There has been some feedback and concern that the League requires a '16 week commitment' and would hold all the players to some rigid schedule of play once a week for 16 weeks.  This is not accurate.

The 16 weeks of League play run from Monday, January 1, 2007 to Sunday, April 22, 2007.  A 'full league' of 8 teams would only have 14 ties to play in that time frame.  It is entirely permissible, and, in many cases desirable, that teams would play multiple ties in a single session, a 'mini-tournament'.  Teams can fulfill their tie obligations on any day of the week, subject to mutual approval between the teams involved and with the consent of the appropriate Regional Coordinator.  Structure is not so rigid as to require a 'night a week for 16 weeks'.  Hopefully this explanation is clear, if questions remain, email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . 

Local Ratings Options for Leagues

While structure is desirable, rigidity is not.  There have been many questions about player ratings and how they will be used in the Teams League first season.  From the beginning, it was intended that players USATT tournament ratings be used to setup skill divisions and form rosters.  It was intended that a separate and distinct ratings database would be created and maintained that did *not* change a player’s tournament Rating based on USATT Teams League results.

This was based on an assumption that such a policy would increase participation in the League.  We believed that players would be less likely to participate if their tournament ratings were ‘at risk’ in League matches.  What we have learned is that ‘one size does not fit all’. 

Some players do, and some players don’t want the matches to be counted for ratings.  So we are taking what we believe to be the sensible approach.  The ‘Default mode’ will be that matches do not count for USATT tournament ratings, but locally, each league can exercise an option to make the matches count for tournament rating.  This will require the league to meet and approve that option, and the Regional Coordinator to be informed.  This option will require that two-thirds of the players in the League involved approve the move.  Each player participating in a ‘ratings active’ league must pay the $4 rating fee for the season to USATT HQ.  This fee will be collected by the Regional Coordinator and forwarded to USA Table Tennis through the League Office. 

So now the answer to the question “Will these matches affect my tournament rating?” has become, “They will if your League has decided they should.”

Divisions of Play

This item is less a change of plan than a clarification.  A frequent question has been whether or not there will be ‘skill divisions’ for the USATT Teams League, that is, whether or not teams will be organized into leagues defined by rating level.  The simple answer is ‘Yes, wherever possible.’  This item is intended to shed additional light on that answer.

It’s not possible, of course, to be prepared for every eventuality.  We would expect that some issues will arise which we never anticipated, or that new issues will come forward and require additional ‘tweaking’.  That said, the explanation below should make the system of Divisional play more understandable. 

A league can have no more than 8 teams and no fewer than 4 teams.  In order to ensure that travel distances are kept manageable, some leagues may be based more on geography than on playing ability.  Wherever possible however, for league play, and absolutely, during ‘playoffs’, teams will be sorted by skill level.  The divisions of play will be based on each roster’s average rating, and will be the following:

Novice/U1000
U-1500
U-1900
U-2200
Open

Even if your team plays in a league of widely varying skills, your playoff opponents will be teams of similar rating and contained in the above Divisions.