Phillips Academy is located at 180 Main Street (Route 28), Andover, Massachusetts. The campus is south of Andover center, and the varsity tennis courts are toward the southern end of the campus, behind the Pan Athletic Building, and are not visible from the road.

Coming from the north on Main Street: Pass through Andover center and the northern part of the the Phillips Academy campus. Take the second left after the bell tower onto Dwight Street, and park behind the Pan Athletic Building.

Coming from the south on Main Street: Before reaching the Phillips Academy campus proper, take the first right after Hidden Road (which enters Main Street only on the left), then take a right on Dwight Street, and park behind the Pan Athletic Building.

Map of Phillips Academy: https://www.andover.edu/map

Google Maps satellite view: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6444802,-71.1313686,375m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDYxMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The Andover Tennis Club welcomes players of all skill levels. That said, most members who play regularly have National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) ratings between 3.0 and 4.0. Essentially, if you just can rally somewhat consistently with some pace, you'll fit in toward the low end. If you are or were a strong college player, you probably won't feel consistently challenged.

It's good to know your NTRP rating so the facilitators of organized play can match you with other players of similar abilities. There are numerous NRTP self-rating resources available online. One that we’ve found accessible is from the Metropolitan Tennis Group. It has a table of ratings and player characteristics, plus links to videos describing the skills of players with each rating:

https://metrotennisgroup.com/ntrp

Read the descriptions, watch the videos that seem to apply to you, and decide on your rating. If you’re in between two of the listed levels, it’s OK to give yourself an in-between rating. It’s better to be conservative, rather than aspirational, when rating yourself.

Before you begin, you will need a link inviting you to join the Andover Tennis Club community on WhatsApp. After you join ATC, you’ll get an email with this link. (The process isn’t automated, so it may take a day or two.) Members can also email Jeff Brooks at JeffBrooksATC@gmail.com to request an email with the invitation link.

[1] Install WhatsApp on your phone:

• On your phone, install WhatsApp from the app store and create an account for yourself.

[2] Join the Andover Tennis Club WhatsApp community:

• On you phone, open your email program, and open the email with the invitation link.

• Click the Invitation link. (This opens a web page in your phone's browser.)

• Click "Open App" in the web page. (This opens WhatsApp to a screen asking if you want to join the ATC community.)

• Click to confirm that you want to join. (This opens the ATC community screen where you'll see a number of group chats.)

[3] Every community member is automatically enrolled in two chats:

• Announcements: Messages from the ATC community administrators

• General: Chat for all ATC community members

[4] Join any of the "Doubles" chats you are interested in:

• Click on the chat you want to join. (This opens a screen asking you if you want to join the chat.)

• Click to confirm that you want to join the chat. (This opens the chat screen, which will be blank at first. WhatsApp only shows you messages that are sent after you join a group.)

[5] Opting in and out:

• You can opt into or out of any of the "Doubles" group chats at any time.

• You can opt out of the ATC community at any time, too, but you'll need an invitation to opt back in.

• If you opt out of the ATC community, you'll also be removed from all the group chats in the community.

At the end of the summer, all ATC members will receive a communication with details about Sunday evening mixed doubles and asking whether the member would like to participate. Payment for each evening is done on arrival at the courts. If you have questions in the meantime, please contact Kim at andovertennisclub@gmail.com.

In ATC, "competitive" refers to being evenly matched, as opposed to being driven to win. ATC organizes "competitive" doubles aiming for each court to have players with similar levels of skill because people generally enjoy tennis most when that happens. Both sides feel "in the game" which heightens focus and a sense of involvement, and no one feels over-matched or under-challenged. We don’t strictly match on skill level, though. Members like playing with a variety of partners and opponents, and we take that into account when making the court assignments each week.