Hello RTL members
Thank you for registering for the first session of 2014. Here is a little update as we are getting closer to our official start date.
Session I sign-up is going well. We filled all 64 spots in the men's league and 24 spots in the women's.
Doubles league had a great turnout once again. Couple of teams need to confirm their registration but it seems like we will end up with 57 players on 19 teams.
Overflow/wild card division for singles
As new players continue to register in coming weeks , we are going to form an overflow/wild card division like we did last year. We have 5 open spots left in the wild card division.
This division will have a mix of players (male and female) of all skill levels and it will run parallel with the main league through session I. Wild card players will move to the main league for session II (starting in late June)
As announced before, session I starts May 5th and goes continuously for 7 weeks (due to our flexible format we don't have weeks off for holidays).
I will email you when the schedule gets posted.Normally we announce the schedule a week before the season starts. At the same time you will receive a list of players with their contact information.
Singles leagues will continue to have flexible scheduling and matches will be due Monday nights. Doubles league will have designated days. Division I plays Monday evenings and division II Wednesdays. We urge teams to try their best to play matches on designated days . In case of inclement weather, teams will need to arrange different time and place within that week. Doubles matches will be due Sunday nights. League rules and scheduling guidelines for the doubles league are posted on the link below.
http://rtldoubles.moonfruit.com/#/rules/4562129077
All new teams should visit the link above to familiarize themselves with the set up.
Chris Jones will be running doubles branch and continue writing doubles league blog.
Doubles players will be getting more details about session I soon.
Placement for singles
We will be looking at your past scores ( primary session 3 standings from last year) to determine which division you play in session I. New player placement is a lot more challenging. I will be looking at past USTA scores, self rating , matches they played against our current members outside of the league and finally weather permitting we might try to set up some pre-season placement matches . Pre-season matches give us a pretty good idea what division/level a new players would fit in, but unfortunately they are not easy to set up due to weather.
Men's / co-ed league looks very top heavy this year. Top two divisions are gaining a good number of new players at advanced level so it will be pretty challenging to place everyone. Good thing about our system is that players move up or down in between sessions and eventually they get to a divisions where they are most competitive. Top two players in each division move up a level in between sessions and bottom 2 drop a level down. Divisions will have 8 players in each and format will be round robin.
Soldier's Field
As you know City of Rochester is considering various plans to renovate Soldier's park. Some plans don't envision tennis courts in the park. They are the busiest courts in town and only public courts with lights. As Rochester grows, the push should be towards expanding number of lit courts there rather then demolishing existing ones. Many of you already left comments and suggestions on Parks and Rec. web site, and I encourage the rest of you to do the same on the link below.
It seems like they pulled the online survey off the site and now they have a comment sheet that you can fill and mail to them. On the link below click on download comment sheet.
https://www.rochestermn.gov/departments/park/Construction/index.asp
It's a little thing we can do to let the decision makers know what people that actually use those courts think about the new plans.
You can also contact Park and Rec representatives on the links below
Park and rec directors
http://www.rochestermn.gov/departments/park/about/administration.asp
Park and Rec board
http://www.rochestermn.gov/departments/park/about/commissioners.asp
Or city council members link below
https://www.rochestermn.gov/departments/citycouncil/councilmembers.asp
Inter league
First inter league meet is scheduled for June 14th at 5PM in Cannon Falls.
Over the years these inter-league meets with Farmington Area Tennis League became a tradition . I believe this will be our 7th meet. For those not familiar with this competition, it's a team tournament between two leagues. It consists of various singles and doubles matches and it's open to all RTL and FAT league members. Our team captain Keegan Hakala will be organizing RTL team and he will be contacting you as we get closer to the date. . There is a new page on our site that has more details about this competition, past scores and format (link below)
http://www.interleague.moonfruit.com/#
We don't get together as a group too often so these meets are a nice way to get to know other recreational players form the area, represent our league and just have fun playing this wonderful sport.
So long for now, hopefully the weather will improve in next couple of weeks and we can start hitting outdoors.
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