Flight Playoffs

What are Flight Playoffs?

Flight Playoffs are a single-elimination round that occurs after the end of the regular season and prior to Districts, in which, the winning teams from flights are paired off for a single team match. The winning team from each pairing will advance to the District Championships.

Background

In 2010, the USTA Adult 18 & Over Colorado Districts had nearly 1200 matches over the course of the 3-day event, using 120 courts at 11 sites, making it one of the largest (if not the largest) 3-day league championships ever. That same year, the US Open had 800 matches played (including every division and event over 2 weeks).  An event that has 400 more matches than the entire US Open, played over 3 days is not something that can be done off without adequate court availability. Had there been adverse weather conditions, there would not have been enough indoor courts throughout the entire Denver-Metro area to cover our needs, thus the event with inclement weather would be an experience less than what anyone would expect or prefer (players, spectators and staff alike). Our goal with all of our league championships is to provide the best experience possible and to ensure that we run a quality event. As a result, we had to add the Flight Playoffs to greatly reduce the size of our largest events.

Districts is considered an elimination round in the advancement process to Sectionals and ultimately Nationals, so the Flight Playoffs are essentially just another round that has to be won to be able to advance.

Colorado Geographic Areas
DEN – Denver Metro
NOCO – Northern Colorado
SOCO – Southern Colorado
ASPEN – Aspen & Mountains
WS – Western Slope

Only areas with two or more flights in a specific NTRP level will have a Flight Playoff round. If an area only has one flight in a specific NTRP level, the winning team from that flight will advance to Districts. If there is only one local flight for a specific NTRP level within Colorado, the winning team from that local flight will advance directly Sectionals.

Important Notes

  • Home Team provides courts (at Home Team’s standard Home Match location) and balls for the team match. At least 48 hours prior to the match, the Home Team captain must contact the Visiting Team captain and provide details about the match location.
  • These matches take precedence over any other USTA/CTA local league matches. If Home Team has court conflicts that can’t be avoided (i.e. blackout for tournament), the captains should communicate and either move the match to the visiting team’s location or agree on an alternate date, time or location to complete the match prior to the Flight Playoff Score Entry Deadline. (See League Calendar)
  • Regardless of inclement weather, matches need to be completed and scores entered by the deadline. Any match not entered by that date will be decided by a coin toss.
  • It is the responsibility of BOTH team captains to make sure the scores are reported and confirmed.
  • Eligibility – players must have played in at least two (2) regular season matches (a win by default may count for one match) to be eligible to participate in the Flight Playoffs. If ineligible players are played, the match will be scored as a win by default for the opposing team.
  • Only the winning teams from the Flight Playoff round will advance into the District Championships.
  • All Flight Playoff matches are unofficiated, so just like the regular season, the teams are expected to abide by the Player Code and all league regulations. Officials are not allowed for flight playoff matches.
  • The match format for all Flight Playoff matches is required to be best two of three sets with a match tiebreak (first to 10 by 2) played in lieu of the third set (using the standard tiebreak procedure). It is not allowed for teams to play out the entire third set. Hard court surfaces will be used. If hard court surfaces are not available at the home team’s site, the match shall be moved to the visiting team’s site. Indoor and outdoor courts are both approved.
  • Contact us if you have any questions.

Flight Playoff FAQs

Question: If one of the teams requests that a match be played on a different date or time what are the rules for accommodating that request?
Answer: Matches may only be rescheduled due to reasons listed under “Mandatory Reschedules” in the Colorado District League Regulations.

Question: How do you print the scorecard with both teams rosters for the Flight Playoff match?
Answer: From the Match Summary tab of your specific Flight Playoff match, hover over the “Match ID” with your mouse. Then click on the “Print Blank Scorecard” link.

Question: How are opponents determined?
Answer: Flight Playoff match ups are determined before the season has ended. Geographical considerations are taken (when possible). Other than geographical considerations, it is completely randomly done.

Question: Why aren’t standings taken into consideration?
Answer:  First – because we have to begin setting up Flight Playoff schedules well before the league is over, so we do not have final standings available to us when we are setting it up.
Second – since there are not cross-flight matches during the local league, it would be impossible to consider a team from one flight to be stronger than another because of their standings. It is possible that team with a better record was in a weaker flight.

Question: How is it determined who is home vs. away?
Answer: TennisLink randomly determines who is home and away. If a facility ends up with more home teams than they can handle based on numbers of courts, it is manually changed.

Question: Why are we playing a team from the same facility?
Answer: We attempt to split teams from the same facility into different flights for the local league. Due to that, two teams from the same facility could end up winning their flights and end up scheduled against each other for Flight Playoffs. Since these match ups are determined prior to the end of the season, and since many facilities have multiple teams, it is not possible for this to be avoided.

Question: Why isn’t home court given to the team with the better record?
Answer: A better record does not mean the team is better since the team with the better record may have been in a weaker flight. Also, flight playoff schedules begin prior to the completion of the league, when we do not know what teams’ final records will be.