2021 Season

The (current) plan for 2021 Season

Click here to get updates about the 2021 season.  These updates are designed for Managers and Coaches.  Players and parents should get team and school schedule updates from Team Managers and Coaches.

Season is tentatively planned to begin April 1 with NorCal Final in Mid-May and State Finals at end of May, permitted we have the proper approvals from state and League Commissioners.  Currently, we are planning to hold an Open event for all participating and available High Schools at Ocean Beach in San Francisco on Saturday, April 17th, 2021.

Terms/Definitions

• Pair: Pair of 2 players
• Team: 3 pairs of 2 players representing a school.  Also acceptable to compete with just 2 pairs, counting the 3rd match as forfeit.
• Match Play: Best 2 of 3 sets for Pair vs Pair wins the match.
• Duels Format: 3 pairs play 3 other pairs from one school.  The team that wins 2 of 3 matches wins the Duel. When time is short, play is stopped after 2 of 3 are won.

Heads Up Duel Play:

In order to closer approach the team duels format of NCAA beach play, the primary thrust of this 2020 season will be school vs school duels format match play 2 out of 3.  For each win against another school, you are awarded points on the following scale.

• 15 points for opponents that have a win ratio >65%
• 10 points for opponents with win ratio between 35% and 65%
• 5 points for opponents with win ratio below 35%

Teams can play each other multiple times if both sides are interested. The start date of the 2020 will be announced in November.

  Season Finale at Santa Cruz Beach: date to be announced 

Season culminates in a Duels bracket tournament, double elimination, similar to last year.  Seeding based on total points from season from both duels and tournaments. Will need to play at least 2 duels during the season to participate.  There will likely be a cap on the number of schools that will determined by seeding points. Will not fill in missing pairs with other schools like last year.

Determination on how many schools will be able to participate will be made in April.  We will take the top performing schools and may need to limit the number of schools to fit within the allotted courts and time.  This will be determined in mid-April.

Considerations:

• This format of points for wins and nothing for losses encourages each team to play as many other schools as they can, as wins help, but losses don’t hurt.
• Schools that are just getting going can choose to compete few times only on the the days they can assemble at least 2 pairs, ideally 3.
• A school that hosts (secures a facility) might string together 2 or 3 successive duels.  For example, Notre Dame might host Santa Cruz at 9AM, Loma Linda at 11 AM. Then allow the Santa Cruz and Loma Linda teams to play each other in a duel just after.  This will allow or efficient travel and court usage. Online publishing of open court time will help facilitate booking duels.
• There are many indoor conflicts in the Feb-April.  This format where majority of play is school vs school allows for smaller events on the more plentiful 2 court facilities.
• A school with only 1 pair will be able to play in the pairs tournament, but won’t be able to otherwise compete.  This should motivate the pair to promote and build interest at the school.
• The posting of results online as they progress during the season will increase interest.  The component that adjusts points for win ratio will keep teams interested in results of other teams.
• A school with a large team (like 6 pairs) will not be able to offer competition play to the deep bench.  All of them can play in the tournament. But only 3 pairs at any event can compete. Additional scrimmage after competing can mitigate this issue.

State Finals in Southern California: Date to be announced.

For the 2020 season, the top two teams from the Northern California Finals will be awarded the opportunity to play in the State Finals in Southern California (date and venue to be determined) for the State Title.

Links

• Here is the list of contacts for each school from the 2019 season, feel free to update.

This google sheet doc has a working example of the points system suggested.  It is not finalized on how the Summary view would look, and it exposes all of the working tabs, some of which would be hidden from the viewers.  

Contacts:
Barry Peters: barry@peterscellars.com
Todd Sears: toddasears@gmail.com