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Junior match play

How to find kids to play tennis with, and junior practice partners

The most reliable way to find kids to play tennis with is to get your child into open junior events at the right level. RallyFlick does that every week: a Monday email of open USTA junior tournaments near your ZIP, filtered by age division, with Junior Circuit and Level 7 first for newcomers, so kids meet peers in the same age group and a similar stage of competition. Events that require a UTR or a WTN are left out, so you are not sent to a draw your child cannot enter.

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Yearly is $7 per month, billed annually ($84 a year), with a 14-day free trial. Your card is collected at checkout, and nothing is charged until day 15.

Match play is how juniors meet other juniors

Lessons teach strokes. Kids get better when they also play scored matches against other kids. That is the step families often have trouble arranging: a first path into match play that is the right size, still open, and close enough to drive. RallyFlick is the weekly path for that. It does not run a hitting-partner directory, and it does not take entries. It finds the junior events where those matches happen, checks that registration is still open, and puts a short list in your inbox on Monday.

You set up each junior once. We keep a first name or nickname, the age group they enter (from the 8s through the 18s), girls or boys draws, and a play-up if you want the next age group included. Names stay inside your email, never on this website. You also choose a home ZIP and a drive time, and that ZIP can be anywhere in the United States. Two juniors in the same household can share the plan, each with their own division, and an adult who wants matches can be added as Adult 18+ or Adult 40+. This page is the junior side of the search. The broader version, including adult play, is in how to find tennis matches near you.

What RallyFlick looks for, and why the level matters

Each Monday we search official USTA junior listings near your ZIP, about 60 days ahead, including Junior Circuit, section events, and the club and park junior tournaments listed on the USTA tournament hub. A closing date printed on a listing can be stale. An event is included only when a live check still shows entry open, the tournament has not been cancelled, and registration has begun. If we cannot confirm that, it stays off the list.

The ranking in the email is built for the player, not for a national highlight reel. For newcomers and less experienced juniors, Junior Circuit and Level 7 sit at the top, Level 6 comes next, and a higher level is treated as a stretch. That follows USTA's own starting order. On its junior tournaments page, USTA says that after success in Junior Circuit events, players may move into ranked USTA Junior Tournaments, and it strongly recommends beginning at Level 7, which it describes as an intermediate tournament that guarantees multiple matches in a short period of time. Its tournament level guidance describes Junior Circuit as a fit for advanced beginners to intermediate players with little previous competition. USTA also says a player should advance a level only when they are consistently winning more matches than they are losing.

Each highlighted event in the RallyFlick email carries a short reason it was chosen, a compact Register link to the official USTA page, and a Tournament ID you can search if the link misbehaves on a phone. Deadlines in the coming week are marked. A tighter table lists other open options inside your drive time. Miles are measured as a straight line from the ZIP center, so a real drive can be longer. If nothing open fits that week, we hold the email instead of sending a blank one.

That format is how kids actually meet other kids at their level. A Junior Circuit or Level 7 event, in the right age group, puts your child on court against other juniors who are also new to this stage of competition, often for more than one match in a short visit. Families bump into each other at the desk and on the next changeover. RallyFlick does not introduce you by name or run a partner board. It gets your child into the events where that meeting is likely, without sending you to a draw that is already closed or that asks for a rating the junior does not have.

Get started See a sample email

Yearly is $7 per month, billed annually ($84 a year), with a 14-day free trial. Your card is collected at checkout, and nothing is charged until day 15.

How this helps a child get on court this month

A typical first step is to set up the junior, start a yearly plan, and use the Monday email to choose a Junior Circuit or Level 7 event that is still open and inside your drive time. If a current live check already covers your ZIP when you finish checkout, the first email can arrive within minutes of payment. If not, it waits for the following Monday. Registration and payment stay on the official USTA site. Junior membership, which USTA lists as free for players 18 and under on its membership plans page, is required for sanctioned junior tournaments. Confirm the current rules when you register.

If you have two juniors, each one gets their own picks in the same email, so a 12s player and a 16s player are not handed the same draw. Play-up is optional: turn it on only if you want the next age group shown as well. After a first event, many families find a hitting partner in the same draw or through the coach who already teaches the child. Keep that arrangement off public boards, and treat RallyFlick as the weekly way to find the next open event, not as a substitute for a weekday hitting session.

Those events are also how a UTR rating gets started. A rating comes from match results, not from waiting until a child already has one. RallyFlick leaves out UTR-required draws on purpose, so a junior can play first. UTR Sports says federation-sanctioned junior matches can later count toward a Verified UTR. RallyFlick does not submit scores. It finds the open events and points you to the official listing.

Yearly is $7 per month, billed annually ($84 a year), with a 14-day free trial. Your card is collected at checkout, and nothing is charged until day 15. Additional juniors in the same household are half price. You can cancel anytime.

Other useful routes, around the weekly email

A regular hitting partner is still worth arranging through a coach, a club desk, or a park program, because RallyFlick is a tournament short list, not a practice-partner directory. Ask the pro who already teaches your child whether they can introduce a family at a similar level, and set a standing court time. City and county parks sometimes run junior round robins or seasonal leagues. USTA's Play tennis near me page can help you find those programs. Do not publish a child's full name or exact schedule on a public board.

USTA Junior Team Tennis is another official option. USTA says JTT brings together boys and girls, ages 5 to 18, for singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, and that players who start on a team should be able to serve, maintain a rally, and keep score. High school teams, where they exist, and academy round robins can add weekday hitting. Use those as extras around the Monday email, not as a substitute for finding open junior events at the right level. RallyFlick is the weekly list that keeps those events in front of you.

Start your Monday email See pricing

Yearly is $7 per month, billed annually ($84 a year), with a 14-day free trial. Your card is collected at checkout, and nothing is charged until day 15.

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