Code of the USTA

The Ladies Inter-Club Tennis League was formed to provide competitive tennis in a fair and equitable manner. The rules that we have adopted were designed to meet that purpose and to insure good sportsmanship. With that in mind, we’d like to quote the Code of the USTA:

“Some times in a match when one player’s code of ethics differs from that

of the other player, one of them may suffer unjustly,

even though the injustice was not intended. To eliminate these injustices

and to establish uniformity in following the unwritten

laws of tennis, we recommend we all play by the Code at all times. USTA

Tournament Regulations require

that it be allowed in non-officiated matches in sanctioned tournaments.”

2008 RULES OF LADIES INTERCLUB TENNIS LEAGUE

Section 1-The League/Annual Meeting

a) The name of this League shall be the Ladies Interclub Tennis League (hereinafter referred to as “The League”). The League will be comprised of three (3) divisions – RED, BLUE AND YELLOW. Each club in the RED AND BLUE DIVISION may field an A, B and C Team. The YELLOW DIVISION currently consists of a C team only.

b) An Annual Meeting of the League will be held between January 15^th and February 15th each year at a club determined at the previous Annual Meeting. Each club will send one representative to these meetings. An outgoing representative may bring their replacement with prior approval from the president. However, only the current representative or her appointed substitute may have voting rights. Any additional meetings may be called at the discretion of the President. Clubs not having proper facilities may co-host with the next club on the list if it is agreeable. A President, Red Secretary, Blue/Yellow Secretary, Scheduler, all of whom must be members of the host club, will take office at this time for the coming year. The President will preside at the meeting and a Secretary will record the minutes. The minutes of the meeting will be mailed by the Secretary to each club representative, along with the Captains roster, a list of Recorders (included in the minutes) and a sample score sheet and recorder sheet.

c) All proposed Rule changes/revisions/additions must be submitted to the Rules Committee Chair 30 days prior to the Annual Meeting or any other meeting called by the President. All proposed changes/revisions/additions will be emailed/mailed 7 days prior to the meeting for Representative review. There will be no changes/revision/additions designed at a meeting.

d) Any new team’s application or requests must be made to the President of the League, in writing, ten (10) days prior to the Annual Meeting.

e) Any team wishing to join the League must come in as part of the YELLOW Division. New clubs entering the League must have a minimum of five (5) soft courts available for play at the same time on their clubs premises. An exception is made for Bethesda and Potomac Swim because their membership predates the five (5) soft court rule. Any club with five (5) soft courts is allowed to have three (3) teams in the LITL. At no time is a club with fewer then ten (10) soft courts allowed to have three (3) teams playing on the same day. It is the Representatives responsibility to be aware of her club team’s participation level. If a club wishes to add a fourth (4th) team that club must have ten (10) or more soft courts available for match play. There will be a four (4) team limit per club within the present structure.

e)

Section 2-League Organization

a) The Club Representative duties include but are not confined to: attendance at the Annual Interclub Meeting, meet with team captains and distribute pertinent information and paperwork for the current year, act as the liaison between your club and the Interclub board including the Rules Committee, serve as a recording club for one year and choose the central recorder for the level you are assigned.

b) A Central Recorder will be chosen for each level of each Division at the time of the Annual Meeting. The job of the Central Recorder should rotate among the clubs each year and no club should have more than one Central Recorder per year. The Central Recorder’s responsibilities include: check score sheets to insure names are on the team roster and see that no one has played up twice; record scores of her division level on the recorder sheet on a weekly basis; contact division level winners and losers in regard to the playoffs; mail to each captain in her division level and the League President and Secretaries, a permanent record of the season standings at the conclusion of the playoffs.

Section 3-Player Eligibility

a) All players must be at least twenty-one (21) years of age and may compete for only one club of which they are full-time (yearly) dues-paying members, or are the spouse of a club head professional who has club membership privileges. All currently ranked (national or sections open in ladies singles or doubles) players or teaching professionals must play on the uppermost TEAM only at their club. A professional is defined as an individual with accreditation to teach tennis and being compensated for this activity, or as being USPTA certified. The individual level of play also needs to be considered.

b) At the beginning of each Spring and Fall season, the Club Representative must submit an alphabetized roster for each team at her club of up to thirty (30) names per team to the appropriate League Secretary and the Recorder in her division, as well as the affected Recorder above and below. Additional names may be submitted to the division Recorder or League Secretary before a match during the season as long as those names do not appear on any other team’s roster. If a name is not on a roster or has not been previously reported that position is defaulted. Any player may be brought up to play from a club’s lower team, but never down from an upper team. Once any player from a lower team has played two (2) times on any upper team in a season, she is considered a member of the lower of the two upper teams and may not play down for the remainder of the season, including playoffs. Once a team has played a match, the team members as submitted on that team’s roster are subject to the above rules for the duration of that season (i.e.: Spring or Fall). All ladder players are subject to the above 3 (b) rule. If a club has an active ladder, the Secretary must be given the ladder in its entirety.

Section 4-Match Play

a) ALL LEAGUE MATCHES WILL FOLLOW THE USTA TENNIS RULES EXCEPT WHERE STATED.

b) Any infraction of the rules will be referred to the Rules Committee for the necessary disciplinary action. A first-time infraction will result in a warning and a second offense can result in an entire team match default. Rules may be changed by a majority vote of the club representatives.

c) Each individual match will be recorded and scored on the score sheet. The captains must have a complete lineup filled in prior to coming to the match. When borrowing a player from a lower team or when a shift occurs due to a default (re: 4g), it must be indicated by an asterisk (*) on the score sheet before mailing to the Recorder and the Secretary. Each week the host team captain must come to the match with two complete score sheets, one for the recorder and one for the appropriate League Secretary. At the end of the match, the scores must be copied onto the score sheets, and signed by both captains. The host captain must mail or fax the signed score sheets to the appropriate League Secretary and recorder within 48 hours.

d) The “winner” on any given day is that club whose team won the most individual matches against the other club. A win for a club should be worth one (1) point; a loss would equal 0 points.

e) Host team captains must contact opposing team before the match. Each match should be preceded by a 15-minute warm-up. Five (5) courts for warm-up with the opposing teams must be ready at 9:45 a.m. or 15 minutes before match is scheduled to begin. Host club must have available two (2) courts for the opposing team to practice on at 9:30 a.m. After the warm-up, if either captain deems the courts unsafe/unplayable, the match will be rescheduled on the appropriate rain date. Since the A teams and Red B play on Friday, their rain date is the following Monday. The Blue B, Red C and Blue C teams play on Wednesday, so their rain date is Thursday. The Yellow C Team plays on Tuesday, so their rain date is Thursday, unless Wednesday is rained out. Then, Yellow will play Monday. NO LEAGUE MATCHES WILL BE PLAYED ON AN INDOOR COURT, EXCEPT AS NOTED BELOW. If on the day of play the host team cannot provide five (5) outdoor courts due to reasons other than weather, these positions shall be defaulted if the visiting team is present and ready to play. However, if the host team captain informs the visiting captain in advance that there will be shortage of courts; the play may take place at the visiting team’s courts for those positions involved. If it rains on the rain date or the rain date is scheduled on a religious or national holiday (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Memorial Day and Columbus Day) players are not required to play on the holiday unless all 4 players agree. Another date must be set within fourteen (14) days of the originally scheduled match at either court and mutually agreed upon by the two (2) team captains; or if another mutually agreed upon date cannot be scheduled, each position will set individual match times. The host captain is responsible for making sure that the matches are played. In the interest of completing all matches within the fourteen (14) days, the individually scheduled matches must be verbally agreed upon within 48 hours by the 2 team captains and may be played either indoors (if agreeable to all four players), or outdoors. If a decision is not reached by the two (2) opposing teams, then the Host Team Captain contacts the Rep and the Rep will call the Rules Chair who will make the decision on the date and/or default. If an individual match is not completed within these fourteen (14) days, both teams receive zero (0) points. If a team chooses to default all five (5) courts rather than play, that team will automatically move down to the lower division at the end of the season. A cancellation due to rain must be made no later than 8:45 a.m. on the play day unless other arrangements are mutually agreed upon by the teams concerned. If a captain defaulted a position and it rained before the match started, the defaulted position may play on the rain date. If a match in progress is rained out, the same four (4) players continue where they left off within fourteen (14) days. If a team is involved in the playoff, then the rained out match must be played prior to the normally scheduled playoff day.

f) Stacking up or down is prohibited. A player may only play within a three-position range (1-3, 2-4, 3-5). When you are borrowing a player from a lower team, the individual player may only play at position #4 or #5. Any team in violation of this rule will default the entire match.

g) If there is a default prior to 8:45 a.m. then all players must shift up to play positions 1-4. If there are substitutes from below in positions 4 and 5 they are to shift up to play positions 1-4. This is not a stacking violation it is a one time occurrence. All players return to their original positions after the match. Any team that defaults two (2) or more courts in a season will be reviewed by the Rules Committee.

g)

h) If a player is more than fifteen (15) minutes late (from 10:00 a.m.) that court will be defaulted unless there are extraordinary circumstances such as traffic problems. All efforts should be made by the delayed team to contact the host club and warn of the situation. If the captains cannot agree on whether the match will be defaulted, the match will be played under protest, and the dispute referred to the Rules Committee. Play should begin on time on the courts where the players have arrived. If a captain knows before 8:45 a.m. on the play day that she will be missing a player, players at the #5 position will be defaulted. If a captain finds out after 8:45 a.m. and by 10:15 a.m. that a player is missing, that player’s position is defaulted.

i) In the event of injury during a team match, the injury time out will not exceed fifteen (15) minutes or that court/individual match will be forfeited.

j) Play will consist of two (2) out of three (3) sets with a twelve (12) point tie breaker (first team to 7points win by 2 points) at 6-6 for each set.

k) All cell phones must be turned off during match play and while on host club’s property.

l) Proper tennis etiquette dictates that a service ball should not be returned when warming up.

m) There will be no on or off court coaching during interclub play.

n) In case of misconduct (unsportsmanlike language and/or behavior), a warning will be issued by the offended player to the opponent. If play does not continue satisfactorily, play will stop until representatives of both teams can monitor the remainder of the match.

o) Game balls and refreshments will be supplied by the host club.

Section 5-Division Playoffs

a) At the end of the season if there is a tie between clubs in the same division level, the total number of individual matches won, followed by the winner of head to head competition would determine the winner of that season. In the event of a multiple tie, the percentage of sets won out of the total number of sets played will decide the order of winners.

b) The RED DIVISION winners B and C will play a playoff match against the BLUE DIVISION losers A and B, at the end of the spring season and at the end of the fall season, to be held at the defending team’s club on its next regularly scheduled play day. If the RED DIVISION winner beats the BLUE DIVISION loser, those two teams will interchange for the following season. Rain dates for the playoff matches will be held on the defending team’s regularly scheduled rain date. If the rain date is rained out, the match must be played on the following scheduled defending teams match day. If it rains on the scheduled match day then you must play on the scheduled rain date of the defending team. NO OTHER DAY IS ACCEPTABLE!

c) The BLUE DIVISION winners A, B and C will play a playoff match against the RED DIVISION losers, A, B and C at the end of the Spring season and at the end of the Fall season, to be held at the defending team’s club on its next regularly scheduled play day. If the BLUE DIVISION winner beats the RED DIVISION loser, those two teams will interchange for the following season. Rain dates for playoff matches will be held on the defending team’s regularly scheduled rain date. If the rain date is rained out, the match must be played on the following scheduled defending teams match day. If it rains on the scheduled match day then you must play on the scheduled rain date of the defending team. NO OTHER DAY IS ACCEPTABLE!

d) The YELLOW DIVISION winner will play a playoff match against the BLUE C DIVISION loser at the end of the Spring season and at the end of the Fall season, to be held at the defending team’s club on its next regularly scheduled play day. If the BLUE C DIVISION loser loses to the YELLOW DIVISION winner, those teams will interchange for the following season. Rain dates for the playoff matches will be held on the defending team’s regularly scheduled rain date. If the rain date is rained out, the match must be played on the following scheduled defending teams match day. If it rains on the scheduled match day then you must play on the scheduled rain date of the defending team. NO OTHER DAY IS ACCEPTABLE!

e) During the season, if a club has two teams in the same division * NEITHER TEAM CAN BORROW A PLAYER FROM THE OTHER TEAM. The designation of #I and #II in the same division will be by standings at the end of the season. During playoffs, if a club has two teams in the same division, neither team may borrow from the other.

f) No player may play in a playoff match unless she has played at least two (2) matches at that particular level or below during that season. Prior to a playoff match, each team captain must supply the appropriate League Secretary and recorder with a list of her eligible players. The League Secretary and recorder will verify the eligibility of each player before and after the playoff match is played.

Italics indicate revisions made at October 2007 Meeting & February 2008 Meeting