With Fall ALTA just around the corner we thought it would be a good idea to review the ALTA Sandbagging rules since their is really tooooooo much confusion around this and the examples on it are very vague unfortunately. Let us review the existing rules that are in place from ALTA:

1. A previously played (win or lose) pairing can only go up OR down 1 line together — ie: line 2 to 3.
2. Regardless of previously winning or losing, a single player in a NEW pairing can only go up OR down 2 lines — ie: line 1 to line 3.
3. A losing pair can NOT be moved up 1 line while a winning pair goes down 1 line — aka true sandbagging by possibly putting the weaker line up higher and the stronger line lower trying to get a win/point.

Well that really is not that many rules – granted we are only talking about sandbagging rules (Adult ALTA rules & Junior ALTA rules) and they can get really complicated quickly as the season moves along. Let us look at a good example:

A little information about the image above… Each match day has 5 lines each with 1 pairing (10 people). I labeled the pairings with letters and colored them green for a WIN and red for a LOSS — Purple is an ILLEGAL move. The assumption is that I have to create a lineup for week 4…. so lets analyze the details week by week:

• Week 1: All the pairings are new so anyone can play with anyone anywhere — EASY.
• Week 2: Now the rules start kicking in since pairings have been created and player lines defined.
  • Pair B moved down 1 line – legal since the pair went down 1 line and the pairing above them (line 2) was a NEW pairing (Pair X)
  • Pair Y is also a new one at line 5 which is fine as well
• Week 3: Pair X moved from line 2 to line 1 which was a legal move
  • Pair B moved up 1 line from week 2 which was a legal move as well
  • Line 4 has an illegal move since one player from pairing A moved from line 1 to line 4 — the lowest the player could go down was to line 3.
    • If this was truly played then the team would lose points for line 4 AND line 5 — wow that would suck!
• Week 4: LOTS going on here with the proposed lineup!
  • Line 2 is an ILLEGAL move (Pair A last at line 1 for week 2 and Pair X previously at line 1 for week 3) when Pair B is moved above since the pairing (B) lost in week 2. If we go back up to our ALTA sandbagging rules above these moves violate rule 3.
  • Line 3 stayed in the same position so no problem.
  • Line 4 stayed in the same position (last paired together on week 2) so no problem as well.
  • Line 5 is an ILLEGAL move as well since the pair was together on week 1 at line 3 and can ONLY go up/down 1 line. Notice that this rules goes back to the LAST time played together and in this case it was on week 1.

You will notice by the examples above that it can get pretty crazy real quick! Imagine also have a good lineup (all 5 lines) created correctly and have one of your players in line 2 say they can not play last minute — if you do not use a software like TennisPoint will you remember all the previous weeks to ensure a legal move?

Why is it important to NOT make an illegal move? It is VERY important because from the line where the error was made and above, ALL points earned will be stripped! For instance, if an illegal move happened at line 2 and lines 2, 3, 4 & 5 won that day then your coordinator will be calling you to tell you about your illegal move and that all points earned for lines 2 – 5 will go to your competitor!

When creating my lineups on TennisPoint do I have think about it? You will want to think about it for planning purposes and TennisPoint will perform sandbagging check to keep you safe as well!

ALTA Captains can now send out scorekeeper emails directly from the application. The form used to send out emails is still the same email form with now a place to record the scorekeepers email and have it saved for future use as well. Another great feature is the captain does not need to worry about giving out lineup details either, becuase the points reported are purely aggregated totals.

Example email:

Personalized email text from captain…

Match #3 on 6-15-2008

• Terrell Mill TC [Smith]: 3 Pts
• Avalon Tennis Center: 2 Pts

How do you send out this email:?

1. In the lineup grid click on Email Points/Lineup

2. Fill in the Scorekeepers Email

3. Enter in your email details (subject & body)

4. Select the Scorekeeper Email Radio Button at bottom and then click Send Email Button.

Since it is such a pain to edit and insert in your points for your team’s division, we automatically import them now. We support this feature for all ALTA and USTA matches.

For ALTA teams, all the information is originally entered when you sign up your team. After your first match is played you will have the opportunity to start the import process. We will also auto-refresh the division stats 3 days AFTER the match date. Now this might not always be enough time for your hard working ALTA coordinator to get it posted to the website, so you can still manually edit the scores or captains can click on the refresh icons as well.

For version 2 of the ALTA division standings we would like to give the ability for the captain to include the matrix of which teams played which team so that it can be displayed with it so that it is easier to plan for future matches and playoffs.

For USTA teams, a player will need to enter in the USTA’s team league number (yes this number is kept private). Once the team number has been entered, the system will automatically import in the division standing. USTA’s division standing format is TOTALLY different and darn near impossible, without tooo much work, to enter it manually so we don’t even have that option. Like in ALTA we automatically refresh the point standing 3 days after the match is played and the captains can refresh them anytime.

To view the full standings for the entire division click on the “maximize” arrow and you will watch it grow right then to be able to view all the points.

This really is a great feature and we are excited to have finally finished it! FYI, we have already fixed the bug that was there for captains for a couple of days right after we launched the feature (only there when clicking refresh in IE6).

What does the standings look like when it is maximized? Here ya go: