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Sampling of Coach K Quotes About Life and Sports

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Mike Krzyzewski, affectionately known as Coach K, is one of the world’s most widely respected coaches in any sport. One of his many strengths as a coach is his ability to motivate those around him.

This blog post includes a sampling of some of his quotes about sports and life taken from the official Mike Krzyzewski website, http://coachk.com/.

Advice for athletes

Adversity can teach you more about yourself than any success, and overcoming an obstacle can sometimes feel even better than achieving an easy victory. Through adversity, you can discover things about your endurance, your ability to turn a negative into a positive, and your personal strength of heart.

Dependability is the ability to be relied upon. To always be there trying to do your best. Dependability is not only about being there physically, but being there at your best. It is about loyalty and commitment, and being someone on whom your teammates can count.

The persistent pursuit of excellence determines winners, not the score of the game. To be excellent, you must be yourself. Do the very best that you can do. In giving your best every day, improvement will come naturally. Giving your all makes you better; it’s that simple.

No one can be perfect. When you break out of your comfort zone and try new things, you will probably experience some form of failure. Failure cannot be your final destination; rather, you can use it to shatter limits. It is merely a stepping-stone on your journey to greatness.

Integrity means doing the right thing whether you are alone or with a group, doing the right thing no matter what the rewards or the consequences may be. It means putting your base of ethics into action. It takes strength of character to have integrity

Advice for coaches

The foundation to achievement is in dreams, in imagination. The greatest gift a coach can give a player, a teacher can give a student, and a parent can give to their child is the opportunity to imagine great things. These dreams pave the way for future successes.

Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication. Communication does not always occur naturally, and must be taught and practiced in order to bring everyone together as one. The most crucial element of communicating is telling the truth.

Developing a culture means having a tradition that maintains the standards you want to define your program. Culture is established by the people who compose your team and is carried on by those people. A successful development of culture means that you hear different voices echoing the same message throughout the organization — now, through the history of your program, and into its future.

Trust is the foundation upon which relationships must be based. It is developed through open and honest communication, and, once established, creates a shared vision for a common goal. Established trust among a group of individuals bolsters a feeling of confidence that only comes in knowing you are not alone.

Standards form a level of excellence that we consider our norm. They define what is acceptable for an individual or a team. When you allow your standards to slip, your level of success will decrease alongside your team effort, work ethic, and pride.
You have to adapt what you do based on who you are. In teaching, you must remember that no group or individual is the same as who you taught the day before, the year before, or the decade before. Your plan has to suit who you and your team are right now.

Advice about life

Living is learning. Once you stop learning, you are no longer living. The key to learning is listening. Make it a habit to listen to everyone. You do not merely learn from the traditional teaching sources.

Ambition alone is not enough. That ambition must be coupled with hard work for success to be achieved. Real winners put forth the time and effort to make it happen. By putting in the work, you make yourself worthy of winning. I truly believe that you will not win consistently unless you are worthy.

Take care not to allow one aspect of your life to so consume you that you neglect the others. Balance can put things in perspective, can bring you joy even when you are down, and can allow you to be at your best in all aspects of your life.

No matter how successful you believe you yourself to be, you can never feel as if you’ve reached the absolute pinnacle. There are always new and wonderful challenges out there, and part of maintaining success is knowing when you need to accept them.

You can possess countless good qualities as an individual, but if you don’t have the courage to proceed, you may never see those qualities come into fruition. It takes courage to put what you believe to be best of you on the line, to test it, and to see how far it takes you. Courage means daring to do what you imagine.

When you use your success to have a positive impact on something or someone else, it adds depth to your life. Having a positive influence on people, helping others: that’s winning. For someone to be a total human being, they must realize that something happened before them, something is happening now, and something will happen after they leave.

Check out the official Coach K website. You will find a host of thought-provoking quotes. What is your favorite Coach K quote?

What is the Purpose of High School Tennis Programs?

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If a group of parents, athletic directors, trade associations, manufacturers, retailers, coaches, tennis professionals, medical services, and athletes were convened to discuss the purpose of high school tennis they would provide a variety reasons why high school tennis is important. Some of the perspectives are listed below. High school tennis is:

• An individual sport. This is reflected by the fact that the state tournament is actually 7 different tournaments – 3 singles and 4 doubles. Athletes learn to manage mistakes and solve problems when they are the only person competing.
• A team sport. Players learn to enjoy the sport with a group of girls who share a love of the sport.
• An individual sport with team scoring. This allows the athletes to get best of both worlds. They can play an individual sport and still be supported by teammates.
• A large market for tennis goods and services.
• An athletic program that may focus on quantity rather than quality of the program. Smaller programs may have 30 players while some programs have as many as 150 players.
• A feeder system for college tennis. This may be the case for the stronger teams. Frequently, players who want to play college tennis are more likely to focus on USTA tournaments and rankings than high school tennis.
• A program intended for players who will not play sports after high school.
• A feeder program for local tennis clubs, recreation programs, and USTA programs.
• The recipient of players from other programs – local tennis clubs, recreation programs, and USTA programs. This perspective views high school tennis as the center of tennis for adolescents.
• A glorified intramural program. This may be the case for JV or lower programs or schools that make it a no-cut sport.
• A program that gives juniors an opportunity to play during the school year. This may be the case for players who play tennis in recreation programs and summer tennis clubs.
• Social tennis, where the primary purpose is for players to play with their friends.
• Entry level programs where players learn to play sport in a no-pressure, no-cut environment.

All of these perceptions about the purpose of high school tennis have merit; however, high school tennis cannot be all things to all people. The industry and the school programs would be better served if high school tennis leaders would identify its primary and secondary purposes, communicate those purposes to the industry, and become more formally integrated into the industry.

WTA Rankings Point to Solid Grand Slam Season for Americans

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The release of the March 7th WTA rankings portends reasonable success for the American women in the remaining 3 Grand Slams this year.

Serena Williams is the only American woman in the top 10. Without a doubt she will be the player to beat if she remains healthy. Nine countries have players ranked in the top 10. Spain is represented by Muguruza and Suárez Navarro. The average age of the top 10 players is 26.4 years.

Top Ten WTA Through March 7th 2016

Ranking Player Country Age Points
1 Serena Williams United States 34 9,245
2 Angelique Kerber Germany 28 5,700
3 Agnieszka Radwanska Poland 27 5,450
4 Garbiñe Muguruza Spain 22 4,831
5 Simona Halep Romania 24 4,745
6 Carla Suárez Navarro Spain 28 4,015
7 Maria Sharapova Russia 29 3,562
8 Belinda Bencic Switzerland 19 3,505
9 Petra Kvitova Czech Republic 26 3,483
10 Roberta Vinci Italy 33 3,455

There are 13 Americans ranked in the top 100. With the exception of Serena they are excellent players who will occasionally have some great wins, but their lack of points demonstrates they are not capable of consistently competing with the top 10 players. The average age of the American women ranked in the top 100 is 26.7 years. The Williams sisters and Mattek-Sands are the only players over 30.

American Women Ranked in the Top 100

Ranking,Player, Country Age, Points

Ranking Player Age Points
1 Serena Williams 34 9,245
12 Venus Williams 36 3,082
22 Sloane Stephens 23 2,215
24 Madison Keys 21 2,060
38 Coco Vandeweghe 24 1,271
52 Varvara Lepchenko 30 1,057
58 Madison Brengle 26 1,005
62 Christina McHale 24 990
80 Irina Falconi 26 800
88 Bethanie Mattek-Sands 31 744
91 Alison Riske 26 733
95 Nicole Gibbs 23 714
99 Lauren Davis 22 678

Looking ahead to the remaining Grand Slams, Venus, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and Varvara Lepchenko are expected to play solid tennis. They may have some upset victories; however, given their age, it is unlikely they will win any tournaments.

Several years ago some coaches felt that Sloane Stephens would follow in the footsteps of the Williams sisters. To date she has been less successful in the Grand Slam events than others. Fortunately, she has time on her side.

Unlike Stephens, Madison Keys has demonstrated that she is the real deal. Her best showing was in 2015 when she reached the semifinals at the Australian Open.

The remaining players have shown flashes of brilliance at times, but have not excelled in the Grand Slams. They are young and this may be their breakout year.

Next Stop, the French Open on May 16th.

Communications, Leadership, Responsibility and Discipline

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It can be challenging and rewarding to teach communications skills, leadership, responsibility, and discipline to young athletes. This blog post illustrates what happens when young athletes don’t learn those skills.

Coach K

The following quotes from Coach K (http://coachk.com/quotes/) address the importance of the above-mentioned skills.

  • “No matter how successful you believe you yourself to be, you can never feel as if you’ve reached the absolute pinnacle. There are always new and wonderful challenges out there, and part of maintaining success is knowing when you need to accept them.”
  • “Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication.”
  • “Communication does not always occur naturally, even among a tight-knit group of individuals. Communication must be taught and practiced in order to bring everyone together as one.”
  • “Making shots counts, but not as much as the people who make them.”
  • “A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on “x’s and o’s” as compared to time spent learning about people.”

On November 24, 2015 the Boulder Daily Camera ran an article, “CU football: Apsay apologizes to teammates for ‘harsh comments’ – QB criticized receivers, linemen after loss”

The article stated:
During the frustrating moments after Colorado’s 27-3 loss to Washington State on Saturday night, redshirt freshman quarterback Cade Apsay threw some criticism at his receivers and linemen.
On Tuesday, Apsay said he apologized to his teammates and doesn’t feel there will be lingering issues from those comments.
“I’ve actually apologized to the receivers and the linemen, especially,” said Apsay, who made his first career start last week. “I know I made some pretty harsh comments. I didn’t realize I was at the time. The postgame emotions got the best of me. When I did apologize to them, they didn’t really care much, especially the linemen. We’re all pretty close anyway.”
Head coach Mike MacIntyre said he didn’t know about Apsay’s postgame comments but was glad that his young quarterback took the initiative to apologize to his teammates. Junior quarterback Sefo Liufau, who is injured and didn’t make the trip to Washington, said it’ll be a good learning experience for Apsay.

The freshman quarterback was presented a great opportunity and he made a mistake. He was given a chance to learn from his error.

The story has an unfortunate ending. On March 1, 2015 the Boulder Daily Camera ran an article. “Cade Apsay, Evan White dismissed from Colorado football team -Both were dismissed “for violating team policies”

The article stated:
One day before spring football is set to begin, Colorado announced that quarterback Cade Apsay and safety Evan White have been dismissed from the team.
Head coach Mike MacIntyre said Tuesday that both were dismissed “for violating team policies.”
Apsay, who would have been a redshirt sophomore, was the Buffs’ second-team quarterback last season and started the final two games after Sefo Liufau went down with a season-ending foot injury.
Apsay completed 64.1 percent of his passes (59 of 92) for 582 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions this past season. He was expected to compete with redshirt freshman Steven Montez and senior Jordan Gehrke at quarterback this spring.

Hopefully the freshman quarterback will learn from these two mistakes.

The Bottom Line
College athletic programs provide students with a  great venue for learning the lessons of life. The only caveat is the athletes have to be willing participants in the learning process.

One of two things has happened. Either communications, leadership, responsibility, and discipline are not being taught in the CU football program or not all athletes are taking advantage of a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow as individuals.

Fitbit – Gimmick or Useful Fitness Tool

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Like many Americans I received a Fitbit for Christmas – more specifically the Fitbit Charge HR.

My initial reaction was that the wearable was an expensive digital pedometer with a number of features that I wouldn’t use. That initial assessment was correct; however, two months later, I’m still using it and see value in a few of the features.

For me the most important take-aways were:
• I needed to get more sleep.
• I overestimated my level of activity at times.
• At times I was more active than I realized.
• Instead of guess, the Fitbit was a tool that recorded by activity.

The Fitbit had features that I didn’t like or didn’t use, as follows:
• At times the counter for the number of stairs climbed was inaccurate.
• The virtual badges motivate some people, but they don’t motivate me.
• As a competitive athlete, I am interested in competing against myself. At this time I don’t feel the need to compete against others. I didn’t find the challenge feature to be valuable.
• The software provides options to input food and water consumption. This is a reasonable option; however, it is also one that seems to be too time consuming.

After several weeks of using the Fitbit, the following counters met my needs:
• Steps taken
• Active minutes of exercise
• Calories burned
• Amount of sleep
The software seemed to do a reasonable job of accurately tracking my level of activity in these areas.

Initially I thought the step counter and the measurement of active minutes would be the most valuable features. After about six weeks I realized they were one-dimensional measures of activity.

Like any step counter, a step is a step. The Fitbit did not discriminate whether I was running, walking, riding my stationary bike, or playing tennis. (And I couldn’t wear my Fitbit playing volleyball).

Likewise the active minutes feature measured a 30-minute walk through the candy and pastry aisles at King Soopers the same as 30 minutes of intense play on the tennis court.Fitbit

For my current purposes, the most valuable feature measures the number of calories burned. The feature is useful because it seems to indirectly account for the time and intensity of the activity I participated in.

This feature helped me identify the level of calories I had to burn each day to maintain a desired level of weight. With that goal in mind, it became easy to identify activities that would burn the required number of calories.

The most important Fitbit feature tracks the daily amount of time a person sleeps each night. The device showed me that I’m grossly shortchanging myself in this critical area.

The software tracks the amount of sleep, the amount of restless sleep, and the amount of times a person was not sleeping (to let the dogs out in the middle of the night or to do other things).

In my case, it was necessary for me to experiment with the Fitbit and customize it to my needs. Most likely the same will hold true for others.

The Fitbit provides basic fitness data in a simple, easy to understand manner. By doing so, many Fitbit users can use it to achieve a higher level of fitness.

SEC and ACC Dominate Women’s D1 ITA Rankings

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On January 5th, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released its pre-season poll for the women’s Division I NCAA tennis season. It comes as no surprise that the initial 2015-2016 rankings are only slightly different from the final 2014-2015 ITA rankings.

Only 13 conferences are represented in the top 50 teams with the SEC and ACC filling 22 of the 50 slots. The number of teams from each conference are listed in the table below.

# of Teams Conference
12 SEC
10 ACC
6 Big 10
6 Big 12
5 PAC-12
2 AAC
2 Ivy League
2 West Coast Conference
1 Big East
1 Big West
1 Colonial Athletic Association
1 C-USA
1 MVC

The January 5th ITA rankings of the top 10 singles players are  dominated by athletes from the ACC. Six of the top 10 players are from 4 schools in the  ACC, two are from the PAC 12, and one player is from the SEC and Big 10.

ITA Ranking Avg Player School Conference
1 64.91 Joana Eidukonyte Clemson ACC
2 64.81 Francesca Di Lorenzo Ohio State Big 10
3 60.17 Belinda Woolcock Florida SEC
4 56.35 Danielle Collins Virginia ACC
5 56.14 Maegan Manasse California PAC-12
6 54.31 Hayley Carter North Carolina ACC
7 53.23 Sinead Lohan Miami (FL) ACC
8 52.78 Julia Elbaba Virginia ACC
9 49.28 Stephanie Wagner Miami (FL) ACC
10 49.25 Klara Fabikova California PAC-12

While it is fun to follow the polls throughout the season, the early rankings (February and early March) may not be a good indicator of what is really happening. The rankings become more reliable once teams complete their preseason matches and are well into their conference season.

ITA Ranking School 2014-15 Final Rank Conference
1 Vanderbilt 1 SEC
2 USC 2 PAC-12
3 Florida 6 SEC
4 North Carolina 4 ACC
4 Georgia 5 SEC
6 California 7 PAC-12
7 Virginia 9 ACC
8 Stanford 11 PAC-12
9 UCLA 3 PAC-12
10 Texas A&M 10 SEC
11 Baylor 8 Big 12
12 Oklahoma State 12 Big 12
13 Miami 15 ACC
14 Michigan 13 Big 10
15 Alabama 14 SEC
16 Duke 19 ACC
17 Texas Tech 16 Big 12
18 Ohio State 21 Big 10
19 Pepperdine 22 West Coast Conference
20 Clemson 18 ACC
21 LSU 23 SEC
22 TCU 17 Big 12
23 Georgia Tech 20 ACC
24 Kentucky 25 SEC
25 Mississippi 24 SEC
26 Northwestern 26 Big 10
27 Arizona State 27 PAC-12
28 South Carolina 29 SEC
29 Mississippi State 32 SEC
30 Virginia Tech 30 ACC
31 Rice 28 C-USA
32 Dartmouth 31 Ivy League
33 Notre Dame 36 ACC
34 DePaul 33 Big East
35 Oklahoma 35 Big 12
36 Arkansas 38 SEC
37 Florida State 39 ACC
38 Houston 34 AAC
39 Wichita State 41 MVC
40 Long Beach State 40 Big West
41 Texas 37 Big 12
42 Auburn 46 SEC
43 Princeton 42 Ivy League
44 Purdue 43 Big 10
45 Saint Mary's (CA) 44 West Coast Conference
46 William & Mary 49 Colonial Athletic Association
47 Tulsa 51 AAC
47 Penn State 47 Big 10
49 Boston College 50 ACC
50 Indiana 48 Big 10

It will be interesting to see if Vanderbilt ends the season in the top spot and if Joana Eidukonyte captures the D1 singles title.

2016 Colorado High School Girls Tennis Season Around the Corner

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Every year the Colorado high school spring sports season kicks off in mid to late February 29. For tennis fans that means about 4,500 girls will be hitting the courts in 150 locations. The boys are lucky. Their season is in the fall.

More precisely, the NFHS reported that 4,552 girls played on 153 teams during the 2014-2015 Colorado high school girls season. Despite the popularity of tennis, the number of participants has tapered off since a peak in 2008-2009. That season there were 151 programs and a peak of 4,901 participants.

The varsity season can be summed up as follows:
• The varsity season spans 59 days with a starting date of February 29th and an end date of April 27th, the final day of the regional tournament.
• There are 38 school days during the season and there are 21 scheduled off days. There will be 31 days of matches and practices and 28 days of unscheduled and scheduled off days.
• During the season, there are approximately 29 hours spent in practice and 21 hours spent in competition.

Colorado High School Girls Tennis

More specifically, the activity for the varsity season can be classified in four categories: competition, practice, unscheduled off days, scheduled off-days.
• Competition (matches and tournaments) CHSAA restricts the number of tournaments and matches that teams can play.
― It is estimated that players will play 4 matches in 3 days of tournaments. Those four matches will each last 1.5 hours per match. Athletes will play 6 hours in tournament competition during the season.
― It is estimated that players will play 10 days of dual matches. The average time of each match will be 1.5 hours. Approximately 15 hours will spend playing dual matches.
― The total time spent in competition is 21 hours.
• Practice and challenge matches – Coaches will plan to have 25 days for practice and challenge matches. In a best case scenario they will get 18 days for these activities.
― It is assumed the team will spend 3 days playing challenge matches or mini-matches to determine the lineup. During this time, a player will play 3 matches/mini matches. On average each of the 3 matches will take 1 hour, for a total of 3 hours.
― The team will have 15 days of practice scheduled for 2 hours. In a best case scenario a team will practice for 1.75 hours on those 15 days for a total of about 26 hours.
― The total time on court is about 29 hours. This is a best case scenario.
• Unscheduled off-days – As previously mentioned, coaches plan for 25 days of practice and challenge matches. Inevitably, there are at least 7 days where no time is spent on the court.
― The biggest challenge facing spring sports is the weather. There is usually at least 5 days where there is inclement weather. During some years this number may approach 10 days.
― There will be at least 2 days for school-related activities where no tennis is played. This includes photo days or unforeseen events. Sometimes coaches will give the team time off after they have played back-to-back matches. Other coaches give players the Friday off before Spring break.
― This estimate projects there will be 7 days when players are involved in non-scheduled activities. That number may be as high as 12 days.
• Scheduled off-days – During this 59-day period there are 21 scheduled off-days.
― There are 5 days for spring break.
― There are 16 weekend days.

The total on-court activity is 50 hours during the 59 day season. This breakdown is similar at many of the top schools and will vary based on the weather, qualifications of the coach, budget, and the number of players and courts.

It is great that girls have an opportunity to play in a high school tennis program. At the same time it is a challenge for high school athletic departments to make the program meaningful for the athletes given that most programs face significant budgetary and facility challenges and the fact the athletes have limited time in competition and practice while they are in the program.

Colorado High School Football Participation – Before and After 2010

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Has Colorado high school football suffered because of the concussion crisis in college and professional football?

For years the National Football League denied that head trauma could have long-term consequences on its athletes. Finally in 2010, the NFL publicly admitted that many of its former players were suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In 2014, Boston University release a study showing that almost all of the brains studied tested positive for CTE.

Over the past decade the increased awareness of brain trauma and concussions has resulted in the establishment of protocol to identify when athletes have received a concussion. These protocols apply to all sports and all levels of play. As well they would apply to situations off the courts and playing fields.

In some places, reports have indicated that participation in football has resulted in a reduction in the number of football players.

Colorado High School Football

Data from the NFHS shows that the concussion crisis had no impact on the number of Colorado schools with football teams. This data is for the 13 academic years beginning in 2002/2003 and ending 2014/2015. There were 215 teams in 2002/2003 and 211 teams in 2014/2015. This data does not include 8-man football teams. (The program data for 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 appears to be an aberration).

Colorado High School Football

Most years, the average number of participants per program was about 70.

Colorado High School Football

The number of participations reached almost 18,000 in 2007/2008, but declined sharply the next two year. In has since been in the 15,000 to 16,000 range. The fear of concussion on the number of participants appears to be temporary and minimal at this point.

The NFHS data also reported that there were about 50 girls who play high school boys football each year. On average, this means there is about one girl for every four programs.

In 2013/2015, 216 girls participated in the boys programs. The following year, that number dropped back to 35.

Despite the concussion crisis,  Colorado high school football continues to be the king of adolescent sports. Its popularity will likely increase with the recent Super Bowl win by the Denver Broncos.

American Tennis Without the Williams Sisters

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Since they first hit the tour, Venus and Serena Williams have been the face of women’s tennis in the U.S. The following tables show the gap between the Williams sisters in age, ranking, and earnings.

Seventeen American women were entered in the first Grand Slam of the year, the 2016 Australian Open. The following table shows the age, earnings, and rank of the first-round women losers who represented the U.S. in Melbourne.

Name Age Career Earnings February 9 Ranking
Alison Riske 26 $1.7 million 92nd
Christina McHale 24 $2.2 million 62nd
Sloane Stephens 22 $3.7 million 25th
Anna Tatishvili 26 $1.4 million 116th
Coco Vandeweghe 24 $2.2 million 46th
Samantha Crawford 20 $277,000 110th
Victoria Duval 20 $290,000 587th
Venus Williams 35 $32.6 million 12th
Bethanie Mattek-Sands 30 $4.5 million 77th

The second and third round losers are listed in the table below.

Name Age Career Earnings February 9 Ranking
Irina Falconi 25 $1.2 million 75th
Nicole Gibbs 23 $730 105th
Vania King 27 $3.6 million 227th
Varvara Lepchenko 29 $3.3 million 49th
Madison Brengle 25 $1.2 million 57th
Lauren Davis 22 $1.4 million 99th

The following table lists the same information finalist Serena Williams and Madison Keys, who reached the round of 16.

Name Age Career Earnings February 9 Ranking
Madison Keys 21 $3.1 million 24th
Serena Williams 34 $75.4 million 1st

Despite being the oldest American players, the Williams sisters still continue to dominate in the rankings. It is unlikely the Americans who are 24 or older will make it into the top ten – they are able to compete internationally, but they are not elite players.

Given the track record of the USTA Player Development program, it is not a comforting thought to envision what American tennis will look like without the Williams sisters.

Colorado Girls High School Tennis Has Strong Foundation

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Between the 1999/2000 and 2014/2015 academic years the number of Colorado girls high school tennis programs in Colorado ranged from 110 to 153, with the peak coming in 2014/2015. This increase comes after declines in the two previous seasons. The range of the number of boys and girls programs was similar during these 15 years.

colorado girls high school tennis

For this period, there has been a wide range of participation in girls programs. Interestingly, there is a solid correlation between the number of girls programs and the number of participants. That was not the case with the boys tennis. Over this period the annualized rate of growth in participation is 2.4%.

At its peak in 2008/2009, there were 4,901 participants. The number of participants has since trended downwards, for no obvious reason.

The lowest number of participants during this period occurred in 1999/2000.

colorado girls high school tennis

Between 1999 and 2015 the Colorado population increased by from 4.2 million to 5.4 million. This is a gain of 1.2 million people, at an annualized rate of 1.7%.

The number of females between the ages of 15 and 19 increased from 144,081 in 1999 to 176,661 in 2015. This is a gain of 32,580, at an annualized rate of 1.4%. It appears that girls tennis is growing at a much higher rate than the population of females in the 15-19 year range.

Over the past three years the average number of players per program has been about 30 students.

colorado girls high school tennis

There are a number of factors that are a challenge to girls high school tennis in Colorado such as the lack of quality coaches and adequate funding and facilities. Nationally, tennis is growing at an annualized rate less than the rate of growth in the U.S. population, (less than 1.0%). Probably the biggest challenge is that girls tennis in Colorado is a spring sport and the weather in the spring is often windy, cold, and wet.

On the other hand, many girls participate in programs because the season is short, most players are recreation level players, and many programs emphasize the social aspect of the sport.

Colorado girls tennis has a strong foundation and should continue to grow.

Source: NFHS.