Why should I enter a tournament that you organise?
I have an excellent reputation as a good promoter/organiser (also known as a very flexible/accommodating organiser), as well as a good referee.
This has led to an excellent track-record in well-supported tournaments – for Winter 16/17, the likelihood of my events running was twice the South-West average…a fantastic acheivement in a rural area.
Players often travel a long way for a well-organised tournament – the following shows which LTA-registered county that players come from for SSTDG tournament in Summer 2017
What is the timeline associated with each of your tournaments?
1) Tournament open for on-line entries about 7 weeks before a tournament starts
2) When the on-line entry/withdrawal deadline is depends on the Grade of tournament
a) For Grade 4’s online entry deadline is c.10 days before (Thursday) and withdrawal deadline is c.6 days before (Tuesday)
b) For Grade 5’s/6’s online entry deadline is c.1 week before (Monday) and Withdrawal deadline is 48 hours later (Wednesday)
… the idea is that if you are not accepted for a higher Grade tournament (eg Grade 4), still time to enter a Grade 5
… Grade 5’s/6’s are set up so you can enter the weekend before
3) Late Entries are normally accepted if there is room in the draw and court time available, especially before the draw is made
4) The draw is made after the Withdrawal Deadline and players need to be informed of their start time no later than 2 days in advance
5) Results should be submitted and be on the LTA web-site within 72 hours of the tournament concluding
6) Any refunds (event not viable, event cancelled – perhaps by weather) need to be made within a week of the tournament concluding
What time is each event within a tournament?
The envisaged timing is displayed on the LTA web-site … either against the event (for full-day tournaments) or in the Tournament Description (for half-day tournaments, like just an afternoon)
All individual events are scheduled on a single day – where there is a multi-day (eg Grade 4 or weekend event), there may be an opportunities to play on multiple days (eg 14 on one day; either 16U or 12U on another day). I normally don’t start any event before 9:30am in the morning.
How many matches will I get and what is the scoring format??
For mini-Red matches are a single set to 10 and the aim is to provide 6-8 matches, with help provided to score (parental assistance needed/appreciated)
For mini-Orange matches either same as mini-Red or the best of 3 tie-breaks to 7, aiming to get 5-6 matches in this format
For mini-Green matches, a single-set is used; normally a FAST4 set; aiming to get 4-5 matches.
For yellow-ball Ranking (Grade 5 or above), the minimum format is FAST4 (best of 3 sets), where up to 4 matches can be played – another option (mainly for Mens events) is best of 4 short sets where up to 3 matches are allowed … based on the draw, minimum anyone should get is 2 matches.
For yellow-ball Grade 6’s, for players with a 9’s/10’s rating, other scoring format are allowed (20 minute timed tennis and single set to 6) and Boys and Girl are allowed to play each other.
Note: The LTA preferred scoring system for yellow-ball is FAST4.
What other good information can be found on the LTA web-site, if you know where to find it?
The LTA does provide good information for mini’s and on yellow-ball Ratings / Rankings, as well as a Age Group Calculator (if not sure which age group you fall into).