By Loretta Phillips, Sunday Women’s League Vice President
The spring Sunday Women’s League roster registration began on January 1. As we celebrate the beginning of another year, I look forward to our Sunday Women celebrating new friendships as we begin the ALTA spring season. Spring brings excitement and energy. It also brings spring breaks, festivals, spring showers, and Easter Sunday. Some teams will want to play matches early, while others want to play on the scheduled Sunday. Both deserve their positions to be recognized and not criticized. Both have their reasons for wanting/needing to play at a certain time. My wish is that we all celebrate new feelings around ALTA’s spring season. We all play ALTA for different reasons; we love it, and we look forward to spending our Sunday afternoons on the court with a pleasant group of ladies in a fun, competitive match.
I started playing ALTA in the 1980’s, and believe it or not, spring season had Easter, Mother’s Day, and school breaks even then. I remember our team deciding who would play on Easter and who would play on Mother’s Day. We also would discuss school breaks and if parents with children would be traveling. We would give the first choice of not playing on Easter to teammates with small children and if you played on Easter, you were not expected to play on Mother’s Day. We were like family to each other, caring for each other’s children when the moms were on the court. I remember cooking out, sharing homemade delicacies with other teams, and just making it a full day of tennis fun and fellowship.
Schedules go online February 29, and the first season match is Sunday, March 17. Our last regular season match is April 28. Then, it’s on to the playoffs culminating with the AA City Finals on Saturday, May 11 and City Finals for our A, B, and C levels on Sunday, May 19.
Captains should start early getting availability of team members who can play on those special days. Those teams who want to work together to play matches early can be played even before the season schedule begins. Just remember that for all lines or a portion of the match played early, normal “default” rules apply. So, it’s best to play from the top line down if the entire match is not played as a dual meet.
See this rule found in Adult General Rules. IV. Dual Meets. E: The twenty-minute default rule as defined in the glossary is in effect for all scheduled matches. A defaulted match is scored as one point for the opposing team. When a match is defaulted, it must be the lowest position. If a higher position is defaulted, any win at a lower position(s) will be forfeited. If any positions are played before the regularly scheduled time of the dual meet, the above default rules apply. Teams may not agree to schedule matches late.
I’m excited to take on this new task as the Sunday Women’s League Vice President. My one big ask of you is to be kind to each other. With prices of everything rising daily, being kind is free, and who doesn’t love “free?” Let’s give it a try.
