Santa Barbara Phoenix League
Commissioner: Don Aue
Type: men doubles (with some women)
Level: B
Format: Round Robin
Season: 2025-2026
Each Super Senior team shall consist of approved members as described below. Matches shall be played on Saturdays around noon, but at a specific time of the home club's convenience.
League Structure: The Team Captains shall act as a League Board of Directors and shall have the responsibility to elect the League Commissioner, approve league rule changes and resolve grievances. The Phoenix League shall be managed primarily by the League Commissioner, but major policy changes will be decided by a vote of the Board. The League Commissioner shall be elected by majority vote of the Team Captains.
Grievance Resolution: Any grievance shall be communicated in writing to the League Commissioner as soon as practical following the event that lead to the grievance. The League Commissioner shall respond in writing with his ruling to all affected parties and all League Captains. In rare instances, should the affected parties strongly disagree with the League Commissioner’s ruling, an appeal to the League Board can be submitted in writing. The Board may choose to override the Commissioner’s ruling or allow it to stand. All decisions of the Board shall be final.
Players: Only players fifty years or older are eligible to play in the Phoenix League. For clarity, a player can be on a team roster and play if they if fact will be 50 any time during the calendar year following the start of the Fall-Winter season. So anyone who is 49 in the Fall would be eligible to play in that Fall-Winter season. If it is determined that any player does not meet this rule, then all matches played with that player will be defaulted, past and present.
Women who meet the age requirement can play in the Phoenix League.
All Players must be registered in Oballo for the Season of play so records of matches and history can be recorded for all to review. Any team playing a player not properly added to roster, can be defaulted for all matches that player played in, past and present. The captain of the player in question, must submit reasons for this infraction so that the Commissioner can rule as such.
A player must play at least two (2) matches (not to include any defaults) with a team in order to be eligible to participate in the end-of-season quad match with that team. In the event a particular player does not show up at a match and a substitute is obtained at the last minute, and this player is not on the roster, the players and the captains can agree to have the match count. A player may switch teams during the season provided the captain communicates the roster change to the Commissioner.
Procedures for Play: Each team will play every other team (at least) twice, once at home and once away. See league schedule for match location and which team is the “HOME” team.
Home teams must supply the tennis balls and refreshments (beer/soda/snacks). Captains should make sure this duty is properly taken care of by their players. It is recommended to include a reminder in each week’s email or phone contact with the players. The responsibility of bringing the snacks can be rotated amongst your players.
All Phoenix match competitions shall consist of three doubles Lines per team. Matches shall be three rounds of play, with all Lines playing each others Lines. It is recommended that Captains call and/or email the opposing captain a few days prior to the match to confirm that the opposing Captain will have three (3) doubles teams ready to play on the day of the match. Needless to say, each Captain should make calls/emails to his own team players to get a verbal/email confirmation that all of his players will be there on match day. If email confirmation is not received, then a personal phone call should be made to get confirmation. Poor communication can result in having the opposing team show up with no team to play. This is an unfortunate letdown and an inconvenience for the parties involved.
Team captains shall come to each match prepared with a roster of three (3) doubles teams to play that day, Lines 1 through 3. Captains must have their line-ups written-up prior to arriving at the match location. It is recommended that captains, upon arrival at the venue, immediately locate the opposing captain, exchange lineups and determine which courts are being used for the match. As soon as this is done, players should be sent to their assigned courts so that they may begin their matches. There shall be a 15-minute grace period for late-coming players. After 15 min. any teams not on the court shall be considered in default.
The current scoring rules for play is as follows: (1) regular scoring for winning a game, but when at the second duce, players will play a sudden death (i.e. one point for the win, with the receiving team deciding which partner receives the serve), (2) at five games all, a seven-point tie breaker (Coman format: Identical to the regular procedure except that the players change ends after the first point, then after every four points, and at the conclusion of the tiebreak.) will be played for the first two rounds, (3) in the third round matches, however, the tie breaker will be invoked at a 6-6 score, (4) and on the third round matches, if all players on a court want they can play a ten point tie-break for the decision, unless one player disagrees, then the seven-point tie breaker will be enforced as stated above.
Coman tie-break format: Starts identical to the regular procedure except that the players change ends after the first point, then after every four points, and at the conclusion of the tiebreak. It is easy to remember when to switch ends, since each server serves on his own regular side of the court.
If opposing captains clearly agree ahead of time, they may play a non-standard match format.
As the matches are concluded, the Captain shall record all match scores on the match score sheet. The HOME team captain is responsible for getting the score sheet entered into the Oballo system for the official records. Phoenix League standings/results are then automatically updated weekly throughout the season, and at the conclusion of the season for all registered players.
Forfeits (hopefully there will be none): In the event a captain cannot field three doubles teams for a competition, he should call/e-mail/text and inform the opposing captain (not just a phone message) as soon as possible, ideally within 2 days. I strongly recommend that the captains try hard to find a mutually agreeable makeup date for missed matches to make the overall league standings as fair as possible, but finally a captain unable to field a team in a reasonable negotiation will have to forfeit that match.
Not being able to field as strong a team as you like, however, is not a basis for postponing a match except by mutual agreement in written e-mail between the captains.
Current form of 4.5 rule:
Each week a team will be a limited to one 4.5 player. Each captain will
e-mail Commissioner a list of 4.5 players and strong 4.0-4.5 borderline players for
all captains to review for approval. Players with an official USTA rating
of 4.5 must be on the 4.5 list. Captains will suggest their recommended
rating for strong players who do not have an official USTA rating for the
other captains to approve. I see no need to put any limits on 3.5-4.0
players, and I suggest captains agree to bring in occasional non-4.5 player, not
on that team roster to fill in when needed to get the match played.
Maybe we'll have to go back and forth a few times to see how consistent the lists
are across all teams. The lists will finally be subject to approval by a
majority of all captains.
(1) No captain can exceed the quota, except in rare instances and with
permission of that week's opposing captain, who might wish to negotiate some
modification of the quota for that week.
(2) No captain may recruit a new high 4.0 - 4.5 player to play some week who is
not on the roster of such players (the roster of both borderline
and 4.5 quota players), again with rare exceptions and with permission of
the opposing captain that week, as above.
(3) A captain may, at any point in the season, ask to modify his team's or
another team's roster, perhaps because of injuries, possible misjudgement in
the original lists, or a change (up or down) in player ability, or to add
new players to the list. Changes would not be immediate and would require a
vote of team captains.
Substitutions in middle of a match rules:
Only one player may substitute for another during a match because of injury
or because a player cannot arrive on time or has to leave early. If the
substitution must occur in the middle of a set, that set will be forfeited,
but other sets will count as usual. As always, captains may also work out
additional or alternative arrangements by mutual agreement.
When a captain would like to add a new player to the league after the Season has started, he should contact the Commissioner before any match play for recognition.
Every captain should be at each weekly match or, if they cannot attend, have a delegate who can work out any problems during the match.
Quad matches at mid-season and at end of season:
Scoring will be done with the first quad amongst the bottom 4 teams not
counting in the league standings, and the final quad amongst the top 4 teams
counting as shown below to try to break any possible ties in the standings.
The quad match winners will be determined by total number of sets won in
the overall match, then by games won, if needed.
Each captain should seed his teams in proper 1-2-3 in order of strength so that
everyone has the closest, most competitive matches and in fairness for the
outcome.
Players in the final Spring quad must have played in at least 2 matches in the regular
season. For the Fall 'bottom four" quad, rules are less strict, with only 1 regular match required, and
captains may ask for an exception if struggling to get a team together.
Scoring for the quad:
1st place 1.5 pts
2nd place 0.75 pts
3rd place 1/8 pt
Rules of Conduct to be conveyed by Captains to the players:
All Super Seniors players should be aware of the accepted Rules of Conduct and should exhibit proper conduct and good sportsmanship, both on and off the courts at all times. The guiding principles applied by the USTA should be recognized.
Play shall be according to USTA rules:
https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/sections/pacific-northwest/pdfs/play/leaguenew/ITFRuleswheader.pdf
And, more to the point, according to the USTA Code of “unwritten rules”:
https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/pdfs/2015_Code.pdf
A summary of some common code issues:
Foot faults - If a player is committing flagrant foot faults, the player should be made aware that he/she has been foot faulting and then obvious foot faults may be called by the opposing team. If the players cannot resolve the matter themselves, players may request the team captains to provide a line judge to stand at the net post and call foot faults for the match for the players.
Line calls - Players are responsible for calling balls landing on their side of the net. Any opponent can question any call once directly to the person making the call and/or his partner. Both team members making the call must affirm the call. An opponent can ask, “Are you sure about the call?” If the person making the call and his partner reaffirms the call, then the call stands, and that is the end of the question. If the person making the call is not sure, or reconsiders the call, or his partner disagrees with his call, then the call shall be reversed.
When a player and his partner are unsure whether a ball on their side was in or out, the ball is considered in. It is not correct, in formal league play, to say “we are not sure; let’s play a let”.
Either partner may make a line call. If neither partner is sure, the opposing team partners may be asked to make an honest call if they can. Only the receiving team, however, may make the call on a first serve. So, if the server hits a first serve that is close, but out, and the receiving team returns it, giving benefit of the doubt on close calls, the serving team must continue play. Any player may call a let.
If a player makes an out line call, he or his partner may immediately reverse the call and award the point to the opposing team.
If it is the opinion of the opponents that a player on the other side of the net is making constant questionable calls, the league procedure is to call a time out, let your opponents know that you would like a linesperson, and summon the team captain(s) in order to obtain a person to stand at the net to act as linesperson. The linesperson is there to confirm calls in or out, but only when asked by the players playing the match, and should not be making all line calls.
So that all Super Senior team players are familiar with the all rules, it is recommended that each captain send these rules, or refer them to this Oballo regulations page, prior to the start of the season.
Team Captains: Keep in touch with your team! Contacting your players a few nights before a competition as a reminder really helps ensure you'll have a full team and avoid defaulting a match. It’s a tremendous let down and inconvenience for the opposing team when one of your team does not show up.
