The path to USTA League Nationals: How it varies by section

We are getting to the time of the year when playoffs are being played, be they local playoffs, Districts, or Sectionals, all in the pursuit of making it to Nationals.  I sometimes get asked about the path to Nationals or how one can get there, so I thought I'd write on the subject.

I've written bits and pieces before including how short the journey can be in Hawaii, but also how other rural areas can have similarly short paths to Nationals.  But I hadn't taken a comprehensive look across all the sections to compare them so thought I would.

First, I thought I'd take a look at one of the league type/level that is most played across the country, 18 & Over 3.5 women.

Here is a table with several stats for the teams from each section that went to Nationals.  It shows the team matches played in the regular season and playoffs, the number of championships (e.g. local playoffs, States/Districts, Sectionals) that had to be played, and the number of flights played at championships.  The latter stat tells you if a team for example had to play both a round-robin flight and then a semis and/or final flight at a championship.

Section	Matches	Championships	Flights
NO. CALIFORNIA	26	2	2
PACIFIC NW	21	2	3
MIDWEST	21	2	2
SOUTHWEST	20	2	2
TEXAS	19	3	4
FLORIDA	18	2	4
MIDDLE STATES	18	2	3
SOUTHERN	18	3	5
EASTERN	17	3	3
INTERMOUNTAIN	17	3	4
MID ATLANTIC	17	2	3
SO. CALIFORNIA	17	2	2
NEW ENGLAND	16	2	4
MISSOURI VALLEY	15	2	2
NORTHERN	15	1	2
CARIBBEAN	12	1	1
HAWAII	10	1	1

The Northern California team had to play a whopping 26 matches to get to Nationals!  Several others had to play 20 or more and there are a lot in the upper teens.  Hawaii almost made it playing just single digits!

For comparison, here are the 3.5 men.

Section	Matches	Championships	Flights
NO. CALIFORNIA	23	2	2
SOUTHERN	22	2	3
MISSOURI VALLEY	22	2	2
MID ATLANTIC	21	2	2
MIDWEST	19	3	3
PACIFIC NW	18	2	3
SO. CALIFORNIA	18	2	2
EASTERN	17	3	3
NEW ENGLAND	16	2	2
HAWAII	16	1	1
TEXAS	16	2	3
SOUTHWEST	15	2	2
NORTHERN	14	1	2
INTERMOUNTAIN	14	2	2
MIDDLE STATES	14	2	2
CARIBBEAN	11	1	1

We see that four sections had to play over 20 matches to get to Nationals, while some were in the low to mid-teens, Caribbean having the easiest path with just 11 matches and one championship played.  Interestingly Eastern had three championships to play, but only got to 17 total matches to qualify for Nationals.

What about at a level where there are fewer players and teams like 5.0 men?

Section	Matches	Championships	Flights
MIDWEST	23	3	3
MID ATLANTIC	17	2	2
NO. CALIFORNIA	17	2	2
PACIFIC NW	15	2	3
INTERMOUNTAIN	14	2	2
SOUTHERN	13	3	4
TEXAS	13	2	2
FLORIDA	10	1	1
SO. CALIFORNIA	10	1	1
MIDDLE STATES	10	2	2
EASTERN	9	1	1
SOUTHWEST	9	1	1
MISSOURI VALLEY	9	1	1

The Midwest appears to be very competitive for 5.0 men, they are the only section with over 20 matches and well ahead of the rest.  We see three sections not even having to play double digits to get there.

What about 40 & Over?  Here are the 4.0 women.

Section	Matches	Championships	Flights
NO. CALIFORNIA	24	3	3
MIDDLE STATES	20	2	2
MISSOURI VALLEY	19	3	3
TEXAS	19	2	4
MIDWEST	19	3	4
EASTERN	18	3	3
INTERMOUNTAIN	18	3	4
NEW ENGLAND	16	2	3
SOUTHWEST	16	2	2
SOUTHERN	15	2	4
FLORIDA	14	1	3
HAWAII	14	1	1
MID ATLANTIC	14	2	3
SO. CALIFORNIA	14	2	2
NORTHERN	12	1	2
CARIBBEAN	10	1	1
PACIFIC NW	9	2	3

Northern Cal is over 20 and in the lead again.  Note that they classified their local playoffs as a championship this once (they normally just treat it as an extension of the regular season) so they also show three championships played.  And we see another single digit matches played, this one from the Pacific Northwest which seems odd.  But this is a case of a team from a small/rural area where the regular season is just four matches played over a weekend.

And to round things out, here are the 4.0 men for 40 & Over.

Section	Matches	Championships	Flights
NO. CALIFORNIA	21	4	4
SOUTHERN	19	2	3
EASTERN	16	2	2
MIDDLE STATES	16	2	2
NEW ENGLAND	15	2	2
HAWAII	15	1	1
INTERMOUNTAIN	15	3	4
PACIFIC NW	15	2	3
MIDWEST	15	3	3
TEXAS	14	1	2
MISSOURI VALLEY	13	2	2
FLORIDA	13	1	3
SOUTHWEST	13	1	1
NORTHERN	12	1	1
MID ATLANTIC	12	1	1
CARIBBEAN	11	1	1
SO. CALIFORNIA	11	2	2

Northern Cal again in the lead.

What can we learn from this?  The path to Nationals can be very different based on where a team is from.  The longest path is usually over twice as long as the shortest path.  There is a fair amount of consistency in which sections have the longest path, but still some variability there if a team from a small area manages to advance.

If there is interest, I can look at other league types and levels, let me know by leaving a comment.