A concept that Anita Murphy’s Lewiston Recreation Department tennis program has embraced in recent years for the youngest of its burgeoining stars will become a mandatory fixture at the tournament level for United States Tennis Association events beginning in 2012.

In a major announcement last week, the USTA rolled out a new set of rules governing competition for 10-and-under tennis tournaments.

“We’re very excited about what this change means to the future of tennis in the United States,” Lucy S. Garvin, Chairman of the Board and President of the USTA said in a news release. “Competition is an important element of learning and growing the game, and now all children 10 and under will have the proper platform with which to compete.”

The fundamental changes include shrinking the playing surface and, for the youngest competitors, lowering the nets. The USTA hopes to promote the game of tennis and encourage more children to participate by helping to ease the transition at a younger age, similar to the way baseball players begin playing on smaller fields with shorter and lighter bats.

“Scaling tennis down to the size of children will promote greater participation and ensure that young kids will be able to play tennis much more quickly,” says Kurt Kamperman, Chief Executive of Community Tennis for the USTA said in the release. “This rule change to the competition format for kids 10 and under is critical to the long-term growth of our sport, and ultimately will help us develop new generations of players and champions.”

With the changes only recently announced, area coaches hadn’t had a lot of time to read through all of the specifics, and the changes won’t take effect until January 1, 2012.

But at the outset, the reaction was fairly positive.

“It will make it easier for the kids to learn,” Murphy said. “Younger children, when they’re first learning the game, like to find success, and they do that by being able to hit the ball over the net. It’s that simple sometimes. And if this is going to help them find that success at a young age, and keep them interested in the game, I think it’s a good thing.”

Murphy’s youngest players, many of whom pick up a racket at 4 years old, already use some of the same equipment and techniques the USTA is recommending, including nets that are 2 feet, 9 inches tall, smaller playing areas and smaller rackets, along with red foam balls that promote contact over speed.

“We’ve used the ‘Quick Start’ program now for two years, and the kids love it,” Murphy said. “The tiny tots, we call, them, it lets them experience that success.”

The Racket and Fitness Center in Portland began holding tournaments at the 10-and-under level last year, and had some success with that age level.

“The players playing right now at 10-and-under, they are already playing full-court tennis, so it’s a little bit early to say what’s going to happen,” Devi Maganti, the club’s tennis director and manager, said. “I don’t know how they’ll feel about it, and you might see some of the better players play up to the 12-and-under group.”

Murphy shared Maganti’s worry about the older and better-skilled players in the designated age set, but both said also that they understand — and fully support — the USTA’s goal.

“What they’re trying to do is a good idea,” Maganti said. “Maybe the players who are not so good, or those just starting out, will be more likely to enter tournaments and play at that level because of this.”

Both, both also agreed that until the shift happens, and until tournaments start adopting the new regulations, they won’t really know what the full impact of the changes will be.

“Until we really see the changes take effect, we just have to wait and see,” Maganti said.

Major equipment and court changes for tournaments

Regulation court: 78 feet x 27 feet (singles); 78 feet x 36 feet (doubles)

Regulation nets: 3 feet tall

9-10 year-old court change: 60 feet long

9-10 year old equipment change: orange, low-compression balls

8-under court change: 36 feet long

8-under net change: 2 feet, 9 inches tall

8-under equipment change: red foam balls

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