Latest ITA Scholar-Athletes to make the grade and more.
The latest tennis news is that the Intercollegiate Tennis Association has announced the 2021 men’s and women’s ITA scholar-athletes and all-academic teams. The men and women from St. Mary’s and Seahawks were among the few honored by the teams.
Astonishingly, both the women’s and men’s teams have been named to the ITA All-Academic Team for the tenth straight season. The latest tennis news goes on to explain why this is no walk on the lawn for these young players.
Are these star players members of the future Olympic team? Let’s look at the latest brightest additions to the ITA and what these new Scholar-Athletes can expect from this prestigious association.
What is the ITA?
The Intercollege Association of Tennis (ITA), initially established in 1956 by UCLA, is a leading college tennis body supervising men and women tennis varsity at all levels – NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, NAIA, Junior, and Community College. The association was founded in 1956 by the legendary Main Tennis Coach, J. D. Morgan.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association (ITCA) was established as an official institution in 1978. Over the past forty years, ITA has worked hard to reach its charter aims to encourage tennis practice in line with the highest sports and education traditions.
They also aim to develop, promote, maintain and conduct the game of tennis among intercollegiate coaches and to educate and serve those people and groups that are involved in college tennis, including junior and college players, coaches and parents, and the wider tennis community.
Any member program with a cumulative GPA team of 3.20 or more is eligible for the ITA Team Award (on a 4.00 scale). Student-athletes who post at least a GPA of 3.50 receive the Award of ITA Scholar-Athlete designation.
ITA comprises almost 1,250 male and female coaches, representing over 1,700 institutions in all three divisions of the NCAA and NAIA, Junior, and Community Colleges throughout the country.
Who Made the ITA Cut this Year?
The Women
The minimum requirement for the current academic year for all 11 women on the 2020-21 Roster is at least 3.50. The average grade point of the whole team must be 3.20 or higher for the team’s honor.
The fourth consecutive Scholar-Athlete award was awarded to Senior Abigail Csengery, with a third prize won by Ashley Penshorn. Judges gave the second name to Grace Bell, Charli Delmonico, Maria García, Gabi Ioannou, Alice Thane, and Marina Vigil.
The Men
Fifth straight men’s Athlete Scholar Awards were won by Senior Jeremiah Sanchez, while for the fourth time, Alex Gee was tabbed. The third multi-time winner is Leon Hein, who receives his second straight honor.
The Seahawks have compiled a 3.29 Team GPA with five players having a minimum of 3.50 GPA. Each won ITA Scholar-Athlete recognition, Michael Copeland, John Dransfeld, Daniel Groom, Gabe Hurtado, and Davide Innocenti.
The Seahawks were a team of six from the ITA All-Academic Team of the Colonial Athletic Association. Delaware, Elon, Hofstra, James Madison, Mary, and William.
UNCW was also one of 10 schools in North Carolina to honor and listed Davidson, Duke, Elon, UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro, NC State, and N. Central, North Carolina, and UNC Charlotte.
The men’s and women’s teams have been appointed to the ITA all-academic team for the 10th consecutive season.
ITA Championships
The robust series of ITA Championships is one of the most essential continuing programs managed by ITA.
Every year, the ITA Regional Championships serve roughly 8,000 men’s and women’s collegiate tennis players in over 80 regional competitions (24 for Division I and about 60 for lesser colleges) conducted across the country.
Qualifying from the regional Small College Championships will occur in mid-October at the ITA Cup in Singles and JUCO Singles and Double National Championships in Singles, Divisions III, NAIA, and JUCO Championships.
They then join the top Division I single and double players at the ITA National Fall Championships at the beginning of November. The ITA also manages the year-round national events, in addition to the mentioned fall championships.
More about ITA – What is the ITA Tour?
The ITA Tour includes around 50 tournaments throughout the summer as part of the Universal Tennis ITA Summer Circuit and another 200 as part of the Universal Tennis fall circuit. The ITA National Summer Tennis Championship will be held in early August.
How Do ITA Rankings Work?
The ITA administers the ITAs (Singles/Doubles/Team’s) rankings for NCAA Divisions I, II, III, NAIA, NJCAA, and CCCAA, designed to track top men and women’s teams and singles and doubles.
What is the ITA Awards Program?
The ITA manages a comprehensive program of awards to recognize and honor coaches and participants of men and women in all branches. All winners of the award are certified; some are also awarded memorial plaques.
Campus Tennis
The ITA supports Tennis On Campus, a highly successful program for non-varsity dual-gender tennis players administered by USTA (the United States Tennis Association) using a World Team Tennis format.
College tennis associations such as ITA continue to produce star tennis players. The 2021 Olympics happen to have 19 former college tennis athletes participating, driving home the importance of making the college tennis team. Are the above-mentioned tennis players future competitors at the Olympics? We’ll have to wait and see.