Tennis Victoria Pennant

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1 2015 Pennant Information Guide Tennis Victoria would like to welcome you to the 2015 Pennant season. With a significant increase in team numbers and a lot of new clubs participating an exciting season looms for all clubs and participants. Tennis Victoria have itemised a number of key areas of the competition in this Information Guide for the season, which we ask to please be forwarded and communicated to team captains/players. Viewing Singles Order of Merit lists in Competition Planner It is imperative that during the season players are aware of their approved singles order of merit squad lists. This is extremely important because for the 2015 season it will again be up to teams competing in the match to lodge a match dispute if they believe their opposition team has played out of singles order of merit by the prescribed 5pm Tuesday post that Round. Results will be locked post this period and no further match disputes will be received or considered. With this in mind these can be viewed quite simply and conveniently on the Competition Planner public webpage: tennis.com.au/vic/competitions Please refer to Appendix 1 for your step by step guide in viewing your club s teams and opposition singles order of merit lists on the Competition Planner public website. Please educate your players on being able to view this prior to each match. This is very accessible for all players as Competition Planner can be loaded on internet safari on any I Phone also. This will ensure there is no breaches of singles order of merit by your club and also give you knowledge on the opposition team s correct singles order of merit. This will assist you in determining whether you can lodge a match dispute again noting that this is up to the club s to lodge to be considered. Please note if a player who has played is not listed on the teams singles order of merit list, they will be emergency players used by that club, and are expected to be of equivalent standard to the nominated player they have replaced for that round. Change of Single Order of Merit Submissions- Pennant Condition of Play For the 2015 season all clubs may submit a change in singles order of merit between Rounds These must be received in writing by 12 Noon Thursday prior to that round to be considered for that weekend s round. To submit your club s change in singles order of merit, please jdownes@tennis.com.au your current order and proposed order and reason for change. Please ensure your Grade/Section of the team is clearly addressed in . TV will then notify your club if approved. Please note that until your club receives approval for the changes, your original singles order of merit must be followed. Please ensure these are

2 lodged early in the week to allow for TV to administer and ensure they are approved/updated prior to your next scheduled match. Delisting Players Pennant Condition of Play (b) Clubs may delist an injured player (unable to play for 4 weeks or more) and replace with an equivalent or lower standard player. Once the player has been delisted they may return to play as an emergency player in the team after 4 weeks. In Grade 1 a Wildcard player may not be used to replace a delisted player. This must be received in writing to jdownes@tennis.com.au by no later than 12 Noon Thursday to be considered for that round. Adding Players to a team listing- Pennant Condition of Play (a) Additional players will only be approved and accepted to a team singles order of merit list if they are of a lower standard than the bottom listed player. This must be received in writing to jdownes@tennis.com.au by no later than 12 Noon Thursday to be considered for that round. Grade 1 Wildcard player allowance (Men s Women s, Men s Open Doubles, Masters 45+) - Pennant Condition of Play Teams in Grade 1 of all competition categories of Pennant will be able to play ONE Wildcard player per round. Nominated players in Grade 1 only will be allowed to play in a lower rank to allow the Wildcard player to play in their appropriate playing standard position. Teams however will still be required to play in their nominated singles order of merit. Wildcard players are eligible to play finals, if they meet the 4 match qualification. (Note- clubs are limited to one qualified Wildcard player per finals round also). Wildcard players do not have to be submitted in writing, but marked with a (W) on the scorecard on the day, but TV strongly encourage you seek clarification if required prior to a round. Entering Results On-Line in Competition Planner Pennant Condition of Play All results must be entered on-line by the Home team by 9:00pm on the Monday following the match. The Visiting team must confirm the match result by 5:00pm on the Tuesday following the match. To enter results and view fixtures and ladders please go to: tennis.com.au/vic/competitions Please refer to Appendix 2 for your step by step guide on entering match results in Competition Planner. When entering emergency players in Competition Planner if the player is not in your club s drop down list please put a TBD as player name and include the player name in the match notes at the bottom of screen. TV staff will then update and add this player to your club drop down list post the completion of the round. Singles Order of Merit- Pennant Condition of Play For all Grades (excluding Grade 1 with Wildcard player allowance) each player in each team shall play in their assigned approved singles order of merit. No player may play in a singles rubber that is below their

3 assigned singles order of merit but they may play above it, as long as keeping in order with singles order of merit. (Refer to example) Eg. Singles Rubber 1- Nominated Number 2 Singles Rubber 2- Nominated Number 3 Singles Rubber 3- Emergency Singles Rubber 4- Nominated Number 4, If an Emergency player plays the number 1 position singles rubber, that team s nominated number 1 may NOT play a singles rubber in that match as if he/she plays in a lower singles position (such as singles position No 2, the team has been strengthened). Emergency players should be of the equivalent standard to the player they are replacing for that match. Match Protests- Pennant Condition of Play A match protest may initially be registered with Tennis Victoria by registering a protest with details when completing or confirming a score in Competition Planner, or if this option is not used by to jdownes@tennis.com.au by Tuesday 5:00pm after the match to which the protest relates. Please note NO match protests will be received post this time deadline. Home and Away matches court selection - Pennant Condition of Play (f) & (g) The home team will make 2 courts available for a match of the same court surface. The captain of the away team shall have the choice to nominate the first rubber to be played. The captain of the home team shall have the second choice to nominate the second rubber to be played. The captain of the away team shall have the third choice to nominate the third rubber to be played. The third nomination shall be made without delay and no later than when the court from the first completed rubber is ready to play. A home club may allocate 4 courts for a match (same surface), but this would require mutual agreement from both captains to play the match over the 4 courts. Commencement & Conclusion Times for Home and Away matches - Pennant Condition of Play (a) & (b) The commencement time for morning home and away matches shall be no later than 9:00am and matches completed by no later than 1:00pm. In the event courts are available after this time, play may continue until a match result is achieved, but requires mutual agreement from both captains to play beyond 1:00pm. The commencement time for afternoon home and away matches shall be not later than 1:00pm and the conclusion time shall be completed either by Melbourne light up time if no lights are available at the venue or where there are lights available at the venue by 6:30pm, play may continue until a match result is achieved, but requires mutual agreement from both captains to play beyond 6:30pm. Venues are to use lights at a mutually agreed time or at Melbourne light up time (whichever is earlier to achieve a match result). Venues that have lights but are not allowed access to lights for their pennant

4 matches should notify the visiting club of this prior to the commencement of the match that they will be playing until Melbourne light up time only. Wet Weather Policy Pennant Condition of Play (a) Please note that for the 2015 home and away season that the match shall be abandoned after the expiration of any one continuous period of delay of 90 minutes after the commencement time (unless BOTH captains mutually agree to extend the time). An example of this is as follows: A match has 3 rain delays. The first 2 delays are for 45 minutes each and the final one is 90 minutes. The match is not abandoned (without the mutual consent of both captain s) until the end of the 3 rd rain delay, even though the first 2 rain delays totalled 90 minutes of rain delay. It MUST be 90 Continuous minutes spent off court. ** Please note that for all finals matches there shall be 120 continuous minutes of rain delays not 90 continuous minutes requirement Finals Qualification- Pennant Condition of Play Please note players MUST play a minimum of 4 matches for that club in that particular competition type (eg. Men s, Women s, Masters 45+, Men s Open Doubles) to qualify for the finals. Eg. A player plays 3 matches in Men s Pennant, 2 matches in Men s Open Doubles, 2 matches in Men s Masters 45+ Doubles. Although they have played 7 home and away matches, they have been for different competitions and as a result have not qualified for any of these teams to qualify for finals. The minimum 4 matches finals requirement will be strictly enforced, so please ensure your team has sufficient depth of players qualified for finals to cover any potential injuries/unavailability etc. Please note in the shortened 10 round season in the women s and men s lowest grades finals qualification is 3 matches. Emergency Player Finals Qualification- Pennant Condition of Play During the season a player who plays four or more matches as an Emergency for a Grade shall not be permitted to play in a lower Grade team (as a team member or emergency) thereafter. For finals emergency players who have qualified and played 4 matches over the season with a club with 2 teams in different grades, cannot play in the lower grade in subsequent finals. This player may play only in the grade played in the first week of finals or a higher grade in the following week s finals series. Further to this emergency players who have qualified and played a total 4 matches with a club with 2 teams in the same Grade are bound to the team they play their first final with. Sectional Finals & Grade Finals- Pennant Conditions of Play 6.12 & 6.13 At the end of the home and away season, Sectional Finals matches shall be played between teams finishing in Finals positions as follows:

5 - In a 8 team section, the teams finishing in first to fourth positions will play off with 1v 4 and 2 v 3 - In a 6 team section the team finishing first shall proceed straight into the Grade Finals series and the teams finishing second and third shall play off. Please note that in 2015 if teams finish on equal points at the completion of the Home and Away rounds the higher ranked team will now be determined by the greater number of match wins in the season. If this is still equal it will be determined by the higher rubbers percentage won Sectional Finals matches will be played on 2 courts at the home of the team finishing higher. The winners of the Sectional play off matches will then proceed to the Grade Finals Series to be played at the home of the higher ranked team on a Saturday only. Teams will be ranked based upon the number of points earned during the season and finishing position. For Men s and Women s Pennant Sectional and Grade Finals the match shall consist of 6 seperate rubbers. To ensure live doubles rubbers there is the match format of the 2 doubles rubbers played first followed by the 4 singles rubbers. Women s AM finals matches shall commence at 9:00am and continue until 4pm, and Men s Afternoon PM Finals matches shall commence at 12:30pm and continue until 7:30pm. Men s Open Doubles and Men s Masters 50+ finals matches shall commence at 1:00pm played on 2 courts as per home and away rubber format. All Finals matches are played until a match result is achieved only. Teams are encouraged to play past the conclusion time to achieve a match result, but this does require mutual agreement Grade Grand Finals- Pennant Condition of Play 6.15 The last two remaining teams in each Grade having won through to the Grade Finals Series will play off in the Grade Grand Final to determine the winner of the Grade Premiership. The Grade Grand Final for Men s Pennant shall commence at 11:00am with a conclusion time of 7:30pm and for Women s Pennant commence at 9:00am with a conclusion time of 4:00pm. The matches shall consist of 8 seperate rubbers, four singles rubbers followed by four doubles rubbers (Each team shall have 2 doubles pairs, and each pair shall play each other) played over 4 courts on the same day until a match result is achieved at a neutral venue. Men s Open Doubles and Masters 45+ Doubles Grade Grand Final Matches shall commence at 1:00pm played over 2 courts at a neutral venue. Teams are encouraged to play past the conclusion time to achieve a match result, but this does require mutual agreement

6 Registered Players All clubs will receive shortly an updated list of unregistered players from the players nominated in your teams. It is a requirement of Pennant that all players are registered. The Tennis Victoria Membership Services team will be following up on this with all clubs shortly and if your club has any queries please contact Rebecca Andrews (Club Services Officer) randrews@tennis.com.au or phone Best of luck to all players and clubs for the season. For any further Pennant Competition queries please contact Jeff Downes Tennis Victoria Competitions Manager jdownes@tennis.com.au or phone APPENDIX 1 Step by Step Guide - Viewing Singles Order of Merit Listing Go to the Competition Planner website and click on Matches Tab and then select Squad Lists from drop down menu

7 Then Select the Grade and Section Series in which your team is competing in for the 2015 season from the drop down option as per below screen shot: This will then display your team and all other competing teams in current singles order of merit listing as per below screen shot:

8 Please note that this is per TV records at the time of publication, but there may be a delay in updating due to administration processing of a change in order submission/delisted players APPENDIX 2 Entering/Confirming match results in Competition Planner It is the responsibility of the HOME TEAM to enter results in the 2015 Pennant Season. Results must be entered by 9pm on the Monday following the match to ensure a fine is not issued. The AWAY TEAM must then log in and either confirm or dispute the result entered by 5pm Tuesday Go to the Competition Planner website Click on the Login button.

9 Enter using the login ID and password that has been issued to you. HOME TEAM ENTERING THE RESULT Enter the match results by going to the following (see below): MENU MODE: Competition Participation MENU: Matches > Enter Match Results

10 Select the relevant season, round and grade has been in the dropdown boxes and press GO. Select the players that played in that particular match via the dropdown boxes and enter the results.

11 If the participating players for that match are not listed in the dropdown box, click on the Add Sub link. Type the name of the substitute player (this will search the club database). Select the player and click go. The player will now appear in dropdown lists for the team for this round only. If the player s name is not in the overall list then they will need to be added to the club s player database. Please refer to the Adding and Editing Players manual for instructions on how to do this.

12 FORFEIT/RETIREMENT BUTTONS Where a player has had to forfeit or retire from an individual match, please click either the F (forfeit) or R buttons next to that player s name. The rubber will automatically be awarded to the team who did not forfeit. When a forfeit has been chosen, do not enter any scores into the system. When the retirement button has been chosen, enter the scores as they were when the retirement occurred. INCOMPLETE BUTTONS Where a match was not played because of inadequate conditions (eg. rain/heat) do not enter any scores for the match and select incomplete button for each match. From there, select the overall result as Abandoned (Incomplete) and update all results.

13 Select the match result using the options in the dropdown box and then click Update to save the result (see below). MATCH RESULT OPTIONS Won Drawn Abandoned (Incomplete) Won on forfeit Choose when one team ends up with the most rubbers (if rubbers are equal, then look at the number of sets and then games won) Choose when both teams have the same number of rubbers/sets/games or when the overall match is incomplete and there is no clear winner Choose when the match has been called off without any play Choose when the opposing team has either noed up or notified both teams of the impending forfeit