safety and fairness

It’s something most athletes, parents, and coaches experience at one time or another: a lack of competition allows an athlete to move up too quickly, or an athlete is intimidated or discouraged because other athletes in their division seem to be at a significantly higher skill level than they are.

That’s why USTA will implement a new system for athlete progression from Novice through Advanced/Elite in September 2026.

Under the new “Progression of an Athlete” or POA system, athletes will progress based on their skill level rather than solely on their wins. While no penalties will be imposed, a system was created to promote athletes who are competing above the recommended skill level.

Based on feedback from athletes, parents, coaches and judges, the USTA Technical Department established a POA panel of experienced coaches and judges to develop skill guidelines for each level in each Championship Event or discipline (Solo, Duet, Strut, Artistic Twirl, 2-Baton, 3-Baton). The POA Skill Guidelines are available HERE and on the USTA Member Portal under Documents.

Here’s how the POA system will work:

• Parents and coaches will review the skill guidelines for each event and enter their athlete based on the skills they are doing.
• At competitions, if a judge recommends that an athlete move to a different level of an event, they will fill out a POA master, which is sent to USTA Member Services. Judges will also fill out a certificate with the date, contest, event, and level recommendation, which is given to the athlete.
• After the competition, USTA Member Services will send an email to the athlete and coach with the recommendation.
• After three recommendations, Member Services will notify the Coaches Department, which will follow up with the athlete’s coach to ensure that the athlete is entering the recommended level in the relevant event.

The POA panel presented information about the new system at Coaches Network meetings in March 2024 and April 2025 and will present again at the Coaches Network meeting on March 10.
You can register for that meeting here.

Before the 2026-27 season begins in September, judges and contest directors will receive specific training on the POA system, and the USTA Parents Commission will host a meeting just for parents.