mega teams

what are some thoughts on these mega teams showing up at state and sectionals? my son would say they are ginormous. 30 plus players on a team seems a little extreme. completely legal but would have to make the local league season a foregone conclusion. though you have to admire the captains of such teams....
 

JLyon

Hall of Fame
AR has a limit of 14 which makes some matches getting a little hairy at times. Would be nice if Dallas implemented 16-18 rule since the main teams that win every year horde all the best players for the most part having 24 or more players.
 
16 is a good number, and i think the USTA should make a rule and make it standard throughout the country. It is not fair and balanced, if you allow teams to have 25 guys on thier rosters in other section.
 

Cruzer

Professional
These so-called mega teams are sometimes a team that is trying to load up with as many good players as they can find to make it to nationals. In other cases a club may impose limits on how many USTA teams they will allow for a season and so a team may get huge because there are no other choices for the members if they want to play.

Being a captain of a huge team is a huge pain in the backside. Invariably there are going to be players on the team that want you burn you in effigy after the season because they didn't get to play as much as they wanted to. There have never been limits on the number of players that can join a team but once the team reaches 15 players for a mens team or 12 players for a mixed team I try to discourage anyone else from joining.
 

volleyman

Semi-Pro
In NC, the team limit for league, mixed and combo has been set at 14 per team. For the singles league, it's 7 per team.

It makes it hard for any one team to vacumn up all the good players. However, it does make league scheduling a challenge when you have to have more than half your team at every match. It's easier for mixed and combo.
 

Ronaldo

Bionic Poster
Found that mega teams have captains that want to lock up players to keep them from competing against him on other teams. Only once saw this work, team won the 4.5 Nat'l Championship in 1994 as an independent team with only 8 players at nat'ls.
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
I think our area has a limit of 20 for spring play and also for combo and mixed in the fall/winter. I would find it difficult to have a significantly lower limit. I think we had 15 players for combo, and there were several times when we didn't have an alternate and everyone who could play played.

I agree that there should be a nationwide limit, probably 20 players. If you have to field 8 per match in the spring, having a lower limit would work hardship in light of vacation schedules and injuries over the season.

This fall we will have 19 players, so everyone gets 4-5 matches. Nineteen is awfully big for combo . . .
 
16 is more then enough when fielding 8 players to play a match, you are right vacation, injuries, that is what is going to make the best team. the guys that can fight through all of that. You dont want for their 18th 19th and 20th players, teams just through in ringers and let them only play 2 matches. That is not what it is all about. 16 is the perfect number.
 

jagsv650

Rookie
Why would someone want to play on a team with 20+ players on it? Our mens/womens teams have 16 players and sometimes that is to many. Our combo and mixed teams have 14 which seems like a better number.
 
exactly, if you are into tennis and you are going to play a season that has 14 matches, you dont want to play just 4 matches because their are so many players on the team. That is lame. 16 seems like a perfect number, and also when you advance to championships, you only get 3 or 4 matches. To have 16 players there, you never get everyone in. Most of the times some guys cant make it and you end up with like 11 that is a perfect number for a championship setting. Any more than that it is tough to get them in the game.
 

bleach

Rookie
I am a Captain (former) of a team that plays 16-20 matches during the Spring and Fall. We have a 14 player limit on our roster. For the most part, we never have problems getting 8 players to matches. Sure sometimes we have to default a match, mostly due to communication errors or last minute emergencies. The teams that are in the running for the league have extra players at the matches just in case.

I wouldn't dream of being part of a team and only playing in 1 or 2 matches during the season. I'm there to play, not to advance to State/Sectionals/Nationals. If that happens, then great, but if to do so means not playing at the local level, then forget it!
 
Yes, the other thing that happens up in the Eastern region is that guys play in like 15 leagues, each region and divisions. Gives them like 5 bites at the apple.
 

Ronaldo

Bionic Poster
Only have one team at each level, club rule so there are 15-20+ team members. Since we play during the summer, vacations really cut into the members available to play. In past years certain levels played 2x/wk which made it tough to find players on weekends.
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
No, 16 isn't the perfect number. In our league, there is no designated day of the week for ladies 3.0 (or any other flight). As a result, matches can be any weeknight or any time on weekends. If you have 16, you risk defaulting matches. The average for our league was 17 (that's how many players my team had). Next season, I will take the roster to 18 or more because we have a part-time player.

As for the idea that there is some glory or honor in "fighting through" injuries or other conflicts . . . that's not something most people approaching middle age would say.

Let's not let the tail wag the dog here. Only a small percentage of players will advance. Let's make the rules for the rest of the players, who mostly don't want to show up for a match to find their opponent is defaulting because they didn't have enough people available.
 
We have a local rule limiting teams to 14 players. Defaults are rare, but still some of us would like to see the limit raised or eliminated. We hope to change that rule next year. We also don't allow additions after the first day of league, but some other cities add players all the way through the season.
 

LttlElvis

Professional
We had 20 on our team. By the time of sectionals, only 11 could make it. Between the heat and the injuries, it was not enough players.
 
you are playing 8 at a time, ,that means only 5 guys have to play both times, as long as those arent the singles players 11 is plenty,, is that a senior league??
 
USTA is only interested in the money, i would say that players should only be able to play on one team at one level, they shouldnt be able to play in 6 different regions and 3 sections. It is silly.
 
mt pleasant sc 3.5.
we had a large team,16, though the georgia team which won sectionals had 31.
as far as defaulting and the such, if you communicate in advance with the other team captain, should not be much of an issue.
what is an issue is a team stockpiling all the talent in a given area and destroying the competitiveness of the local league.
 
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