Team Tennis Regular Season

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Regular Season

Practice Regulations 

Practice Regulations.

Practice Regulations - When School is in Session - Individual Sports 

• Eight-Hour Practice Rule – School districts shall adopt policies limiting extracurricular activities from the beginning of the school week through the end of the school week (excluding holidays) by limiting practice outside the school day to a maximum of eight hours per school week per activity.

Practice Regulations - OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL YEAR - INDIVIDUAL SPORTS 

Practice regulations for sports that practice outside of the school year are as follows- 

• The maximum length of any single practice session is three hours. 
• Student-athletes shall not engage in more than five hours of practice activities on those days during which more than one practice is conducted. 
• Schools shall not schedule more than one practice on consecutive days and student-athletes shall not participate in multiple practices on consecutive days. Exception: Volleyball. 
• On days when more than one practice is conducted, there shall be, at a minimum, two hours of rest/recovery time between the end of one practice and the beginning of the next practice.
• What counts towards practice time? Actual on-court practice, sport specific skill instruction, mandatory conditioning, water breaks and rest breaks.
• What doesn’t count? Meetings, weight training*, film study, injury treatment and voluntary conditioning. *Cannot be done during the two-hour rest between the two practices.

Sundays. A League participant school shall not participate in any athletic contest or conduct any practice, or teach any plays, formations, or skills on Sunday.

• Violation. Any showing of films to, or meetings of athletes for the purpose of instructions or reviewing of plays, formations, or skills in any sport will be construed as a violation.
• Coaches Sunday Meetings. This does not prevent coaches from meeting on Sunday or from viewing films or planning an instructional program, provided that no athletes are involved in this meeting.

Contest Scheduling Rules

Contest Scheduling Rules.

The following section combines State Law, State Board of Education regulations, and UIL rules regarding scheduling and participation in a contest.    

• One contest per school week: According to State Board of Education mandates, students may only participate on one day per activity during the school week. School districts shall ensure no more than one contest or performance per activity is scheduled per student. 
• *Exception: Tournaments and post-season competition may be scheduled as an exception to the school week limit. As well, district varsity contests postponed by weather or public disaster, provided that they are rescheduled and played on the next available date, other than Sunday, on which another district match is not scheduled.  Junior varsity, freshman and junior high teams may not play postponed matches as an exception.
  • Junior varsity, freshman and junior high teams may not play postponed matches as an exception. 
  • District varsity games that are postponed by weather or public disaster, and not played on the next available date, shall be rescheduled and played on a date determined by the District Executive Committee, but may not be made up as an exception to the school week limitation.
• TEA and Participation: The Texas Education Agency defines participation as being involved with the activity, traveling with the team, or sitting on the bench. Example:  On a Tuesday night, the student’s name is on the scorebook but she remains on the bench and does not actually enter the game.  This counts as participation for TEA but not UIL, this student would not be able to participate again until after school on Friday, per TEA regulations.
• UIL and Participation: UIL defines participation if a student athlete actually entered the contest as a player. In the example above, the contest does not count as one of the allowable games as determined by UIL policy.

Definitions:

• Calendar week means 12:01 a.m. on Sunday through midnight on Saturday. 
• School week means the week beginning at 12:01 a.m. on the first instructional day of a calendar week and ends at the close of instruction on the last instructional day of the calendar week, excluding holidays. 
• Post-district play means competition in UIL playoff series or contests such as bi-district, area, regional, etc.

Allowable Contests

Number of Tennis Tournaments Allowed (team tennis plus individual tennis)
No student or team representing a member school shall participate in more than eight tournaments (total for tennis and team tennis combined) during the school year, excluding one district tennis tournament, the regional tournaments and the state tournament. Note: The team tennis district tournament counts as one of the eight allowable tournaments if school time is lost.

Scrimmage
For the purposes of UIL Team Tennis and Individual Tennis there is no such thing as a scrimmage. Any competition between students of different schools is a match and must be counted as such. Therefore, subject to the one match per school week limitation and all eligibility rules.

Team Composition

• Participating schools shall be divided into 4A, 5A and 6A conferences according to the UIL spring meet alignment. 3A schools who sign up for participation in Team Tennis will be placed in a 4A district for competition.
• Each team match will consist of 19 individual matches:
  • six boys’ singles
  • six girls’ singles
  • three boys’ doubles
  • three girls’ doubles
  • one mixed doubles
  • A minimum of six boys and six girls is required for a team
• Players may play both singles, doubles, and mixed doubles; but it is not mandatory. A player cannot play both doubles and mixed doubles in the same tournament.
• In singles, each player is to play according to ladder position, i.e., the best player at #1, the next best at #2, and so on down the lineup to #6. Coaches must put #1 - #6 in their actual rank order. Coaches do not have the option of moving people to make the match interesting.
• In doubles, players shall be placed on doubles’ teams according to a ladder position, i.e., the best doubles’ team at #1 doubles, the next best doubles’ team at #2 doubles and so on for #3 doubles.
• In mixed doubles, any boy or girl who is not participating in doubles competition.

Coaching 

​Number of Coaches Allowed
A maximum of 3 coaches may coach the team during a team match.

Appropriate Timing of Coaching
Coaches are allowed to coach between points and in breaks of play.

Protocols of Coaches On Court

• Coaches may coach from on court but must be at or around the net post or bench area (specifically between the net post and half way down the service box). Only one coach may be on any one court at a time.
• Coaches should refrain from moving around during points and distracting players and/or disrupting continuous play.
• Coaches may move from court to court as long as it is between points and does not disrupt continuous play on any court.

Protocols of Coaches Off Court

• No coaching is allowed when inside the court area unless at or around the net post or bench area.
• Coaching is allowed if the coach is outside the court area as long as it is between points, in any breaks of play, and does not interfere with continuous play on any court.
• Coaches may encourage their kids while on court. Coaches are responsible for proper court etiquette.

Opposing Players

• Coaches shall not initiate conversation with an opposing player.
• Coaches shall not inject themselves in any on court problem unless the opposing coach is also present.
• Players shall not initiate conversation with an opposing coach.

Team Scoring 

• The scoring system will be No Advantage-Scoring, best 2-out-of-3 set matches with a 7-point tiebreaker at six games all in the first two sets. If a third set is necessary, it will be played as a ten-point match tiebreak.
• Mixed Doubles Matches - When a 3 all point occurs in a game; the female player must serve to a female player and male to male.
• Each match won will count one point for the team.

Tie Break Procedures 

The 12-point tie-break scoring system will operate when the score reaches six games in the first two sets.

• Procedure for playing the singles tie-break.
  • A player who first wins seven points shall win the game and the set, provided he/she leads by a margin of two points. If the score reaches six points all, the game shall be extended until this margin has been achieved. Numerical scoring shall be used throughout the tie-break.
  • The player whose turn it is to serve shall be the server for the first point, which is delivered from the right court. His/her opponent shall be the server for the second and third points (delivered from the left court, then the right court), and thereafter each player shall serve alternately for two consecutive points (left court, then right court) until the winner of the game and set has been decided.
• Procedure for playing the doubles tie-break.
  • In doubles, the procedure for singles shall apply: the player whose turn it is to serve shall be the server for the first point. Thereafter, each player shall serve in rotation for two points, in the same order as previously in that set, until the winners of the game and set have been decided.
  • Players change ends after every six points and at the conclusion of the tiebreaker.
  • The team that served first in the set that ended in a tie-breaker shall receive service in the first game of the following set.
• Procedure for playing the mixed doubles.
  • In mixed doubles, the procedure for singles shall apply: the player whose turn it is to serve shall be the server for the first point. Thereafter, each player shall serve in rotation for two points, in the same order as previously in that set, until the winners of the game and set have been decided.
  • Players change ends after every six points and at the conclusion of the tiebreaker.
  • The team that served first in the set that ended in a tie-breaker shall receive service in the first game of the following set.

Lineup Changes 

• Coaches must give his or her complete line-up prior to the start of the tournament for singles, doubles, and mixed doubles; in accordance with line-up procedures, to the tournament director.
• A coach may make substitutions between team matches and/or during a team match before the individual match begins. In all instances of substitutions, the coach must use the following procedure.
• Singles: The coach removes a player from the lineup. All players lower in the lineup move up to fill the vacant spot in the lineup and the alternate becomes the #6 player. A player removed from the lineup for substitution may return to the lineup for the next team match but only to the position he/she vacated. All other players will return to their original positions.
• Doubles: If the coach removes one member of a doubles team from the lineup, he/she places the alternate in the vacated spot, and the team remains in the same position. If the coach removes both members of a doubles team, then the lower teams will move up to fill the vacant position, and the alternate pair becomes the #3 team.
• If a student has been out of the lineup for a grading period for academic purposes and returns in time for the district tournament, the lineup should be re-ranked with the “new” player in his/her appropriate position.
• Under no circumstances shall the coach change his/her lineup during a tournament. The penalty for doing so will be to forfeit the individual matches involved, with the scores becoming 6-0, 6-0 in each match. Coaches should be aware that a substitution and a lineup change are not the same.

Team Tennis Regulations 

Playing Rules
The United States Tennis Association playing rules shall be used in all League matches with exceptions as noted in this manual. Coaches should be aware of National Federation taunting rules as well.

Rest Periods

• Players should receive a minimum of 15 minutes’ rest between doubles and singles.
• Players should receive a 3-minute rest between the second set and 10-point match tiebreaker (in lieu of a third set) of split set matches in both boys’ and girls’ singles and doubles.
• A school team should receive a minimum of one hour between dual matches.

Coaching

• According to USTA rules, a player is allowed 25 seconds between points. A coach may provide feedback during 25- second time but cannot interrupt the continuous play rule. Coaching is NOT permitted in or on the confines of the tennis court.
• A coach may coach his/her players during the 90 second changeover at the end of odd games, and during the 3- minute rest period for split set matches.
• Only the school tennis coach employed by that school may coach and only in a manner which does not interfere with the play on adjoining courts.

Warmups
The players will have a 10-minute warmup prior to the start of the match. The players must take all their practice serves during this time.

Videotaping/Filming
Non-Conference and District Contest

• Videotaping/Filming by Schools: It is a violation to film or videotape a non-conference or district athletic contest in which your school or team is not competing unless prior consent of the two schools involved has been obtained.
• A school does not have to obtain permission to film or tape a NON-CONFERENCE OR DISTRICT contest in which it is competing. However, the film or videotape shall not be utilized until after the contest has been completed.
• Films and videotapes become the property of the school doing the filming unless by district rule or by consent of the schools involved in the contest.
• Videotaping/Filming by Individuals: Any individual (other than the officially designated school camera) taping or filming must have prior permission from the schools involved in the contest and may not obstruct the view of other spectators of the contest.
• Commercial Uses: Use of the films or tapes for commercial purposes must be approved by all schools involved in the contest.