Organization of Eastern Section Team Tennis Divisions

Intended Audience

All coaches/captains, parents and players who sign up for team tennis should be familiar with this document.

Purpose

The document covers the philosophy behind the organizing of players into USTA Team Tennis divisions in the Eastern Section. Team tennis divisions are organized to allow players with roughly equivalent skill levels to play each other on a weekly basis, giving them the opportunity to work on their technical and shot making skills, and to develop their competitive skills. The intention is to get the strongest players possible in each division and enhance the chance that the winning team in each division can go all the way to the Team Tennis Nationals. Team tennis is not the setting for players of lesser skills to grow by playing others with stronger skills.

Divisions

The following are the Team Tennis divisions:

·        18 and Under Advanced
·        18 and Under Intermediate
·         14 and Under Advanced
·         14 and Under Intermediate

Each division must have a minimum of 4 boys and 4 girls.

Selection Criteria

18 and Under Advanced

Players will be selected for this division based on any of the following

18 and Under Intermediate

14 and Under Advanced

14 and Under Intermediate

Conclusion

The selection criteria are broad enough to ensure that players of varying tennis backgrounds get slotted in the appropriate divisions. The Eastern Section asks all coaches/captains, parents, and players to abide by the spirit of this document. If we all cooperate, players will get the most out of their USTA team tennis experience.

Tennis Link Primer

Registering to be a Captain/Coach

1. Go to www.USTA.com
2. At upper right of Home Page is a link for TennisLink; click it.
3. Click on the Team Tennis choice at ‘Enter now’.
4. At the home page for TennisLink, click on ‘become a coach/captain’ at right near top of page under Join Team Tennis heading.
5. If you have a USTA #, enter where prompted and click get. All appropriate information will be filled in. Fill out the password and password hint information and hit submit.
6. If you do not have a USTA #, fill out the information on the page and password information. When you click submit, a text window will appear. This will contain your individual team tennis #. Write it down you will need this number to login.
7. You are now a coach/captain.

Creating a Team
1. You now have the ability to login as a coach/captain. Under Captains and Coordinators heading find the login tab.
2. Click on login. In the next screen, you will be asked for your USTA or Team Tennis #’s and password. Enter the information and hit logon.
3. In this screen you will see the My Profile heading. This contains your task responsibility which is Coach/Captain and the logout function. Below this heading is the My Options heading. Listed here are the functions which you are able to perform. One of the choices is to create a team.
4. Click on the Create a New Team tab.
5. This will lead to a Create a Team (find a program) screen. A series of tabs are visible which clicking on them will take you to a choice of programs. From the top, you will click as follows:
Program: Jr
Section: Eastern
Region: Southern
Area: Southern
Go
6. The next screen will be Create a team (select a program) where you will find a list of programs.
7. Click on the Jr tab in front of the New Jersey Jr Team Tennis League.
8. You are now taken to a Create a Team screen within the correct program.
9. Name your team. Select facility and division from pull downs. Your personal information should be in the coach section. If there is to be a change of coach down the road, just add the new USTA or Team Tennis number of the new coach and the new information will be added.
10. Under affiliations, check all that apply. If there is a co-captain fill out that section. Once this is done, click ‘Save’. Make sure you record your team number somewhere. The team number is found between the team name and site facility name.
11. In the next screen, you will see that you have a team. You are now ready to register players. Player registration can occur from this point or from My Options after login or any point that from the left hand menu.

Register Players
1. In order to register players, you will need only the players USTA #’s.
2. Click on the Register Players tab. A fill in table will appear. In the far left column, the team number is added. Make sure autofill is checked. In the next column you will add players’ USTA numbers. The team number should add automatically. If you are registering more than five players, every time the ‘add more players’ tab is clicked, you will be given 5 more spaces. You can register a total of 15 players at one time.
3. Once you have added all numbers, click on ‘Proceed to Checkout’.
4. If all numbers are valid, you will need a credit card. There is a $3 charge per player at this point. Fill out the credit card information and click on submit.
5. A Player Registration Confirmation will appear next, print it. You will need this to submit to the league for reimbursement of your $3 per player charge.
6. If there are some invalid USTA numbers, these players cannot be registered until they renew their numbers. If after adding all numbers and clicking on proceed to checkout, you get a split screen with players with invalid numbers above those with valid numbers; you should make a note of who these players are and delete them until their numbers are renewed. You will not be allowed to register any players until you do.
7. You are now ready for the season.

Entering Scores
1. Scores can be entered from anywhere in tennis link. From the TennisLink home page to within the program. It is the job of the match winner to enter scores.
2. You will only need the match number. All matches are numbered with a 6 digit number. These numbers will appear on the schedule as well as the Stats and Standings section.
3. When the Score Entry prompt is clicked, a fill in will appear. Input the match number and click next and you will be taken to the match score entry screen.
4. When the match number is added and next is clicked, the match will appear. It will say that scores have not been entered. Make sure that the date is correct.
5. Click next and a position by position score sheet will appear.
6. At each position and for each team a pull down menu is found. Each pull down contains the names of all team players. You are to pull down each and add correct player to each position on both teams.
7. When all players have been added the score will be added for each match.
8. In the result box, the correct response will generally be completed.
9. There are 5 choices within the result box. Default and Double Default should be self explanatory, timed match is not applicable and retired has not really worked for us.
10. Add in the winner for each match and click on next. A listing of all matches and results will appear as well as the total score.
11. On the lower right, you will see two fill spots one to confirm and one to dispute. It is the job of the opposing coach to either confirm or dispute the match within 48 hours.
12. Once this is done the finish button is clicked and the match is finished.
13. Any other problems with the score or disputes must be brought to the attention of the League coordinator.

Printing a Scoresheet
1. Each manager should print a blank scoresheet with the correct players in each position and bring to the match for the purpose of exchanging with the opposing coach.
2. This exchange must take place prior to the beginning of the match.
3. The scoresheet can be completed as before for score results and printed with your intended roster.