2020 4.0 Spring Season

[MRfStop]

My spring 18&over 4.0 spring season starts February 6th. There three teams this season instead of only two last season.

The team I am on has been playing with each other for the past 4-5 years several different format teams (combo, mixed, etc). A lot of us on the team either have been 4.0 for a while and some of us have made it thru the rankings starting at 3.0. We are definitely the strongest of the three teams. One team is a rag tag team with mostly 3.5s, the captain is new to captaining so I don't see them winning many matches. The other team has a veteran captain that has decent players but has several 3.5s and weak 4.0s and their overall team is significantly weaker than ours.

There are three players on my team that were bumped up to 4.5 and won their appeal down. There is another that was rated 4.5M for several years and finally got bumped down. That being said how would you play it? Just have fun and try our best not to get bumped up? I foresee this season being very one sided.

 

[Moveforwardalways]

Sandbag until you have enough appeal players to get to nationals

 

[ptuanminh]

Never know getting bumped down is desirable

 

[OnTheLine]

Because you are in a league-sparse area my answer is pretty different compared to what I would say to a player in a metro area with many teams/opportunities. My guess is that if the area only supports 3 teams at 4.0 that it likely has no 4.5 teams ... is that accurate?

Play to have fun and set up lineups that will give you as competitive a match as possible. Play it smart so that you are not bumped to 4.5 .... honestly if you are playing against weak competition the math shouldn't be there to bump you up anyway.

Then once through to the post season .... play to win and see how far your seasoned team can make it.

 

[brettatk]

I think where he is, not many 4.5 teams is a definite issue. I know some people that play in other Areas as well with the same issues. As long as they are 4.0 they have plenty of teams to play on but if bumped, they'd have to drive 2+ hours to play 4.5. I was going to start a 4.5 team this Summer for 18+ since we had so many bumped from my 4.0 team. But out of that 7, 5 were eventually able to appeal down. So now I don't know if I'm going to have enough people to form a 4.5 team and really don't want a lot of crossover with my 4.0 team. If I can get a minimum of 12 guys I'll form a team.

 

[5sets]

My spring 18&over 4.0 spring season starts February 6th. There three teams this season instead of only two last season.

The team I am on has been playing with each other for the past 4-5 years several different format teams (combo, mixed, etc). A lot of us on the team either have been 4.0 for a while and some of us have made it thru the rankings starting at 3.0. We are definitely the strongest of the three teams. One team is a rag tag team with mostly 3.5s, the captain is new to captaining so I don't see them winning many matches. The other team has a veteran captain that has decent players but has several 3.5s and weak 4.0s and their overall team is significantly weaker than ours.

There are three players on my team that were bumped up to 4.5 and won their appeal down. There is another that was rated 4.5M for several years and finally got bumped down. That being said how would you play it? Just have fun and try our best not to get bumped up? I foresee this season being very one sided.

Sure, why play your best when you can hold a banner year after year?

 

[MRfStop]

Because you are in a league-sparse area my answer is pretty different compared to what I would say to a player in a metro area with many teams/opportunities. My guess is that if the area only supports 3 teams at 4.0 that it likely has no 4.5 teams ... is that accurate?

Play to have fun and set up lineups that will give you as competitive a match as possible. Play it smart so that you are not bumped to 4.5 .... honestly if you are playing against weak competition the math shouldn't be there to bump you up anyway.

Then once through to the post season .... play to win and see how far your seasoned team can make it.

What @brettatk said is how it is here. 4.5 is not what you want to be rated in Middle GA.
Here are the options:
1. Play 8.0 mixed with a 3.5 woman who is really a 3.0 or one that will be getting bumped to 4.0 very soon.
2. Play the local 4.5 fun league that has no league affiliation that is coordinated by local players. It’s a bunch of 4.5s that have pretty much given up on league and tournament play
3. Drive 2+ hours away every Saturday/Sunday to play ALTA matches.

There is just enough 4.5s in my area to make two 4.5 teams but none of them want to play it.

We have already won the fall league so we qualify for state but I’m thinking that the 4.0A guys on our team will have to take a bunch of Ls this year in regular league and at state

 

[ChaelAZ]

I think where he is, not many 4.5 teams is a definite issue. I know some people that play in other Areas as well with the same issues. As long as they are 4.0 they have plenty of teams to play on but if bumped, they'd have to drive 2+ hours to play 4.5. I was going to start a 4.5 team this Summer for 18+ since we had so many bumped from my 4.0 team. But out of that 7, 5 were eventually able to appeal down. So now I don't know if I'm going to have enough people to form a 4.5 team and really don't want a lot of crossover with my 4.0 team. If I can get a minimum of 12 guys I'll form a team.

On my last 4.0 team we had some the stronger guys get bumped to 4.5 and they hated playing it for the reasons you mentioned - long drives, few teams, less fun and more serious - so they would get bumped down. Of course, the down side is/was that, while fun, competition in 4.0 wasn't always the best. Now, we had 10 teams in men's 18+ this last season with half being solid teams that have been there a long time (including the team I used to play on) and half being new teams, including the new team I was playing on with a lot of us returning/rsuty folks getting back into it. That kind of spread had my old team going 10-0 and the worst (mostly 3.5 guys) team going 0-10. So a lot of decent competition for new and mids, but not much for those top guys. So I get what the OP is saying with finding the sweat spot for compeition and fun, espeically in areas where there isn't as much opporuntuity as we have in central AZ.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

So I get what the OP is saying with finding the sweat spot for compeition and fun

A little Freudian slip? Apropos, though.