Playing in multiple areas, districts, and sections - Interesting Tennis League Stats

In generating Estimated Dynamic NTRP Rating Reports, I often see players that play in more than one are, some in more than one district or state, and even some that play in multiple sections.  Given the geography of the United States and how the section/district/area boundaries are defined, it can happen more often than you think, although it is typically in more densely populated areas.

For example, in the Mid-Atlantic section, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. are each separate districts and are close enough that some players will play in all three.  And in Maryland each county is a separate area so players can easily play in several.

Or you have sections like Middle States and Eastern, or Eastern and New England, that are very close and players can easily play in multiple.

Even in a less densely populated state like Washington, we have separate districts for Northwest and Southwest Washington, and some players will play in both.

To get an idea of how often it happens, I took a look at the 2015 league year 18+, 40+, and 55+ leagues to see what some of the largest numbers were and if there were any surprises.

First, looking at sections, the vast majority of players, over 99%, play in only one section.  But over 2,300 played in two sections in 2015 leagues, and 8 players played in three sections.  Of those 8, most appear to be situations where someone winters in the south, for example, there were several that were Eastern/Middle States/Florida or New England/Eastern/Florida.

Next, looking at districts (states in Southern), the most played in was 4, and that occurred 50 times.  There were nearly 600 that played in 3 districts and over 7,000 played in 2, but the vast majority play in only 1.  I was actually a little surprised that the largest was only 4, but districts are pretty big areas, so perhaps more would be unexpected.

Last, looking at areas, there were two players that played in a whopping 7 and nine that played in 6.  Both of the players that played in 7 did so in Mid-Atlantic, both predominantly using Maryland's separate counties to do so, but did both include NOVA.

How many different area/districts/sections do you play in?