UPCOMING CALENDAR DATES

• 1/01/2016 - Start planning for the 2016 FETA season.
• 4/01/2016 - Registration for the 2016 FETA season opens.
• 4/??/2016 - Spring Fling (Spring warm-up)
• 5/01/2016 - 20165 Season Play starts
• 6/30/2016 - 2016 Mid-Season
• 8/31/2016 - Regular Season Ends - Tournament starts.
• 10/??/2016 - 2015 End-of-Season Picnic
• 10/??/2016 - 2015 T-shirt Pickup
• 10/20/2016 - Tournament Ends (Approximate date, final date will be determined later.)
• 1/01/2016 - Start planning for the 2016 FETA season.

11/01/2015

IN THE NEWS

• Carlson steps down as Organizer and Webmaster

  Paul Carlson announced that he will step down as both FETA Organizer and Webmaster effective the end of the 2015 season.

• Fleit accepts job as FETA Organizer and Webmaster

  Trudi Fleit will take on the responsibilities of Organizer and Webmaster starting with the 2016 season.

12/01/2015

2015 FETA End-of-Season Wrap-up

Once again, FETA had a successful year (our 51st season). The success was due to your participation and the hard work of the Coordinators and the volunteers.

As most of you know, after serving as FETA Organizer and webmaster for 8 and 11 years, respectively, Paul Carlson has announced that he will be stepping down from both these roles. Trudi Fleit, who has been involved with FETA directly and indirectly for over 20 years, will take over both of these jobs starting with the 2016 season. Please give Trudi your full support as she assumes these duties.

Very special thanks are in order for the excellent efforts of the FETA volunteers and Group Coordinators for 2015. These folks were instrumental in us having a successful season.

In 2015 we had 64 members. Compare this to the membership for 2014, which was 67, and to 62 members in 2013. These numbers represent the number of individual members and not the total number of players/teams in the groups. The percentage of members qualifying for the tournament dropped to 44% which is below the last 5-year average. The percent of members qualifying in 2014 was 46%.

We had a total of nine groups (four singles and five doubles) in the regular season. The singles groups were: 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0, and the doubles groups were: Men's B, Men's A, Doubles C, Mixed B, and Mixed A. However, not all groups had enough qualifying members to support a tournament bracket. A minimum of 4 players/teams are required for an effective bracket. If a group had less than 4 players/teams qualify, a round robin tournament was played.

The 2.5 singles group (for players from beginners through NTRP 2.5) has continued since it was started in 2009. Target players for this group were beginning players and players with little experience who wanted to improve their tennis skills by playing with others, but who were not comfortable with or did not care to play matches -- however, if desired, they may still play matches. The number of members in this group for 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009 were 8, 8, 4, 5, 7, 12, and 8 respectively. The rules for the 2.5 Group were slightly different from the other groups in FETA. We will offer this level group again in 2016. The 2016 rules for this group will be stated in the 2016 season announcements (by email and on the website).

The chart below shows some membership statistics for the 2005 and the 2011 to 2015 seasons.

The year 2005 is the base year for the current FETA format of play.

From a review of the number of players/teams qualifying in the table, an increase in the number of players/teams, in both the upper and lower skill levels, of both singles and all doubles, would probably result in better tournament brackets. Also, an increase in the number of women players would make our membership more co-ed in nature, which is a desirable goal. Accordingly, we ask each member to promote FETA to others where they work to try to increase overall membership. It would be great if all of us work at trying to persuade prospective members to join FETA.

Congratulations to everyone who played in the tournament this year. Special congratulations go to the top finishers in their respective groups:

• Due to privacy considerations, only last initials are given.

As always, the top player/team in each group should register for the next higher group the following year, when possible. They may be allowed to go back to the lower level after one year at the higher level if they are not competitive in that higher level. At the beginning of each season, each member should evaluate whether they would be better off moving to a different group.

The 2015 FETA End-of-Season Picnic was held on October 10, 2015. Everyone in attendance had a great time! A total of 29 members and guests were in attendance.

We all know the FETA philosophy - As always, there is no pressure on the players/teams to attempt to qualify and play in the tournament. Everyone is welcome to play as much or as little tennis as they wish. Many members enjoy qualifying, playing in the tournament and earning a t-shirt. Having said this, we always hope that the groups for the tournament will be large. All members, whether they qualify or not, are invited to the end-of-season potluck picnic/social.

As was mentioned earlier, we would like to grow the organization especially in both the upper ability levels and the lower ability levels. Also, we would like to increase the number of women members. We ask everyone to promote FETA to other eligible players. In addition, we hope that members of advanced ability levels will encourage and support members of lower ability levels. We need these players in FETA and hope that they can continue to experience the joys of tennis.

We hope you are all planning on returning for the 2016 season. Please watch for an email around April 1, 2016 announcing the plans for the 2015 season

12/1/2015

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2015 Picnic
Fun Tennis, Great Food!!!

The Picnic this year marked the end of our FIFTY FIRST season. It was held on October 10, 2015. Check out the pictures!

It was a great day for our end-of-season picnic!

There were a total of 29 members and guests that attended.

As in the past, we had a drawing for door prizes. Members needed to be present at the drawing to win. The following members won door prizes:

• $25 Red Lobster gift card to Paige M.
• $25 Outback Steakhous gift card to James F.
• $25 Lone Star Steakhouse gift card to Phil I.
• $25 Bone Fish Grill gift card to Bob W.
• $25 Bob Woodby gift certificate for tennis lesson or racquet stringing to Paul K.
• Denim and blue baseball cap w/FETA logo to Mark S.
• Brown and camo baseball cap w/FETA logo to Mike A.

You can see pictures of the picnic in the 2015 Picnic Album.

If you have never been to a FETA picnic before you missed out on a lot of fun tennis, food, and camaraderie. Hope to see you at next year's picnic!

11/01/2015

What is TENNIS?

Tennis is a sport for ladies and gentleman. The players must be willing to discuss and decide on how to handle unusual situations and questions regarding rules.

The Golden Rule must be used in resolving all disagreements.

7/31/2008

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A REQUEST

Please be considerate of your fellow FETA members when using their email addresses and the email lists for the various groups. Please limit their use to those times when it will assist you in setting up FETA matches.

If you have suggestions for improvements in the way FETA is run, please send them to the FETA volunteer you think would be interested and/or to feta123@fetatennis.org.

2007

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New York Times
Phys Ed: An Easy Fix for Tennis Elbow?

Many of us have had or may get tennis elbow. Dealing with this condition is not pleasant. The Saturday, October 31, 2009 New York Times had an article regarding tennis elbow. New York Times, Article on Tennis Elbow. Jay B. (FETA 4.0 & Mixed A) suggested this article to us. You may find this article interesting. This article is just FYI. No one in FETA can make (or intends to make) medical recommendations!!!!! If you are suffering from this condition, you should check with your physician.

This link has been added to the FETA "Links" page.

11/08/2009

THE TIE-BREAK

7-Point -- 10-Point - 12-Point

SO Confusing!

For many many years, FETA has had the rule that the 12-point tie-break game is to be used when a set becomes tied at 6 games all. In this method, the winner is the opponent that wins 7 points with a margin of 2 points. In a close but quick tie-break win, the score will be 7 to 5 which totals 12. That is where the term "12-point" comes from. It is the best of 12. The 7-point tie-break is the same as the 12-point tie-break. Why the difference in terminology? It seems that possibly "12-point" was the original terminology. Now, the term "7-point" is often used. In fact, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) rules, used by USTA, do not mention "12-point." For this method, the rules only use the term "7-point." In keeping with USTA usage, FETA documents will use the term "7-point tie-break" starting in 2011.

Use of the term "7-point tie-break" is NOT a change in the way the tie-break is played, only the name. FETA rules will now say that a "7-point tie-break" game is to be played when a set is tied 6 games to 6 games.

OK, then, what about the "10-point tie-break"? What is that? The 10-point tie-break is sometimes used in lieu of a third set. In the 10-point tie-break, the first opponent to win 10 points with a margin of 2 wins the third set (and match). Everything is the same as the 7-point tie-break as far as play goes except for the number of points required to win.

Should FETA use the 10-point tie-break? Usually not. This is used to shorten the match. Most of us are out on the tennis courts to play tennis, and the more the better. Many times when a FETA match has been won in two sets, one of the opponents ask if the other wants to play a third set "just for fun" as if the first two sets were not fun? Many times there is agreement to play a third set because we just want to play tennis! If, however, one of the opponents (or both) knows that they have a restricted time frame in which to play the match, the opponents may agree to play a 10-point tie-break in lieu of a third set. This agreement should be made when the match is scheduled or at least prior to the start of the match.

Starting in 2011, the 10-point tie-break may be used in lieu of a third set in FETA matches. This should be agreed upon by both opponents when the match is scheduled or at least prior to the start of the match.

You may have heard about the Coman procedure. The Coman Tie-break Procedure is the same as the present tie-break (set or match), except for when players/teams change ends of the court. FETA will not implement the Coman Tie-break Procedure at this time.

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The Tie-break procedure

The player/team who would normally be serving after 6-6 is the one to serve first in the tie-break, and the tie-break is considered a service game for this player/team. The server begins their service from the deuce court and serves one point. After the first point, the serve changes to the first server's opponent. Each player then serves two consecutive points for the remainder of the tiebreak. The first of each two-point sequence starts from the server's advantage court and the second starts from the deuce court. In this way, the sum of the scores is even when the server serves from the deuce court. After every six points, the players/teams switch ends of the court; a noticeable fact is that the side-changes during the tie-break will occur in the middle of a server's two-point sequence. At the end of the tie-break, the players/teams switch ends of the court again, since the set score is always odd (13 games). The player/team that received the first point of the tie-break serves the first point of the next set.

3/28/2011

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