Not all districts send teams to Sectionals at every gender and level as some areas/district just don't have critical mass for enough teams at every gender and level. But the main levels are generally represented by each district.
In the Southern section there are 11 districts and these align with 11 states, those being Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Thus a full flight would be 11 teams representing each state.
In taking a look at some flights, it appears not all states are represented, and not just at the genders/levels on the fringes.
At the 18 & Over Southern Sectionals, ignoring the 2.5 and 5.0 levels where it is common for some states to be absent:
- 3.0 women - Only 6 teams listed, Arkansas, Georgia, and South Carolina are missing
- 3.0 men - Only 8 teams listed, North Carolina is missing
- 3.5 women - Only 8 teams listed, Georgia is missing
- 3.5 men - Only 6 teams listed, Alabama, Kentucky, and South Carolina are missing
- 4.0 women - All states listed
- 4.0 men - Only 6 teams listed, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee are missing
- 4.5 women - Only 8 teams listed, Alabama missing
- 4.5 men - Only 8 teams listed, Mississippi missing
That is only one gender/level where all 9 states are there! And three where three teams are missing! So this isn't just a state missing here or there. And some states are missing that are considered hot beds of tennis.
Note that the 3.0 and 4.0 levels are taking place this weekend so those teams are certainly set, while the 3.5 and 4.5 levels are next weekend, and I believe the deadline for entry has past so I doubt any teams are going to be added, but perhaps TennisLink is just not up to date and more teams will be there for 3.5 and 4.5.
The 40 & Over Southern Sectionals is also going on this weekend and next weekend:
- 3.0 women - 10 teams are listed! They are sending two from Mississippi, not sure why
- 3.0 men - Only 6 teams listed, Kentucky, Georgia, and North Carolina missing
- 3.5 women - 10 teams are listed! They are sending two from Alabama
- 3.5 men - Only 8 teams are listed, Alabama missing
- 4.0 women - 10 teams are listed! Georgia gets two at this level
- 4.0 men - All states are listed
- 4.5 women - Only 6 teams are listed, Arkansas, Louisiana, and South Carolina missing
- 4.5 men - Only 8 teams are listed, Kentucky is missing
Interestingly, this is not quite as bad as 18 & Over with four flights having full representation, and for some reason the Section has elected to have wildcards and 10 teams for the 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0 women.
One would actually think there are more teams and players at 18 & Over compared to 40 & Over, so there would be less chance of states skipping out.
Note that at 40 & Over the 3.0 and 4.0 levels are next weekend while the 3.5 and 4.5 are this weekend. So they are staggered from 18 & Over so if players were on teams going to both, they would be able to.
So why are some states not sending teams? And why is 18 & Over less represented than 40 & Over?
I can think of a few reasons, so I'll throw them out here, but I'd love to hear from folks in Southern if they know what is going on.
Going to Sectionals is a sizable commitment from a time and money perspective and perhaps some aren't willing to take it on. This can especially be the case in Southern where depending on where the event is held, there can be a bunch of travel.
This year 18 & Over is being held in Mobile, AL on the back to back weekends while 40 & Over is in Rome, GA. There is no perfect location for all states, but these are reasonably central locations and have been used on a regular basis so aren't new. And the states skipping some events are not far from these locations at all, so it can't be just this reason.
Players could be on teams qualified for both 18 & Over and 40 & Over and are just picking one to attend. I haven't done analysis of this, but I don't think the schedule is significantly different from prior years so if this were the reason, we would expect to have seen it in the past.
Teams could feel they have no shot at winning, perhaps due to knowledge or history of super teams from some states, and so don't want to go knowing they are likely to lose. While this is possible, history tells us that super teams have come from nearly all of the states in Southern including some of those skipping events this year.
Are there other reasons? Those from Southern, what is the inside scoop on what is going on?
But even if any of the above reasons are true and the States winner from some states opts out, why wouldn't the state send the runner up from States so they are represented? I imagine in some cases if the winner opts out late and the members of the runner up have already made other plans, the runner up may also opt out. But it still seems odd for so many teams to be missing.
FWIW, last year there were some events with just 8 teams, but only one with less than that and that was the 18 & Over 4.5 women, compared to a full five with just six teams this year. So this year definitely has more teams missing.
What do you think? Why is this happening this year?
I think this is the first year in southern that bumped up players are not allowed to play at sectionals.... it's probably my biggest gripe about GA USTA that could be EASILY fixed.
ReplyDeleteTeams made up of mainly out of leveled players (bumped up players) can play at state (at least in GA IDK about other states). So these teams usually win state and eliminate viable teams (teams made up of on level players who could fully represent the state at sectionals/nationals). This happened to my team last year... we were all on level players. We played against a team full of bumped ups and lost 2-3. Sadly we had to meet this team in round robin so we had no chance. This team easily won state and since this was last year, the bumped up team also easily won sectionals. Problem was, they couldn't use their best players at nationals and got destroyed.
This year the winning team realizes that playing at sectionals will be a bloodbath/not even possible numbers wise/not worth the financial commitment without their best bumped up players so they opt not to go. The easy fix would be to prohibit bumped up players from playing at state championships across the board IMO. When I complained, I was told GA would NEVER prohibit bumped up players from playing at state. Since tennis is so big is GA, many Early start leagues exist and they may be afraid of losing players if they know getting bumped up means they couldn't play at the state tournament.
Thanks for the comment.
DeleteAnd good on Southern for adopting this rule, as prior to it, the situation would just occur with Nationals teams. One of these ESL teams with now out of level players would roll through States and Sectionals, but then not be eligible to play those out of level players at Nationals, in some cases causing the team to not have enough eligible players to go. Or if the team went, it wasn't really the same team that won so wasn't representing Southern as well as perhaps the runner up would have.
That made no sense, so Southern Sectionals at least abiding by the National rule eliminates that issue, but like you point out just pushes it down a level to States.
But yes, this affects ESL teams and Georgia and a few others have robust early start leagues, and having to deal with considering the post-year-end roster is part of what an ESL team has to deal with.
Why doesn't Georgia or the other states allow the runner up or another team to go to Sectionals though? How is it better to not have your state even represented at Sectionals?
My guess is they do and would allow them to go, but that runner up team is likely in the same boat! At least in GA. Typically at state finals in GA it's two ATL teams playing each other and both have out of level players. Then combining the other elements you suggested just doesn't make it exciting to go.... especially to Mobile Alabama in late July! yikes. The year I did sectionals in Mobile they had an IV tent set up on site. That should be a clue that maybe that venue shouldn't host tournaments in the middle of summer. lol
Delete40 and over moved to 1s and 4 courts of doubles this year as well. So that’s one additional roster spot that has to be filled, and not all local leagues and states adopted that format. So it’s possible that some teams were undersized to have critical mass for sectionals. I would not underestimate the climate either. It can be a hard sell to get 12-13 people to sign up for what you fully expect to be a physically miserable experience.
ReplyDeleteAs far as why some levels have 10 teams when there are only 9 states in Southern, they used to always invite a rotating wild card for each level so they have two brackets of five with a final. And as you say, they would ask the second place finishers if they wanted to come if the state champs said no. It seems to me that they now wait to make sure all 9 states will have a representative before they invite a wild card and do not invite another team if the winners decline. As to why, my guess is that it's easier for tournament personnel to not chase teams and have a smaller tournament, but who knows.
ReplyDeleteThe why is mostly related to the fact that you have a scheduling nightmare for an odd 9-team draw with the now very common "unflighted" format.....so, the 730 or 8am round has 8 of the 9 teams playing, same again for the 2nd round at 1130/12pm, followed by the 2 teams that had the bye's earlier in the day are stuck to play by themselves at 330/4pm, meanwhile all the other teams are resting up for the matches the next day.....it just sucks from the scheduling sense, so typically I've seen Southern try hard to avoid having a 7 or 9 team draw.
DeletePlus, in the unflighted format world, you could be waiting until like 6pm to figure out standings for who's in the Sunday playoffs.
And you don't even wanna address this scheduling headache for this odd 7 or 9 team draw if there happens to be any rain that ALWAYS happens during the hot hot summer.....
We usually have great participation in Arkansas and we were not represented in several divisions. The second place teams were invited, but by the time it was offered to them they had already made other plans for that weekend. In one level, basically the same team
ReplyDeleteWon two age groups and they chose to go to one tournament. I think for the 18 teams, they often don’t have the money or the vacation time to be able to go. Plus, that’s a busy family time for everyone in the summertime. This is the first time we’ve seen this many teams not go, so maybe it’s just an anomaly for Arkansas.
Intermountain has 1-2 teams not send teams to Sectionals at most levels in recent years.
ReplyDeleteSouthern in general (and most of the states in the section as well) will do anything and everything to schedule as few matches as possible. Staff often prioritizes ease of making the schedule instead of giving teams the opportunity to as advance to post season. They bank on the fact of being the largest section numbers wise that they don't have to care what teams or players want. So if they only have a few teams to schedule, that's golden for them. Last time I checked most coordinator positions are paid ones so it's really unfortunate.
ReplyDelete