Dear Friends,
Congratulations to everyone on the completion of another fabulous season in RCRL. About 1400 women competed in our “alphabet” divisions (Open A through C1), about 270 of you played in either Masters I or II, and about 90 of you played in our new “just for fun” division called Grandmasters. That’s a lot of tennis!
It was a transition year for all of us as we operated under a set of rules that were substantially changed from prior years, and as we began using the dynamic rating system for placement of players. The rules changes and the rating system presented some challenges, but I could not be prouder of the way that all of you responded to these changes. Were there questions? Yes. Was there confusion at times? Yes. Were there complaints? A few. But, overall you handled this with grace, cooperation, respect and good humor. As proof of that, please let me point out that not one grievance was filed this entire year! This is noteworthy indeed. Thank you all for your great spirit and sportsmanship. It really was a remarkable year!
Your Board has been paramount in making this year a success. Please take the time to thank your division director and co-director for their hard work. Fielding your questions has taken a great deal of time, but your directors have been unfailing in working with their captains and teams. Thanks also to Marie McCauley and Katy Andrews, and all the co-directors, for arranging for the terrific year end luncheon at Churchill Downs.
The Rules Committee has completed its work on changes for next season, and the changes, while not very many, are important. All captains, please review the new rules completely. They will be posted shortly on RCRL.org, the website you should be visiting regularly, if they are not posted already by the time you read this. While the division directors will be reviewing these at the captains’ meeting before the season begins, it is the responsibility each captain to read and understand the rules on her own as well.
Here are some highlights of the rules for next year:
We hope everyone has a wonderful summer and plays lots of tennis, and that we will see you back next year. Please keep these two important dates in mind:
Letters of intent for ALL teams are due by June 15. They must be filed on the form provided at RCRL.org and sent to the current (2011-2012) division director for the division you are seeking to play. If you don’t know who that is, you can find out on RCRL.org. Also, please copy the director of your current division, if you are seeking a division change. The Board will meet to decide division placement on June 18.
Finally, I am proud to announce that RCRL has made a donation to Raise A Racquet Foundation, administered by the Kentucky Tennis Association. Our gift was made to assist in the recovery efforts of the Morgan County High tennis team and the tennis community inWest Liberty,Kentucky, after the tornado severely damaged the tennis facilities earlier this year.
It has been a pleasure serving as your president. Please support Cindy Rose as she steps into this role for next year.
With warmest regards,
Susan Turner
2011-2012 President
RCRL notes with extreme sadness the death of Betty Williams on Jan. 20, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Betty was manager of Fern Valley Tennis Club, a tournament director and official, a team captain, a past board member and a player. She won awards from both USTA and KTA. She was kind, generous, funny, a friend to many and a force to be reckoned with! We will miss her.
Time to start the second half of the season. Thanks to everyone for a smooth first half! Reports are that people are behaving well, play is competitive and fun is being had! Let’s keep it up. Remember to silence those cell phones, and no texting or checking texts or the like during matches. It’s only two hours — tear yourself away and concentrate on enjoying yourself with some fun tennis!
The Board of Directors did not meet last Monday night because several were out of town or ill, and we found ourselves in the happy circumstance that we had no business that we had to attend to. No burning issues, and no grievances to date, indicates that all are doing a great job of graciously playing social but competitive tennis. Thanks and keep up the good work. Rules committee will convene in January (more to follow on that) so if you have suggestions on rule changes, please forward them to Cindy Rose.
Attention Captains,
We have discovered some errors in the computer scoring of tied matches. To clarify, if the point score for a match is tied (10-10, 2-2, 3-3, whatever), the winner of the match is the team that won the most sets. If sets are tied, then it’s the team that won the most games. Recently, the computer program has been going directly to games, skipping the sets. We are attempting to correct all those errors. If you have had a match tied in points, please check the listed results to be sure the winner is listed correctly, and if not, contact your division director and Dawn Clover, the data administrator.
Rest assured the point totals are correct, which is the primary determinant of standings. At year end, if there is a tie in points in a division, we will manually check all the results to determine that all wins and losses have been recorded correctly.
Thanks to the teams who brought this problem to our attention.
Susan
It has been brought to the Board’s attention that the penalty for an excessively long bathroom or other break is unclear under the new rules. As written, the only recourse for a team that felt its match was affected by an excessively long break would be to file a grievance, and at that point, the only recourse might be to order a forfeit. That seems harsh, so at its meeting on Sept. 12, the Board voted to establish these penalties for abusers of the continuous play rule, which pertains to all the types of breaks listed in Rule V.G.3.
If a break exceeds the stated limits by less than one minute, the penalty will the loss of the next point.
If a break exceeds the stated limits by one minute or more, but less than three minutes, the penalty will be loss of the next full game.
If a break exceeds the stated limits by more than five minutes, the penalty will be loss of the match.
The Board wants to remind everyone that the vast majority of breaks for bathroom or medical problems are legitimate emergencies, and players have historically treated those graciously and accommodated the needs of their opponents. We encourage that to continue, and hope that teams will not take this new rule as an opportunity to gain an advantage. It is still permissible, and indeed encouraged, to allow your opponent a little additional time without penalty when everyone on the court understands the situation and knows that the match can and should go forward after the brief break. That is simply part of social tennis. The rule is intended to address that small number of players who abuse breaks, for instance, by using the break as an opportunity to make a business phone call, or by taking several excessively long breaks in a match.
As is our custom, the board of directors for RCRL changes on July 1st. Your new board and contact e-mails will be listed on under the Directory tab. Susan Turner will be taking over the President’s role for 2011-12, and I know she will do a fine job.
We are also changing Data Administrators. Dawn Clover will be taking over from Vicky Schaefer over the next few months. I can’t tell you how wonderful it has been to work with Vicky in this role. Over the last several years, she has done an amazing job keeping straight the schedules, rosters, and player profiles for 11 divisions. If you see her on the courts, say thanks. So much of what we do as an organization is dependent upon the Data Administrator, and she has been an extraordinary one.
One more thing: we still have some openings for board positions in some of the divisions. If you are willing to serve, please let your current director know. She’ll point you in the right direction.
Have a great summer, and we’ll see you in the fall!
The thing that causes the most problems between opponents on the court? Not knowing the rules. If someone is going to get mad, usually it’s because one or the other of them don’t know the rule that applies. From time to time, I’ll address some of the more common and some of the more obscure rules that have been known to cause problems. If you have a suggestion for a topic of discussion, please e-mail me.
The price for this years’ luncheon remains at $30.00 per person. Each team needs to send in one check, so get with your captain. Make it a girls day out for your team! Go, baby, go!
