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Learn. Compete. Achieve.
Youth are the future of tennis
Our Mission
Discover Tennis believes that tennis is more than recreation and champions. Tennis can enrich youth and offer meaningful opportunities to build character, community service, leadership, skills, and physical fitness. We believe that the future of tennis depends on expanding opportunities for young players to get involved, to learn, to play, and to become champions for the game. We all have a role to play in cultivating youth tennis and investing in strategies to expand and extend opportunities for tennis at the community and national level. We believe that collaboration with communities, not for profit organizations, youth organizations, tennis associations, foundations and private sector partnerships will build and enrich the future of tennis.
Our Past: to shed light and recognize the journey of modern tennis with its challenges, inspirations, visionaries and milestones
Our Future: to promote new programs and new ideas designed to improve
existing programs that grow the game
Founder & History
Neil Johnson, Tennis Visionary
Neil Johnson is a tennis luminary and has been committed to growing the game of tennis for more than 60 years. He is the Founder of Discover Tennis and developed Serve, Stroke and Volley (SSV) to provide an objective, skills-based way to determine tennis ability as well as serve as a tool for competition and youth development. SSV has been used widely across the country by USTA sections, clubs, parks and youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America.
The Tennis Serve, Stroke & Volley (SSV) pilot programs, like Golf's Drive, Pitch & Putt and Football's Punt, Pass & Kick, have been successfully run in many events with the New Jersey Parks and Chevrolet dealers implementing a state wide competition for boys and girls ages 6 to 14.
Schools have used SSV as a tryout and to organized NoCut programs. Private clubs use SSV to create an area wide Grand Prix circuit for their junior development kids to have regular level of play round robin tournament competition.
Neil was nominated for the “America’s Top Seed” award by the USTA for his numerous contributions to growing the game of tennis and expanding access to tennis to youth and communities. He has received USTA Southern California Grass Root award and several USPTA awards for Excellence and Special Recognition.
Neil ran his first tournaments in 1958 in Midland, Michigan. In the early sixties after moving to Cleveland, Ohio, he continued to organize local tennis events. As a Chemical Engineer for Union Carbide, he moved to Middletown, New Jersey in 1966 and formed a local tennis association which grew to more than 2,000 members. His five sons shared his passion for tennis and were also a driving ambition for Neil’s commitment to supporting youth tennis. Many of the children in his local tennis association went on to receive national rankings and college scholarships. Some of Neil's junior players are now in the tennis business as coaches, tennis teaching pros and club directors.
In the early 1970’s, Neil understood that tennis needed an objective national standard to levels of play equivalent to the golf handicap and bowling average. He created the SSV rating system, the first objective rating system for tennis, that served to support the expansion of national tennis leagues of all ages and levels of play.
The SSV system uses quantitative, skills-based drills that objectively determine relative tennis ability which allows for ratings without regard to age or gender – allowing for matching skills for balanced competition.
Neil created and developed a coed youth program with the Boy Scouts of America called Tennis Explorers that utilized SSV to introduce new players to the game, allow them to self organize level of play competition, engage youth in teaching the SSV system, engage in community service, and compete in leagues and tournaments.
Over the last few decades, SSV has been used by schools, colleges, and tennis camps as a tool to evaluate skills and support leagues and competitive tennis opportunities. He has created a website www.ssvtennis.com to support players ability to get their rankings at their home courts and support competition at local, regional, and national levels.
Accomplishments
Beginning in the 1970's, Neil Johnson organized NTF Tennis Explorers, a joint venture between the National Tennis Foundation and the Boy Scouts of America. It was a coed youth tennis club for competition, learning, character building, physical fitness, and community service activities. The older youth competed in matches, taught younger kids, engaged in community service activities, and had opportunities to learn and meet tennis champions including Arthur Ashe, Chris Evert, Bjorn Borg, Billy Martin and othersProfessional career as a Chemical Engineer at Dow & Union Carbide with a focus on polymers and solid rocket fuels. Holds multiple patents.
- Founder & President of the New Jersey Shore Tennis Association (NJSTA)
- Created NJSTA Junior Tennis Camp & Junior Indoor Program
- Invited by the USTA to participate in USTA Education and Research Committee. Identified solutions to address membership challenges. Defined a rating system to support attracting and retaining membership.
- Launched Timing-N-Tennis Tennis (TNT Tennis) & was funded by the National Tennis Foundation (NTF) & the Tennis Hall of Fame (THoF) to introduce and field test the rating system with various USTA Sections.
- Served as consultant and advisor to USPTA, PTR, PBI, ITF, and NTF & THoF (Tennis Industry Liaison)
- Created multiple Youth Tennis Programs including:
- NTF Tennis Exploring
- Bermuda Goodwill Program
- 1st National Fast Serve Competition (sponsored by Gilbey's Gin)
- Created SSV Tennis Rating System - Basic Skills Competition, Mobility, High School Tryout, and Improvement Measurement formats
- Ran multiple pilots and competitions to refine and enhance the SSV rating system and levels of play-based competition format
- Over 100,000 players have used the SSV rating system worldwide at over 1000 participating tennis clubs and organizations.
- SERVE, STROKE & VOLLEY: The ProgramSSV is the "Swiss Army Knife" for growing the game of tennis. The SSV is a tool that quickly and objectively measures a player's skill AND easily organizes instructional and competitive programs by level of play. Well-matched players will have better games, improve faster and have more fun with competitive matches at their own level. In a short drill, SSV evaluates three variables to measure five different strokes and court coverage to assess players' basic skills - Control, Power & Mobility - to engage youth early in tennis, expand the game and invest in the future of tennis.SSV, like the "Swiss Army Knife" has multiple uses.1. Rating2. Contest3. Level of Play4. Tryouts5. Strengths & Weaknesses6. Improvement6. Seeding7. Competition8. RankingHere's why SSV can be the foundation for any youth tennis program.
- Objective: on-court, skills-based system, no subjectivity.
- Expands Access: Creating larger pools of players at all levels by eliminating Age & Gender as factors, only ability - Supports Wheel-chair players to easily compete with others via the "Second Bounce" accommodation.
- Streamlines Competition: Supports large, meaningful tournaments to be played in shorter times by fairly placing players in smaller groups by ability with round robin formats, no more single elimination tournaments.
- Simple & Easy: Anyone from age 5 and up can get a SSV rating.
- Credible: Thousands have used SSV with accurate results.
- Inexpensive: No special equipment or highly trained professionals needed.
- Fast: Players know results instantly. No travel or matches required.
- Transparency: Reveals a player's strengths and weaknesses & tracks improvements over time.
- Supports Competition: Like Punt, Pass & Kick or Drive, Pitch and Putt, SSV can be used as a skill contest for tennis.
- Team Strength: Average SSV scores of players can indicate overall team strength.
- Team Improvement: Pre-season/Post-season SSV scores shows team improvement.
- Try-outs: Best way to screen players for high school teams and other programs.
- Talent Identification: SSV as a tool to nationally screen kids for youth player development.
- Virtual Competition: No travel is required for players to compete and gain recognition for ability.
- Improve Training: "Level Playing Field" training, not by age or gender.
- Better Competition: Competition by ability, not age or gender - kids play more.
- On Court Drill: Doesn't require extensive match play, travel or subjective questionnaire.
Resources
Get Started with SSV
Learn. Compete. Achieve.
Resources for Growing the Game with SSV:
- Tennis Professionals
- High School Coaches
- Community Organizations
- Tennis Clubs & Organizations
How to Get Started with SSV Flyer
SSV Junior Tennis & Event Program
SSV Website for Player Results and Events
Get involved in SSV programs at the local and national level.
- Entry Level Juniors
- Intermediate Level Adults
- SSV rating for level of play
- Events to compete and improve
SSV is widely used as a tool to introduce youth to tennis, support competition and improvement, and provide a foundation for tennis and youth development programs by not-for-profit organizations, Parks & Recreation organizations, and school-based teams.
Examples include:
- Boy Scouts of America
- National Tennis Foundation
- High School & Collegiate Tennis Teams
- Public & Private Tennis Club Tournaments
- Community Service programs to expand access to tennis in under-served communities
- USTA & Tennis Academies
Get in Touch for more information on bringing SSV to your community!
Join us in growing the future of tennis!
SSV Tournaments are fun and building the next generation for tennis! SSV Grand Prix Tournaments are held throughout Southern California and the Desert...
Click below for more information
Trophies for SSV Junior Grand Prix
With SSV good competition occurs by level of play, not age or gender
SSV kids at USTA National Girls 16 & 18 Championships
SSV Youth Tennis Player, Timothy Sah started as a youth and is now a college player at Stanford University. Growing the Game!
Timothy age 7 at winner at
SSV Contest
Timothy plays for Stanford now
Stanford player, SSV Backhand Volley drill
Stanford player, SSV Mobility drill
Video: Bobby Bernstein talks SSV
The SSV System is used by Youth Tennis Teams and Coaches to support training and competition.
Check out the videos below!
Video: SSV in Southern California Bruce Hunt, EX.Dir. USTA/SCAL
Video: Private club uses SSV to organize instruction and competition
Video: Discover Tennis at USTA Girls National 16 &18
Video: Bryan Bros clinic with SSV kids
Video: SSV high school tennis tryouts
Video: SSV with Junior Team Tennis.
- THE SCIENCE OF SSVFor over 60 years, our Founder, Neil Johnson, has been building the future of tennis by expanding access to the game, engaging youth, and enriching individuals and communities for the future of the game.
Videos on the SSV System
The Story & Science Behind SSV - by Neil Johnson, Founder of Discover Tennis & SSV
The inspiration or discovery point for SSV came at the USTA’s Annual meeting in Houston, TX in 1972. I was invited by Eve Kraft, the head of USTA’s Education and Research (E&R) department after twenty of my New Jersey Shore Tennis Association (NJSTA) kids participated in a Middle States tournament run by Eve in Princeton, NJ in the summer of 1971. She had not heard of NJSTA and was impressed by their performance and level of play, since this was the first USTA event they had played in. Some of these kids actually won their events. She asked, “How many pros are teaching in your NJSTA youth program?”. I answered, none. I explained that my focus was to have frequent competition for players. Eve was eager for me to speak with the USTA E&R Committee and stare the NJSTA story.
During the meeting with the E&R Committee, the subject of the USTA membership came up. In the early 70s, there was a tennis boom in America due in large part to television and American tennis stars like Chris Evert, Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors. Millions of people were inspired by the game and starting to play tennis. Despite the increasing interest in tennis, few were joining the USTA and the Association couldn’t understand why.
It was during that meeting that I had the first “light bulb” moment in the SSV evolution. I shared my perspective with the USTA officials that there was a reason why people weren’t joining the USTA. In my layman’ opinion, the USTA did three things that created a barriers to “rank and file” community players joining the USTA: 1) While players of all levels could play tennis, the USTA regional and national tournaments were out of reach to many due to the inability to travel for USTA-sanctioned competitive play opportunities ; 2) USTA ranking systems were geared toward tournament players and the average player would likely be eliminated in early rounds at tournaments; and 3) tennis enthusiasts enjoyed USTA tournaments as spectators but in terms of their own tennis experience, there was little incentive for recreational players to join the USTA.
I further said that you have to look to other lifetime sports like golf and bowling to see why they have millions of members. The reason was that they provided a service to the average player; namely, they certified their members golf handicap and bowling average. It was easy to do. All their players had to do was send in their scores. Their golf and bowling organizations just took an average of their scores and kept a record.
I told them the score in those sports are an indication of their relative ability. The golf handicap and bowling average are objective and answers the question, “How good are you?” and allow for organizing good competition. The score in tennis such as 6-3, 6-2 doesn’t indicate tennis ability, just a winner and a loser.
All tennis rating and ranking systems are subjective, not objective. The A,B,C method is only valid in specific groups like a club that knows all its players and arbitrarily selects who’s A, B or C. However, an A player at one club could be a B player at another club.
The ranking systems are also subjective because they are only valid for the players that are actively involved. A club ladder doesn’t reflect the ability of another club member who’s not active.
The difference between a golf or bowling score that is objective and a tennis score that is subjective is a mathematical answer.
Golf and bowling have one variable (the player) and one constant (18 holes and a score of 72 for golf) and (ten frames and a score 300 for bowling). In golf your handicap is your score minus 72. In bowling it’s the average of your scores. The constant or the opponent in these sports are a standard set of conditions.
In tennis there are two variables, two players or teams against each other. Each player has a direct effect on the other player's ability to score points. Therefore, there is no standard set of conditions to display a player’s skills.
If you want to have an objective way to determine tennis ability, then a mathematical term comes into play. That term is parameter. A parameter is a set of conditions that allows you to statistically measure a variable. An example is measuring temperature. If you want to know a temperature you would normally use a thermometer. However, if you wanted to measure the temperature of molten steel, it would melt a thermometer. They use a light index because there is a direct correlation between the color of molten steel and its temperature. That is a parameter.
Having decided we need a parameter to measure tennis ability, the question becomes, what factors or skills in tennis are measurable. Like any sport, players have many different skill sets. Many are not easy or objectively measured. However, three basics are Control, Power and Mobility.
Control is the direction. Better players can hit the ball where they want more often. Power is speed, pace or depth. Better players can hit the ball faster, harder or deeper.
Mobility is speed. Better players can move faster and cover more court.
High high tech equipment and highly trained technicians can measure these variables. However, for a method to be practical on a large public scale, it must be simple, inexpensive, and the results must be credible. That rules out technology and trained technicians.
Before these control, power and mobility skills can be measured, a standard set of conditions need to be determined. I evaluated putting the ball into play with a ball machine, a person delivering a ball from a racquet and an underhand ball toss. I determined that the underhand ball toss was the lowest common denominator and giving the player the option to reject bad ball tosses. It was also decided to have all the balls tossed down the center line of the court to the middle of the back court. This was to minimize the variance between different ball tossers. A bonus was the ability to measure unforced errors.
With players using only their forehand, different size small targets were put on the court. I determined that even the best players couldn’t consistently hit the small targets. I finally decided to only look for direction. Using a standard singles tennis court, a line was placed between the net and the baseline that divided the deuce court. Another line was placed between the net and the baseline that divided the ad court. Therefore, target areas for right handed players were established with the wide half of the deuce court being the cross-court target area and the wide half of the ad court being the down the line target area. Reverse target areas are for left handed players.
With no prior reference for the value of a ball placement, the scoring for control was basic logic. An error or (0) for a ball hit out of the court. A score of (1) for a ball that lands anywhere in the court except the target area. Why? because (1) is higher than (0). And a score of (2) for a ball landing in the target area. Again, because (2) is higher than (1).
Now for power. There are technical ways to measure power, such as radar and impact. However, again, technical equipment and technicians are required which makes those strategies not practical.
Another “light bulb” or discovery moment appears. While watching some juniors practice, I noticed a young girl serving. Her ball landed in the service box and bounced several times before it reached the baseline. Then watching an older boy serve I noticed his ball also landed in the service box, however, his ball hit the back curtain before the second bounce. I came to the conclusion that there was a correlation or parameter between the depth of the second bounce and the power or pace of the ball hit.
Again, math came into play. The development of the SSV method was done on indoor courts which usually had a curtain behind the courts for people to move to different courts without disturbing play. The curtains were always at least 15 ft behind the base line and I didn’t want the second bounce to have to it the curtain to score. So the maximum distance behind the court for the player to score power would be 15 ft.
The location of the new “Powerline” was an interesting challenge. Since all the balls to be hit were from the center of the court, which was decided to simplify giving the method, and the best shot to be hit was a wide angle, then a straight “Powerline” behind the base line would be farther from a lesser shot down the center of the court. It can be compared to the effect in baseball if the outfield fence was a straight line, then right field and left field fences would be farther from the home plate than center field. So an arc was made using a tape measure from the center of the player’s side to the 15 ft mark behind the baseline on the other side. By extending the singles sideline back toward the fence, the tape measure crosses the singles sideline extension at 13 ft. By placing a line between the 15 ft center make and the 13 ft extended sideline behind both the deuce and ad court and there by making a roof effect with the lines. Now the “Powerline” is always the same distance from where the player is regardless of the angle the ball is hit.
For the scoring for Power, the same logic applies. If the second bounce, of any ball whose first bounce is in the court, lands before the baseline, then (0) is scored for power. If the second bounce lands between the baseline and the Powerline, then (1) is scored for power. If the second bounce lands past the Powerline, then (2) is scored for power. We now have a credible, simple and objective scoring method for control and power.
It is a truism that the combination of control and power determines the quality of a ball hit. This is true in golf, football, basketball, baseball, etc.
Better players can deliver a ball better than lesser players based on those two skills.
Mobility is just a simple running drill between several points being measured by a stopwatch.
- DISCOVER TENNIS - THE BOOK!
coming soon...
The book, Discover Tennis, will be available soon. It's a little history with a focus on the journey of modern tennis from the sixties. Included are recent milestones, highlights, pioneers, champions, contributors, innovators and fashions with an optimistic view of plans for future growth.
Neil Johnson, Founder of Discover Tennis and SSV is writing Discover Tennis book (available soon). The book will shed a light on the journey of modern tennis beginning in the 1960's and will highlight the key milestones, pioneers and champions that helped grow the game. There will be interviews and bios from some of the luminaries and leaders who have made significant contributions to tennis and have generously shared their stories and insights with Neil.
Discover Tennis will also offer a look into the future of tennis - the new facilities, initiatives and programs that continue to grow the game. These include facilities like the Carol Kimmelman Campus in Los Angeles that will provide high-caliber academic and athletic programs for under-resourced communities, children and families, initiatives like USTA’s Team USA intended to strengthen relationships with local sections and programs to provide a better pathway for player development, programs like Discover Tennis’ Serve, Stroke & Volley (SSV) youth competition to reach boys and girls ages 6-14 (similar to the Football’s Punt, Pass & Kick and Golf’s Drive, Chip & Putt).
Serve, Stroke & Volley may serve as an entry level farm system to funnel kids into more programs like Net Generation, After School Tennis, Junior Team Tennis, Junior WTT, NJTL, USTA Junior Tournaments, UTR and High School Tennis.
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