Team Captains Guidelines

Guidelines for Team/Match Captains April 2024

Beginning of the season

  • Arrange to meet your fellow Captains to agree who will be playing in each squad
  • Once squads agreed, ensure all members of your squad are members of LTA Advantage. LTA Membership numbers are essential for entering the score after you’ve played a match. It’s good practice to enter the details of your squad on the LTA tournaments website at the beginning of the season
  • Look at the dates for your matches and decide whether you need to change any. The Fixtures Secretary can help with this and also advise you of the latest date on which match dates can be altered. Berkshire fixture dates cannot be changed – only for weather events!
  • Once the deadline for changing dates for your matches has passed, email all your squad to find out availability for matches. Important to let everyone know the venue and date. Some OLTA matches are a long drive away!
  • Up to you how far in advance you plan your teams – some Captains like to decide the whole season, others a few matches in advance
  • The Fixtures Secretary will book the home courts for your matches – worth booking a court for a warm-up beforehand which can be done three weeks in advance of your match

Before the match – Home Matches

  • Check that courts are booked for your match
  • Confirm day/time with opposition Captain, details can be found on LTA Competitions website. This should be done by the Monday prior to your match
  • Ask if any dietary requirements and whether opposition would like to stay for tea
  • Give any advice about journey e.g. Henley during regatta
  • Ask what time they would like a call on the day if the weather looks uncertain
  • Give them your contact details so they can call you if delayed
  • Arrange what team members will provide for tea – usually sandwiches, cake, fruit and biscuits, taking into account any dietary requirements of home and away teams
  • Ask Richard Ormerod for match balls, preferably about a week in advance
  • Print scoresheet and rules from website and complete Home team details including LTA Advantage number for each player
  • Good idea to set up whatsapp group for home team players in match for ease of communication. Good to copy team Captain if they’re not playing
  • Book a court to warm up prior to the match. Let team know what time to meet

Before the Match – Away matches

  • Keep in touch with opposition Captain if you’re likely to be late
  • Have as long a warm-up as you need, especially if you’ve had a long journey
  • As above, if you win enter the score on website, if you lose opposition enters score
  • If you lose the match, take a photo of the scorecard for your records
  • Condition of courts – if you feel that the surface is dangerous eg slippery or mossy , you can decline to play and make an alternative arrangement via the Fixtures Secretary for a change of venue or date
  • Check rules re abandonment of match due to bad weather. Worth familiarising yourself especially on days when weather is a bit dodgy

Match day  – Home Matches

  • Set table for tea
  • Get scoreboards out and hang on hooks next to Courts 1 & 2
  • A board asking people to be quiet as a league match is in progress is available in ball chest
  • Decide which courts you want each pair to play on
  • As a suggestion, put their 1’s on Court 1 and 2’s on Court 2 (unless one of your team has a favourite court to play on!) Keeps it easy
  • Home team swap courts, opposition stay put
  • If you win, complete scoresheet and either enter scores yourself on website or send photo of sheet to team Captain to enter
  • If you lose, opposition is responsible for entering score but it’s always worth completing the scoresheet and checking it on the website or taking a photo of the scoresheet completed by the opposition
  • Keep match balls for match practice sessions
  • Write brief match report for circulation to team squad and other team Captains
  • Make sure scoreboards are hung up on hooks in clubhouse
  • Put A board away in ball chest
  • Tidy and hoover clubhouse

Match Day – Away Matches

  • Keep in touch with opposition Captain if you’re likely to be late
  • Have as long a warm-up as you need, especially if you’ve had a long journey
  • As above, if you win enter the score on website, if you lose opposition enters score
  • If you lose the match, take a photo of the scorecard for your records
  • Condition of courts – if you feel that the surface is dangerous eg slippery or mossy , you can decline to play and make an alternative arrangement via the Fixtures Secretary for a change of venue or date
  • Check rules re abandonment of match due to bad weather. Worth familiarising yourself especially on days when weather is a bit dodgy

General points

  • Always worth having at least one spare racquet in case someone breaks a string
  • Always worth having spare tube of balls in case several go over the fence
  • Probably unnecessary, but I have a tape measure in my tennis bag as many years ago turned up to play at a club which had no net measuring stick!
  • In OLTA matches, be careful when asking players to play ‘down’ for a different team. The ONLY time this is acceptable is when a player plays ‘up’ for their first match of the season if a higher team is short of players– they are then allowed to play ‘down’ in their original team. It is against the rules to ask a player from a higher team to play ‘down’ for any other reason. Any of the Captains, details below, can help you with this
  • Rules for both Berks and OLTA matches can be found on the clubhouse noticeboard. It’s always worth taking the rules with you to Away matches too
  • Always worth letting the opposition know if one or more of your players can’t stay for tea, for both Home and Away matches
  • Remember that in Division 5 and below OLTA summer league you don’t HAVE to play a third set in the event of a draw against your same pair (i.e. first pair v first pair, second pair v second pair) but you do have to agree with the opposition before you start the match whether you’ll play a tiebreak or a third set. In Division 4 and above OLTA summer league a third set is mandatory

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