Court Jesters Tennis Club 25 January 2007

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1 Who We Are Court Jesters Tennis Club From our bylaws: The name of this organization shall be The Court Jesters Tennis Club of Trilogy at Rio Vista ("Club"). This organization has been organized to promote and further tennis for the benefit of the members of this Club, sponsoring tournaments, and associated recreational activities for the mutual benefit of members. It is established as a social association. This is an exclusive club with membership limited to the residents of Trilogy at Rio Vista, CA which further limits residency to those 55 and older. So you can see, our membership is comprised of mature tennis players, many having attained the status of senior citizen. With the limited playing facilities available at Trilogy Rio Vista, a system for sharing the two tennis courts at our disposal is a must. Play falls into one of two categories, open play or organized play. Open play is open to residents of Trilogy Rio Vista and their guests. Court Jesters membership is not required. Organized play is restricted to Court Jesters members. Open Play Mon-Fri 7:00 AM 10:00 AM To ensure that everyone has an opportunity to play, rotation is employed. When there are four or less players on a court, anything which is agreeable to all is OK (Australian, Singles Sets, Doubles Sets, Rotation). Anything goes. When there are more than four players on a court, rotation is in effect. Rotation occurs after each game. Rotation is clockwise with the bench player entering the forehand court and receiving serve and the 1

2 servers partner exiting to the bench. No ad s are played and deuce is game point. Mon-Fri 10:00 AM Sunset Sat, Sun 7:00 AM Sunset Signup for a court using the signup sheets at the court bulletin board. Organized Play Court Jesters support three forms of organized play, competitive groups, team tennis, and tournaments. The schedule for each organized event is posted on the court bulletin board and sent via to all club members. Ratings Before getting into the different events, an explanation of the Court Jesters Rating System is called for. This system is home grown and based upon the results of member play. The ratings are maintained on the members page of the Court Jesters web site. Initially, a simple rating was calculated equal to the sum of the sets won percentage and the games won percentage. A maximum rating of 200 was possible. This simple rating does not take into account the opposition. To remedy this a refined rating is now calculated which uses the opponents simple rating to establish a per game point value. The refined rating is the total game points divided by the total sets played. An example of how the refined rating is calculated follow, however unless you are into numbers and such you may want to go on to the next section. Example: Two teams play two sets. The players on team A have simple ratings of 107 and 113, which yields an average of 110 points per game. The players on team B have simple ratings of 136 and 123, yielding 129 points per game. Team A wins the first set 6-4 and Team B wins the second set 6-4. Team A Team B Points per game won ( )/2 = 110 ( )/2 = 129 Set Set 1 points 6 * 129 = * 110 = 440 Set Set 2 points 4 * 129 = * 110 = 660 Refined rating ( )/2 = 645 ( )/2 = 550 Both teams won 10 games, but Team A got a higher rating because Team B is stronger. Competitive Groups 2

3 Competitive groups were established to provide an opportunity to play complete sets with the same partner, rather than switching after each game during rotation. You may hear competitive group play refered to as a Hatch Match. A couple years ago, Ralph Hatch started a form of competitive play which caught on. He invited three other players to compete in three sets. Each set had a different set of partners, such that each player played one set with each other player. If a player was not on the winning end of at least one set, they were dropped from the group and a new player was added. Before long, everyone was asking how they could play in a competitive group. As with most endeavours, this has evolved. The rating system was created to provide an equitable method for selecting players. A scheduling system has been developed which each week produces a schedule of play based upon the number of times a player has participated, their rating, and their availability. The members page on the Court Jesters web site provides most of the input to the scheduling system. A page is provided where the results can be entered and ratings calculated. Another page is provided where members indicate whether they want to play same gender doubles matches or mixed doubles matches or both. They also indicate which days they are available to play. Typically, on Thursday evening, the inputs are collected and a schedule for the following weeks play is sent out via . Shortly thereafter, the schedule is posted on the court bulletin board. Members are responsible for finding substitutes when they cannot play as scheduled. Members are also responsible for entering their scores or sending them to someone who will enter them. The following is a typical summer week: Group A is women Class A or B 10:00 Monday Group B is men Class B 10:00 Monday George Sablan Clinic 10:00 Tuesday Group C is men, Class A or B 6:30 Tuesday Group D is mixed, Class B or C 6:30 Tuesday Group E is mixed, Class A or B or C 10:00 Wednesday Group F is women, Class A or B or C 10:00 Wednesday Ladies Day 6:30 PM Thursday When the schedule is generated, the participating players are divided into three groups based upon their refined rating. The top third are Class A, the middle third are Class B, and the bottom third are Class C. This classification is used to populate the various groups. Ladies Day is not actually a competitive group. Team Tennis 3

4 Team Tennis is a new development for Court Jesters. Using the rules of World Team Tennis as a starting point, we have modified them for our own use and to establish a Trilogy Team Tennis League. As this is being written, we are about to start our second round of play. An expansion draft will be conducted to populate the addition of a fifth team to the league and to accommodate those wishing to participate. The rules and details can be found on the Court Jesters web site. Team Tennis play is currently scheduled for Monday evenings at 6:30 PM. The schedule of play will be posted on the bulletin board and on the web. Tournaments and Socials Social interaction is very much a part of the Club charter. The Club is currently committed to four schedule events each calander year [ the US OPEN, a Soup &Salad Night along with a Seafood Louie Night plus a Mystery Night]. Internal tournaments are organized along with a social linkage, a TOURNASOCIAL. Said events have been held as follows; the begining of Daylight Savings time along with the end of Daylight Savings time, Memorial Day weekend, July 4th, Labor Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving and New Years Eve Day. Plus any other day that can be organized. The social aspect can range from a BBQ to a Pot Luck gathering to light snacks or pizza and dinner or lunch out. 4

5 External tournaments have been played with Rossmore, Summerset at Brentwood and the City of Vacaville. Additional matches are planned for the future and other Clubs are being pursued for match play. 5