Newsletter #3

Hello everyone
Another solid week is behind us. All 8 women's league matches were done, we had  3 forfeits  in doubles league and 3 in the men's league. This puts us at 87% completion rate  . We had a player drop out and couple of injuries caused us to miss some matches. The vacant spot is already filled by a player who was on the waiting list so we continue with 64 in the men's league.
The doubles league took a  hit with almost half of the matches not played.   This initial sessions will give us a lot of feedback and we plan to tweak the rules a bit  in order to make the league  even better experience.  For example ,  teams will be required to register subs, 2 player teams won't be able to join  anymore. We left it kind of loose for this session ,  teams were encouraged to get subs but it wasn't mandatory. The result is that all 3 forfeits came from teams that don't have subs.   Still after 28 matches only 3 were not completed so doubles league has an amazing match completion rate of almost 90%.

Subs
I mentioned an issue about subs  in the singles league last week.  Some of you voiced your opinion in the poll and here are the results:
11 people voted
7 think that points won by subs should not count
1 would count points won by subs
3 would leave it to the available player to decide if points won by sub should count

So it wasn't a really big turnout but still it gave us some idea what you think.

Doubles league
A few of you  asked if we plan to continue  the doubles league through the summer. Our original plan was to set up only one trial session this year to see how it goes. We wanted to finish the doubles  before USTA summer leagues start in early June and then shut it down  until spring of 2013. Since a large  majority of our doubles league participants will compete in the USTA we didn't think there would be enough interest for RTL doubles during the summer months. Many of these players compete in our singles league and playing  doubles as well would mean they have to coordinate three matches each week.

That being said , if it turns out that  there is enough interest for doubles through  session II we would consider setting it up.
Not  everyone plays USTA, and also since 4.0 USTA league fell through some of the players might be interested in RTL doubles. We will send out an e mail about this soon.

Not showing up for a match
As we all know , arranging a match can sometimes be a lengthy process especially if two players have limited availability . Multiple e mails are exchanged, sometimes plans change  last minute We have to arrange  tennis around family/work/other hobbies, weather etc. At times it can be frustrating if your opponent is not as flexible , if they don't email back fast enough or if they  forfeit the match.  Anyone can have a bad week where it just gets impossible to fit that match in. As the  league organizer one thing I watch for is pattern of missing matches week after week, poor communication,  not showing up for a scheduled match etc..  A huge majority of our players are extremely dedicated and very considerate , and  it's rare that I have to warn someone or  remind them what is expected to be a part of the league. I  hate to turn anyone away, but from time to time I have  to remove players who were showing a pattern of not showing for matches, not responding to e mails, constantly finding excuses why they stood up their opponents etc.  Not showing up for a scheduled match without calling is one of the things that we really need to avoid if at all possible. It shows lack of respect toward your opponent and their time. It also discredits the league and I won't allow one person to ruin the experience for the rest of you. So if these situations come up I would like to know about it.

Inter-league
Just a reminder that Keegan is assembling our team for meet with Farmington league. Please email him if you are interested. Players of all levels are welcome to join in. The meet is June 9th at 6:15 in Rochester. It consists of various doubles and singles matches. It's a fun event and a nice opportunity to get together as a group.

Have a nice week and good luck in your upcoming matches.