Lafayette Men’s
League
Spring,
2008
Local
Regulations
STATE
COORDINATOR:
Freddy Baily, 9270
LOCAL COORDINATOR:
Keith Sibille,
GRIEVANCES
Any grievances should be forwarded in writing (emails are acceptable) to the Local League Coordinator. All grievances will be forwarded to the Local Women’s League Coordinator who will appoint a committee of three individuals on a per case basis.
GRIEVANCE
APPEALS
Any decisions of the above grievance committee will contain specific guidelines and instructions referencing the rights to appeal and the procedures that must be followed.
League Rules
1.
All players will abide by
the USTA Rules of Tennis, "The Code" and USA League Tennis Regulations, January
2008.
2.
There is no limit to the
number of teams at each level. A
minimum of 2 teams is required in order for that level to qualify one team for
the state tournament.
3.
Registration fees for the
spring season will be $21. The fee
is distributed as follows: $3 to
the USTA national, $10 to the LTA Baton Rouge, $4 to the local league
coordinator, $3 to offset costs of teams participating at state, and $1 to the
Acadiana Community Tennis Association.
4.
The deadline for team
entries is January 11, 2008. By
midnight, January 11, 2008, rosters must contain a minimum number of players
required to field 3 courts or they may be excluded from the schedule. The deadline for roster additions is
April 15, 2008. Players must be
registered prior to playing any league matches in order to be eligible. Tennis Link will date and time stamp all
player entries. The date and time
of the entry must be prior to the date and time of the scheduled match in order
for a player to be eligible. The
only exception will be when a rainout is rescheduled, a player may register
prior to the makeup and be eligible.
5.
Play will begin in late
January or early February. The
actual start dates will depend upon the number of teams at each level. As always, the league will make every
attempt to schedule as many matches as possible within the time allotted. The 2.5 and 3.5 levels will play on
Tuesdays and the 3.0 and 4.0 levels will play on Thursdays. This is subject to change based on the
number of teams at each level, however every attempt will be made to maintain
this schedule.
6.
All information is submitted
via the Tennis Link system. The
address is national.usta.com. All participants must register for play
through this system. Captains must include an email
address when registering their teams. All league correspondence and
announcements will be via email.
All teams must designate a co-captain with an email address if the
captain does not have email. Please
inform the league coordinator who the captain of record for email is. When registering your team and choosing
a name, feel free to choose any name but we do ask that you include your last
name. (Example, “The Lobsters –
Smith”)
a.
Each team member must be a
current USTA member, with membership paid through the spring season (May). Each player must have a valid NTRP
rating. If not, players must
declare a self-rating upon registration.
Tennis Link will verify all eligibility requirements during the
registration process.
7.
A player must have reached
the age of 19 prior to or during the calendar year in which he plays his first
match in order to be eligible.
8.
Any player who does not have
a valid NTRP rating must complete the self-rating process on TennisLink when
registering for a team. Failure to
do so or omission of information regarding a player’s tennis history will
subject the player, the captain and/or others who condoned inaccurate
self-rating to sanctions and disqualification. (Rule 3.01D(2))
9.
The home team is required to
furnish NEW balls for each
match. Approved balls are Penn,
Wilson or Dunlop.
10. Each player whether a member of the home team or guest must pay his own court fees. For 2008, court fees will be $4 per player. Anyone playing at a club where he is a member, is not required to pay fees whether his team is shown as home team or visitor.
11. TEAM MATCHES MUST BE PLAYED ON SCHEDULED COURTS AT SCHEDULED TIME UNLESS RAINED OUT. CAPTAINS MAY NOT UNDER ANY OTHER CIRCUMSTANCE, RESCHEDULE A MATCH WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL FROM THE LEAGUE COORDINATOR. It is the responsibility of the clubs to assign courts for play. Matches must be played on the assigned courts. Captains are not allowed to call the club in order to move courts or switch surfaces. If multiple surfaces have been assigned, the home team captain may choose which matches will be played on which surfaces. Prior to line up card exchange, the home team captain will inform the visiting captain which matches will be played on which courts. (For example, “singles will be played on hard courts and doubles will be played on soft”)
12. RAINOUTS must be rescheduled and completed by the weekend immediately following the scheduled match date. Team captains will contact each other the following day after the rain out and agree on when to play and make arrangements for courts wherever available. Any rainouts that cannot be rescheduled by the following Friday after the rainout must be referred to the Local League Coordinator. The coordinator will then schedule a match time, date and location. It will be to the advantage of both captains if they can mutually agree on a day and time without involving the coordinator. When captains agree on a match time, date and location, the league coordinator must be notified via email for the match to be considered official. It is up to the individual clubs, at their discretion, to determine whether conditions are unplayable. No captain(s) shall have the authority to make this decision. If the club has deemed the conditions as playable, the match is on and forfeit rules will apply. If a match has begun and then rain begins, the match must be completed as it stands with all points played to that point counting. If the first ball has not been put in play, different players may be used if necessary. However, captains may not shift players already on the lineup card.
13. Team captains are to record and verify all scores into the Tennis Link system within 24 hours of the completion of the match. The first captain to go to the website will record the score and the second captain will confirm or dispute the score. If a score is entered and there is no confirmation, Tennis Link will automatically confirm after 48 hours. (No score disputes will be recognized after that time).
14. Warm up time is ten (10) minutes, INCULDING SERVES. All warm-up serves must be taken prior to the first serve of the match.”
15. The fifteen (15) minute default rule shall be strictly enforced.
16. Matches played at 6:00 should be completed on the assigned court, regardless of whether there are matches scheduled for 8:00. If you are scheduled to play at 8:00, and there are league matches still under way on your assigned courts, determine if other courts are available to begin play or wait until the completion of the early match. Do not bump players off the court during league play.
17. In the event of illness, injury, disqualification, or no-show of a player prior to the start of an individual match (once the lineup has been exchanged), a team may substitute a player in the affected position within the 15-minute default time, using a player not already listed on the lineup. If no such substitution can be made, the affected position only will be forfeited in local leagues.
18. No changes may be made after a line up has been presented, except as described in Paragraph 17. A substitution is allowed but players assigned to courts may not be moved. (The lineup can be changed if the match is postponed due to inclement weather, for any matches not yet begun).
19. The scoring for all matches is deuce-ad, two out of three sets, with a 12-point tiebreaker at 6-6 in all sets. In local league play, the 3rd set will be played as a complete set in lieu of the 10 point match tiebreaker. Once play begins, a rest period at odd game changeovers is not permitted until the end of the 3rd game, and at all changeovers thereafter in each set. There is a rest period at the end of each set, no matter if the set ends on an even or odd game.
20. Levels, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5 will consist of 2 singles and 3 doubles courts. The team winning the majority of those 5 matches shall be considered the winner of that team match
21. Round robin competition shall be used at all levels. Levels with only two (2) or three (3) teams must play a double round robin. Depending upon the number of teams entered, the league coordinator reserves the right to split leagues into divisions. As always, the ability to schedule as many matches as possible within the allotted time frame will take precedent.
22. At the conclusion of the season, the team at each level with the most team points shall be deemed the champion at that level. All tiebreak provisions have been built into the TennisLink system. (a) Winner of the most individual matches. (b) The team that loses the fewest number of sets. (c) Loser of the fewest number of games. Should a tie remain at this point, the coordinator will review for (d) Head up followed by a (e) Coin toss. For the purpose of this provision, the following rules shall apply: in case of a default, the non-defaulting party shall be credited with such number of additional games as would have been won if the match was completed and the non-defaulting party won every subsequent game. In case of a forfeit, the non-forfeiting party shall be credited with a 6-0, 6-0 win. For level championship tiebreakers, any common opponent of the teams that are tied, who have forfeited one or more entire team matches during the season, shall have their forfeited matches considered null and void so as not to be used in tiebreak procedures.
23.
The champion at each level
will represent
24. In any level that has been divided into 2 divisions, a playoff will take place at the end of the season. The winner in each division will playoff for 1st and 2nd place. If a 3rd team invitation has been given, the 2 second place teams will playoff for 3rd place. When creating divisions, the league coordinator will assemble a committee to seed the top 4 teams and place them in opposite divisions. All remaining teams will be assigned randomly to the 2 divisions.
25. The Grievance Committee shall be responsible for ruling on all grievances other than NTRP complaints. All grievances must be submitted in writing to the Local League Coordinator within twenty four (24) hours of said incident.
26. Any team that forfeits 2 team matches may be dropped from further league play. A team forfeit is defined as showing up for a league match with less than a needed number of players to have a chance to win the match by winning three (3) courts. Any team that forfeits 2 or more entire matches in a season may be subject to further sanctions.
Team Captain
Responsibilities
A. Attend all local captains'
meetings.
B.
Be responsible for supplying
balls for all home matches.
C.
Enter and confirm scorecards
in the Tennis Link system within 24 hours of the completion of the match. Remember, when entering scorecards;
always write the score from the winners’ perspective. If you are the home team, and the score
was 6-4, 6-4, no matter who the winner is, the score should be entered that way
and the box of the winner checked off.
Please be aware of the drop down box that defaults to “completed”. Note that the other options are default,
double default, retired, etc. It is
critical that if a match is not completed or not played at all that the correct
selection is made, otherwise, erroneous ratings results will
occur.
D. Read and familiarize
themselves with all league and tennis regulations and share this information
with their team members.
E.
To uphold the rules of any
facility, public or private, used for league play and to collect and pay court
fees for his team.
F.
Every captain is responsible
for providing an email address. If
you don't have one, designate someone on your team as a contact and supply his
address. In an attempt to cut down
on postage and paper expenses, all correspondence will be via email or web site
announcement. The web site address
is http://www.acadianacta.com/.