RULES
Details & Conditions Of Entry into 2012 Leinster Junior and Primary Schools League
1. The competition is known as the Junior & Primary Schools Tennis League.
2. The competition's format is:
• Round Robin qualifying phase, followed by
• Elimination (knock-out) Draw.
3. Players must be attending Junior or Primary School.
4. Children playing on Senior School Teams are ineligible to participate.
5. There are separate competitions for Boys and Girls with 6 players on a team playing a total of 3 Doubles matches. Division 3 will also have a mixed teams section (1 boys, 1 girls and 1 mixed doubles).
6. Teams are divided into 3 divisions based on ability. The Committee reserves the right to change any team from one division to another if the players in that team are too strong or not strong enough for the division the School has entered. Final allocation of teams into division will be based in the rankings of their players. The number of Leinster ranked players in one team will have priority over the individual ranking of each player (ie a team with only 1 ranked player (even if he/she is number 1) will be considered weaker than a team with 3 players ranked 9, 13 and 26 respectively). As a guideline, teams with 2 or more players ranked on the top 30 should enter Division 1.
7. Whenever possible schools will be grouped geographically.
8. Division 3 Round Robin boxes with Schools outside the greater Dublin Area: matches will be played in one or two days (late April) & in a central venue to minimize travel. If the number of entries allows, schools will be grouped by county. Based on 2011 entries, it is planned to have at least one North Leinster (Louth/Meath) and one South Leinster (Wexford/Wicklow) venue, but venues will not be finalized until all entries have been processed. Venues and dates will be announced at the same time as the draw is published.
9. ENTRY FORMS and instructions on how to enter, including on-line payment can be found in the Leinster Tennis website www.leinstertennis.ie
10. CLOSING DATE for entries is Friday 17th February 2012. Entry fee of €25 per team can be paid on-line or by cheque posted to: Junior & Primary Schools Tennis League, Leinster Tennis, c/o David Lloyd Riverview, Beech Hill, Clonskeagh, Dublin 4. All entries and payments should reach Leinster Tennis office by 5:00 pm. Entries will only be included in the draw when entry fee is paid. Entries received after this deadline will not be included in the draw, but will be put on a waiting list and may be accepted as replacement in the event that a team in an appropriate division withdraws. Furher information on www.leinstertennis.ie
11. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS:
• All players should be registered before Wednesday 29th February 2012.
• Pairs must be registered and played in order of merit. The best pair must play at No. 1 doubles and so on.
12. SUBSTITUTES:
• Nominated players can sub for a team in the same or higher division, but not for a team in a lower division.
• A substitute can play for more than one team as long as both teams are in the same or above Class, but if he/she subs more than once for a higher Class Team he/she becomes this Class player and can not play for the lower Class team again. Substitutes should not be of higher ranking than nominated players.
13. The draw will be made on Wednesday 7th March 2012.
14. Team’s Players, Schedules and Draws will be published Thursday 8th March 2012 on www.leinstertennis.ie
15. SCHEDULE AND TIMINGS The matches must be played to this schedule and timetable. However, if it suits both teams they may play matches a week earlier.
16. ARRANGING FIXTURES: The Home team is responsible for arranging the fixture ie the venue and times available, contacting the visiting team and must provide good quality Tennis balls and venue.
17. MATCHES AND SCORES:
• In each match the winners are the first pair to win 9 games. If the score reaches 8 games all, the final game will be a tie-break game.
• Team Scoring System: 1 point for each match won within one tie. In the event of an equality of points at the end of the Round Robin element of the competition, the winners will be the team that won the match between the two teams involved. In the event of a three-way tie, a count back of the number of games won will be used to decide the winner.
• Matches on finals’ day will be best of 3 sets. Champion's tie-break (to 10) will apply if score is 1 set all.
• The winning team must enter the results on-line on http://ti.tournamentsoftware.com or fax them to 01-2694242 within 24 hours of a match. Score sheets signed by the adult in charge of each team should be kept by the captain of the winning team and produced in case of dispute.
18. Schools are encouraged to supply competent umpires where possible.
19. All teams must be accompanied by an adult who must stay for the duration of the tie and sign the results Score sheet.
20. FINALS will be played on Thursday 31stMay 2012.
For further information contact Rosa Stephens at 086-0468773 or competitions@leinstertennis.ie