Should Teams Be Allowed To Delete Players?

[Cindysphinx]

Our rules allow a team to delete a player from the roster at any time. Our roster limit is 20. If a deleted player has not played a match, she can get a refund and join another team. If she has played a match, her results stand, she can be deleted, and she does not get a refund.

What I recently learned is that if a player is deleted after playing a match, the team can fill her spot with a new player, even if the roster is otherwise full.

I don't know about this rule. In our league, there is a team that had 20 players. They deleted a player who had played several singles matches, allegedly due to injury. This might or might not be the case -- there was also an issue with that player because she was a self-rate 3.5 who was playing a lot of 4.0 matches.

Then they deleted another player and added a replacement. So they have now had 22 players win matches for their team despite a roster limit of 20.

I dunno. I wonder if this rule is a bad one. Maybe the rule should be that if you have to delete a player due to injury or because you are afraid of a DQ, then you shouldn't be able to replace them. The two players who have now joined the team are crazy strong, so the rule allows strong players to window shop all season and then join a playoff-bound team late in the season.

Is it the same in other leagues?

 

[JavierLW]

Our area does not have a limit. However since we play all the matches in a given level on the same day, there is no need to have 20 players since everyone can make themselves more available.

That seems like the usual occurrence, where they make one rule (the 20 player limit), and then they make another rule that allows you to get around it (allowing you delete players even when they've played a few matches).

They should either ditch the 20 player limit or get rid of the ability to delete players.

I dont understand how they would allow this. If you have some weak players on your team you can ditch them before the playoffs get some stronger players and then be in better shape for the playoffs.

It's bad enough teams dont play any of these players there, now they can eliminate them from the team altogether as well?

Ive seen players in our league get transferred from one team to another if they change their mind and they have not yet played a match.

Once you play a match though that's kind of weird. Ive even seen instances where some player "accidentally" plays for two teams in the same league even (maybe on two different flights), and they DQ'ed all the matches from one team because it's against the rules to be on more then one team. I dont see how jumping teams in the middle of the season is much different.

(otherwise it's like a poor fantasy football league where all the sudden at the end you trade away all your best players to your friends so they can have a better chance of winning the whole thing)

 

[Kostas]

In my local league we can delete if the player has not played a match...once they do they're stuck on the team.

 

[kendall22]

Roster limit of 2.5x the number of players needed for a match seems sufficient. If they play a match, they shouldn't be allowed to be deleted.

 

[spot]

Seems to me having an arbitrary team limit of 20 people is the sillier rule.

 

[bcart1991]

If there is a roster limit, once a player plays a match he/she should not have the option for deletion.

If the player has not played, I don't see why the league coordinator should have an issue with deletion/addition.

 

[Nellie]

I wish it was easier for me to delete players from a team in my district. If my team is not going to playoffs, I am often stuck, toward the end of the season, with a lot of "injured" unmotivated who do not want to play, leaving a tiny roster and too many defaults.

 

[MNPlayer]

It would suck to be on a team with 20 players! When would you ever get to play? Seems to me that overfilling your roster is its own punishment.

 

[Spokewench]

Can't really answer your question Cindy since I have absolutely no experience with a 20 player team! I'm lucky if I can get a 10-11 player team together for seniors and have 6-7 (dependent on the day) at sectionals. (Yeah, just enough to play with two injured!)

I just cannot even imagine a 20 person team!

 

[Cindysphinx]

It sounds like the group is in agreement that there (1) should be no roster limit, or (2) there should be a small roster limit.

I guess maybe the league is thinking that you have to have a player play X number of matches to be eligible for Districts, which will discourage excessive movement and late joining of teams?

Regarding roster limits, the limit for (our brand new) mixed combo league is 16. Our team petitioned to have it raised to 18, and the request was denied. The reason given was that having higher roster limits results in fewer teams and fewer matches, which is less tennis for everyone.

 

[cak]

In our section there is no limit on team sizes and you may add a player right up until the last match of the regular season to stave off defaults. To play in playoffs you needed to be in the lineup for two regular season matches. You may only delete players that have yet to play.

 

[Topaz]

We can't delete if you've already played a match.

 

[JavierLW]

The reason given was that having higher roster limits results in fewer teams and fewer matches, which is less tennis for everyone.

I would TOTALLY agree with that assessment.

However i also feel that is why it's ultimately bad to schedule the matches in such a way that forces you to need some ungodly amount of players.

 

[Cindysphinx]

We can't delete if you've already played a match.

Topaz, what's the roster limit in NOVA for adult spring teams?

If many of the other mid-Atlantic leagues don't allow deletion/replacement for players who have played a match, maybe our league should make a change.

Javier, I am OK with the roster limit of 16 for mixed combo. The league said that has always been the limit for seniors, so they saw no reason to have a higher limit for non-seniors.

Still, I do worry about that roster limit. You need a higher roster limit when you have limits on who can partner. In 7.5 mixed combo, you have the gender pairing issue, and you also have rating issues (can't put a 4.0 guy with a 4.0 gal). Factor in that this is a summer league and people in our area leave town in August and you may see more defaults than you want.

We shall see.

 

[heninfan99]

In our league there's a date after which you cannot add any new players.
I guess this delete & replace technique is a work-around. I never heard of this before. Sounds like it can easily be abused.

Maybe the original intention was good. Say if you have a player you'll never play it gives them a chance to play for another team, as you mentioned.