As the NCAA Division I Men's & Women's Championships are played at the University of Tulsa,
there is a dark cloud looming over college tennis -- and it has nothing to do with the
weather.  In the last week two high profile men's tennis programs have been eliminated
and it's becoming an alarming trend.

The latest programs to suffer loss are two highly touted ones -- Arkansas-Little Rock and
Arizona State.  In both cases it's the men's teams going.  Arizona State lists the reason as, "In response to economic realities experienced over a long period of time"  and also announced the discontinuation of men's swimming and wrestling.  Arkansas is also blaming money on the elimination, though tennis is the only program cut there at this time.

The ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) made this announcement in response to the
cuts, "We are shocked by the recent loss of two of our men's tennis programs - Arkansas Little-Rock
 and Arizona State - and we send our sympathies to the all of the coaches and players of these teams.
 The ITA will continue to do everything it can, along with the USTA, in this difficult and most critical
 battle. Unfortunately, what has become more and more clear is that virtually every college tenins program is at risk. In truth, there are only two main ways to guarantee the survival of your program:

1) endow your program; and/or
2) become as active in your community as possible, making your program an invaluable part of the community. 

There are simply no other ways."

All supporters of college tennis can do their part through the ITA's Outreach program.  Visit:

http://www.itatennis.com/Outreach/Advocacy.

Marcia Frost can be reached at Marcia@CollegeAndJuniorTennis.com