Hi all,
There appears to be some further confusion over court sizes here. I'd been
asking Kirsty Thomson (TF Disability Tournament Director) what dimentions
would be used for this year's nationals, and she came back to me last
Friday, following the Advisory Group meeting. The details she gave me for
this year's nationals (B1 court) were as follows:
Length: 12.8m;
Width: 6.4m;
Service line: 1.56m from the baseline (she was 99% sure of this one, but
wanted to wait for the minutes to be absolutely sure);
Net height: 83cm;
Playing over the main net of the court (i.e. lots of space behind the
baseline).
Steve's email contradicts the above in almost every detail; and, as I
understand it, both sets of dimensions came from the same meeting.
So, I'm now completely nonplussed. I'm CC'ing Kirsty on this email, and
hope we can get things straightened out ASAP.
Cheers,
Nikhil.
On Thu, 3 Sep 2015, Steve Trewick wrote:
Hi All,
An update regarding court measurements and eye shades.
As you will all know there has been a great deal of confusion around court
sizes, largely due to ambiguity in the ITF rules
document, confusion caused by the names used for the courts, and various other
factors.
We expect standard ITF court sizes to replace the current measurements given in
the IBTA rules at the congress this year.
As of the Advisory Group meeting on 27 August, the standard size for the B1
court will be 11.89 metres length, 5.6 metres
width, service line 2 metres from baseline. Net height 80 centimetres.
These measurements are somewhat adrift from the measurements given in the IBTA
rules but they represent the closest standard
ITF court as given in the ITF document ?Marking red and orange courts, a
guidance manual?, a copy of which I will happily supply
to anyone to wants it as I don?t expect I can attach it to a list email. The
document is a 52 page PDF file mainly consisting
of diagrams.
With regard to eye shades, the standard eyeshade is a Goalfix total blackout
shade. This is required for competition.
There have been a few complaints about players being allowed to play with non
standard shades, and enforcement of the rules
around eye shades will be being tightened up considerably at the request of B1
players.
I am not in a position to comment on enforcement policy at the nationals,
specific enquiries about the NVITC should be
directed to disabilitytennis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am however, in a position to comment as regards the NEVITC Open next year,
and we will require a standard total blackout
shade. B1 players who arrive without one will not be allowed to compete.
I can't stress enough that the rules around shades are not coming from any
draconian intent on the part of compo organisers
but are very much being driven by B1 players and the comments they have made to
us over this year's competitive season.
A link to the standard shade is included below.
I?m looking forward to catching up with as many of you of possible at the
nationals in October.
Cheers
Steve Trewick
http://goalfixsports.com/29-goalball-eye-shades
