Thursday, May 11, 2017

Top 10 Reasons You Should Accept an Invitation to the DecoTurf High School Tennis Team Championships


10.) Expose your weaknesses. You can play a sloppy and unfocused match against lesser competition and your players will think they're playing good. You can play some of your best tennis at the DecoTurf HS Tennis Team Championships and still get your weaknesses exposed, while there is still time to fix them before your state tournament.

9.) Expose yourself. Not only does the DecoTurf HS Tennis Team Championships get your players exposure to college coaches and other top national competitors, like at a qualifier or nationals, but competing in the event looks really good in the local newspapers, which makes you look good as a coach. Think of all those young, impressionable, up-and-coming players in your area who are looking for a place to play high school tennis and see the local and national exposure your players and program are getting.

8.) Establish a benchmark. Set the standard for where you want your program to be both now and in the future; Put your program on the national scene, even if that means traveling across the country to play the nation's top programs. Every coach has a vision of where he/she wants their team, and some even have a plan for getting there. I applaud the coaches who take their teams across the country, for they have a benchmark of where their team presently stands against competition from other states.

7.) Multiply the state tournament experience. It is one thing to put on your school's colors and take on the best your state has to offer, it is quite a different thing to represent your city, your state, even your section by competing against the best the nation has to offer. The DecoTurf HS Tennis Team Championships have hosted more than 100 team and 96 individual state champions.

6.) Take your game to the next level. Something special happens when two great teams play each other that allows team to take their game to a higher level. And once you reach that new plateau, you seldom go back. You learn things about yourself and find a mental toughness and attitude that you take back with you as a source of strength for future matches, not just at your state tournament, but for these student-athletes as they go on to play collegiate tennis as well.

5.) Earn bragging rights. It is a chance to meet and make friends with players you may be playing with or against in college. And even if you don't go on to play in collegiate tennis, you can be sitting in your dorm room with your roommates proclaim, "That player that was just named an All-American? I took him/her, to three-sets at the DecoTurf HS Tennis Team Championships!" 

4.) What happens at the DecoTurf HS Tennis Team Championships doesn't have to stay there. Everything worth learning in High School doesn't just happen within the walls of your school, or the boundaries of your state. Not only is traveling to Chattanooga as a high school student-athlete without a parent there to look after them a growing experience, it provides an opportunity for your players to learn valuable lessons. Getting your players up for an 8AM match against an opponent that questions every call or sitting together as a team hundreds of miles from home during a rain delay all help teach lessons that these players will use throughout life, not just on the tennis court.

3.) Become a champion. Every athlete in every sport wants to test their skills against the best possible competition, but how often do you actually get to play in an event that many consider the national championship? At the DecoTurf HS Tennis Team Championships not only does your team have a chance to win a National Championship, but you get to play new competition that you normally wouldn't have on your schedule. 

2.) Silence the critics. If you've compiled your 50 match winning streak and state records in let's say Kentucky, what does that really mean to someone in Florida? If you've got that special, once-in-a-blue moon team that only happens when the planets are aligned, why hide them under a bushel basket? To turn down an invitation to the DecoTurf  HS Tennis Team Championships is to squander an opportunity to showcase just how good your program really is.

1.) Get the experience. The DecoTurf HS Tennis Team Championships is about much more than just a tennis tournament. The event give you an opportunity to build team unity. You get to experience a great event in an outstanding city. It gives your players a chance to bond and grow as they experience the highs and lows of competing against the nation's best. Whether it is the players party before the event or the plane ride home after the event the you get an experience both you and your players will remember!

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