NorCal Junior Excellence @ Fremont Tennis Center

DON'T FORGET that on Sunday moring at 2am we MOVE OUR CLOCKS BACK.
We will NOT REINSTATE any matches Sunday morning.

Welcome to the City of Fremont USTA Excellence Tournament. We are excited are host this event and look forward to some great tennis. This will be a very busy weekend with 256 players and over 300 matches to be played. Here’s a few things for you to know that will help us to create and enjoyable event.


Match times & Format
Please check the draws as some changes have been made based on a few withdrawals earlier today. Changes will be communicated via the tournament homepage or email or phone. Please check the draws! We are using two sites for the first weekend, addresses are below.

MSJ Mission San Jose
Mission Blvd. & St. Anthony Dr.
Fremont, CA 94539

FTC – Fremont Tennis Center
1110 Stevenson Blvd
Fremont CA 94538

Main draw singles – best of three sets for 14’s, 16’s and 18’s. Main draw 12’s and Consolation singles - 2 out of three set with 10 point tie-breaker for third set.

Check-in
Please check in 15 minutes prior to your match time. We will be strictly enforcing the late check in policy as we have a lot of matches and do not want to get behind. Check-in desk at FTC will be towards the back of the courts on the grassy area, check in area at MSJ will be between both court banks.

Tournament T-shirts
Tournament shirts can be picked up at FTC, see the pro-shop staff.

Warm up courts
Courts are available before the first match time. Once the tournament has started there will no warm up courts onsite. The nearest warm up courts are Niles Community Park and Centerville Community Park. These are City of Fremont facilities and courts are first come first served basis.

Parking
This weekend there’s also a soccer tournament and parking will be limited. To accommodate tournament players we have blocked off the back parking area and will have a parking attendant, Once this area fills up you will need to find other areas to park, here’s a few options across the street at the California school of the Deaf or the office block on the corner of Mission and Stevenson Blvd.

Players
Players are expected to behave within the guidelines of code of conduct and their role will be to compete fairly, be respectful of opponents, officials and themselves. It is the players responsibility to check in, know the match format, both players must report scores and know when they’re next match is.

Parents
Parents also will be held accountable to the code of conduct of Friend of Court. Their role will be supporters of the event, officials opponents and players. Any conduct that is not consistent with Friend of Court and the tournament may result in the individual being asked to leave the site.

Consolation Rounds
All players not in the main draw are EXPECTED to play their consolation matches. Penalties and suspension points will be awarded to players who choose to not play the consolations rounds. Injury withdrawals from consolations rounds need to be accompanied with a doctor’s note.

Videotaping of matches
This tournaments position on videotaping supersedes any USTA NorCal. Parents/players must have the approval of BOTH the opponent, and the opponents parent prior to the start of the match in order to videotape the match. Any violations will fall under the Code of Conduct and will strictly be enforced.

Food
There’s no food for sale onsite at FTC, however the soccer kiosk (approximately 200 yards away) will be open both Saturday and Sunday serving food. Alternative food options are Mission Valley Shopping center (approximately 1.5 miles away), Mexican, Subway, Chinese, Starbucks, Luckys.

Email that was sent to all selected players .....................
Unfortunately do to circumstances beyond our control, the tournament committee and USTA Norcal has decided to postpone the doubles to Saturday November 14th. Obviously this is not ideal, but our only options to complete the tournament was to either cancel doubles all together or move the doubles to another day. We know that this tournament carries national points and want to provide that opportunity for you to gain doubles points.

What do you need to do?
If you want to play in the doubles you must enter with a partner the tournament below. Partnerships will not atomically be transferred over to the NEW doubles tournament.
http://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=180535

Who gets priority?
All players of this tournament (that’s you) will get priority into the one day doubles event. Next will be players who entered and were selected for singles. Last will be anyone who didn’t enter for this weekend’s tournament.

How much will it cost?
It’s part of your base fee for this tournament therefore there’s no addition cost.

What if you enter doubles for this weekend and cannot play November 14th?
If you entered with a partner prior to the deadline then you will be eligible for a refund. Please let us know if you are in this category and we’ll get the refund processed.

Excellence Tournaments
Excellence Tournaments offer advanced competition in the 12, 14, 16 and 18 divisions and each is designated as a Level 4 National Ranking Tournament. All events use a yellow ball on a 78’ court and a player’s racquet may not exceed 29" in length.
i. Pathway Eligibility - Players Aged 12 Years and Younger.
To enter and play in an Excellence Tournament, players must players must be at least 8 years of age and first fulfill the pathway requirements as set forth in Rule 10.
ii. Singles Draw Size and Format.
The singles draw size shall be limited to 32 total players. The draw format shall be a Feed-In Championship that feeds players in through the Round of 16, with a playoff for 3rd and 4th place, and a playoff for 5th, 6th and 8th.
iii. Match and Scoring Formats.
Regular scoring shall be used.
a. 12 Divisions
• Singles: best of 3 tiebreak sets with a 10-Point Match Tiebreak in lieu of the 3rd set
• Doubles: 8-game pro set
b. 18, 16, and 14 Divisions
• Main Draw Singles (including 3rd place playoff): best of 3 tiebreak sets
• Consolation Singles (including playoff matches for 5th, 6th, and 8th place): best of 3 tiebreak sets with a 10-Point Match Tiebreak in lieu of the 3rd set
• Doubles: 8-game pro set
Singles Selection Process.

Excellence Tournaments shall select players into the singles draw as follows:

(A) Ranking Lists:
Up to 20 players shall be selected from the most recently published Combined Sectional Final Ranking Lists of the division, in the order in which their names appear on the list.
(B) Ratings:
Up to 12 players shall be selected based on each player’s most recent rating as follows: the players with the 12 highest ratings shall be selected, provided a player’s rating is higher than the lowest rated player selected under step #1 above. In the event two players have the same rating, a tie shall be broken based on the players’ rankings on the Combined Sectional Final Ranking Lists used under step #1.
(C) Vacancies and Alternates:
If vacancies remain, players shall be selected from the Combined Sectional Final Ranking Lists used to select players under step #1 in the order in which their names appear on the list. Alternates shall also be ordered in the same manner. Any late entry shall be placed on the bottom of the alternate list regardless or ranking or rating.
Concurrent Event Selection Order.
From time to time, Championship Age Division and Excellence Tournaments are held and concurrent entry is permitted (see Rule 6.B.i.). Selection shall first be done by USTA NorCal staff for the Excellence Tournament. A player entered in both tournaments that is not accepted into the Excellence shall be eligible for selection into the Championship Age Division Tournament. A player may be an alternate for both tournaments; however once a player accepts a position in a draw of one tournament that player may not subsequently withdraw from that tournament to play in the other. Doing so shall be considered a violation of the Concurrent Tournament Rule.
Doubles.

i. Draw Size and Format.

The doubles draw size shall be limited to 16 teams. A single elimination draw shall be played with a playoff for 3rd and 4th place.

ii. Selection Process.

Teams shall be selected as set forth in Rule 14. All teams not selected shall be placed on Alternate Lists that are ordered using the same methods of selecting players or teams into the tournament described in above. The Alternate Lists shall be used to replace withdrawing players and teams, except that a Late Entry may not be accepted into the draw if it invalidates the seeding.

iii. Player Selection Publication Requirement.

Unless delayed due to the availability of USTA NorCal staff to make singles selections, the singles selection lists shall be published no later than the Friday following the Monday entry deadline. In the event of a delay, the publication date shall be published to the tournament website.
iv. Doubles Partner Notification Deadline; Paring of Players Without Partners.
No later than the end of the day on Monday prior to the Saturday start date of the tournament, any doubles players that have not previously entered as a team shall advise the Tournament Committee of the partnership.
4-Day Tournaments.
The entry fee for a 4-day Excellence Tournament with singles and doubles events shall be a base fee of $60 per players

Receive 50% of your entry fee back. Apply for the TOURNAMENT ENTRY ASSISTANCE GRANT(TAG). For more information about this grant or to obtain a copy of the application please visit the USTA Northern California junior homepage at www.norcal.usta.com.