Have you ever had to try out for an adult recreational team?
Carolyn and Erin decided to do this episode about adult rec tennis tryouts because they realized how silly it sounded. Everyone that plays tennis plays it for different reasons. Some are only there to have fun, others are in it solely for the win, and most people are somewhere in between.
The ones that are playing USTA leagues to “win it all” may have their adult players try out for a team. The question we were asking ourselves was “do people know they are trying out for a team or is it less obvious”?
Making Friends or Trying Out for a Team?
Carolyn said she was part of a tryout when she first started playing adult rec tennis. She was set up with a group of ladies after hitting with a pro. Carolyn was thinking that she was just asked to go out and hit casually with this group and was excited at the thought of making new adult tennis friends.
She said when she showed up to hit, she was moved around to different courts to play with different partners and opponents. After that, the captain of the team she had been hitting with called to say they didn’t have any room on the team for her. She wasn’t surprised that she wasn’t good enough for the team but what did surprise her was that she had no idea that she was asked to hit because it was an adult rec tennis tryout.
Women vs. Men’s Adult Rec Tennis Tryouts
After discussing this, we realized that men handle this in a much different way. Her husband, Mike, who has joined Second Serve for several episodes, was asked to play up a level to a 4.5 team (Mike’s current NTRP rating is 4.0). He was contacted by a captain that was looking to build a strong adult rec tennis team and asked him to hit one evening. When Mike arrived, the captain had a hopper of balls and ran drills with Mike.
Unlike Carolyn’s experience, Mike did gain a spot on the team!
Have You Gone Through Tryouts?
Do you have any experience trying out for adult rec tennis teams? Please share them with us via email. We would love to hear them.
If you’d like to hear other episodes with Mike, check out our past recordings with him: