Downeast Junior Team Tennis

The Downeast Junior Team Tennis Committee met on Tuesday, August 3rd at the Greene Central High School Tennis/Softball Fieldhouse.   Members in attendance were Donald Clark from Greene Central, Dale Pale from Washington Racquet Club, Scott Alston and Chapprielle Pitt from Kinston Recreation Department, Jeff Thorne from Lake Wilson Tennis Club, and Chris Hinson from River Birch Tennis Center.

The following decisions were made:

1) Players ranked in the top 200 in the state in any age division will not be allowed to play in the Beginning Tennis League.   The Beginning Tennis leagues are not for experienced players, and coaches are encouraged to keep this in mind when putting players on their rosters.   Please be considerate of other teams who will have lots of players trying out league tennis for the first time.
2) The Summer Beginning leagues will open the season in 2011 with a Jamboree to determine the qualifiers for the state tournament, and then the regular season will be played in July and early August.
3) A new default policy will be in effect in the future, starting with the fall season of 2010.   If a team defaults two matches for any reason (not showing up, not playing when scheduled, not having enough players, etc.) during a season, that team's matches for the rest of the season will be cancelled and that club or organization will not be allowed to field a team in that division for the next year (date begins with the date of the second default).   Opposing coaches are under no obligation to reschedule a scheduled match.
4) A Downeast Junior Team Tennis web page will be placed on the web site gcta.webnode.com to keep coaches and program directors up to date on rules and registration dates.
5) Consideration will be given to allowing teams to play in different geographical divisions within an age division for fall and spring league play due to the travel on school nights.
6) Club and recreation directors will try to work more closely with local high school coaches to encourage players to play spring and fall league tennis outside the high school season.
7) The league coordinator will try to schedule spring and fall league matches for one day a week: Tuesday (18's), Monday (12's), and Thursday (14's).
8) The league coordinator will try to schedule summer league matches for two days a week: Tuesday-Thursday (18's Intermediate, 12's and 14's Beginner) and Monday-Wednesday (12's and 14's Intermediate).
9) Plans are to start Quick Start in the summer of 2011 with a season opening Jamboree in late June to determine state qualifiers and two "Jamboree" style events at one site in July for a regular season.
10) The 18's Jamboree will be held at the end of the regular season in the summer of 2011.   All players must have played in a minimum of three regular season matches in order to play in the Jamboree.  State qualifiers will be determined by regular season matches played before July 1st.  In order to allow teams to play each team in the league at least once, the league will hold playing dates before July 1st where eight or more teams will go to one site and play two matches on one date at least twice before July 1st.   Team play will continue in July, leading up to the Jamboree.
11) Starting with the fall of 2011, teams will not be scheduled unless they have a minimum number of players registered on Tennis Link before the date for scheduling.