>>St. Jude Special
Rules
2008 Baton Rouge St. Jude Special Rules
1. Please remind your players that good sportsmanship
is required of all players. Any breeches of sportsmanship may result
in a player and/or a captain being suspended or banned from future
Aquinas League events.
2. All matches through the Championships play a
10-point tie break in lieu of a third set.
3. No substitutes or additional players are allowed
on a team after the team is called at the Calcutta except in the
only condition set forth in the Calcutta Rules. If you find yourself
short on a court, PLEASE come to the tourney desk as soon as you
know this and we will help fill the court with a body so your opponents
may have the opportunity to play. It will officially be a default
for your opponents (6-0, 6-0).
4. The official order of breaking ties when teams
are tied with matches won when establishing who will be the “wild
card” team or group winners is as follows: 1) fewest sets lost;
2) most sets won; 3) fewest games lost; 4) most games won; 5) head
to head; 6) racquet toss; 7) paper, scissors, or rock; 8) joust
with racquets (mid-size or smaller).
5. The play-offs will not be finalized for everyone
until after dinner most probably so IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT BE IN,
please stick around or leave a cell number with BEAU BROCK.
6. Matches may be on hard court or soft. At the
YMCA, the first available courts will be used for play. Attempts
will be made to keep all team courts in a match on the same surface,
BUT that will not be a requirement of the desk at the YMCA. At Bocage,
some 6.0 or 7.0 matches may be played on one or two hard courts
located there. Again, at SOAC, soft and hard courts may be used.
7. Directions to all the facilities we are playing
at are located on batonrougetennis.com. Please obtain them and get
them to your players.
8. You will be provided a captain’s packet for
which you will sign for at the HQ at Bocage. It will include al
your players’ shirts, ditty bags and MEAL TICKETS. Meal tickets
are treated like money. They are transferable among players and
also, if you lose them you must purchase new ones. PLEASE PLACE
THEM WITH YOUR WALLET AND VALUABLES. DO NOT SIMPLY PLACE THEM IN
YOUR TENNIS BAG AND EXPECT TO BE ALLOWED TO WALK THROUGH THE LINE
AND EAT THE MEALS. Everyone taking meal tickets are volunteers with
strict instructions to take tickets from EVERYONE, period. They
have heard every excuse and are trained by Klingon overseers not
to grant access to crying children or pregnant women so tell your
tennis players not to try, PLEASE. During the weekend, if you have
a meal ticket problem look for Beau Brock, only. Meal tickets are
not required on Thursday night or when eating at our off-site food
vendor stations. In addition to food options at Bocage, we will
have a full lunch from Qdoba on Saturday at Southern Oaks, YMCA,
and Independence Park (INDY) for the first 100 players at each site.
9. This is a charity event and we will be selling
raffle tickets and drawing the prizes Saturday night. Our silent
auction runs from Friday afternoon through Sunday at 4:30. These
are major vehicles we utilize to raise money for St. Jude. Please
encourage your players to participate. We are VERY pleased Bocage
is running a special membership drive during the event for St. Jude
players wherein part of the extremely low initiation fee will go
to St. Jude at this time. If you thought about joining, never was
there a better time!
10. The check-in desk to pick up captains packets
and t-shirts is up on the balcony at Bocage behind the dining room.
Players can also purchase St. Jude event merchandise at low low
prices which also helps us raise money for St. Jude.
11. If you owe some extra player fees, please pay
them prior to the Calcutta on Thursday.
12. If you need players between now and Thursday
call immediately Beau Brock at 252-6065 so we can try and help you
out. An extra players list of people looking to play is listed at
aquinasleague.org.
13. Matches at Bocage require players to dress
in 90% white on every article of clothing except warm ups which
may be of any color. PROPER TENNIS SHOE TREADS MUST BE ADORNED.
No cross trainers or running shoes, please, or the player will not
be allowed to play.
14. Anyone who would like to help sponsor during
the weekend is most welcome. Every penny of a cash donation goes
DIRECTLY to St. Jude. We also need numerous volunteers to help all
weekend so if anyone wants to help out, we certainly would like
to have the help.
15. The organizers of the event are the Aquinas
League and players are welcome to become members or volunteers at
this event or others we do during the year. In March, we will hold
the Aquinas League Founders Cup (another team event) for ten different
charities at Southern Oaks Athletic Club; June will be the 5th Annual
Cancer Services Classic at Bocage; and October will be the 3rd Annual
Unlocking Autism Classic. We need help on ALL these events which
are structured like St. Jude BUT smaller. FOR MORE INFO ABOUT ALL
THESE EVENTS AND AQUINAS LEAGUE, PLEASE GO TO AQUINASLEAGUE.ORG
OR ASK ONE OF OUR COMMITTEE MEMBERS. Just look for the Aquinas League
pin!
16. Official Rules of Tennis questions will be
decided by Co-Director Pat Ferry. Any other questions about the
event should be directed to members of the Tournament Executive
Committee which consists of: Co-Chair Beau Brock, Co-Chair Liz Jenkins,
Barry Searles, Connie Frank, Dr. Herman Soong, and Jared White.
17. All captains are responsible for the ratings
of their players, and any violations will subject both the player
and captain to potential suspension or ban. And yes, we have suspended
AND banned players for violations in the past in order to preserve
the integrity of this event for YOUR pleasure.
18. Please show up early, IF POSSIBLE, and when
finished report your score at the applicable desk promptly so everything
can move along efficiently.
19. We have 25 kegs donated by Coors, Bocage’s
bar accepts cash, credit cards, and let’s all have a good time responsibly
and help kids with cancer this weekend! We also have received donations
of Red Bull, Fiji Water, and Coca-Cola products which we want players
to enjoy BUT please ask them NOT to hoard them as we have limited
supplies for the event and do not want to run out until Sunday.
So please ask your players to help us by taking what they need and
allowing everyone to enjoy these products.
20. The Common Sense Ratings Rule - Every year
we consider special considerations for ratings of players for our
tournaments. All players must sign up with the most recent year's
ratings. After which, our committee then may reclassify or refuse
players' applications to play. All determinations, since year one
of our events have allowed a diminimous amount of players the opportunity
to play "technically" down below their NTRP OR made them
play higher than their NTRP number when it was incorrectly lowered.
The point of this rule is NOT to be boxed in by the already flawed
NTRP rating system to the detriment of the enjoyment of our players.
During this St. Jude event, as in all other events we run, a nominal
amount of players may be allowed to play down and a nominal amount
of players are being forced to play above their NTRP number. This
is NOT being done to reward or penalize particular players. If ANY
players feel this takes away from the integrity of our event as
these decisions are perceived to be taken in an arbitrary and capricious
nature, please advise and their entry fee will be refunded. It goes
without saying, any decision made in this vein has been taken objectively
and with deep reflection and have not been in any influenced by
any particular membership in any club. This is not a sanctioned
tournament and the tournament reserves the right to use common sense
to create the most fair and competitive play in our events. We have
tried to even power rank teams and provide teams who are more interested
in "fun" a chance to be successful regardless of their
"technical" rating. In contrast, at a a sanctioned event,
a self rate NTRP rating cannot be challenged, and all players are
grouped in the same draw regardless of the reality of their true
ability. This has only resulted in lack of enjoyment by players
who are dismayed at "the same people winning every time."
At our events, we reserve the right to disqualify players who clearly
are incorrectly rated, and attempt to properly place teams in competitive
pools so that EVERYONE has an opportunity for success during the
weekend. This system has worked. The entry form clearly states "The
Tournament Committee reserves the right to reclassify or refuse
any entrant" which is our rule. It is the rule we have maintained,
considered, and acted upon at every event since our initial 2003
St. Jude event. It has only been applied 12 times in the past 6
years in a tournament pool of approximately 2800 players total.
21. Prior to the Calcutta, all players are locked
in and we encourage everyone to look them up so there is no surprise
as to who is playing for whom. I am happy to point out the "best"
teams on paper at our calcutta as the more money bid is the more
money we raise for kids with cancer. Again, this is why our committee
is doing this...
Thanks and good luck! Any other questions, please call Beau Brock
at 225.252.6065
Beau James Brock
2008 Co-Chair
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