Every year at our AGM we have a few concerns voiced by various club members about the organized play on our Tuesday and Thursday night club hours. Some people have been concerned that they spent too much time sharing a court with other players that are completely a different level than themselves. This can be frustrating for people on both ends of the skill level. Some others have had concerns that when more than 20 players show up, rotation in of awaiting players hasn’t happened properly. We’d like to see these evenings a little more organized and realize that this will take time and effort to sort out. We also realize we have to start somewhere and work from there. We ask for your patience and suggestions as this will certainly take several weeks to “tweak”. This is where we propose to start:
1) Play begins at 6:00pm with a 15 minute warm up.
2) Play will be organized into 30 minute intervals.
3) At the end of every 30 minutes a horn or whistle will blow.
4) We are playing for game scores, not sets.
5) The team that is ahead in the game score (not sets) at the end of any 30 minute increment, moves up one court. If you are on court 4, this means you will move to court 3 etc.
6) Your partner and you will split to opposite sides of the court. You will not play more than one 30 minute increment with the same partner consecutively.
7) Teams that are behind in the score will split and move one court down.
8) When you arrive at the courts, try to honestly place yourself where you feel your skill level is. For example, if you are a beginner, you would begin play on courts 4 or 5. If you are a high level player, you would start on courts 1 or 2. This type of system works best if you try to be fair about where you start out.
9) Here’s where it gets a little complicated. If you arrive after the 6:00pm start and there are fewer than 20 players on the court, fill in anywhere there’s an opening, such as the last court that isn’t filled. If there are more than 20 players and players are waiting courtside, 2 players will join in at the next 30 minute increment as the team that’s behind on score will come off of court 5 at the bell.
10) As players leave throughout the night (at the bell) players move up from the lower courts to fill in the void.
This is social tennis (not a tournament), it is just organized so that we mix and play at a level suited to your play on the day.
Again, please be patient as we work our way through this, particularly on the first few nights.
Thanks
Bruce Unruh
Vice President
www.mapleridgetennis.com
bunruh@telus.net
Phone: 604-250-5887
