Adult League Wrap-Up: September/October 2018
As it does every year, the 18 & Over and the 40 & Over season flew by! At the time of this article, playoffs are in full swing and a couple of regional matches have been played. So far, the teams advancing to Sectionals are:
►18 & Over 2.5 Women from Long Beach, captained by Pat Hoeffner
►18 & Over 3.0 Women from Sportime Lynbrook, captained by Rosalynn Steele & Diana Hensley
►18 & Over 4.0 Women from Sportime Syosset, captained by Dawn Schosberg & Gigi Banks
►18 & Over 4.5 Women Sportime Lynbrook, captained by Suzanne Markowitz & Marcia Silverman
►18 & Over 5.0 Women from Sportime Lynbrook, captained by Tina Buschi & Hali Katz
►18 & Over 3.0 Men from Sportime Lynbrook, captained by David Schulman
►18 & Over 4.0 Men from Christopher Morley, captained by Joseph Bullaro & Joe Zara
►18 & Over 4.5 Men from Carefree, captained by Adam Kolenberg
►18 & Over 5.0 Men from Carefree Racquet, captained by Ben Marks
So, with the 18 & Over and 40 & Over season almost behind us, it is safe to say that it was light on grievances which is obviously a good thing as it means there was little drama!
We had a new problem this season though and that is the number of forfeited courts. It was so bad that I have had captains tell me they are done captaining, as it has become just too hard. I had a couple of teams pull out mid-season. I had clubs complain about the holding of courts for months and the lost revenue for forfeited courts, and the worst part, a few divisions were decided by the amount of forfeited courts teams received. How do we combat this? I am open to suggestions, so please e-mail me your thoughts, keeping in mind that I must stay within USTA rules.
The first thing that needs to be considered is the amount of teams a player plays on. Please keep in mind that captains need a commitment from their players. If you plan to only play two or three matches for a given team, make sure the captain knows that from the start. Every match should be played at the same time (the breaking up of matches was also out of control) as this is a “team” format which encourages friendship building and team camaraderie. That seems to be getting lost, as women players play with a partner in a match at noon and that partner is now their opponent at 7:00 p.m. There are ideas to think about, and like I said, I would love to hear any ideas you may have.
The Long Island League Committee has a few things to discuss when we meet in November, such as a possible increase in roster size, the request from many that the 40 & Over League be one court of singles and four courts of doubles (have not yet discussed how that would affect the 4.5+ Division). Give me your suggestions by Nov. 1 so they can be a part of the agenda.
Next up will be the Tri-Level League. This League consists of three courts of doubles, one at the 4.5 Level, one at the 4.0 Level and one at the 3.5 Level. The Tri-Level League will play from the beginning of October to the beginning of December. If you are interested in serving as a captain for a team, please let me know.
The Mixed Doubles League will begin in December for the 18 & Over Mixed League. The 40 & Over League will start a month or so later and will run longer to avoid overlap as much as possible.
I will be getting an e-mail out to last year’s Tri-Level and Mixed captains by the end of August. If you did not captain a team last year but would like to this year, please e-mail me at Miller@Eastern.USTA.com.
This past summer season, we had our 65 & Over Men’s Leagues grow from last season, but we need more 65 & Over Women to join us! For the first time, Long Island has a 65 & Over Mixed Doubles League. I want to thank Al Silverstein and Sue D’Alessandro for all of their hard work in getting this off the ground. Any 65 & Over players interested in playing, please let me know.
I will have our complete list of the 18 & Over, 40 & Over, 55 & Over, and 65 & Over League winners in the next issue!
The 2.5 18 & Over Women’s team from Long Beach, captained by Pat Hoeffner have advanced to Sectionals
Congrats to the 18 & Over 4.0 Women’s team from Sportime Syosset, captained by Dawn Schosberg & Gigi Banks, for moving on to compete at Sectionals
Headed to Sectionals to compete is the 18 & Over 3.0 Women’s team from Sportime Lynbrook, captained by Rosalynn Steele & Diana Hensley
