LEAGUE NEWS
The Serenade 18u B1 girl’s team
ALTA Junior Leagues: Girls Just Want to Have Fun! BY RITA MALOOF, JUNIOR LEAGUES VICE PRESIDENT
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there, each of them reached out to other girls they knew and invited them to join us. We had girls from several different schools on our roster. It was nice watching them get to know each other and develop friendships. Playing ALTA is nice for these teenaged girls because it’s just girls! The timing of the season is great and worked well with everyone’s schedules.
ow. Times have changed. I’ve been playing ALTA for more than 40 years. When I started as a junior, ALTA was the only game in town. Everybody in Atlanta — moms, dads, kids, teens —played ALTA. It was fun; it was what we did. Now, the options for youth tennis in the five-county metro area are endless, and the competition for court time is fierce. Is it still fun to play in the ALTA junior leagues? Are we offering a product that is relevant with the times and attractive to kids today? What makes us different from everybody else out there? Is our participant experience one that still initiates young players into our unique ALTA fraternity and creates lifelong members and friends? I needed to know. On July 9, 2019, I received an email from Ana McWethy (parent and team manager) asking if it was too late to enter a roster for the fall 2019 Junior Leagues season. She had a group of teenage girls, all but two new to ALTA, that she was trying to pull together to form an 18U team out of Serenade. It wasn’t too late and McWethy got her roster submitted. I decided to reach back out to her to see if she and her players would be willing to share their ALTA experience with us. McWethy and some of her players, Kylie Mudie, Nyhri Mudie, Becca Latty, Molly McWethy, and Noémi Reynders agreed.
Kylie: What makes ALTA different than high school matches is that you get to meet so many different people. When you’re playing high school matches, you already know all your teammates from school. During the ALTA season, you play with people you might never have otherwise met, giving you the ability to create friendships outside of your school environment. Nhyri: You play different girls from all around Atlanta, not just close by and within your district. Becca: They are different than high school matches because I get to spend time with my friends that attend other schools! Molly: ALTA matches tend to have the same level of players, which makes the matches more fun and challenging. In high school matches, teams can have a wide range of levels.
How did you convince the girls to try ALTA?
What did the girls enjoy most about their ALTA season?
Ana: Most of the girls had played some sort of team tennis, and the idea was to play team tennis leading up to high school tennis tryouts so the girls would get some practice. We started with a handful of girls who knew each other from school. From
Kylie: What I liked most was our team spirit and how close our team became. I enjoyed bonding with everyone over the sport we all love! Nhyri: I liked getting to play tennis with friends when we
NETNEWS JULY/AUGUST 2020
Most of the girls on your roster played high school JV tennis. What made their ALTA matches different from their high school matches?
