Tips for Preparing for Post-Season Competition in Team Tennis

By Darryl Beasley, Asst. Athletic Director | Tuesday, October 02, 2012 10:19 AM

Falls marks the time of the year to prepare for post-season competition in team tennis. Below is information to help with organization and advancing from district to regional and regional to state.

First and foremost, a rule change will affect both team tennis and spring tennis.  The new rule allows school coaches to coach players in between points. According to United States Tennis Association (USTA) rules, a player is allowed 20 seconds between points.  The new UIL rule will allow a school coach to provide feedback during that 20-second time, but it cannot interrupt the continuous play rule which states play shall be continuous from the first service until the match is concluded. The official school tennis coach may coach in a manner that does not interfere with the play on adjoining courts. Coaches and/or coaching are NOT permitted in or on the confines of the tennis court (exception: during the 90 second changeover at the end of odd games, and during the 10-minute rest period for split set matches). 

Now, let’s focus on preparation for the post-season competition. The district certification date is Oct. 23. Each school may enter one team consisting of a minimum of seven boys and seven girls. The team match will consist of 19 matches — six boys’ singles, six girls’, three boys’ doubles, three girls’ doubles and mixed doubles. The girls’ and boys’ point totals count on team totals, but boys and girls cannot compete against each other, other than the mixed doubles match. The winners of first and second place in district advance to the regional contests. The third place school from each district is the alternate.

Each school must enter the district meet by certifying entries to the district director by the entry deadline set by the District Executive Committee. If the round-robin format is utilized in lieu of a district tournament, the DEC must specify entry and team roster regulations prior to the entry deadline.
After the district tournament, the director should certify all entries to the regional tournament director. Each district representative is responsible for having team information and official roster/lineup to the regional director immediately after the district representatives are determined.  The regional tournaments will be held on Oct. 26-27.

At the regional contest, substitutions can be made during a team match before the individual match begins. In all instances, the substitution procedure (see Team Tennis Plan) must be followed.

The regional tournament director has two options for making the draw. Those two options are drawn by lot or by seeding. Regardless of procedure, the first place winners must be matched against district runners-up from another district. The regional directors must certify all entries to the State Tournament director. 

The team tennis state tournament will be held at Texas A&M University in College Station on Nov. 2-3. We will use the 12 George P. Mitchell varsity courts along with 18 Omar Smith Instructional tennis center state-of-the-art tennis courts.  Coaches will be able to pick up their packets at 7 a.m.
The UIL staff will do the pairings for the state tournament by conducting a drawing to determine the brackets. The UIL staff will ensure that a regional winner will play a regional runner-up in the first round. Seeding will not be used; therefore seeding information is not needed or required. The draw will be random and regional representatives will be placed in opposite halves of the bracket.

We hope this information will guide coaches and school on their march to district, regionals and, hopefully, the state tournament.