WCC Ladies Cup Rules

WCC Ladies Cup Rules

WCC Ladies’ Cup Rules

WCC Ladies’ Cup Rules

Effective April 2016

PURPOSE: To place partnerships for the Inter-Club League; to field the best teams possible; to stimulate tennis play.

PARTNERSHIP RULES

● All partnerships must be available to play 4 out of the 7 matches in the Fall and Spring Cup seasons. ● If a partnership fails to play 4 matches together in a season, they will drop off the ladder and may challenge on the following season as a new partnership, but not higher than their previous position on the ladder. ● If a partnership voluntarily drops off the ladder, they must sit out one season before issuing a challenge to obtain a new position. ● A partnership should notify the club within two weeks after the end of a Cup season if they plan to drop off the ladder. ● Partnerships are expected to act in good faith to make themselves available for 1 up/1 down matches. ● Partnerships are expected to act in good faith to make themselves available for and accept challenges. ● Partnerships are encouraged to participate in weekly practices. ● Team members will be assessed a fee for food services for each home match, practices and use of indoor courts at away matches. ● Team members agree to share contact information with all other Cup players. ● Partnerships are expected to play the best of 3 full sets unless all parties agree to play a superset tiebreaker in lieu of a third set for all 1up/1down and challenge matches. ● All partnerships are responsible for finding a sub for any match a member of that partnership cannot play.

1 UP/1 DOWN MATCHES

● Each partnership playing in the Fall Cup season who also qualifies to stay on the ladder for the following Spring Cup season must play the partnerships 1 position above and 1 position below them on the ladder. ● The matches are to be played in the 10 days immediately following the end of the Fall Cup season. ● It is the responsibility of the lower ranked partnership to initiate scheduling and report results to the racquet shop and the challenge coordinator via email. ● The winning partnership of a match receives 1 point; the losing partnership receives 0 points. ● If a partnership is not able to play a match, including for injury,illness, pregnancy or post-partum the match is forfeited; the winning team receives one point and the score is recorded 0-0, 0-0.

● If both partnerships agree not to play a match, the match is defaulted; both partnerships receive 0 points and the score is recorded 0-0. ● The top partnership on the ladder is only required to play a 1 down match; they receive 1 point for their 1 up match with a score of 0-0. ● The partnership at the bottom of the ladder is only required to play a 1 up match; they receive 1 point for their 1 down match with a score of 0-0. ● Position changes on the ladder are determined by the following process: each partnership is assigned starting points, with the top partnership receiving 100, the second from the top receiving 99, etc. ● Points are tabulated at the end of the 1up/1down period; each partnership receives a new number determining their new position ● In the case of a tie, the position will be determined based on number of games won divided by games played.

CHALLENGE PERIODS

For Fall Cup season -end of Spring Cup season until July 31st

For Spring Cup season -end of Fall Cup season until March 1st

TYPES OF CHALLENGES

1. New Partnership Challenges

● A new partnership has two challenges per season to obtain a position on the ladder.

● A second challenge cannot be played until the first challenge and re-challenge have been completed. ● After an initial win, a new partnership may continue to challenge any higher partnership on the ladder until they lose a match, a re-challenge match or until the end of the challenge period. ● If the new partnership loses their first challenge, they can use the second challenge to play the same partnership, but must wait two weeks after the date of the first challenge match to issue the challenge. ● Any defeated partnership may issue a re-challenge to the new partnership. ● A new partnership cannot obtain a position on the ladder by forfeit. ● A new partnership may ask to be placed at the bottom of the ladder; requests are added in the order in which they are received. ● A new partnership may not be challenged until after playing one Cup season.

2. Free Challenges

● Can be earned by winning 5 out of 7 matches together during the Spring or Fall Cup seasons; the challenge must be used during the challenge period immediately following the season in which the challenge was earned. ● Can be earned by winning 2 points (either from a match win or forfeit) resulting from ● 1 up/1 down matches; the challenge must be used during the challenge period immediately following the 1 up/1 down match period. ● Can be used to challenge any partnership higher on the ladder. ● May continue until a partnership loses a match, a re-challenge match or until the end of the challenge period. ● A second challenge cannot be played until the first challenge and re-challenge have been completed.

3. Re-challenges

Occur as a result of several situations:

● If an existing partnership loses a challenge to a new partnership, they may re-challenge the winners to regain their position. ● If a challenged partnership loses as a result of a free challenge, they may re- challenge the winners to regain their position. ● Re-challenges procedures differ in timing from other challenges: ● The re-challenge must be made within 24 hours of the original match. ● The challenged partnership must respond within 24 hours of the request with two possible playing dates in the 7 days following the original match.

Additionally

● If either partnership is not able to propose dates or play within the week, they must forfeit the match.

CHALLENGE PROCEDURES

● All challenges and re-challenges must be played before midnight of the deadline of the current challenge period. ● Challenged partnerships must respond within 3 days of the request with two possible playing dates and times with indoor court availability within the following 3 weeks from the date of the challenge. ● A partnership declining a challenge is penalized by dropping one position on the ladder. ● If the challenging partnership is unable to accept either of the two possible playing dates, they must wait 2 weeks to reissue a challenge to that partnership. ● The challenging partnership is responsible for providing balls. The challenged partnership is responsible for reserving an indoor court ● The challenging partnership must notify the racquet shop and the challenge coordinator, via email, copying both partnerships, of the type of challenge and the date and time of the scheduled match. The results must also be reported in this manner by the challenging partnership. ● Partnerships are not required to accept more than three challenges during the tennis year (the end of the 1 up/1 down match period to the beginning of the

next 1 up/1 down period) or more than two challenges during any challenge period. ● A partnership not able to play a scheduled match or not showing up to play within 30 minutes of a scheduled time must forfeit the match. ● A partnership will be placed on the ladder above the partnership they defeat. ● Partnership position changes will be recorded in the order in which the challenges are played.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Injuries/Illness:

An injured, seriously ill, pregnant or post-partum player player who is unable to play 4 of 7 matches in a Cup season may submit in writing to the Ladies’ Tennis Committee a request to retain their partnership’s position on the ladder; this request will only be granted for one season, with a maximum of two consecutive seasons for each partnership, one request per player. A written appeal may also be made to the Ladies’ Tennis Committee to excuse the partnership from challenges for one challenge period, with a maximum of two consecutive seasons for each partnership, one appeal per player. Once a player has been granted a request for her partnership to remain on the ladder for a season and/or has been granted an appeal for her partnership to be excused from challenges for a challenge period begins to play tennis in any capacity, the player must notify the Ladies’ Tennis Committee to change the partnership’s status to active.

Weather:

A match interrupted by weather conditions or court time limitations must be finished at a mutually convenient time, but within seven days following the interruption. The match is continued from the score at the time of the interruption. If a match is not finished before the end of the challenge period, a 0-0 loss will be recorded for both partnerships.

Retirement:

A partnership ‘retires’ a match that is halted by injury, illness, pregnancy or another emergency after it has started. The score should be recorded at the time of interruption with the addition of 3 penalty games and 1 win going to the opponents of the retiring partnership. Each partnership should record the score on their card; the retiring partnership should write 'retired' after their score.

Other:

Switching positions on a Cup team during the season does not affect ladder position; partnership ladder positions remain the same for challenge matches and 1 up/1 down matches.

GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES

Grievances must be submitted in writing or email to the Committee in a timely manner. Partnerships submitting a grievance should provide accurate records so the Committee can make a fair decision.