USA ADULT & SENIOR LEAGUE NEWS

From Anna Martin; November, 2004

It is that time of year to begin our talk for the upcoming 2005 League season. As always, there will be local changes in addition to changes passed down from National, Southern and North Carolina . Please make sure that you read all of the information in this letter and regularly check our Wilmington (wilmingtontennis.com) and North Carolina (nctennis.com) Websites for updates.

In the past year, Wilmington has served as a Pilot program for North Carolina to access the pros and cons of incorporating all league tennis into the local Community Tennis Association. It has been concluded that it is a plus to have all tennis in the Community under one umbrella. Although, the leagues program still follows National, Sectional and State League Regulations, our local CTA has a voice in some of our local league decisions. The Greater Wilmington Tennis Association (GWTA) also offers support to all of the tennis programs in our area.

DYNAMIC RATINGS. The dynamic rating system experienced its second season in 2004 and those results will be available at the end of this month. Please check nctennis.com for the 2004 ratings. I will not receive ratings before they are published on the NCTA website.

APPEALS. “North Carolina New Rule”: Only the player may appeal his/her NTRP Computer-generated Rating and must appeal prior to playing their first USA League Tennis match or NTRP tournament.

MEDICAL APPEALS. Players suffering a disabling permanent injury or illness must send a letter to the State League Coordinator requesting a reconsideration of a rating. This request must include a letter from the attending physician who is presently treating the player and must be on the Doctor’s letterhead. This letter from the Doctor must state the evaluation and limitations of injury and if injury or illness is of a permanent nature. Injury or illness medical appeals will be accepted throughout the year. Mail Medical appeals to:

Nell Barksdale; P.O. Box 1118 ; Jamestown , NC 27282 or e-mail to nell@nctennis.com

USTA MEMBERSHIP. USTA memberships must be valid through June, 2005. Renew your membership before entering on the team roster. TennisLink will not let a player register for a team without a current membership.

% OF TEAM PLAYING ON LEVEL. Recently a survey question went out to all 2004 Team captains asking their opinions on the Regulation that would allow a league to limit the number of people playing below level on one particular team. Of those who responded, the vast majority did prefer some sort of percentage imposed on the team. However, it has been decided that this is not a large enough sampling to try this in Wilmington for the 2005 season. A survey will go out to all players in the spring giving each player a chance to vote. Please take the time to fill out the survey that will be sent to you. A decision for the 2006 League season will be made in early summer.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS ON A TEAM. Teams in North Carolina will once again be allowed to have fourteen players on an Adult 3.0 to 4.5 teams. Senior teams and Adult 2.5 and 5.0 may have a maximum of twelve players on a team.

ENTERING YOUR TEAM ON TENNISLINK. Captains will not be able to enter teams on TennisLink until after the Captains’ meeting in January.

SENIORS. Players who will be at least 50 years old in 2005 are eligible to play in our Senior League as well as the Adult League. A Senior League match will consist of three courts of doubles. Scheduling concerns will be considered.

MANDATORY CAPTAINS’ MEETING. There will be a mandatory Captains’ Meeting on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 . Once again there are changes for the 2005 season so it is very important that a representative from each team be at the meeting. Needed paperwork and information for the upcoming season will be handed out at the meeting. Please check the local website in late December for location and time of captains’ meeting.

DAY FLIGHT. Once again we will attempt to have play in the mornings during the week. If there are enough teams on a level that sign up as a “Day Team”, we will divide that level into flights and offer matches in the daytime between the hours of 9am and 2pm with an occasional weekend match. Every effort will be made to make this work, but if some equality of numbers cannot be met on a particular level, then that level will not qualify to have a Day Flight. Please indicate to your level coordinator if your team will be a Day Team. There will be a form to designate your preference at the captains’ meeting. In levels that have a Day Flight or in any level that has flights, there will be a playoff at the end of the season to determine which team will be the local winner.

SCORING. The scoring method for the 2005 League Season will be “tie-break in lieu of third set”. This will also be the scoring method for all Championship play.

DUES FOR THE 2005 SEASON. Dues for the 2005 Adult and Senior League season have been established by the GWTA and will be as follows: $40.00 to play on one team; $20.00 for each additional team. Each player will receive a Local League T-shirt with the 25^TH Anniversary League Tennis Logo and each player will also be a guest at the end of the Season League Party to celebrate our tennis season and to recognize our local winners. Additional guests are welcome, but will pay a guest fee.

LOCAL LEAGUE RULES: It is each player’s responsibility to know the rules. This will eliminate many problems on the court and hopefully encourage proper procedures for handling any problems. Your captain will have a copy of Local, North Carolina , Southern and National Regulations. In addition, our local regulations will be available on our local website (wilmingtontennis.com). North Carolina , Southern and National Regulations may be found on the NCTA website (nctennis.com). It is also very helpful for each player to become familiar with “THE CODE”, which is the rule system for non-officiated matches. Our league involves “non-officiated play”.

CALENDAR. A tentative calendar for the 2005 League is listed below. Please make a note of these dates and deadlines.

TENTATIVE 2005 ADULT & SENIOR LEAGUE CALENDAR

COMPUTER RATINGS ON NCTA WEBSITE (LATE) NOVEMBER, 2004

RATING APPEAL DEADLINE BEFORE PLAYING FIRST LEAGUE MATCH OR NTRP TOURNAMENT

MANDATORY CAPTAINS’ MEETING JANUARY 4, 2005

(LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED)

TEAM ENTERED ON TENNISLINK JANUARY 24, 2005

SCHEDULES ON TENNISLINK FEBRUARY 17, 2005

PLAY STARTS!!! FEBRUARY 21, 2005

LAST DAY TO ADD PLAYERS TO ROSTER MARCH 6, 2005

ALL SENIOR LEVELS & ADULT 5.0 PLAY ENDS MAY 22, 2005

ADULT PLAY ENDS MAY 30, 2005

PLAYOFFS IF NEEDED (DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED AFTER SCHEDULING IS COMPLETED)

LEAGUE AWARDS PARTY & CELEBRATION JUNE 4, 2005

(TIME & LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED)

ALL SENIOR LEVELS & ADULT 5.0 JUNE 9-12, 2005

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

WILMINGTON , NC

ADULT 2.5;3.0;3.5;4.0;4.5 STATE CHAMP. JUNE 30- JULY 3, 2005

PINEHURST , NC “HOME FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY!!!”

SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS JULY 23-31, 2005

CHARLESTON , SC (SPECIFIC DATES FOR EACH LEVEL TO BE ANNOUNCED)

LEAGUE BOARD. The Adult and Senior Leagues operate with dedication from a Local League Board that works very hard to represent and grow our league program in Wilmington . The Level Coordinators are in place to help players find teams and to help captains find available players for their teams. Please contact you level coordinator if you need help finding a team or if you need players for your team. Captains, even if you do not need any players, please contact the level coordinator to let them know you will be a captain. This will help them and help you to receive correspondence needed prior to the Captains’ meeting. Please share this information with new players in town so that they can make the proper contacts. Give them my number or the level coordinators’ information. Thank you for your help in “Growing the Game”.