NorthWest Cup (NWC) Competition Guidelines v1.1, May 23, 2015
* Any changes to these guidelines must be approved by each team. Each host city will have some flexibility with match schedules and play times but must notify other teams in a timely manner.
*Discussions should be done amongst the captains on the NWC Group on Facebook called “NorthWest Cup (NWC)”
The NorthWest Cup is an annual team tennis tournament started in 1996 where advanced players from the GLTA tennis clubs in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland compete with each other. Each team takes turn to host the tournament each year. Even though this is a competitive event the emphasis is on sportsmanship and social participation.
(1) Dates: A weekend between April and mid-June.
(2) Venue: Indoors or outdoors with backup indoor courts.
(3) Competition Level: Bring the best players that are available in your organization. General level is GLTA levels A and Open. Every attempt should be made to bring a full roster no matter the level.
(4) Social: Friday night Meet-and-Greet and/or Saturday dinner. The host team/city to provide Saturday lunch if possible so that play can continue uninterrupted. This also offers another social avenue.
(5) Court time: Limit play to 1.5 days. Saturday = Play all day. Sunday = Play until 2pm.
Priority to Portland/Vancouver teams to finish earlier because of their longer travel time
(6) Host’s responsibilities: Provide balls, court time, food and social activities, the costs of which will be shared by all teams. Host to provide an estimated budget in advance, so teams can prepare money to pay their share. Host to provide overall event score keeping. Provide hosted housing if possible.
(7) Competition Format:
6 Men’s Singles, 3 Women’s Singles, 3 Men’s Doubles, 1 Women’s Doubles, 3 Mixed Doubles (16 events).
Every team plays the other 2 teams in each event.
A match is a proset to 10 games with Ad, with a 12 pt tiebreaker (first to 7 pts with a 2 pt margin at 9 games all).
48 Total matches. (16 x 3)
Estimated court time needed: 5 to 6 courts, 1.5 days, 60 mins each match, 9am to 5pm, 9am to 2pm
Each player can only play a maximum of 4 matches.
Each team will require a minimum of 8 Men and 4 women.
Overall team tie breaker rules: Total Matches Won > Total Sets Won > Total Games Won > Head to head
Exchange lineup sheets (See Template below) at Meet-and-Greet Social.
(8) The Trophy: The winning team gets to bring home the cup for the year and arrange to have their team name engraved on the trophy. Please bring the trophy to the event the following year.
NWC Rules:
1. Each team must rank their men and women players in order of their levels.
(eg. The best player at #1)
2. Singles spots in the lineup sheet must be filled by players in the order of their rank within the team. (eg. Player ranked #5 must be placed in the lineup below players 1 to 4 but above players 6 and lower)
3. In Doubles or Mixed, players can be placed in any order and be partnered with any player regardless of rank.
4. Each player can only play a maximum of 4 matches (eg. 2 singles, 1 doubles, 1 mixed, OR any other combination). He/she cannot play against the same opposing team in the same event more than once. (eg. Player A can’t play #1 Singles against Team 2 then play #3 Singles against the same Team 2)
5. If a team cannot field the complete roster and has to default some matches before the tournament begins, the other teams are allowed to reshuffle their lineup.
6. Alternates may be used to substitute for any player on a team due to injury during NWC competition or for other unforeseen circumstances. All players on the team roster are eligible alternates in any event while staying within each player’s maximum 4 matches allowed. Using substitution deliberately as a means to manipulate the matchups to the team’s advantage is strictly prohibited. Substitution should be done with minimal disruption to the existing lineup sheet. The other team captains must agree to the substitution.
7. To be eligible to play in the Northwest Cup, a player must be a current member of Team Portland Tennis Association, Seattle Tennis Alliance or Vancouver Tennis Association. If a player is new to the NWC, he/she must have participated in a GLTA event at one point OR have shown strong social ties with the majority of the team. Bringing in a player with little connection to the team just for the competitive advantage is strictly prohibited.
8. Complaints filed against a player are to be handled by the Captains. Upon review, the player may be suspended from current or future NWC and their results nullified.
9. All players are expected to demonstrate the highest level of sportsmanship, adhering to the GLTA, USTA and Tennis BC Code of Conduct.
10. Walkovers will be counted as a loss with no games won.
11. On-court coaching is allowed
Template:
#1 =
#2=
#3 =
#4 =
#5 =
#6=
#7=
#8=
#
*(Continue listing if bringing more players) / Women’s Singles Ranking:
#1 =
#2=
#3 =
#4 =
#
#
*(Continue listing if bringing more players)
Line up: (Fill in the 2 columns that apply to your team)
Men’s Singles
#1 =
#2=
#3 =
#4 =
#5 =
#6= / Men’s Singles
#1 =
#2=
#3 =
#4 =
#5 =
#6= / Men’s Singles
#1 =
#2=
#3 =
#4 =
#5 =
#6=
Women’s Singles
#1 =
#2=
#3 = / Women’s Singles
#1 =
#2=
#3 = / Women’s Singles
#1 =
#2=
#3 =
Mixed Doubles
#1 =
#2 =
#3 = / Mixed Doubles
#1 =
#2 =
#3 = / Mixed Doubles
#1 =
#2 =
#3 =
Men’s Doubles
#1 =
#2=
#3 = / Men’s Doubles
#1 =
#2=
#3 = / Men’s Doubles
#1 =
#2=
#3 =
Women’s Doubles
#1 = / Women’s Doubles
#1 = / Women’s Doubles
#1 =
Additional Notes:
The above rules and guidelines are designed to address some common problems we have experienced in the previous years. Issues considered were costs, difficulties fielding teams, insufficient social opportunities, competition fairness and insufficient varieties of tennis play.
(1) Dates: A weekend from April until Mid June
Reasons for choosing this period:
- A consistent date annually will help with advanced planning for all the players and their clubs.
- It is the beginning of the outdoor season, so players would be starting to play more. Players are fresh and could use NWC as a springboard for their tennis season. Socially, friends between all 3 teams would perhaps have not seen each other for months so it is a good time to get together again.
- It is best to avoid July thru Sept because there are GLTA Tournaments in Seattle, Vancouver and Portland.
- Players should see this annual team event as precedence over individual or regular events. This event is significant for some who don't otherwise have a chance for such gay team events (eg. players new to one of the cities, or players who live outside of the major cities).
(2) Venue: Indoors or outdoors with backup indoor courts.
Indoors is preferred so as to guarantee play especially for teams traveling from out of town. Additionally, this event only happens once a year. Teams can subsidize their costs by having fundraisers, which are also good for team bonding. Teams are encouraged to accept hosted housing if offered or to share hotel rooms with their teammates.
(3) Competition Level: Bring the best players that are available in your organization.
Strictly NO RINGERS! The spirit of the event is about social and friendly competition. General rule of thumb is that players should be active playing or social members of the respective teams. See rules for more details.
(7) Competition Format:
- Total 48 matches. Total 48 pts up for grabs
- A team can possibly win all its 32 points available to it
- A team with 24 total pts will be guaranteed winning (or sharing) the Cup
- The new format decreases the total number of events from 22 to 16. Total matches decrease from 66 to 48. Less matches makes it easier to find court time, costs less and enables more social time.
- The minimum number of players needed for each team is still the same at 8 men and 4 women, but the smaller format means teams that are short of players won’t have to default as many matches. Thus fewer players get to experience the unfortunate event of having to sit out matches due to their opponent’s defaults.
- If a team is short and can only bring 7 men and 3 women for example, they can still be competitive.
Having 3 women means defaulting just 2 women’s doubles matches. Having 7 men means defaulting just 1 men’s doubles match
- If teams can bring more players than the minimum, they have the advantages of more lineup combinations and fresher players who will be playing less matches each.
- Limiting each player to playing a maximum of 4 matches has several advantages. It levels out the playing field so that a very good player (or “ringer” if we dare suggest) wouldn’t run up the score.It forces teams to mix up their lineup so that each player generally gets to play a mix of singles, doubles, and mixed. This in turn allows each player a chance to play with or against a variety of different players. There’s also an added element of team strategizing. 4 matches in 2 days are generally enough tennis to satisfy most players.
- In Singles, players in the lineup must be listed in order of their rank within the team. This is to promote more competitive matches.
- In Doubles or Mixed, there is no restriction on placement. A player can be placed in any order and be partnered with any player regardless of rank. This creates interesting strategies/pairings/chance for diff levels to play together.
Eg.
16 women’s spots filled by 4 players (player A, B, C, D with 4 matches each)
WS1 / WS2 / WS3 / WD1 / XD1 / XD2 / XD3Vs Team1 / A / B / C / AB / A / C / D
Vs Team2 / A / C / D / BD / B / C / D
Women Player A plays 2 singles, 1 doubles and 1 mixed
Women Player B plays 1 singles, 2 doubles and 1 mixed
Women Player C plays 2 singles, 0 doubles and 2 mixed
Women Player D plays 1 singles, 1 doubles and 2 mixed
30 men’s spots filled by 8 players (8x4) with 2 to spare
Vs Team 1 / A / B / C / D / E / G / AC / BF / GH / A / E / C
Vs Team 2 / A / B / C / D / F / H / FH / EG / BD / E / D / F
Men Player A plays 2 singles, 1 doubles and 1 mixed
Men Player B plays 2 singles, 2 doubles and 0 mixed
Men Player C plays 2 singles, 1 doubles and 1 mixed
Men Player D plays 2 singles, 1 doubles and 1 mixed
Men Player E plays 1 singles, 1 doubles and 2 mixed
Men Player F plays 1 singles, 2 doubles and 1 mixed
Men Player G plays 1 singles, 2 doubles and 0 mixed
Men Player H plays 1 singles, 1 doubles and 1 mixed
G and H are only scheduled to play 3 matches each so they are potential alternates for any injured player.