USTA League Team Guidelines
The Foster City Tennis Club sponsors USTA League Teams throughout the year. The season starts with Adult Mixed Doubles and Adult League, followed by Super Senior 60 and 65. Then 50 Mixed Doubles, Combo and Seniors League mid-year. Please consult the various sections below for quick navigation if you don't want to read from beginning to end.
- Guidelines/Requirements
- Getting Started
- USTA Adult Leagues
- Super Senior USTA Leagues
- Senior USTA Leagues
Guidelines/Requirements
The team with the best win/loss record goes to the District Playoffs against the top teams from other areas. (Some levels will have local playoffs before District Playoffs, which are determined at the Captains’ Meeting.) The winning team at the District Playoffs advances to the Sectional Playoffs. Finally, the winners of the Sectionals earn the opportunity to represent Northern California at the National Championships.
Teams must be registered on-line with USTA Norcal in order to participate, with the following requirements:
- Age Requirements:
- Mixed Doubles League -- 19 years and older
- Adult 18+ League -- 19 years and older
- Combo League -- 19 years and older
- Seniors League -- 50 years and older
- Adult 40+ League -- 40 years and older
- 40+ Mixed League -- 40 years and older
- 55 Mixed League -- 55 years and older
- Super Seniors League -- 60 years and older
65 years and older
- Each player must be a member of the Foster City Tennis Club, who is sponsoring our team by providing courts and insurance during competition. See FCTC membership for information on joining the Foster City Tennis Club.
- Each player must have a valid USTA membership through end of a particular league season. There is an Individual Membership and Family Membership (2 or more members of same family). Membership can only be purchased or renewed by calling 1-800-990-8782. Information on the cost of membership and what a USTA membership provides can be found on the membership page at the USTA Norcal website.
- Each player must have an NTRP rating. Starting in 2002, players entering the USTA League Program must rate themselves in accordance with the NTRP. When players are self-rating,they should place themselves in the higher level of play. For more information check out the USTA Self Rating Page.
Players who are good athletes or intend to spend a great deal of time taking lessons and practicing should be aware that their improvement may be significant enough to surpass their original Self Rating category by the time they reach a championship level. To avoid possible disqualification, these players should place themselves at a higher level of play at the beginning of the season.
The opportunity to self rate is presented when a player registers for a team. When a player enters his or her name on a roster, the computer checks for a valid rating, and finding none, will take the player directly to the self rating program. After the player has self rated, the program continues and the player can place himself on a team roster.
- Each player must pay a league fee to play on a USTA team, which is only payable online to USTA and determined by USTA. Some captains may choose to collect money from their team members before entering them onto the USTA roster, at which time the charge will be billed to the captain's credit card. The Captain of a USTA team is the only person exempt from the USTA fee.
Players may be added to team rosters throughout the season as long as they are not playing for a team in a different area. Players are, however, allowed to change teams up to 4 weeks from the start of the season, provided no matches have been played by that player. For those players who are playing on one team and want to join another team in a different area, please check the USTA Norcal website for the last date to join a team; this usually happens mid-season.
Getting Started
If you are interested in joining a USTA Team, please send email to: foster_city_tennis_club@yahoo.com. The League Coordinator for the Foster City Tennis Club will try and find a team for you and notify the captain.
USTA determines when online team registration is open/closed. After the close date, USTA will start scheduling for all areas. Foster City Tennis Club will be playing mid-peninsula. Once the schedules are determined, USTA will notify each captain of their scheduled week, so that captains can arrange with FCTC for home matches so that court allocations can be finalized.
- Adult Leagues -- Adult (18+ and 40+) Mixed Doubles and Adult (18+ and 40+)Leagues
- Super Senior Leagues -- Super Senior 60 and 65 Leagues
- Senior Leagues -- 55 Mixed and 55 Senior Leagues
Information on each of these teams are provided separately on this website.
USTA Adult Leagues
- There are three adult leagues: Mixed Doubles, Adult and Combo
- The mixed doubles and adult leagues advance to National Championships, while the combo adult league ends at Sectional Championships. Actual schedules won’t be known until USTA posts it on the website for Captains to schedule their home matches.
- Each mixed doubles league team competition consists of 3 doubles matches. The team with the most wins (2 out of 3) gets a point. The losing team gets a 0. At the end of the season, the team with the most wins may have a playoff with the winner going to District Championships, otherwise the top team will advance. If there is a tie, USTA has guidelines for calculating the tie, so sometimes the individual matches may make a difference at the end of the season if there is a tie.
- Each adult league team competition consists of 5 matches: 2 singles and 3 doubles. The team with the most wins (3 out of 5) gets a point. The losing team gets a 0. At the end of the season, the team with the most wins may have a playoff with the winner going to District Playoffs, otherwise the top team will advance. (The exception may be the 2.5 and 5.0 levels where their team competition consists of 3 matches: 1 singles and 2 doubles.)
- Teams in flights of 5 or fewer teams have a 2-team playoff at the end of the season.
- Team in flights of 6 or more teams have a 4-team playoff at the end of the season
- Each combo adult league team competition consists of 3 doubles matches. The team with the most wins (2 out of 3) gets a point. The losing team gets a 0. At the end of the season, the team with the most wins may have a playoff with the winner going to District Playoffs, otherwise the top team will advance.
- Teams in flights of 5 or fewer teams have a 2-team playoff at the end of the season.
- Team in flights of 6 or more teams have a 4-team playoff at the end of the season.
- Each individual match consists of 2 out of 3 sets. The 12-point tiebreaker rule applies when a set reaches 6-6. All practice serves must be taken before play begins.
- Matches may be scheduled on weeknights or weekends; this will depend on court availability and what other clubs have in terms of court allocations. All match times are not negotiable once scheduled. Evening match start time is around 6:00pm, with a default time of 6:15pm. Try to be at the courts 20 minutes before match time for warm-up. Keep in mind that most of the teams are very serious and will hold you to the default time, so don’t be late; it is not worth defaulting and it is also unfair to your teammates. All match times are only negotiable by the captains.
- During competition play, a lineup must be made every week. In order to make it easier for captains to schedule players/teams, please notify your captain as early as possible, what dates you cannot play.
- For home games, each player is expected to bring a new can of Penn or Wilson tennis balls and the team is expected to provide snacks, drinks, etc., to share with the visiting team.
Super Senior USTA Leagues
- There are two super senior leagues: 65 and 60
- Actual chedules won’t be known until USTA posts it on the website for Captains to schedule their home matches.
- Each team competition consists of 3 doubles matches: The team with the most wins (2 out of 3) gets a point. The losing team gets a 0. At the end of the season, the team with the most wins may have a playoff with the winner going to the District Playoffs, otherwise the top team will advance.
- Teams in flights of 5 or fewer teams have a 2-team playoff at the end of the season.
- Team in flights of 6 or more teams have a 4-team playoff at the end of the season.
- Each individual match consists of 2 out of 3 sets. The 12-point tiebreaker rule applies when a set reaches 6-6. All practice serves must be taken before play begins.
- Matches may be scheduled on weeknights or weekends; this will depend on court availability and what other clubs have in terms of court allocations. All match times are not negotiable once scheduled. Try to be at the courts 20 minutes before match time for warm-up. Keep in mind that most of the teams are very serious and will hold you to the default time, so don’t be late; it is not worth defaulting and it is also unfair to your teammates.
- During competition play, a lineup must be made every week. In order to make it easier for captains to schedule players/teams, please notify your captain as early as possible, what dates you cannot play.
- For home games, each player is expected to bring a new can of Penn or Wilson tennis balls and the team is expected to provide snacks, drinks, etc., to share with the visiting team.
Senior USTA Leagues
- There are two leagues: 55 Mixed Doubles and 55 Seniors.
- Actual schedules won’t be known until USTA posts it on the website for Captains to schedule their home matches. Additionally, voting for local playoffs will be conducted by the Area Coordinator.
- Each team competition consists of 3 doubles matches: The team with the most wins (2 out of 3) gets a point. The losing team gets a 0. At the end of the season, the team with the most wins may have a playoff with the winner going to the District Playoffs, otherwise the top team will advance.
- Teams in flights of 5 or fewer teams have a 2-team playoff at the end of the season.
- Team in flights of 6 or more teams have a 4-team playoff at the end of the season.
- Each individual match consists of 2 out of 3 sets. The 12-point tiebreaker rule applies when a set reaches 6-6. All practice serves must be taken before play begins.
- Matches may be scheduled on weeknights or weekends; this will depend on court availability and what other clubs have in terms of court allocations. All match times are not negotiable once scheduled. Try to be at the courts 20 minutes before match time for warm-up. Keep in mind that most of the teams are very serious and will hold you to the default time, so don’t be late; it is not worth defaulting and it is also unfair to your teammates.
- During competition play, a lineup must be made every week. In order to make it easier for captains to schedule players/teams, please notify your captain as early as possible, what dates you cannot play.
- For home games, each player is expected to bring a new can of Penn or Wilson tennis balls and the team is expected to provide snacks, drinks, etc., to share with the visiting team.