The West Penn Interclub Junior Tennis Team Championships is beginning to show its age.

The 10th annual event gets under way at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Butler Country Club courts and will conclude during that afternoon.

Butler Country Club's two 12-and-under players in the tournament - Jack Boros and Lea Welker - once served as a ball boy and a ball girl in this event.

"I think both had their pictures in the (Butler Eagle) paper, actually," BCC tennis pro Whitney Snyder said.

Snyder created this tournament to serve as a Western Pennsylvania youth tennis all-star game. He annually invites 35 or more summer youth tennis programs to participate in the mixed doubles competition.

Each team brings an age 18-and-under and 12-and-under mixed doubles team. The tandems compete all day in their age division and accumulate points based on how many matches they win.

Points accumulated by both of each team's duos are combined to determine the event's team champion.

"This format creates a situation where older kids are cheering for younger kids and vice versa," Snyder said.

"I've invited country clubs, racquet clubs, swim clubs, public parks, municipal facilities - any organization that has a summer tennis program - to participate," he added. "It's up to the individual tennis pros with those programs to enter a team.

"It's a reward and a very positive experience for the top youth players in this region. I wish more club pros could see that."

This event has hosted eight to 12 teams each year. Butler Country Club shared the team title with Forest Hills in the eight-team competition last year.

Richard and Kristen Latuska (18-and-under) joined Evan Kowalski and Elise Held (12-and-under) last vear in lifting BCC to its first team title since the event's inaugural year of 1996.

Joining Welker and Boros on Butler club's tournament squad this year are 18-and-under entrants Natalie Jenereski and Stefan Kemp.

Jenereski, 18, was the No. 1 girls singles player at Knoch High School. She will be attending Ithaca (N.Y.) College and plans to play women's tennis there. Jenereski and Kemp, 13, are ranked players in Western Pennsylvania.

The Butler Junior Tennis Association has committed to putting a team in the event. Snyder has received verbal commitments from a few other organizations.

"I'm anticipating a field of eight to 12 teams again," he said. "We're always hoping for more."

The event is open to the public at no charge.