Southern Boys' & Girls' 14 Closed "Nike Junior Qualifying Event"

Parent Alert and Medical Release

We would greatly appreciate you taking time to complete the evaluation form. We want you to have the best possible experience at these tournaments and need your input. Thanks.Go to www.southerntennis.com/southern_championships_designated_evaluation.htm

The Nike Junior Tour (NJT) is a world wide series of junior singles tournaments for Boys and Girls in the 12 and 14 age groups. There are currently 28 countries participating in the NJT, representing over 60,000 players. Former international participants include Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin Del Potro and Tomas Berdych. The winners of this event will be invited to compete at the NJT USA National Masters, September 17-20 at Stanford University. The National Masters is a USTA National event (A level 2). Nike provides round trip transportation, food and lodging for the winners. (B14, B12, G14, G12) plus one team coach. The NJT National winners advance on to play in the NJT International Masters in October in the Dominican Republic. Expenses for the International Masters are paid by Nike.

Age eligiblility: NJT USA play leads to the NJT International Masters where 22 countries participate. Therefore, to be eligible for the NJT USA National Masters and the NJT International Masters, players must meet the ITF (International Tennis Federation) age eligibility cutoff date of December 31. Example: If you are currently 12, but will turn 13 on or before December 31, 2009, you may play in the Section Championship in the 12's but WOULD NOT BE ELIGIBLE to compete in the 12’s at the NJT National Masters at Stanford or the International Masters in Italy. Players should consider the ITF eligibility to determine which age group to enter if they want to be eligible to go on to the NJT USA National Masters or International Masters.

All applicants NOT admitted to the main draw shall be listed in order, to be moved into the main draw if/when spaces become available. The order will be based on Southern Standings. .If you are an alternate and do NOT get in, you may do any or all of the following: 1)Stand by as an on-site alternate on Saturday 20 for any of the 128 unseeded positions 2) Come to play doubles on Sunday June 21 3 ) Stand by as an on-site alternate on Monday June 22th for the 32 seeded players*** If you are an alternate, please make sure the tournament director has accurate contact information so that you may be contacted when needed.

Withdrawals Prior to the deadline, players should withdraw online. Players should note all rules on withdrawing from a tournament. All withdrawals after the deadline must be in writing by e-mail or fax. No refunds will be issued for players withdrawing after selections are made. Alternates wishing to enter another tournament should withdraw from the Alternates list before entering another tournament. Alternates are not charged the entry fee until admitted into the draw.

All players must have a copy of a Birth Certificate or Green Card on file in the Southern office. Players should go to this link to see if their name is on file. If your name does not appear here please Fax to 770-368-9091 or e-mail to howard@sta.usta.com. more info

EVENTS: Boys and girls singles 160 draw with Feed-in championship through quarterfinals and playoff matches for 3/4 places. Play in the FIC is mandatory. Semifinal losers in the main draw are required to play the 3/4 playoff match. The Singles official draw will be made at noon on Thursday June 18th at noon. Draw sheets will be posted at SITE on Friday June 19th by noon. NO INFORMATION ABOUT THE DRAW WILL BE GIVEN BY PHONE. One round of Main Draw singles will be played each day. Consolations begins on SUNDAY with one round, Player will not start two rounds of Consolations until Tuesday. Boys and Girls doubles (single elimination) draw will be posted June 21, by 9 am.

Thirty-two seeds will be “block seeded” into the third round of the singles tournament and will thus not play until Monday, June 22. Seeding will be done and posted online on Tuesday 16th before 7:00 pm. Seeded singles players: carefully NOTE THE DATES FOR DOUBLES!

MATCH AND SCORING FORMATS Scoring: Singles main draw will be the best of three tie-break sets. In the event of inclement weather, this format may be changed to best of 2 sets with a match tiebreak in lieu of the third set. Singles Consolation will be best of three sets with a 3rd set match tiebreak in lieu of the third on days that 2 matches are played. Doubles will play the collegiate format (8 game pro-set) with a match tiebreak played at 8-all. The match tie-break for both singles and doubles is the 10-point format.

Junior tennis should be a fun and rewarding experience for our children. Character building lessons such as hard work, discipline, sportsmanship, and handling adversity are regularly on display. Parents of junior players should also enjoy the time spent with their children and watching them develop not just into better tennis players, but into good citizens. Regrettably, USTA Southern has encountered a disturbing trend over the past few years involving parents of junior players. Verbal abuse by some parents directed at tournament referees, officials, and even other junior players and their parents is becoming more commonplace. These incidents adversely impact the players' and parents' tournament experience and create a negative and distressing atmosphere for all participants, parents and officials. Such abusive and improper conduct by a few is in violation of the governing rules and shall not be tolerated. In response to the actions of a few, USTA Southern has instituted this to remind parents and players that abuse of players, referees, or officials by a parent, relative, coach or other person associated with a player is prohibited by the governing rules, and any such abuse may result in the issuance of directives for that person to leave the tournament area and/or the imposition of point penalties and other sanctions authorized by applicable regulations. Abusive behavior in any form shall not be tolerated. Tournament officials and referees will report all instances of such misconduct, and the consequences of such misconduct will be fully enforced. Parents and players are governed by, and should become familiar with the Friend at Court and particularly, Part 3 USTA Regulations, Section IV.C. which addresses Standards of Conduct. An excerpt of that Section is provided for reference on the back of this form and a full copy of Friend at Court is available online at no charge at http://www.usta.com.

Comprehensive hotel information: List and Directions go to www.macontennis.com more info

CLICK HERE FOR SITE DIRECTIONS AND ADDRESSES Playing Sites: John Drew smith ( JDS ) Tattnall ( TAT ) Practice Courts: Mercer University ( no charge ) first come first serve and each playing site before 8 AM match times. Also Healy Point practice courts available $5 per person 746-2394. Reservations for up to 1 hour. more info

National Endorsements: Players should play in the age division they are seeking Southern Endorsement.Link to the following

Tournament Selections and Alternate lists will be posted by 5:00pm June 15, 2009.

Entries and Selections: All players must enter through the TennisLink On-line Registration. Players may enter only one division even though each age division is at a different site and listed as a separate tournament on the schedule. Players should play in the age division they are seeking Southern Endorsement. Fourteen of the selections will be based on the most current Southern Standings of the age division only. (No selections based on the younger age group). All other selections are based on the quotas and endorsements of the States.

Registration is at JDS tennis center. 3280 North Ingle Place in Macon, GA Hours of Registration. Friday 4:00 PM until 6:30 PM. Saturday 7:00 AM until 12:00 PM ( noon ) Sunday 12:00 until 3:00 Monday 7:00 AM until 12:00 PM ( noon )

Due to incoming weather, we are cancelling all second rounds of Monday doubles. We are trying to play at least one round of doubles tonight. Match times for singles on Tuesday are the same.