Every player must meet several eligibility criteria: membership, age, gender and rating.

MEMBERSHIP:
At the start of the season, players must have USTA memberships that extend at least through the end of the local league season, and this membership must be reflected on our NorCal website.

If you do not belong to the USTA, or if your membership has expired, or will expire before the end of the season, the computer will tell you when you register for a team. With a credit card and a quick call to our National Membership office, you can update your membership easily. An updated membership shows on our website in one business day.

If you have a USTA membership from another section, your name will not be in our Northern California database. Please contact the USTA and provide a Northern California address. This will move you into our database.

Every season a captain will try to add a player to his roster at the very last minute. If the player has a valid membership, this is not a problem. If his membership has expired, or if he is a brand new USTA member, there could be a problem. Please call us and we'll help you if we can. Better yet, don't wait until the last minute.

AGE:
There are age requirements for our leagues. Each is the minimum age a player must reach by the end of the calendar year in which he plays his first league match.

           Adult, Mixed Doubles and Combo Leagues: 19 years

           Senior League and FiftyMixed League: 50 years

           Super Senior-60: 60 years

           Super Senior-65: 65 years

This means that an eighteen year old may join an Adult or Combo league team and play matches for them all year, as long as he turns 19 by 12/31 of that same championship year. An eighteen year old may join a Mixed Doubles team in the fall, but will not be able to play until January 1 of the next year.

Our Mixed Doubles and Senior Leagues are called "Early Start leagues". They actually begin in the fall preceding their actual Championship year. Our 2008 Senior and Mixed Leagues begin in September of 2007. A player who turns 50 in 2008 will not be able to join a Senior team until January 1 of 2008.

GENDER:
Women play on women's teams. Men play on men's teams. Women and men play together on Mixed Doubles teams.

RATING:
A player must have a rating to join a team. This can be either a computer rating or a self-rating.

Computer ratings:
Computer ratings are dated.

For players who are not yet 60 years old, a computer rating is good for 3 years. Computer ratings more than 3 years old have expired, and those players will be asked to self-rate when they register for a team.

For players who are at least 60 years old, a computer rating is good for 2 years. Computer ratings older than 2 years have expired, and those players will be asked to self-rate when they register for a team.

A player may file an appeal to have his own rating reduced. There is more information about filing an appeal on our website.

Computer ratings from other sections are valid in Northern California, but are not in our database. If you move here from Pacific Northwest, you may have a valid rating there, and that is the rating you must use in NorCal. Our program will not know about your PNW rating and will, in error, ask you to self-rate. Please contact us and we will post your rating.

Self ratings:
New players, or players with expired computer ratings (see above) will be asked to self-rate when they join a team.

The National Tennis Rating Program, or NTRP, is a classification program that identifies and describes levels of tennis ability. The NTRP is used to assure equitable competition in USTA League tennis.

The opportunity to self-rate is presented when a player registers for a team. When a player enters his membership number, the computer checks for a valid rating, and finding none, will take the player directly to the self-rating program. This program explores the player's tennis history with him, and guides him to the selection of an appropriate tennis level, using the NTRP General and Specific Characteristics of Various Playing Levels.

These guidelines have been approved by the USTA League Tennis Committee. They are considered "fair warning to players and captains who commit or condone future self rating abuses. USTA League Tennis Grievance Committees are authorized to suspend captains for condoning any self rating abuses. The USTA League Tennis Committee asks all players, captains, coordinators, tennis professionals and volunteers to join the campaign to maintain the integrity of the NTRP Rating System."