RULES AND REGULATIONS OF MICHIGAN TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE

2007 SEASON

 

 

1) LEAGUE: The league will be called, very simply, the "MICHIGAN TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE”. We will be an independent league with no USATT affiliation.

 

2) TEAMS: Each participating table tennis club will be teams.  All teams must be declared at the beginning of the season and no new teams may be added once the season has begun.  Each of the club teams will consist of 4 permanent members, including one member who is designated as the captain.  The 4 permanent members of a team are not permitted to play for any of the club’s other teams during the season.  In addition, a club may supply a list of substitute players who can be used to replace permanent team members who are not available for a competition.  Substitute players may compete for any of the clubs teams during the course of the season.  Unlike permanent team members, they are not limited to competing for only one of the clubs teams.  Additional substitute players may be added during the season.

 

3) COMPETITION: Competition will be a 4-man format with each team member playing 2 singles and 2 doubles matches in the tie.  Each team will designate their players as SA, SB, SC, and SD.  Although it is anticipated that captains will order their players based on their ability, there is no requirement to do so.  A captain can place their players in any order, but they must do so without knowledge of the opposing teams lineup. Each team will also designate doubles teams consisting any combination of the same 4 players, as DA and DB.  (An exception will be made for players who cannot, physically, play doubles.  In this case a 5th, substitute, player can be used for the doubles matches, or, one of the 4 team members may play for both doubles teams.)  Ties will consist of 12 matches as shown below:

 

                 Team 1      Team 2

Singles          SA     vs.    SA

Singles          SA     vs.    SB

Singles          SB     vs.    SA

Singles          SB     vs.    SB

Singles          SC     vs.    SC

Singles          SC     vs.    SD

Singles          SD     vs.    SC

Singles          SD     vs.    SD

Doubles       DA     vs.    DA

Doubles       DA     vs.    DB

Doubles       DB     vs.    DA

Doubles       DB     vs.    DB

 

4) SCORING: Matches will consist of the best 3 out of 5 games to 11.  All 12 matches of a tie between teams will be played.  The overall record for a team that will be used for team rankings during the season will be total matches won and lost (not ties won and lost).

 

5) FORFEITS: In the case when one team does not field a full team of 4 players, they will forfeit matches as shown below:

A)   Fields a team of 3 players: Forfeits 2 singles matches.  Team creates two different doubles teams with their 3 players for doubles competition.

B)   Fields a team of 2 players: Forfeits 4 singles matches and 2 doubles matches.

C)   Fields a team of 1 player: Forfeits all but 2 singles matches.

D)   Fields a team of 0 players: Forfeits all matches.

 

In the case where neither team fields a full team of 4 players, both teams will forfeit matches as described above, depending on the number of players they field.  The visiting team will determine  what matches will be played so that the total of forfeited + played matches equals 12.  As an example consider the case where Team A fields 3 players and Team B fields 2.  Team A forfeits 2 singles matches and Team B forfeits 4 singles and 2 doubles matches.  The visiting team determines the format for the remaining 6 matches that need to be played.  Team A record for the night will be 4-2 plus the result of the 6 matches actually played.  Team B record for the night will be 0-6 plus the result of the 6 matches actually played.  The total number of losses for the night will be greater than the total number of wins due to the forfeits.

 

6) HANDICAP: Each club will assign its players a rating.  This rating will be the player’s USATT rating from the beginning of the season, or a fair estimated rating if no recent USATT rating exists. All matches will be played with a handicap system, with a lower rated player given a beginning point advantage at the start of each game.  The number of handicap points is based on the rating difference between the two players as shown in the following chart.

 

Rating difference        Handicap points

0          -           99:                  0

100      -           124:                1

125      -           174:                2

175      -           249:                3

250      -           349:                4

350      -           474:                5

475      -           624:                6

625      -           799:                7

Over 800:                               8

 

For doubles, the ratings of a doubles team’s two players are averaged to get a rating for the doubles team.  The handicap is then determined in the same way as for a singles match.

Half the handicap points for a game are added to the lower-rated player’s starting score, while half are subtracted from the higher-rated players starting score.  Thus, in a game with a handicap of 4, the game will begin with a score of (lower-rated player: 2, higher-rated player: -2).  In a case where the handicap is odd, the additional point will be added to the lower-rated player’s score.  Thus, for a handicap of 5, the game will begin with a score of (lower-rated player: 3, higher-rated player: -2).

In all cases, the lower-rated player has the option of playing his match/matches with no handicap.

 

7) SCHEDULING: Each team within the league plays each of the other teams twice during the season. Teams will be required to play two matches per month, but one of these should normally be at the home club. This means teams will only have to travel to another club for ties roughly once a month. It is acceptable to arrange and play ties early based on agreement between the two teams participating. We will attempt to be very flexible in the scheduling of matches.

 

8) PLAYOFFS: At the end of the season the top teams in the standings will advance to the playoff round to determine a league champion.  The number of teams that will advance, and the format of the playoff, will be determined after all team entries are received and the format of the season competition is decided (single division or multiple divisions, etc.).  The rules regarding the playoffs will be posted on this site as a supplement to the rules page at that time.

 

9) FEES: NO LEAGUE FEES! This league will be totally free for players. You will, of course, be required to pay the customary fee at any club you visit, as if you were to visit their club independent of the league.

 

10) ADMINISTRATION: Mark Neal (Rochester club) will collect all results from team captains of the home team when ties are completed and post them to a website. Robert Walter (GACC Club, Sterling Heights) will create a league schedule after all teams are entered.

 

11) ELIGIBILITY: The League is open for play to anyone, regardless of their USATT membership status or competitive history.  There is no age limit, either upper or lower.

 

12) MISCELLANEOUS:

a) The ties should start not later than a half hour after the club opens.

b) For the ties, at least two table tennis tables will be provided.

c) For warming up, the guest team will be allowed access to one of those two table tennis tables for at least 15 min.

d) The home team will provide the table tennis balls, 3 star balls, orange or white.

e) If possible, each team should wear uniform dresses with single-colored shirts, neither orange, yellow or white colored.

f) At the beginning of the tie, the captain of the home team greets the guest team, introduces each team’s players, and decides who is playing on which table.

g) If possible, for the single matches each team should appoint a person from one of their teams to perform scorekeeping and umpire functions. This person will keep track of score (if possible use a score keeper), service rotation, timeouts, and lets, and, in general, takes over the function of an umpire. If there is a dispute, he makes the score decision.

h) Rules according to http://www.ittf.com/ITTF_Hand_Book/2_Handbook.pdf

i)  For doubles matches it is allowable to use the new proposed USATT rule for doubles serving.  This new proposed rule is described in http://www.usatt.org/rules/rules_change_servers_choice.pdf .  In general, the new rule requires the server to alternate the side of the table of his serve.  His first serve must go from his own forehand(right-hander) court to his opponent’s forehand(right-hander) court.  His second serve must go from backhand court to backhand court.  If deuce is reached in a game, all remaining serves are forehand to forehand.  If both teams are agreeable, this new rule may be used in doubles competition.  If either team declines, the traditional serving rule will be used.