The weather has been an issue from start of this season. It was too cold when we started in April , then we had a lot of rainy days and now heat and humidity. We still managed to complete all but two match past week.
During the week #1 we had some people dropping out. Brent from men's division 5, Kelsey and Dianna from the women's league had to unexpectedly quit. Their opponents will record forfeit wins for these matches until we find replacements. As of now we have 4 spots open. Two are in men's and 2 in women's league. If you know someone who might be interested to join us send them my way.
Inter league match report
Rochester Tennis League team lead by our captain Keegan Hakala participated in the second inter-league meet versus Farmington Area Tennis League this past Sunday. Once again the match was held in Cannon Falls . It was a wonderful display of resilience , commitment , and love for sport of tennis. Everything was going against this meet. Low attendance, heat , humidity, and on the top of all that a rain went through the area as we were driving up there. When we got there, some players were already drying the courts. About 45 minutes later the courts were dry and 16 people who really wanted this meet to happen, lined up to play 4 doubles matches. Due to heat it was decided to play only doubles and no singles. The meet was completed at around 9:45pm and a portion of it was done under lights. The score was tied 2-2 after 4 doubles were completed , so it was decided to push 3 more matches into an additional 10 point tie break to determine the winner. Our team prevailed and won two of those tie breaks. Final score
RTL-FAT league 3-2. We packed up and went to MacDonald's to get some calories back in the system, and to hang out with the FAT league team before driving home. It was a great event once again, and I think everyone enjoyed it. Yes it was hot and humid, but once we stepped on the court it was all about enjoying the game of tennis. I wanted to thank all of you who participated especially Keegan and Josiah Hakala for their time and efforts setting it up. We plan to set up another meet later this season, possibly in September. I hope more players will be available next time.
Here are the scores:
Keegan Hakala/Marlo Pranke-Joseph Emond/Josiah Hakala 0-2(4-6,6-7 )
Bob Hubert/Maksim Lecic-Scott Hanson/Doug Larson 2-0 (6-2,6-3)
Ethan Lillie/Tony Lillie-Suman Ayyagari/Emma Grosse 0-2 (6-7,4-6)
Shruthi Naik/Adam Wheeler-Greg Manthey/Ranita Quale 2-0(6-2,7-6)
Tiebreakers
Bob Hubert/Maksim Lecic - Scott Hanson/Doug Larson 12-10
Ethan Lillie/Tony Lillie - Suman Ayyagari/Emma Grosse 5-10
Shruthi Naik/Adam Wheeler - Greg Manthey/Ranita Quale 10-5
Format
As most of you know our current format has been in effect since the league was created in 2006. We have 3 sessions with different formats , ranging from round robin to single match elimination tournament.
Each year players of all levels get a fresh start, and a chance to earn their session II level by competing through the session I.
Final session I standings are used to create divisions (levels). Session II has a round robin format and you get to play everyone in your level once. Session III is a single match elimination tournament with all players joining the same bracket.
The other day one of our players suggested changing the format so we can start playing in different levels at the beginning of the season and keep going like that through the summer. Previous season standings would be used to place returning players , and new players would play pre season placement matches or they would self rate themselves.
After each session, top two people would advance to the level above and bottom 2 would drop a level. This system should bring in more competitive matches (like session II does now) throughout the season. We would have less mismatches (currently most of them happen during the session I group phase and early rounds of session III) .
This idea has crossed my mind couple of times before.
The current set up gives us a fresh start each year to earn your session II level through playing session I rather than going back to previous season record. Also new players are easier to incorporate into the system if we have a fresh start each season. Deciding where 15-20 new people should play can be challenging, but it can be done. After all, even in the current format I have to figure out player's levels to create evenly matched groups in session I.
As always, I would like to hear your feedback about this possible change or suggestions how to make the league better. You can e mail me directly or use comments box below this blog.
Have a great week and good luck in your next matches.
I agree with the proposed format - seed the players based upon previous records within the league. I would really like to have competitive matches throughout the tennis season. It's always more fun to have a fairly balanced match, whether I win or lose. With the new format, you could have two or three sessions (each year) and move players up or down a flight or two based upon records in the previous sessions. I believe that we could seed new players into an existing flight by playing a match or two with experienced players. Overall - a good idea!
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