Sheraton-Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel

2018 GML Captain’s Meeting

March 5, 2018

USTA LLC/DLC/ED and USTA/WTA Leadership in attendance: Essie Herron, Kate Carroll, Tom Schaefer, Linda Freedman, Pam Hammond, Joan Donner, Greg Straub

Meeting called to order at 6:10 PM. Greg to take minutes of the meeting.

-Call to Order and Roll Call

-Greg discussed the outstanding issues from the 2017 league season

Men’s GML playoffs and decision by captains on teams that played at GML playoffs
Statements regarding how scheduling is done, potential for more home matches for some teams, more away matches for others, and possible distances for teams to drive. High level information provided regarding how schedules are prepared. Call to the floor, no question by any captains.

-Tom discussed new business for 2018 season

Tom reviewed the current district rules and the inclusion of new rules for captains to review: (1) definition of a captain of a registered USTA team; (2) the anti-harassment policy and its application to players, captains, LLCs, DLC and any other party associated with the Wisconsin USTA leagues.
Kate discussed the team default rules and the impacts on a team if they are creating a total team default situation (disqualification from the league and all matches reversed). Reminded captains that teams should be prepared to play when scheduled. No rescheduling for convenience. All captains need to have their teams prepared to play when scheduled.
Proposed new rules for 2018
Limit of 16 players per team in 2018, 15 players per team in 2019;
LLC or DLC may extend time limits to add another team to a flight or division for the purpose of creating opportunities for additional players or making sure a flight has enough teams.
Tom and Kate reminded all captains that all rules and information is available on the USTA Wisconsin website.

-Linda Freedman discussed the new USTAWisconsin application available for both apple and android devices to create a more robust sharing of information/photos/details up to and during the season.

-Tom discussed the issues concerning scheduling and round robins at the end of the season. Reminded all captains that round robins are part of the regular season. They are not mini playoffs or part of any playoff structure. The issues presented/raised by captains were the fairness of the scheduling (some captains wanted random scheduling, some wanted 1 v. 8, some wanted 1 v. 2). An informal poll was taken of the captains in attendance and the overwhelming majority voted to have the top 4 teams round robin matches to determine who would win a division and qualify for the playoffs and the bottom 4 teams would play each other with no playoff implications. (example discussed, Tom explained that this scenario would be one of many based upon number of teams, flights, etc.). However, Tom will work to follow this model when building any round robins in the scheduler.

-Tom reminded captains of the deadlines for intent and waivers and discussed the season calendar.

-Kate confirmed that GML playoffs will be at Homestead in 2018 and may be moving in 2019.

-Kate confirmed that State playoffs will be held at Nielsen Tennis Stadium (indoors) but the outdoor courts will be resurfaced this summer so a group of matches will be held at Cherokee County Club.

-Tom opened the floor to any open issues from the captains:

Question raised about players being DQ’d during the season and Kate and Pam provided clarification when a player could be disqualified.
Kate advised the captains to have their new players who are going to self-rate to contact her so she can assist. Discussion of how critical it is to address questions to make sure a player is not rated too high or too low.

-Gifts awarded to captains

-Meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Greg Straub

Local League Coordinator, GML