New USTA League and Regulations Update

Highlights:

Beginning at this Mixed Doubles State Championships and Combo State Championships in 2023, players can only play and advance on one team, see below:

For 2023:

Players will only be able to play on one team for each weekend event:

– Mixed 18/40, Mixed 55/65 (August 25-28, 2023 – Lexington, SC)

– Combo 18 & Over, Combo 40 & Over (October 27-30, 2023 – Florence, SC)

– Combo 55/65 (November 4-6, 2023 – Aiken, SC)

Beginning in 2024, the Mixed Doubles Leagues will play at straight levels of ratings – with no mixed ratings.

This is a regulatory interpretation as determined by the USTA Southern organization and adopted by the USTA South Carolina – of which the LCTA is a participant and member.

There are other regulatory changes occurring in 2024 – we have included information from USTA South Carolina for you to review.

Please direct any questions to Dee Mack or your flight coordinators.

Original Letter from USTA below

Good morning,

Due to the interpretation in Friend at Court of the amount of rest players are required between matches
in a tournament by USTA National, USTA Southern’ s Adult League committee voted to only allow
players to advance on one team at Mixed and Combo Sectionals. The USTA South Carolina Adult League
Committee voted to follow USTA Southern and only allow players to advance on one State
Championship events that take place on the same weekend. This regulation change will begin with the
Mixed Championships August 25-28 in Lexington, SC.

Please note that this does not prevent players from participating on more than one team locally.

Regulation Change beginning 2023

USTA South Carolina Regulation:

For Adult League & Singles League Programs: A player who qualifies to advance to the South Carolina
State Championship in Adult 18 & Over, Adult 40 & Over, Adult 55 & Over, Adult 65 & Over, Adult 70 &
Over, Adult 75 & Over Invitational, Singles League 18 & Over and Singles League 40 & Over may advance
on more than one team within an age group only if the teams are different NTRP levels. No
accommodation for scheduling will be made at any Championship for teams with players who may be
competing on two or more teams during a championship.

For Mixed Doubles League Programs: A player who qualifies to advance to the South Carolina State
Championship on any Mixed team (Mixed Doubles 18 & Over, Mixed Doubles 40 & Over, Mixed Doubles
55 & Over, or Mixed Doubles 65 & Over) may not advance on more than one team and must choose
which team he or she will represent. (Note: If two age divisions are being played at the same location
over the same 3–5-day period, a player may not advance in both age divisions.)

For Combo: A player who qualifies to advance to the USTA South Carolina State Championship on any
Combo team (Combo Doubles 18 & Over, Combo Doubles 40 & Over Combo 55 & Over and/or Combo
Doubles 65 & Over) may not advance on more than one team and must choose which team he or she
will represent at the USTA South Carolina State Championship.

For 2023:
Players will only be able to play on one team for each weekend event:
– Mixed 18/40, Mixed 55/65 (August 25-28, 2023 – Lexington, SC)
– Combo 18 & Over, Combo 40 & Over (October 27-30, 2023 – Florence, SC)
– Combo 55/65 (November 4-6, 2023 – Aiken, SC)

2024 changes for Mixed 18 & Over, Mixed 40 & Over, Mixed 55 & Over, Mixed 65 & Over:
Beginning in 2024, per USTA Southern, regulations Mixed Doubles (18 & Over, 40 & Over) will go to
straight-levels for the 2024 league championship year (2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0). USTA South Carolina
will follow USTA Southern and play straight levels in Mixed Doubles 55 & Over and the 65 & Over. This
means that local leagues, local playoffs, and state league championships will also be straight-levels.
Players can still play up .5 a level. Additionally, players are subject to earn strikes as they do in the spring
season. If a player earns three strikes throughout the two seasons, the player will be promoted to a new
NTRP level.

Thank you for your understanding in the matter. These decisions were not made lightly and we
understand that the 2023 changes may affect many players. If you have any questions, please email PJ
Fulmer at fulmer@sctennis.com.

PJ Fulmer
Director, Team Play

LCTA Local Playoff Winners – Good Luck at States

40+ Women

3.0 LCTA40/Murphy/MPR captain Virginie Murphy

3.5 LCTA40/DANIEL/MPR captain Crystal Daniel

4.0 LCTA40/DANIEL/MPR captains Crystal Daniel and Louann Kelly

4.5 LCTA40/Kryder/LTPDI captain Alice Kryder

40+ Men

3.0 LCTA40/Fox/LTP-DI captains Rusty Fox and Steve Fennell

3.5 LCTA40/Sciortino/Hamlin captain Joe Sciortino

4.0 LCTA40/Newell/Maybank captain Michael Newell

4.5 LCTA40/Shelley/MPR captain Will Shelley

18 + Women

3.0 LCTA18/Stevens/Maybank Captains Elizabeth Stevens and Amber Oblinger

3.5 LCTA18/Britton/Maybank captains Bethany Britton and Jenny O’Rourke

4.0 LCTA18/Eckhardt/MPR 4.0 captain Jane Eckhardt

4.5 LCTA18/Kryder/LTPDi captain Alice Kryder

18+ Men

3.0 LCTA18/Keiper/CTC captain Richard Keiper

3.5 LCTA18/Sciortino/Hamlin captain Joe Sciortino

4.0 LCTA18/Snyder/CTC Captain Eric Snyder

4.5 LCTA18/Cladakis/MPR captain Mike Cladakis

Photos of some of our Winning Teams from around the League

Combo League

Combo has become one of our most popular leagues!

Please sign up and join the fun!

Announcement of Formation of LCTA Oversight Committee

The LowCountry Tennis Association has approved the Formation of an Oversight Committee to Maximize the Safety and Well Being of our LCTA Players and Personnel.

The Purpose of the Committee is to add Additional Depth to the Formal Traditional Grievance Procedures which will now include oversight for more Serious or Chronic Misconduct within the LCTA.

The LCTA Oversight Committee will allow the League to Govern Significant Misconduct – if necessary – although this is expected to be Infrequent.

This will allow the Board of Directors to suspend or terminate LCTA individuals who display the following:

1. – LCTA member who engages in willful misconduct that results in injury to LCTA player or LCTA official or property damage to LCTA Facilities

2. – LCTA member who incites insubordination that causes harm or instability to LCTA Local League or CTA.

3. – LCTA member who engages in consistent Chronic, Antagonistic, Discriminatory, Bullying or Harassing behavior with Severity or Multiple Infractions.

Penalty Structure:

1st offense – Up to 1 year suspension from LCTA activities

2nd Offense – Up to 3 year suspension from LCTA activities

3rd Offense – Permanent Termination from LCTA activities

A 2/3 majority vote by the LCTA Board of Directors will approve of the proposed penalty – if deemed necessary.

This is not applicable to USTA Leagues and Activities – only to LCTA Activities and has been communicated to both the USTA Southern Association and USTA South Carolina Association.

All complaints may be filed with an Oversight Committee form available on the LCTA website. The Oversight Committee will be chaired by Nancy Pitcairn, who oversees the LCTA General Grievance Committee. The members include Bill Ennis, Dee Mack, Cile Perich and Charlotte Gerber.

The LCTA is deeply committed to maintaining the foundation for a Safe and Secure environment for our Players and Personnel while providing a Fair, Competitive Experience for our Tennis Community.

USTA National Tennis Month Celebrations in the Lowcountry

Town of Mount Pleasant

City of Charleston

City of Charleston

Town of Summerville

City of Goose Creek

Hanahan Hawks Cay Ribbon Cutting

LCTA announces Facility Enhancement Program

The LowCountry Tennis Association is pleased to announce our Facility Enhancement Program – which is being established to help our local Low Country Tennis Facilities improve their infrastructure by providing capital to build, purchase, upgrade or add personnel to their tennis platforms.

The LCTA program will offer up to $5,000 per facility in 2023 and up to $10,000 per facility in 2024. Allocations will be generated through Specific Facility Requests moving forward.

One example of the LCTA Program is we recently donated $5,000 toward the refinishing of the Summerville Doty Park Courts – which helped the Summerville Recreation Department defray expenses and improves the experience for our Northern Low Country players.

The LCTA believes, it is of paramount importance to practice continuous improvement of facility and player experience by allocating capitol towards the needs of our facilities, primarily municipal recreation. The Significant growth of LCTA Players has created high usage on LowCountry Courts and it is imperative that we help our facilities maintain and improve their infrastructure.

This is a Permanent Program and has been favorably received by our Facilities and Players.

All requests can be emailed to Bill Ennis, Dee Mack or April Gift.

Bill and Dee present LCTA Donation to Summerville Recreation Heads Amy Evans and Nancy Summerset

Watch for our 2024 LCTA Friday Night Social League

All Out, All Game, All Season