Steeplechase Tennis Rules
(Revised 5/2006)


GENERAL RULES

1. Playing times: 1 hour singles, 1 ½ hours doubles. If no one is waiting or scheduled to play at the end of that time, you may sign up for one more hour.

2. Court hours: Courts 1, 2, 3 & 4 - 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

3. Members must register before playing tennis on the sign up sheets provided at the pavilion. If a member fails to sign in upon arrival, and another member arrives, the first party will be assumed to have played one-half hour and will have one-half hour to left to play.

4. Only Steeplechase Recreation Facility members and their guests may play tennis on courts. Guests must be from outside Steeplechase subdivision. No more than three guests per member. An individual member is limited to one court at a time. Guests must play on the members’ court.

5. Each membership is entitled to TWO ADVANCE SIGN UP reservations per week (this means per household.) If you are not on your reserved court by 15 minutes past your reservation time, your reservation is forfeited. If your time is rained out, you may sign up again. Please scratch through your name and write in “rained out” prior to signing up for a new time. If you miss your play time for other reasons, your reservation is lost.

6. All courts may be reserved up to 14 days in advance.

7. Sign-up clipboards for all courts are located at the pavilion.

8. Violation of sign up rules may result in forfeiture of reservation privileges at the discretion of the Facility Board of Directors.

9. Same players cannot stay on court for two consecutive time periods by signing up two different names on the sign-up sheet.

10. Only those playing tennis are allowed on courts. Infants and children who are not playing will not be permitted on the courts at any time.

11. Proper tennis attire must be worn at all times on the courts.

12. Flat sole tennis shoes ONLY will be worn on the courts. No street, jogging or dark soled shoes allowed on the courts. Any shoe which may damage the surface is prohibited.

13. NO jumping of the nets, this is dangerous and can damage nets.

14. No food or glass allowed on the courts. All food should be kept outside the fence.

15. Tennis courts to be used to play tennis only.

16. No bicycles, skateboards or any other wheeled vehicle allowed on or around the courts.

17. Members and their guests are asked to properly discard tops of ball cans and other trash in the container provided.

18. Children under the age of 16 may not hold tennis courts after 6:00 p.m. on weekdays or weekends. They must relinquish court to adults upon request at those times. Children under 16 may sign up and use court 4 during weekends, at which time they will not be required to relinquish the court. League play and/or team practices will take priority in all circumstances.

19. After using the roll-dri to dry the court, please be sure that the roll-dri is turned on end and squeezed out. This removes debris from the sponge and prolongs its’ life. Never leave it to dry sitting on the court. Please hang it up on the fence.

ALTA/USTA PLAY

1. An open invitation must be extended to all members of Steeplechase Recreation Facility. For specific details, see “Formation of Teams” - #1 below.

2. A copy of the official team roster, schedule and all outsider fees ($35 adult/ $15 junior) must be paid to the tennis director before the season starts or court privileges will be suspended including matches.

3. Practice times must be coordinated through the Tennis Director. All team practices must be on Monday through Friday nights or on weekdays. When teams are formed, a drawing will be held to determine practice times. The team with #1 will have first choice on practice times, the team with #2 will have second choice, etc. If two teams want the same practice time, the team with the lowest number will have priority. Saturday and Sunday nights are reserved for open play. Teams can practice only on courts 1 and 2, unless under special circumstances which are coordinated with the Tennis Director. Courts 3 and 4 will not be used for team practices, however, they will be scheduled for home matches when two Steeplechase teams are home on the same day. Captains are asked to make sure that the courts are uncluttered when practice is over.

4. Each neighborhood league team will consist of a minimum of eight (8) neighborhood facility members with no more than five (5) outside the neighborhood players added to constitute a team. Exceptions will be considered on an individual basis with a written petition to the Facility Board.

5. The number of team sign up sheets will be determined by court availability. For example, the maximum number of teams for summer play is four junior teams, four weekday women’s teams, four business women’s teams, four men’s teams and four mixed doubles teams.

6. Members should sign up on the sheet which is appropriate for their level of play. Players are encouraged to move to a higher or lower level if the desired level is over-crowded. If there are 14 facility members on a team, no outside player may be added unless agreed upon by 60% vote of that team. A fee of $35.00 will be charged to each outside player per league season; $15 per junior player.

7. Please turn off the lights when you leave.

8. Rained out matches will have priority over scheduled practice time, as well as open play time. We encourage teams to try to use their practice times for a make-up match; however, when it is necessary to use another team’s time, it is the responsibility of the captain to contact the captain of the team that will be affected and also coordinate those matches through the Tennis Director. If a team takes the practice time of another team for a make-up match, the team doing the make-up match will offer the other team their practice time.

9. Captains will be issued a letter covering their responsibilities.

10. All teams must abide by the ALTA/USTA rules.

FORMATION OF TEAMS

1. All facility members shall have the right to move upward to any team. Any member wishing to move more than 2 levels lower should follow the ALTA/USTA guidelines by “sitting out” one year [2 seasons] unless the receiving team holds a meeting to validate vote – either present or signed proxy- by 100% of team members – requiring 60% of the team to allow the movement.

2. Outsiders may not be added to a team until after sign-ups in accordance to rules 5 & 6 above.