Newsletter #1, Adult League 2008
Hey, Captains,
Schedules are on the web. If you see anything bizarre, let us know right away.
Please read the following newsletter very carefully. We know it is a long one, but there are important decisions for some of you to make and understanding your schedule is critical to the success of your season. In addition, by reading this all the way through, it will save you (and us) from unnecessary email exchanges! With almost 1,300 of you, answering all your questions individually would take until Halloween.
This is general information that applies to all teams. Some captains will receive a second newsletter next week with information specific to their flights.
1. TO THOSE OF YOU WHO WERE ASKED TO VOTE ON DIFFERENT SCHEDULING OPTIONS:
Thank you very much for responding, and for all your suggestions and input. It was not possible for us to respond to each of you individually, but be assured that every vote was counted. The schedules reflect the decisions of the majority.
2. LONG SEASON? SHORT SEASON? NUMBER OF ROUNDS OF PLAY.
For flights with fewer than 7 teams, we have made some guesses about the ideal number of matches. This does not mean that you have to play each other a gazillion times. It means that we don’t know if you are the team that lives for tennis and wants a match every week, or the team that has players on many other teams and would prefer a shorter season. That is why we have this rule in the LLAR:
Number of Rounds.
Small flights will be offered multiple rounds of play. The captains may decide at the start of the season, by majority vote, to decrease the number of rounds to no fewer than two rounds. (National regulations mandate that flights of three or fewer teams must play a minimum of three rounds.)
This does not mean that you have no flexibility in scheduling. Example: If you are in a group of three, you may see a schedule of five rounds. If you vote to play only three rounds, we will chop off the last two. However, two captains can still agree to use the open weeks of the season to play, as long as all matches are completed by June 29. If you do NOT agree, then you must use the weeks assigned in your schedule.
Use your FLIGHT EMAIL option (instructions follow) to contact the other captains in your flight and make a decision. Do not send us your individual preference. Rather, one captain can be the spokesperson and let us know the preference of the majority. Please notify us by March 9.
3. MISSING WEEK OF MATCHES!
If your schedule seems to skip some weeks, that does not mean we messed up. It means you have a bye week. Any flight with an uneven number of teams will have one bye week per round. If your schedule has a match number 0, don’t worry. It’s a real match.
4. PLAYOFFS: 4-team or 2-team or none. All scheduled for July 11-13 and July 18-20.
Here is another group decision to make. Please notify us by March 10.
Read the rule:
Format, Local League Playoffs.
Flights of five or fewer teams will conclude their local league season with a two-team, one-weekend playoff. Flights of six or more teams will conclude their local league season with a four team, two-weekend playoff. The format is single elimination. On weekend one, team #1 hosts team #4, and team #2 hosts team #3. On the second weekend, the winners play each other, with home court given to the team higher in the end-of-season's standings.
There will be a two or four team playoff as defined by the Local League Rules below unless there is a unanimous vote by the captains in the flight to reduce (from a four team playoff to a two team playoff) or eliminate playoffs. This vote should be taken and reported to the NorCal staff at least one week prior to the start of the season. Do not send us your individual preference. Rather, one captain can be the spokesperson and let us know the preference of the majority.
The playoff weekends are designated by the NorCal League Department. Captains may agree to play a playoff match earlier, but not later than the designated weekend.
Captains who agree to play earlier must be aware that any grievance decisions or Three Strike decisions could change playoff order and nullify any early playoff match results.
5. SCHEDULING YOUR HOME MATCHES:
Check the LLAR, rule #30 for scheduling rules.
If you’re new to scheduling, go to your Green Box, click on the Captain’s handbook. There is information there that will help you now, and through the season.
6. DEADLINE FOR NOTIFYING YOUR OPPONENT OF YOUR HOME MATCH ARRANGEMENTS: March 10, midnight. Use email to do this notification and save this email as proof that you did meet the deadline.
7. HOW TO USE THE FLIGHT EMAIL OPTION.
When you are logged on to your team page, you can go to any of your opponent’s team page and see the captain’s and co-captain’s email addresses. Just click to send an email. (This information is hidden from anyone not logged in to your flight.) A quick shortcut to emailing individual opponents is to go to the CURRENT STANDINGS page and click on any captain’s name. An email will pop right up!)
However, at the start of the season you can reach all the other captains most easily by logging on to your team page and using the FLIGHT EMAIL option, designed to hide email addresses. You can select the captains and/or co-captains you want to contact, so you can send one email to all your away opponents, telling them your schedule of home matches. Good time to exchange phone numbers as well.
It’s easy to send one email to all your opponents with your opinion on the voting issues noted above. Even easier, when you have the length of your season settled, use this option to notify all your away opponents of your home match schedule.
Example:
Hello, dear opponents!
Here is the schedule of all TEAM WHOOPEE’s home matches:
Match #1. March 25, Saturday, noon, all five courts at once.
Match #3 April 9, Sunday 3/2 start. 1:00 and 2:15.
Etc.
Etc.
Please, each of you confirm that you received this. Thanks. We are looking forward to seeing you and we do great refreshments!
7. POSTING YOUR MATCH SCHEDULE ON YOUR TEAM PAGE.Once you have emailed all your opponents and have all the wrinkles ironed out, you should post your match data on your Team Page. Again, log in and use the POST MATCH DATES option. You can always edit this if things change. Please note that you are required to notify your opponents BY EMAIL of your match dates and times. It is not enough just to post the information.
8. WILDCARDS will be announced next month.
9. QUESTIONS? For your fastest answer (and to save the office from 1300 emails next week!) please contact your area coordinator, who is sitting by his/her computer at this very moment, waiting for your queries. You can reach him/her easily by clicking on the AREA COORDINATOR link, top left of your Team Page. Please remember that your coordinator is a volunteer. He/she loves league tennis and loves to help captains through the season. We pay them zip, nada, niente, zero for what they do so no hassling or abuse allowed. If they cannot answer your questions, they will forward them to us.
10. AND FINALLY. Thank you to every one of you for being a captain! We know you put a lot of effort into organizing your team, and we know that getting your schedule squared away can be a task as well. We appreciate all the work you do, and look forward to moving with you through the months ahead. We wish every one of you a great season of good competition, and we will do all we can to move you smoothly through local league play, and for some of you, on to Championships! Enjoy! See you on the court!
11. AND ONE MORE THING. Some of you used the new Player Availability program this fall with your Senior and Mixed teams. This program allows your players to go on-line and post their availability for your matches, saving you a lot of emails and phone calls. We have another new program, On-line Line-ups that will allow you to create your line-up on your computer and to transfer these data right to the page you take to your match. Both these programs will be formally announced in the next ten days, with complete directions for you to forward to your players. Stay tuned.