on solid footing. Unlike the tennis industry, which added six million participants because of COVID-19-related policies, NFHS did not track participation for two seasons (2019-2020 and 2020-2021). In 2018-2019, there were 348,750 tennis athletes. Four seasons later (2022-2023), the total number of tennis athletes finally surpassed this level (349,342). The recovery is a result of a strong rebound in girls’ play. In 2023-2024, the number of boys tennis athletes was less than the 2016-2017 level.

In the 2023-34 season, NFHS reported 353,601 high school tennis athletes. About 55.4% were girl athletes. Of the 20,820 programs, 51.1% were girls’ teams.

On average, there were 15.5 tennis athletes per boys’ team and 18.4 athletes per girls’ team.

The United States Tennis Participation Report states there are 23.8 million tennis players and 2.7 million players in the 13-to-17-year category. Approximately 13.1% of the players in this category play high school tennis (353,601/2.7 million= 13.1%).

Since every team has at least one coach, there are at least 20,820 high school coaches. Given the average size of teams, many probably have two or more coaches. A conservative estimate is that at least 40,000 people coach high school tennis - head coach, assistant coach, or volunteer coach.

In the 2023-24 season, there were about 400,000 high school tennis athletes and coaches. Each year, there is constant turnover. About 100,000 new tennis athletes and coaches enter the sport because of graduation and employee (coach) turnover.

Presumably, all 400,000 athletes and coaches are on the courts more than 20 times during the year. By definition, they are frequent players. The United States Tennis Participation Report states there are about 4.2 million frequent players, including adults. About 9.5% are high school tennis athletes (400,000/4.2 million = 9.5%). Frequent players are the backbone of the tennis industry. They buy balls, racquets, and shoes and drive the tennis economy.

Almost one in four high school tennis athletes live in Texas and California. Texas had 44,381 tennis athletes in 2023-24, and California had 39,494.

Over 10,000 high school tennis athletes participate in 10 states, and about two-thirds reside in 16 states (TX, CA, NY, MI, IL, NJ, WA, OH, MN, FL, IN, WI, PA, MA, NC, and MO). The distribution of tennis programs is not even between and within states, which affects access to teams and program costs. For additional data analysis about high school tennis, go to https://racketbusiness.com/p/the-tennis-industry-s-best-kept-secret-high-school-tennis.

Coaching-Related Issues – High School Tennis Versus Other Areas of Coaching

This section highlights some of the differences between high school tennis programs and programs at public or private facilities. It is necessary to understand these differences when looking for ways to support high school tennis.

Coaching Associations

The USHSTA has estimated that less than half of the states have dedicated high school tennis coaching associations. In some states, coaching associations are for all high school coaches. The intent is to create a sense of teamwork between the coaches from different sports. In other states, a tennis coaching association may not be feasible.

The gold standard for high school tennis coaching associations is the Texas Tennis Coaches Association, https://www.texastenniscoaches.com/. In fact, the attendance at the most recent TTCA Annual Conference was more than at the RSPA Annual World Conference. (Texas has 44,381 tennis athletes at 2,356 schools for an average of 18.8 tennis athletes per team).

Length of Tennis Seasons

State activity associations dictate the starting dates of the season, its length, and the maximum number of matches. For example, in Colorado, the boys play in the fall and the girls in the spring. A typical 7-week season lasts 63 to 70 calendar days or 9 to 10 weeks.

Matches and tournaments, including the playoffs, are played on about 12 days throughout the season. There would be about 23 hours of competitive court time per tennis athlete. The on-court competitive time estimates do not include travel time.

There are practices on about 23 days each season. These activities account for about 40 hours during the season.

There are no tennis activities for 28 to 32 days (weekends, spring/fall break, school conferences, and inclement weather).

Over a 7-week season, high school tennis athletes are on the court for about 35 days or 63 hours. These estimates vary based on the situation and the season.

The key takeaway is that coaches have limited time to work with their tennis athletes in practice and match play.

Match Formats and Schedules

Match formats vary by state. For example, in Colorado, a dual match includes three singles and four doubles – tennis athletes may play either singles or doubles. The benefit of this format is that eleven tennis athletes play in every dual match. The downside is that tennis athletes may play high school tennis for four years and never play in a competitive singles match. In New Mexico, a dual match is six singles and three doubles. Tennis athletes can play singles and doubles. Between 6 and 9 tennis athletes can play in a dual match.

The match format affects the time of a match based on the number of courts at a facility. Travel expenses increase when a format involves more tennis athletes. Capital expenses vary based on the number of courts.

In metro areas, travel time to a match might be 30 minutes or less. In areas with smaller populations, one-way travel time to matches could be two hours or more.

School athletic directors may encourage no-cut philosophies for tennis programs. These programs add value if the school has sufficient facilities. They must also have coaches with training or experience coaching in no-cut programs.

Media Coverage

It is unusual for high school sports to receive ongoing coverage in the media. An excellent media outlet committed to covering high school sports is BoCoPreps.com, a branch of the Boulder Daily Camera. It accents the values of high school sports in an academic setting for the 326,000 people in Boulder County, Colorado.

High school tennis coaches are often the team media contact.

Certification and High School Coaches

A small percentage of the 40,000 high school coaches are certified by RSPA, PTR, or ITA. The certified coaches may split their time between coaching a high school team and teaching at a facility or working elsewhere.

In some situations, coaches may be contract workers or school employees. The requirement to have school employees as coaches can be a mixed blessing.

In a perfect world, all coaches would be certified (RSPA, ITA, or PTR). Given the short season, this is often not practical. High school coaches may attend workshops, short courses, or online courses. For example, NFHS offers courses at https://nfhslearn.com/. Courses are different from certification, but they will likely improve the knowledge and skills of the high school coaches. Other entities may offer coaching courses at a local level. 

High school coaches will become more efficient as they network and learn from other coaches and tennis professionals. They will see value in assistance from other organizations or professionals if it adds value to their program.

Factors that Distinguish High School Tennis Coaching

The coaching philosophy that "the game teaches the game" applies to coaching high school tennis. The best way to learn how to coach high school tennis is to coach high school tennis.

There are subtle differences in the culture, mindset, and challenges experienced by high school tennis coaches. A shortlist of the distinctions between high school tennis and club or recreation tennis coaching follows.

…High school tennis is an individual sport played in a team setting.

• A rose is a rose, but not all tennis programs are alike. They often vary greatly in the skill level of the athletes, knowledge of the coaches, funding, and popularity between and within states.

• Coaches must have an athlete-centered philosophy, where the tennis athletes learn life skills from their experiences on the court. High school tennis athletes must understand the priorities for high school tennis.

• High school tennis coaches (and certified professionals) must have exceptional communication skills.

• Coaches must help the tennis athletes understand the state, school, and team guidelines, attendance expectations, academic eligibility, and the roster selection process. They must manage expectations for the tennis athletes and parents.

…The official rules, techniques, tactics, mental skills, rules of conduct, sportsmanship, and fundamentals for tennis are universal. Coaches must succinctly communicate information about these topics to the high school athletes.

• Coaches should be SafeSport certified and describe what that means to the athletes.

• The season is very short! The coaches and tennis athletes must identify realistic goals. The goals must be measurable and reasonable to achieve during the short season. High school coaches may have the most impact by focusing on tactics and mental skills. It may be impractical to make significant changes in technique.

• Some states have rules that allow high school coaches to talk to their tennis athletes between points. To be effective, coaches must use the same coaching cues in practice and matches.

• Coaches must be able to engage all tennis athletes on JV teams or in a program with a no-cut philosophy. These athletes may have different goals, skills, and mindsets than varsity athletes.

• In some programs, the older or more skilled athletes will mentor the younger or less experienced players.

• Coaches can work with their athletic department and school district to increase media coverage of the high school tennis athletes and the program they represent. Coaches must build a relationship with the media.

There are many ways to support high school tennis coaches and athletes. This shortlist provides examples. Most support is at the local level.

• The best way to help tennis athletes is to keep them engaged in tennis. Provide organized leagues, camps, tournaments, or other activities outside the high school season.

• Establish a mentorship program between RSPA professionals and high school coaches. A variation on this would be an "adopt-a-team" program.

• Support tennis booster clubs, run or support fund-raisers for local high school teams, and provide schools with used racquets, balls, or nets.

• Offer pre-season or spring/fall break lesson programs or competitive events for high school teams and athletes. In colder climates, indoor clubs may offer periodic special programs for high school tennis athletes during slow periods.

• Establish discussion groups, podcasts, or webinars for coaches on technical, tactical, mental, and communication skills.

The High School Tennis Infrastructure – NFHS

The high school tennis infrastructure includes the NFHS (national), state associations, and local (schools). Leaders at the three levels establish policies that affect coaches and tennis athletes.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) oversees and publishes rules for boys’ and girls’ tennis programs along with 16 other sporting activities in all 51 states, including the District of Columbia. NFHS encourages athlete-centric coaching and life lessons learned through competition. In addition, NFHS oversees fine arts programs such as music, speech, and debate. Committees oversee each sport and activity. NFHS gathers and publishes participation data based on reports from each state.

Tennis is a small portion of the total support provided by NFHS. For the 2023-24 season, there were 353,601 boys’ and girls’ tennis athletes. Tennis was ninth in participation, or about 4.4% of total boys and girls in all sports.

NFHS has recently upgraded its learning tools at https://nfhslearn.com/. In addition to its material for general coaching skills, NFHS recently added tennis information from the USTA. Some online videos are free, while there is a fee to access others. This site also includes state requirements for coaching and access to liability insurance (for a fee).

The primary direct value of NFHS for coaches is its coaching resources.

The High School Tennis Infrastructure – State-Level

There are NFHS-affiliated activity associations that oversee sports in each state. For example, the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) oversees high school sports activities for the six million Coloradans.

The missions of the state associations mirror the goals of NFHS. For example, the simplified CHSAA mission is "Seeking Excellence in Academics, Activities, and Athletics." The link to the complete mission is (https://chsaanow.com/sports/2021/7/20/mission-statement.aspxv)

CHSAA has seven commissioners that oversee 33 defined sports or activities. Its board of directors includes 20 representatives from throughout the state. For the 2023-24 season, Colorado had 136,386 athletes in all programs. There were 4,683 girl tennis athletes in 154 programs and 3,032 boy tennis athletes in 120 programs.

Examples of policies made by CHSAA are the match format, dates and sites of the state championship, sponsorship for the state event, season start and end dates, maintenance of the state constitution, and compliance with it.

Over the past decade, CHSAA has made notable changes to high school tennis.

1.    Schools use MaxPreps to track all sports. It provides rosters, schedules, and scores of matches and is valuable for parents, supporters, and coaches.

2.    CHSAA uses the UTR rating scale to determine the skill levels of the athletes.

3.    CHSAA added a state team tournament to complement its state individual tournament.

4.    Coaches can now talk to their tennis athletes between points. It is still debatable whether this is a positive change.

5.    The fall season (boys) start date was adjusted to August (before the first day of school) to avoid inclement weather in October. For a similar reason, the start date for the spring season (girls) is now in March.

The primary value of the state associations is providing a structure for competition, including the state championships.

The High School Tennis Infrastructure – School-Level

The high school coach typically reports to the athletic director. The AD is often an assistant principal.

At the school level, the primary functions of the athletic department are to hire coaching staff, facility maintenance, coach and athlete safety, financial management, oversight of the booster club, work with the coach association (if appropriate), scheduling matches, arranging travel to away matches, securing officials, and compliance with regulations from state and national associations.

The primary value of local infrastructure is oversight of the high school tennis team experience. As a result, organizations and professionals can provide the greatest support at the school level.

Building Relationships within the High School Tennis Infrastructure

The tennis industry has an excellent opportunity to capture the potential of high school tennis. The greatest opportunity for these organizations to provide support for high school tennis exists at the local level.

First, the industry is on solid footing. High school tennis athletes are a significant part of the 13-to-17-year category. High school coaches and tennis athletes are a notable portion of the frequent player population. They support the tennis economy by purchasing racquets, balls, shoes, and clothing. They are the future of tennis.

Second, tennis is the ninth most popular high school sport. The top six sports are team sports, and the next three are individual sports played in a team setting. To advance the sport, industry leaders must understand the subtle distinctions between coaching high school tennis and coaching in other settings.

Third, many groups (NFHS, state organizations like CHSAA, the state legislature, school district officials, school boards, and local school officials) produce the athletic policies and guidelines that govern high school tennis. Coaches must understand this structure; however, most of their dealings will be with the athletic director and other coaches.

Thanks to the players, coaches, administrators, and organizations who have made high school tennis successful! There is an even brighter future for high school tennis with greater industry support.

In addition, Gary Horvath has conducted extensive business and economic research that has largely supported the state of Colorado's economic development efforts.