NOTE: this thread pertains to clubs/facilities with court reservation systems rather than first-come-first-serve courts only.
Our club includes ALTA/USTA teams, flex league players, and casual players.
We have an online reservation system subject to various rules and we have six courts.
For reference purposes the vast majority of clubs in our area assign only two courts for an ALTA match consisting of five lines (pity the fifth line). As a matter of routine practice we assign three courts for ALTA and USTA matches although the official club rules state that teams are entitled to two courts only. Our rules also state that if an ALTA/USTA match must be rescheduled then the two court reservations to which the team is entitled take priority over casual play (i.e. not flex league play).
Situation: A league team match (ALTA in this case) is rained out. Club rules state that teams shall be assigned only two courts. Teams are responsible for reserving courts in the event of a rain-out. A member of the team, who also happens to be a member of the tennis committee, calls another club member informing him that the team intends to commandeer a court he has reserved so the team can have three courts at the same time. By the rules the team is not entitled to the extra court.
Question A: In your opinion did the team/committee member handle the situation properly by attempting to "commandeer" the third court reserved by the club member? (Note: the term "commandeer" was used by the team/committee member in communicating with the individual club member.)
Question B: In the event of rain should team league matches (eg USTA/ALTA) have the privilege to trump/cancel individual flex league (eg T2/Ultimate) court reservations? How is this handled at your club?
Question C: Does your club/facility make a distinction between team, flex, and casual reservations?
I'm on our tennis committee (no, I'm not the guy in the situation above since I don't play competitive doubles, I just practice with one of the teams, a different one in fact) and this issue is coming up before us. I'm curious about how other clubs manage reservation priorities.
I can certainly see team play taking precedent over casual play. But our reservation system for individual members doesn't make a distinction between casual and flex league play. It just shows up under the individual's name and could be either. If we allow team-based make-up matches to trump flex league matches you can have some really annoyed members defaulting flex league matches. But if we make a distinction between casual and flex play then either the system must be modified to indicate the nature of a reservation or the schedule manager will have to manually ascertain that status. That gets either expensive or complicated or both since a member could simply reserve a court as a flex league match even if it's not (who the heck wants to be responsible for enforcing that??)
How does your club/facility handle this?
Also, I'm not sure this makes a difference but it's a private club rather than a public facility. With a public facility they probably have to be ruthlessly fair and treat all reservations, team/flex/casual, the same way.
Our club includes ALTA/USTA teams, flex league players, and casual players.
We have an online reservation system subject to various rules and we have six courts.
For reference purposes the vast majority of clubs in our area assign only two courts for an ALTA match consisting of five lines (pity the fifth line). As a matter of routine practice we assign three courts for ALTA and USTA matches although the official club rules state that teams are entitled to two courts only. Our rules also state that if an ALTA/USTA match must be rescheduled then the two court reservations to which the team is entitled take priority over casual play (i.e. not flex league play).
Situation: A league team match (ALTA in this case) is rained out. Club rules state that teams shall be assigned only two courts. Teams are responsible for reserving courts in the event of a rain-out. A member of the team, who also happens to be a member of the tennis committee, calls another club member informing him that the team intends to commandeer a court he has reserved so the team can have three courts at the same time. By the rules the team is not entitled to the extra court.
Question A: In your opinion did the team/committee member handle the situation properly by attempting to "commandeer" the third court reserved by the club member? (Note: the term "commandeer" was used by the team/committee member in communicating with the individual club member.)
Question B: In the event of rain should team league matches (eg USTA/ALTA) have the privilege to trump/cancel individual flex league (eg T2/Ultimate) court reservations? How is this handled at your club?
Question C: Does your club/facility make a distinction between team, flex, and casual reservations?
I'm on our tennis committee (no, I'm not the guy in the situation above since I don't play competitive doubles, I just practice with one of the teams, a different one in fact) and this issue is coming up before us. I'm curious about how other clubs manage reservation priorities.
I can certainly see team play taking precedent over casual play. But our reservation system for individual members doesn't make a distinction between casual and flex league play. It just shows up under the individual's name and could be either. If we allow team-based make-up matches to trump flex league matches you can have some really annoyed members defaulting flex league matches. But if we make a distinction between casual and flex play then either the system must be modified to indicate the nature of a reservation or the schedule manager will have to manually ascertain that status. That gets either expensive or complicated or both since a member could simply reserve a court as a flex league match even if it's not (who the heck wants to be responsible for enforcing that??)
How does your club/facility handle this?
Also, I'm not sure this makes a difference but it's a private club rather than a public facility. With a public facility they probably have to be ruthlessly fair and treat all reservations, team/flex/casual, the same way.
