Junior Tennis Champions Center

The Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) is a tennis training center and preparatory school in College Park, Maryland.[1] Founded in 1999, JTCC trains junior, collegiate and professional tennis players.

Junior Tennis Champions Center
Type501(c)(3) nonprofit
Founded1999
HeadquartersCollege Park, Maryland
Key people
Ray Benton (CEO)
Websitewww.jtcc.org

The center hosts United States Tennis Association (USTA) and International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior World Tour events, and serves as the training center for the University of Maryland's women's tennis team.[2]

The center has 17 outdoor courts and 15 indoor courts, including hardcourts, Har-Tru courts, and red clay courts.[3][2]

History
The center court at JTCC

JTCC was founded in 1999 by investment banker Ken Brody.[3] The school was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization meant to serve Washington, D.C., and its Maryland suburbs of Montgomery County and Prince George’s County.[4] Rather than recruiting players from around the country and world, like some tennis academies, the center aims to discover and harvest the best tennis talent from the Washington metropolitan area, JTCC officials said in 2014.[3]

JTCC began operating with 40 recruited junior tennis players from the Mid-Atlantic region.

From 1999 to 2010, future World No. 10 Frances Tiafoe often stayed at the center five nights a week, sleeping in a back room with his brother and his father, the center's head of maintenance. Tiafoe attended school and was coached by the staff at the center.[5]

By 2004, JTCC had demonstrated enough success in junior tennis to earn a designation as a USTA Regional Training Center.[6]

JTCC reached a multi-year agreement with Fila in 2013. As a result of this agreement, Fila has a shop at JTCC and top JTCC players are provided with Fila apparel for junior tournaments.[7]

In 2013 and 2018, JTCC received the USTA's USA Developmental Program of the Year Award for training youth tennis players.[8]

Tournaments held

The center has hosted various USTA regional tournaments. It hosts the Wayne K. Curry Prince George’s County International Junior Tennis Championships, an ITF Junior World Tour Grade 1 event.[9][10] The tournament has drawn numerous future professional tennis players including Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov, Reilly Opelka, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Frances Tiafoe, Casper Ruud, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda, Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin and Claire Liu.[11][4]

JTCC also hosts the ITA Bedford Cup Mid-Atlantic Championships, which is an NCAA Division I women's tennis tournament that draws teams from around the country. Participating schools have included the University of Maryland, University of Delaware, Georgetown University, James Madison University and George Washington University.[12]

Programs

Community outreach

Since 2009, JTCC has run the GEICO Game On! program, which brings JTCC coaches to inner-city schools and recreation centers to teach at-risk children how to play tennis.[13]

High Performance program

The High Performance program has four components: Full Time, Champs I, Champs II, and Junior Champs.[14] Each group has players between ages 6 and 18, and trains for collegiate recruitment.

School

JTCC uses the Laurel Springs School as its distance schooling program.[15] Players in the Full Time High Performance program usually are enrolled in the program to help maximize training time. The school claims that "every student who has graduated from JTCC’s Champions program has earned a scholarship to a Division I program or a facilitated acceptance at a Division III or Ivy League college or university and/or have pursued careers in professional tennis." There are two teachers that teach in-person and full-time at JTCC.

The program's graduates have gone on to attend all the Ivy League colleges, Stanford, Chicago, Virginia, UCLA, Illinois, North Carolina, Maryland, Penn State, Michigan, Texas, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Rice, Duke, Georgetown, George Washington, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and many other colleges and universities.[16]

Notable alumni

JTCC has trained numerous NCAA college tennis players, including NCAA Division I, II, and III champions and All-American players.

The center has also trained professional tennis players during professional events, including the US Open Series' Washington Open, the ATP 500, and WTA International tournament at the nearby William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.

Frances Tiafoe trained at JTCC since he was 4 years old
Denis Kudla trained at JTCC since age 10.

Notable staff
  • Martin Blackman, retired ATP player and former Director of JTCC, reached #158 in ATP singles rankings
  • Brian Gottfried, retired ATP player and senior advisor to JTCC, reached #3 in the ATP singles rankings, finalist at the 1977 French Open and #2 in the ATP doubles rankings
  • Claudio Pistolesi, retired ATP player and senior advisor to JTCC, reached #71 in the ATP singles rankings
  • Richey Reneberg, retired ATP player and co-founder of JTCC, reached #20 in the ATP singles rankings and #1 in the ATP doubles rankings
  • Megan Moulton-Levy, retired WTA player and General Manager of Player Development at JTCC, reached #237 in the WTA singles rankings and #50 in the WTA doubles rankings

References
  1. "About Junior Tennis Champions Center - College Park, Maryland". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  2. "Year-Round Tennis Facilities in College Park, MD". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  3. Rothenberg, Ben (6 January 2014). "A Frozen, Fertile Ground for Developing Tennis Players". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  4. "ITF Tournaments at JTCC in College Park, Maryland". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  5. Jiménez, Jesus (8 September 2022). "In Maryland, Frances Tiafoe's Former Home Rallies Behind Him". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  6. Sun, Benjamin Snyder, Special to The Baltimore. "Junior Tennis Champions Center at College Park 'one of the best'". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. "JTCC AND FILA SIGN MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP". JTCC. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  8. "JTCC Earns 2nd Program of the Year Award". JTCC. 30 March 2018. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  9. "ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors". www.itftennis.com. International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  10. "@JTCC Hosts ITF Hard Court Championship in Gorgeous Prince George's". Tennis Atlantic. 2013-06-17. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  11. Lee, Edward. "After Grand Slam run, Marylander Frances Tiafoe could be the next American hope in tennis". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  12. "BEDFORD CUP". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  13. "The JTCC High Performance Tennis Program for Junior Champs". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  14. "CHAMPIONS OF A CAUSE". JTCC. 17 May 2013. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  15. "JTCC School - Learning and tennis program in College Park, MD". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  16. "Alumni College Placements - JTCC Tennis For Everybody". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  17. "Usue Maitane Arconada | Player Stats & More – WTA Official". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  18. "NOTABLE ALUMNI". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  19. "TAMARA CULIBRK". JTCC.
  20. "Frances Tiafoe | Overview | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  21. "Tiafoe outlasts Kozlov in all-American Orange Bowl final". www.playerdevelopment.usta.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  22. "Denis Kudla | Overview | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  23. "Robin Montgomery | Player Stats & More – WTA Official". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  24. "Montgomery Wins ITF Grade I Doubles Title". myemail.constantcontact.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  25. "Record Breaking Class of 2018". JTCC. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  26. "SKYLAR MORTON". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  27. "Hailey Baptiste | Player Stats & More – WTA Official". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  28. "EVAN ZHU". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-09-20.

38.97713°N 76.92217°W / 38.97713; -76.92217

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