OSSA Tennis-scam, is it even real?

[Anonymous]

So just wanted some info. My child went to get evaluated by OSSA for their high performance program. The person who evaluated us gave a thumbs up (not the person in charge of that program), but the individual in charge of the program completely ghosted us. Wouldn't respond back to emails or texts about how to get started. I sent an email about camp: no response. I sent an text about private lessons: no response. Their website is poor and malfunctioning in multiple areas. There are plenty of programs in the area, and we are sticking with what we have and just wanted to explore (Even more so now!), but just shocked at the extremely poor communication, poor customer service, and poor business practice. What is up with that place? Is it even a real academy? Do they just want a "country club type" of family (we are not a country club type, just ordinary)? I've never been ghosted before, especially for an ultra-expensive service that we would potentially be a part of for years!

[Anonymous]

Not just OSSA, but we were ghosted from other tennis organizations too. Drove my DH absolutely crazy.

[Anonymous]

There are too many kids and not enough coaches in the area. Welcome to dmv tennis

[Anonymous]

Original poster. Very frustrating, especially when your child has D1 aspirations and is doing very well with ranking and UTR. My child is reaching the top of where they started playing, but we will stay because of the great coaches and try to figure this out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Original poster. Very frustrating, especially when your child has D1 aspirations and is doing very well with ranking and UTR. My child is reaching the top of where they started playing, but we will stay because of the great coaches and try to figure this out.

What’s the utr ?

[Anonymous]

My experience with similar programs is that the kids they want get invited and there are constant side conversations at tournaments or via someone who knows someone. My friends got in because their friends were participating and knew them from another sport and told the coaches and the coaches gave the kid a chance. Being a sibling factors into this, too. My DD is an only child and has seen this enough that she's said that she wishes she was a younger sister so she could just glide into any program she wanted to without all the evaluations and drama.

Our family has experienced this in gymnastics, too, so I can't even blame it on tennis culture. I think it's common for any sport with a possible elite track that has limited availability. Coaches aren't willing and/or don't have to take chances on randos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original poster. Very frustrating, especially when your child has D1 aspirations and is doing very well with ranking and UTR. My child is reaching the top of where they started playing, but we will stay because of the great coaches and try to figure this out.

What’s the utr ?

Would rather not get into that bc I know metrics drive us all tennis people crazy (my family included sometimes) but on a trajectory for D1. They're not a local super star, but are dangerous and a growth spurt can really help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My experience with similar programs is that the kids they want get invited and there are constant side conversations at tournaments or via someone who knows someone. My friends got in because their friends were participating and knew them from another sport and told the coaches and the coaches gave the kid a chance. Being a sibling factors into this, too. My DD is an only child and has seen this enough that she's said that she wishes she was a younger sister so she could just glide into any program she wanted to without all the evaluations and drama.

Our family has experienced this in gymnastics, too, so I can't even blame it on tennis culture. I think it's common for any sport with a possible elite track that has limited availability. Coaches aren't willing and/or don't have to take chances on randos.

Just so strange and frustrating. We just want a service that can help my child reach their potential, whatever that is. If the coaches are that closed off and feel they are too good for outsiders, I guess that's a culture we don't want to be a part of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original poster. Very frustrating, especially when your child has D1 aspirations and is doing very well with ranking and UTR. My child is reaching the top of where they started playing, but we will stay because of the great coaches and try to figure this out.

What’s the utr ?

Would rather not get into that bc I know metrics drive us all tennis people crazy (my family included sometimes) but on a trajectory for D1. They're not a local super star, but are dangerous and a growth spurt can really help.

I will answer the question (not sure what that reply was intended to do).

UTR stands for universal tennis rating. It goes from 1 - 16. Male pros are between 15 and 16. Female pros are more like 12-13. Excellent D1 male college players are 11-12ish. You can hope to play in college if your UTR is above 9 (for a man, not as sure about women).

It is gender- and age-neutral and calculated based on how you do versus other opponents. USTA tournaments are included, but USTA Junior Team Tennis is not. You can only see the exact UTR of someone with a UTR membership (otherwise you see something like 5.xx)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original poster. Very frustrating, especially when your child has D1 aspirations and is doing very well with ranking and UTR. My child is reaching the top of where they started playing, but we will stay because of the great coaches and try to figure this out.

What’s the utr ?

Would rather not get into that bc I know metrics drive us all tennis people crazy (my family included sometimes) but on a trajectory for D1. They're not a local super star, but are dangerous and a growth spurt can really help.

I will answer the question (not sure what that reply was intended to do).

UTR stands for universal tennis rating. It goes from 1 - 16. Male pros are between 15 and 16. Female pros are more like 12-13. Excellent D1 male college players are 11-12ish. You can hope to play in college if your UTR is above 9 (for a man, not as sure about women).

It is gender- and age-neutral and calculated based on how you do versus other opponents. USTA tournaments are included, but USTA Junior Team Tennis is not. You can only see the exact UTR of someone with a UTR membership (otherwise you see something like 5.xx)

Perfect response, misread question multi-tasking, thought they asked UTR!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original poster. Very frustrating, especially when your child has D1 aspirations and is doing very well with ranking and UTR. My child is reaching the top of where they started playing, but we will stay because of the great coaches and try to figure this out.

What’s the utr ?

Would rather not get into that bc I know metrics drive us all tennis people crazy (my family included sometimes) but on a trajectory for D1. They're not a local super star, but are dangerous and a growth spurt can really help.

We would not know who this kid is but I’m guessing it’s a girl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original poster. Very frustrating, especially when your child has D1 aspirations and is doing very well with ranking and UTR. My child is reaching the top of where they started playing, but we will stay because of the great coaches and try to figure this out.

What’s the utr ?

Would rather not get into that bc I know metrics drive us all tennis people crazy (my family included sometimes) but on a trajectory for D1. They're not a local super star, but are dangerous and a growth spurt can really help.

I will answer the question (not sure what that reply was intended to do).

UTR stands for universal tennis rating. It goes from 1 - 16. Male pros are between 15 and 16. Female pros are more like 12-13. Excellent D1 male college players are 11-12ish. You can hope to play in college if your UTR is above 9 (for a man, not as sure about women).

It is gender- and age-neutral and calculated based on how you do versus other opponents. USTA tournaments are included, but USTA Junior Team Tennis is not. You can only see the exact UTR of someone with a UTR membership (otherwise you see something like 5.xx)

Excellent D1 boys are 11 utr? Since when?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original poster. Very frustrating, especially when your child has D1 aspirations and is doing very well with ranking and UTR. My child is reaching the top of where they started playing, but we will stay because of the great coaches and try to figure this out.

What’s the utr ?

Would rather not get into that bc I know metrics drive us all tennis people crazy (my family included sometimes) but on a trajectory for D1. They're not a local super star, but are dangerous and a growth spurt can really help.

I will answer the question (not sure what that reply was intended to do).

UTR stands for universal tennis rating. It goes from 1 - 16. Male pros are between 15 and 16. Female pros are more like 12-13. Excellent D1 male college players are 11-12ish. You can hope to play in college if your UTR is above 9 (for a man, not as sure about women).

It is gender- and age-neutral and calculated based on how you do versus other opponents. USTA tournaments are included, but USTA Junior Team Tennis is not. You can only see the exact UTR of someone with a UTR membership (otherwise you see something like 5.xx)

Excellent D1 boys are 11 utr? Since when?

Not prior poster. We are starting to look at the rosters of D1 schools and it varies, but around 10 seems to be the minimum, and the majority are European. Even UVA has a kid who is a 10! I know a graduated senior who has a UTR of around 6.20 who is going to a D3 school. At this point many kids in the DMV who are not even high school age can get into a D3 school, which is great if they cannot get to a 10+ UTR.

[Anonymous]

Yes very low level d3 there are 6 utr players . Top d3 players are 11-12. D1 players 12-13