Tennis Industry News

The U.S. Tennis Association is offering funding assistance to tennis facilities and organizations looking to paint permanent lines for 36- and 60-foot QuickStart Tennis courts, designed for children 10 and under. The funding assistance—50% of the cost of the lines—is offered through the USTA’s Facility Assistance Services.

The QuickStart Tennis format gets kids into the game by using shorter courts, shorter racquets, lower pressure balls and modified scoring, ensuring children have fun while learning tennis. A standard 78-foot court can accommodate four 36-foot QST courts, or one 60-foot court.

Many tennis facilities have painted permanent QuickStart Tennis lines onto regular-size courts, which aids in setting up for children’s tennis programs. The QST lines are usually in a color shade related to the surface of the court, so that they are unobtrusive when the standard 78-foot court is used. (The Rules of Tennis do allow USTA National/Sectional/District events or tournaments to be played on courts with additional lines, such as those used for the QST format, and recently the Intercollegiate Tennis Association approved a rule change to allow its competition courts to have permanent QST tennis lines.)

While the national USTA office provides 50% funding assistance, some USTA sections also offer additional funding for painting permanent lines. To apply for national USTA funding, use the application at http://ct.usta.com/pfa/. For more on QuickStart Tennis, go to www.quickstarttennis.com.