News & Features

Share:

The Baylor Bears are on the clock.

Less than a week after his introductory press conference, new Baylor men’s coach Brian Boland will be making the first selection in the 10th annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend draft.

The men’s draft is on Wednesday followed by the women’s draft on Thursday. Both begin at noon ET. The University of Miami, led by head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, has the first pick in the women’s draft.

For the second straight year, the Kick-Off Weekend draft will be featured in a Facebook Live format with an upgraded draft board powered by SLAM.Tennis.

The audience can research teams more closely this year through various metrics on the draft board, including current roster configurations and incoming recruiting class rankings.

“It’s great to have it be more interactive and allow people to follow along on a social media platform and comment and chime in,” said Cory Brooks, the ITA’s Director of Championships. “Fans, and maybe even players, can chat back and forth if they want to. It just adds another element to get people engaged.”

The ITA Kick-Off Weekend January 25-28 marks the official start of the dual-match season, and serves as a qualifier for the ITA National Indoor Championships.

The draft involves 120 total programs - 60 men and 60 women - with 15 men’s host sites and 15 women’s host sites. The host spots and draft order are determined by the final rankings of the 2018 season.

The ITA calls each coach in order of draft selection, and the coaches have 10 minutes to make their pick of where they want to travel to play.