The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body and coaches association of college tennis, both an advocate and authority, overseeing men’s and women’s varsity tennis at all levels –
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...
,
NCAA Division II
NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...
,
NCAA Division III
NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...
, NAIA, and Junior/Community College.
The ITA headquarters are located in
Tempe, Arizona
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, named_for = Vale of Tempe
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, imagesize = 260px
, image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...
.
History
Originally founded in 1956 by the legendary UCLA men’s tennis coach, J. D. Morgan, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body of college tennis, overseeing men’s and women’s varsity tennis at all levels – NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College. Officially incorporated in 1978 as the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association (ITCA), for more than 65 years, the ITA has worked hard to achieve its charter goals: (1) “To foster and encourage the playing of intercollegiate tennis in accordance with the highest tradition of sportsmanship and consistent with the general objectives of higher education.” (2) “To develop among the intercollegiate coaches a deeper sense of responsibility in teaching, promoting, maintaining, and conducting the game of tennis.” And, (3) “To educate and serve those individuals and groups who are involved in collegiate tennis: junior and college players, their coaches and parents, and the at-large tennis public.”
Former Princeton tennis coach, David A Benjamin, became the head of the organization in 1979, first as the elected president before serving as the executive director from 1983 to 2016. Since 2016, the ITA headquarters has been located in
Tempe, Arizona
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, named_for = Vale of Tempe
, image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg
, imagesize = 260px
, image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...
, near the
Arizona State University (ASU) campus. The current Chief Executive Officer is Dr. Timothy Russell.
Major Championships
Except for the NCAA Championships, the ITA is responsible for organizing the vast majority of collegiate national championships over the spring, summer, and fall. Today, the ITA runs 13 national events for schools and student-athletes across all five divisions of play. The ITA is widely considered as the most influential and active governing body to their sport amongst all collegiate sports.
ITA Team Championships:
* ITA National Team Indoor Championships
*
Division I Men's National Team Indoor Championships, February 17-20, 2023 , Chicago, IL
*
Division I Women's National Team Indoor Championships, February 10-13, 2023 , Seattle, WA
*
Division II Men's National Team Indoor Championships, February 17-19, 2023 , Indianapolis, IN
*
Division II Women's National Team Indoor Championships, February 24-26, 2023 , Kearney, NE
*
Division III Men's National Team Indoor Championships, February 24-26, 2023 , St. Peter, MN
*
Division III Women's National Team Indoor Championships, March 3-5, 2023 , Nicholasville, KY
*
NAIA Men's National Team Indoor Championships, February 3-5, 2023 , Overland Park, KS
*
NAIA Women's National Team Indoor Championships, February 3-5, 2023 , Overland Park, KS
ITA Individual Championships:
* ITA All-American Championships
*
Men's All-American Championships, October 1-9, 2022 , Tulsa, OK
*
Women's All-American Championships, October 1-9, 2022 , Cary, NC
ITA Cup, October 13-16, 2022 , Rome, GA
ITA National Fall Championships, November 2-6, 2022 , San Diego, CA
ITA/Tennis-Point National Summer Championships, August 11-16, 2022 , Tallahassee, FL
Awards
Various national and regional awards are presented by ITA in recognition of outstanding performances in men's and women's college tennis each year.
The awards include:
*ITA National College Player of the Year Awards
*ITA/
Arthur Ashe
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Un ...
Leadership and Sportsmanship Awards
*ITA Senior/Sophomore Player of the Year Awards
*ITA Rookie Player of the Year Awards
*ITA Scholar Athlete Awards
*ITA All-Academic Team Awards (team GPA award)
*Cissie Leary/ITA Award for Sportsmanship (Women Div. I)
*
Rafael Osuna/ITA Award for Sportsmanship (Men Div. I)
*ITA Meritorious Service Award, presented by ConantLeadership
*
Steve Wilkinson Team Sportsmanship Award
*ITA Collegiate All-Star Team (composed of top players from all divisions)
*USTA Collegiate Summer Team (traveling team)
*
Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year Awards
*ITA Assistant Coach of the Year Awards
*ITA Most Improved Senior/Sophomore of the Year Award
*ITA Achievement Award (awarded to varsity collegiate tennis alumni)
Hall of Fame
The ITA Men's Hall of Fame is located at the
University of Georgia
, mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things."
, establ ...
’s Dan Magill Tennis Complex in
Athens, Georgia
Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...
, and the ITA Women's Hall of Fame is located at the
McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center at the
College of William & Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...
in
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is ...
.
The ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame was created to "celebrate the milestones in women's collegiate tennis, from the early struggles for recognition to the achievement of full-fledged intercollegiate competition."
References
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External links
ITA Women's Hall of Fame
1956 establishments in the United States
College tennis in the United States
Sports in Somerset County, New Jersey
Companies based in Somerset County, New Jersey
Non-profit organizations based in New Jersey
Sports organizations established in 1956