CALTA Captains' Responsibilities
All captains are expected to be familiar with the CALTA Rules and must comply with the rules for:
roster submission (Rule II)
dues
collection (Rule III)
recording of match results (Rule IX)
rescheduling of matches (Rule XII)
It is the responsibility of the captain to ensure that each of her players
is:
1) listed in the roster on the website and
2)
satisfies her tennis center's
eligibility rules for team play and
retains
legitimate status at her tennis center throughout the CALTA season.
CALTA's Rules state that, when a specific on-court situation is
not covered by CALTA Rules,
USTA Rules/Code will apply.
As a social league, CALTA has some rules and expectations
that are different from USTA --
and captains are asked to make sure
that their players are familiar with them.
Click here for an explanation of the differences.
Captains are requested to encourage their team members to visit the CALTA website throughout the season.
It is each team captain's responsibility to
ensure that the four courts required for her team
have been booked well in advance and are
available for CALTA play as scheduled.
This is also very important for make-up
matches.
New members can be added -- by the team captain -- at any time during the season.
Instructions for adding new members are in the Team Rosters section of the
home page of this website.
In the event of a captain's absence, the following applies to the
co-captain or to the team member designated as the captain's representative for
the match. If a captain or co-captain is not available for a specific
match, it is their responsibility to ensure that the contact information for the
team member designated as their representative for the match is communicated
well ahead of time. Wherever "captain" appears in the following, it should
be read to include "co-captain" and "team member designated as representative
for the match" in the event the captain is not available.
On a weekly basis, once
match play commences, the captain's ongoing responsibilities are as follows:
The host team captain should make every effort
to contact the captain of the visiting team no later than the day prior to
the scheduled match. If contact is by e-mail, it should be initiated
several days in advance and should request a confirmation.
If no confirmation is received, follow up by telephone. This will help ensure a minimum of mix-ups.
If
the host club does not provide water, the visiting captain should remind her players to bring their own drinks.
On the morning of the match, if the weather
is questionable, the host team captain should contact -- by
telephone -- the visiting team
captain before 7:30AM and both captains should follow the guidelines in
Rule XII.
If a team has to forfeit one or more courts,
the team captain should inform the opposing team -- by telephone
-- no later than 8AM the day
of the match (unless there is an emergency). A forfeit should be
communicated the night before, if known.
In the case of a "mutual
forfeit" (i.e., both teams needing to forfeit one or more courts), it
is permissible for the captains to reschedule
the match(es).
Captain should be available by phone at all times on the morning of a match in case an emergency
arises with one or more of her players or with the opposing team (see
note below re "emergency"). If the captain or
co-captain will not be
available, she should inform the other team of the contact information for
the team member who is the designated representative for the match. The captain should inform her
players that no one should leave the house without knowing how to contact
her on the way to a match and the captain should be reachable on her
cell phone until all her players have arrived.
Captains should exchange
line-ups no later
than 9:30AM (whether or not all players have arrived) and should follow the schedule in Rule VI. The
9:30 line-up exchange time will be strictly enforced -- and captains should ensure that their players are ready to start warm-up promptly at 9:30. If a
club has both hard and soft courts, the home captain shall let the visiting
team know which positions will be playing on which surfaces before line-up
exchange. If this information is not shared before line-up
exchange, each captain has the option of changing her line-up. A default will be in effect if a team is
not ready to commence play by 9:45AM. Only if an emergency has
occurred on the way to the match can the deadline be extended until 10AM.
See note below for clarification of what constitutes an emergency. No
match will begin after 10AM due to late arrival.
After line-ups have been exchanged, the captain should ensure that each of
her players knows which position she is playing, on which court, and the
names of her opponents, and she should ask her players to confirm with the
opponents prior to the start of warm-up. If a position is switched
(e.g., if the team listed second on one line-up plays in the third
position), the match will stand as played. If the switch is discovered
during play, the match should continue.
The home team will
organize light refreshments.
The
home team will supply appropriate balls
(see Rule IV). It is advisable for each captain to carry an extra can
of new balls in case of need.
The home team captain is responsible for obtaining the signature of the visiting team captain on the score sheet. The score sheet should show both first and last names of each player and should be written clearly in dark-colored ink to accommodate fax or scan transmission. Immediately after the match, the home captain should send to her coordinator the Total Points (0 through 4) for each team. The home captain should also immediately send to the coordinator a copy of the score sheet using one of the options listed in the instructions on her division's score sheet. Each captain is responsible for keeping a full set of copies of score sheets for her team's matches..
Each captain should ensure that all her team members are familiar with the CALTA Rules
and the USTA Code of Conduct. Each captain is requested to communicate with the Board immediately
if she becomes aware of a conduct problem with a team or an individual.
Note re "emergency" deadline:
In general, getting lost or running into normal heavy traffic is not considered an "emergency". It is expected that ladies traveling some distance will allow time for getting lost or a bridge opening or heavy traffic -- and still be on the court by 9:30AM. If someone does run into an unexpected verifiable public situation (major accident, road closed, traffic re-routed) and she communicates with her captain (or team member designated as representative) and the captain is able to communicate the situation to the other captain by 9:30AM and the late player is able to stay in communication as she drives and be on the court by 10:00AM -- in that case the 10:00AM extension should apply. 9:45AM remains the default time for any other circumstances.
When the emergency extension is applicable, the home team can either hold the visiting team to the 10AM deadline or choose to play whenever they arrive. In either case, when the visiting team informs the home team about the situation, the home team captain must communicate clearly to the visiting team what the case will be.