American Lawn Tennis Association organized, in 1917, a system of
developing the boys under eighteen years of age all over the
United States.

The fundamental idea in the system, which had its origin in the
able brain of Julian S. Myrick, President of the United States
Lawn Tennis Association, was to arouse and sustain interest in
the various sections by dealing with local conditions. This was
successfully done through a system of local open tournaments,
that qualified boys to a sectional championship. These sectional
championships in turn qualified the winners for the National
junior Championship, which is held annually in conjunction with
the men's event at Forest Hills.

The success of the system has been stupendous. The growth of
tennis in certain localities has been phenomenal. In Philadelphia
alone over 500 boys compete in sanctioned play annually, while
the city ranking for 1919 contained the names of 88 boys under
eighteen, and 30 under fifteen, all of whom had competed in at
least three sanctioned events. The school leagues of the city
hold a schedule of 726 individual matches a year. The success of
the Philadelphia junior system is due to the many large clubs who
give the use of their courts and the balls for an open
tournament. Among these clubs are Germantown Cricket Club, Cynwyd
Club, Philadelphia Cricket, Overbrook Golf Club, Belfield Country
Club, Stenton A. C., Green Point Tennis Clubs and at times Merion
Cricket Club. The movement has been fostered and built up by the
efforts of a small group of men, the most important of whom is
Paul W. Gibbons, President of the Philadelphia Tennis
Association, together with Wm. H. Connell of Germantown, the late