Court courtesy

The National Centre is a shared venue.  As a courtesy to all users, please remember:

• Don’t cut through the middle of the curtains to get to the other side of the hall.

• Don’t walk between the curtains and the courts.

• Don’t whack the curtains with your racket.

• Don’t enter the hall when players are in the middle of a point.

 

Queuing system

• During club nights a queuing system operates by means of a peg board.

• It is the responsibility of all players to add their pegs to the end of the queue when they arrive.

• The player at the head of the queue selects any 3 players from the next 6 in the queue to make up the next game.

• The player at the head of the queue may opt to miss a turn, in which case the next player in the queue chooses 3 from the next 6.

• At the end of a game, it is the responsibility of all players to add their pegs to the end of the queue.  The winners’ pegs go before the losers’ pegs.

 

Home matches

• When there is a home match involving 3 pairs per side, 3 courts can be used for the first round of rubbers, with the remaining courts available for club night.  After the first round of rubbers, the match continues on 2 courts.

• The Team Captain should ensure that the match starts by 8.15pm.  If the match overruns and there is a risk of having to forfeit incomplete rubbers, a third court can be used.

• If there are 2 home matches on the same night, there may be no courts available for club night.  The Fixtures Secretary will try to keep such situations to a minimum.

• Match players cannot add their pegs to the club night queue until their match has completely finished, and then only if there are not enough non-match players to fill the courts.  Match players must not overlook non-match players sitting off when joining the queue at the end of a match.

 

Team practice

• After 9.00pm, team partners who have a match within 7 days can opt to pair their pegs on the board so they can play together for the rest of the club night. The paired pegs take the position of the lower of the two players in the queue and then stay together in the queuing system. The pair can pick 2 opponents from the next 5 in the queue.

• This option is also available to team partners after 9.00pm in the pre-season period between team selection and the first Arches home match.

 

Shuttles

• All players should take care of shuttles to minimise costs.  In particular:

  • Knock up with used shuttles rather than new ones.

  • Collect any reusable shuttles at the end of matches and club nights and put them in tubes (do not mix used and new shuttles in the same tube).

  • Put any useless shuttles in the bin.

• Prior to each home match, Team Captains should liaise with the Secretary to ensure that there are sufficient shuttles on match nights.

• The National Centre has given us permission to use the storage cupboard under the stairs (storage cupboard number 2). The key is held at the reception desk. The club shuttle bags and peg board should be taken out of the cupboard at the start of club night and returned to the cupboard at the end.