Session I update

Hello everyone


Just wanted to give you an update about the new season.

 Thank you all for registering for RTL this year. I hope you will enjoy playing tennis this spring and have many fun matches.


Numbers
Session I sign-up went well.
At this time our men's/co-ed singles league is full. We ended up with 72 players in 9 divisions, and plus 10 players in the casual division. In the women's singles  league we have 21 players in 3 divisions, so we have 3 more open spots there.

Doubles league ended up with 38 players on 13 teams that registered for session I. Unfortunately, we didn't get enough interest among players at more advanced levels (teams that regularly occupy upper part of D1 standings). . Only 3 teams signed up from that group  (Marcelino, Dave P, and Keegan's team) . So unless we get a few more teams at that level  it looks like we won't be able to run that division this time around. Instead, we can   create  a casual doubles group for those 9 players and anyone else at that level who is interested. . This group would play unofficial matches whenever they are available. A calendar will be set where they can post their availability.

Hopefully we will have more interest at this level in the future.

 RTL doubles league will keep going strong through session I with 10 remaining teams. There is  room for couple of more teams so if you know someone who might be interested send them my way.

If we end up with 10 teams we will probably create two groups of equal strength and have  4 group matches followed by  playoff rounds.

Schedule/placement for singles
Your session I placement for singles  depends on your past scores. I  primarily looked at session III standings for those that played  last year or last session played for those that missed session III.   We managed to set up a few pre-season matches for new players so we can place them to an appropriate division. Placement  is always a tricky for brand new members .  Some of you might be placed a bit below or above your level. Good thing is that we move two top players up a level after each session and bottom two down so eventually everyone will get to an appropriate division.

Singles league schedule will be published later this week. I will email you once it's done.

 I try to post session I  schedule a week or so ahead of our start date so we have some  extra days to complete that first round. I am sure we will have some tricky weather first few weeks  so you are welcome to play   before April 27th which is our official start date for singles.

Doubles league will start May 18th and you will be getting more updates about that.

Assistant organizers
If anyone else  is interested in helping us enter scores this year let me know. One person usually takes care of updating scores in 2 divisions. It's a pretty simple task done through google docs spreadsheets.
I believe so far we have 5 people including myself.

Casual group
We got 10 people in so called casual singles group. We will be passing  this contact list so players  can get in touch with others interested in occasional matches. This group won't have  scores to report or deadlines to meet. It's a nice way to play some tennis for those that couldn't commit to playing once a week in our competitive leagues. Players that show lack of commitment in the competitive leagues and show pattern of missed matches will be moved to this group as well.
New players
If you are joining RTl for the first time please make sure you read rules section on our web site www.rochestertennisleague.com to make sure this kind of set up will work for. Players need to show flexibility scheduling matches and great email/phone communication. Your opponents will expect you to give them a match every week and we won't be able to keep players on the schedule that show pattern of missed matches or lack of initiative setting up matches . Matches can be played ahead of time but they can't be postponed. So if you know you will be gone for an entire week you can try to play that match in advance. Our scheduling system is very flexible. We give you 8 days to play a match , but sometimes arranging matches around busy schedules and challenging weather  can be pretty challenging. We strongly advise players to initiate communication early in the week to allow yourselves enough time to set up day and time for your match. Please be considerate to your opponents and  reply to their emails as fast as you can.

So long for this post.

I will drop you an email later this week to let you know that singles schedule is ready.

Have a great week