Juniors Competition
North Park has an active junior competition program and is part of the North Suburban Juniors Tennis Association (NSJTA). There are two 16 week seasons of tennis played each year. Season 1 starts in February with finals rounds played in June, and season 2 starts in July with finals rounds played in late November. The scheduled competition typically does not occur on long weekends associated with public holidays or during school holidays. Both home games and away games will be scheduled with organised team travel as far away as Craigieburn and Mt Carmel.
Depending on team numbers and abilities, NPTC will field an A-grade team playing on Friday nights, and one or more B-grade, C-grade and D-grade teams playing on Saturday mornings. Teams are a minimum of 4, but ideally 6 to allow for absences and wider participation. In some instances, D-grade teams may have up to 8 members. Emergency replacement players will usually be fielded from within a team but can be drawn from a lower grade team if required.
Team Organisation
The success of junior teams belonging to a club relies heavily on team member parents/carers and committee volunteers. NPTC recognises that for many juniors and parents/carers, playing and volunteering respectively, in a competitive sport of which they may know little can be daunting. Training or a ‘buddy’ system for umpiring can be arranged for brand new D-grade parents if necessary or requested. It’s important to note that, only D-grade players require parent/carers to be an umpire. As players progress into C-grade and beyond, they are expected to self-umpire.
Parents/carers of teams not in the finals rounds must be available for at least one of the two finals weekends for independent umpiring.
Each team must have a nominated parent/carer as their team manager. Team manager responsibilities include weekly team member confirmation, starting time and location reminders, management of results sheets, and organising practice sessions. The team managers are supported by NPTC junior delegates.
Club Membership
All players must have a current North Park Tennis Club membership (or an affiliated club in the case of combined teams) for insurance purposes when playing at home or away. Being a member of North Park also gives you access to free online court bookings for the whole membership year including the use of nighttime lights where required.
Age limits
The NSJTA competition is open to young people who are under the age of 18 as of 31 December the year prior for Season 1 and as of 30 June for Season 2 of any given year. Players who turn 14 or older during a given season are not eligible to play in D Grade 1 or below during that season. Those players must play D Special or higher. This age limit also applies to emergencies.
How to join a team
If you think your child is match ready (check with your child's tennis coach), contact the NPTC junior delegate via email at juniors@northparktennis.org to express your interest.
For more information
To find out more about the NSJTA and its competition including important dates, notices, fixtures, ladders, rules, team guides and by-laws visit their website: https://nsjta.org.au/