Junior Tennis Champions Center
The Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) is a tennis training center and preparatory school in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1999, JTCC trains junior, collegiate and professional tennis players. The center features 32 both indoor and outdoor clay and hard courts. It also hosts various United States Tennis Association (USTA) and International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior World Tour events. History. JTCC was founded as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1999 and meant to serve Washington, DC, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County. Investment banker Ken Brody helped secure funding for the center to be founded . JTCC began operating with 40 recruited junior tennis players from the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2004, JTCC first received its designation as a USTA Regional Training Center because of its successful High Performance Junior Program. The center also serves as the training center to the University of Maryland's women's tennis team. The center has 17 outdoor courts and 15 indoor courts featuring hardcourts, Har-Tru courts and red clay courts. Rather than recruiting players from around the country and world, like some tennis academies, JTCC aims to discover and harvest the best tennis talent from the Washington metropolitan  area and the DC Beltway. In 2013, JTCC reached a multi-year agreement with Fila. As a result of this agreement, Fila has a shop at JTCC and top JTCC players are provided with Fila apparel for junior tournaments. JTCC has twice been named (in 2013 and 2018) the USA Developmental Program of the Year Award from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) as a result of their ability to train successful youth tennis players. Tournaments held. The center has also been the site of various USTA regional tournaments, and also hosts the Wayne K. Curry Prince George’s County  International Junior Tennis Championships, an ITF Junior World Tour Grade 1 event. The tournament has seen numerous future professional tennis players compete including Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov, Reilly Opelka, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Frances Tiafoe, Casper Ruud, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda, Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin and Claire Liu. JTCC also hosts the ITA Bedford Cup Mid-Atlantic Championships, which is an NCAA Division I women's tennis tournament featuring teams from around the country. Participating schools have included the University of Maryland, University of Delaware, Georgetown University, James Madison University and George Washington University. Programs. Community outreach. Since 2009 , JTCC has run the GEICO Game On! program, which brings JTCC coaches to inner-city schools and recreation centers to teach at-risk children how to play tennis. This program has reached 6,000 different children since its founding. High Performance program. The High Performance program has four components: Full Time, Champs I, Champs II, and Junior Champs. Each group has players between ages 6 and 18, and trains for collegiate recruitment. School. JTCC uses the Laurel Springs School as its distance schooling program. Players in the Full Time High Performance program usually are enrolled in the program to help maximize  training time. The program claims that "every student who has graduated from JTCC’s Champions program has earned a scholarship to a Division I program or a facilitated acceptance at a Division III or Ivy League college or university and/or have pursued careers in professional tennis." The program's graduates have gone on to attend all the Ivy League colleges, Stanford, Chicago, Virginia, UCLA, Illinois, North Carolina, Maryland, Penn State, Michigan, Texas, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Rice, Duke, Georgetown, George Washington, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and many other colleges and universities. Notable alumni. JTCC has trained numerous NCAA college  tennis players, including multiple NCAA Division I, II, and III champions and All-American players. JTCC has also trained numerous professional tennis players during professional events, including the US Open Series' Washington Open, the ATP 500 and WTA International tournament at the nearby William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.