Newsletter #1

Hello everyone

Eight season  of the Rochester Tennis League is starting on Monday April 29th .  We have a very strong turnout once again.  We got  64 players in the singles league split  in 8 divisions. Players that signed up after the deadline will be added to an overflow league (Wild Card division) which will go parallel with the main one. As of now, we have 7 players in this group . These players will be able to join the main league as openings come up or in between two sessions. The women's league has 15 players.

Doubles
As you know, RTL was primary focused on the singles competition until last year when we ran a pilot session of doubles. After a pretty successful pilot  , we decided to give it a shot again this spring.  I was happy to see a great turnout for the doubles again. This season we have 42 players as opposed to 35 last year. Since each team needed to sign up  3 players, we ended up with 14 teams. Due to challenging weather conditions this spring  the doubles league is starting a little bit later then planned (April 29th).  Teams are split in two divisions. Division I will play Mondays and division 2 Wednesdays. The teams are expected to be available on designated nights.When  the weather prevents them  from playing,  teams can play on Sunday or any other day that week that they agree on. All doubles matches need to be completed and reported by Sunday night. Matches can be played ahead of time but they can't be postponed. Incomplete matches can be recorded as forfeits (one team forfeits) or DNP (did not play) which results in both teams losing 0.5 points.


Singles

The singles league is starting April 29th as well. Our format and rules will be just like last year. Deadline to report matches is Monday night.

Placement
Session I schedule for the singles league is posted on the web site (links below). Please review your schedule and check if there are any obvious errors (for example  if you are playing someone twice, or your name is entered twice in one round)

women's division
http://www.womenstennisleague.moonfruit.com/#/schedule/4567618948

men's/ co-ed
http://www.rochestertennisleague.com/#/schedule/4567520361

Placing everyone was pretty challenging task once again. We have a good turnover in between sessions and also every year we get a large number of new players.   I looked at last year's results  and tried my best to place you in a competitive division.  I am sure it's not ideal for every player but if you think you got placed lower then you should, you will have a chance to move up by winning one of the  two top places in your division. I normally try to set up some pre-season matches for new players and those that are on the borderline between two divisions. Unfortunately this year,  the weather  won't allow us to play many pre-season matches. Many of you in adjacent divisions are very close as far as skill level goes. I just needed to split you in groups of 8 since having 8 players per a division works well for our  format.

New players
I wanted to welcome all new players to the league.   Hopefully the league will work well  for you and you will become one of our regulars. If you have questions about our format or rules please visit our web site for details or e mail me.

Setting up matches
Most of you are very familiar with our set up and do a great job setting up matches.  I just wanted to stress again that good and timely communication with your opponents will be the key in completing matches on time.  . Getting in touch with your opponents early in the week will be crucial. If you start communicating on Friday, chances are that your  schedules won't match or weather will make it very difficult to set time that works for both. I suggest sending  that initial email on Monday or even earlier. If you don't get a response or you are having trouble communicating with your opponent please let me know.  I try to catch these things early, so we can do necessary changes and improvements. I think it's reasonable to expect a same day  response or at latest next day. If you don't check email often enough, let your opponent know and use your phone. If you rely on e mail , make sure you submit an e mail address that you can check at  home and over the weekends. Matches can't be postponed but they can be played ahead of time. So if you have a vacation coming up you can try to set up that match before the designated week. Matches need to be reported by each Monday night. If you are not familiar with our set up please read rules section of our web site for details.
 Our system gives you  a lot of flexibility and basically 8 days to play one  match . Twice per a session players can request one day extension and play on Tuesday. Aside from this,  matches can't be postponed. All matches not completed on time will be recorded DNP (didn't play) or forfeits 6-0,6-0 if one of the players forfeits on their own. If a match is DNP , both players will lose .5 points for not playing. If one player forfeits , the match will be recorded as 0-6,0-6. We hope that players will show good sportsmanship and forfeit matches on their own when they are gone  all week or when they feel they were not flexible enough.
League organizers won't have time to arbitrate or judge who should forfeit incomplete matches week after week. To make it fair to everyone, the rules mentioned above will be enforced without exceptions.

Movement in between sessions
Just like last year , top two players in each division will be moved up a level for the next session and bottom two will drop a level down. Sometimes we can bump up more than two players if someone from the division above drops out in between session.
 Hopefully a large majority of you will have competitive matches week after week.

Contact info
You already received a  spreadsheet with players contact info. Please check your info and let me know if everything is correct on there. If your phone number is missing please email it to me.

Reporting scores
Each division will have a designated person that will update your scores and standings. This year 4 people will be assisting me at  this task. Dustin Kuchera, Dave Pewowaruk , Art Smet and Christopher Jones generously offered their help. I appreciate their efforts and dedication to the league.

We will be splitting our duties in following manner
.
Division 1 and 8 will be reporting to Art Smet asmet37@gmail.com
Division 2 and 3 will be reporting to me at maksimlecic@hotmail.com
Division 4 and 5 reporting to Dave Pewowaruk rochestertennis1@gmail.com
Divisions 6 and 7 to Dustin Kuchera dustin.kuchera@gmail.com
Both  women's league divisions will be reporting to me maksimlecic@hotmail.com
Doubles league teams will be reporting to Chris Jones CMJones@CMJonesTutoring.com

Please be prompt at emailing your exact scores before the deadline so we don't have to send reminders every Monday. If your match wasn't completed or you need one day extension please e mail us by Monday night deadline. See our main site for more details about league rules.
Doubles league scores are due Sunday nights.

So long for now. Have fun out on the courts and good luck in your first round matches.  I am sure first couple of rounds will be challenging  but hopefully some better weather is on the way.