There are now less than 4 weeks of play for all divisions, which means it is too late to add players to your roster for the remainder of this session. The playoffs will be coming up soon. Any make up matches need to be finished up now, also. We do not allow make up matches in the last two weeks without approval from the League Office. As we get closer to finishing up this session, it is also important to remember the amount of matches that are necessary to get all of your players qualified to compete in End of Session Playoffs, Blast and City Championships. Below is a list of minimum eligibility requirements. Please note that the match requirements are necessary in the format you are competing in:
Playoffs- 4 matches with the team in the Spring Session and currently on the roster
Blast- 4 matches with the team in the Spring Session and 6 lifetime matches and currently on the roster
City Championships- 4 matches with the team in the Spring Session and 10 lifetime matches and currently on the roster.
The Summer Session begins on the week of May 12. While that new session does start before the Blast and City Championships, it is extremely important to know that Summer Session matches do not count towards lifetime matches for Spring Session Blast or City Championships in 2013. If you are unsure about a player’s eligibility, please contact the league office.
With the start of the Summer Session will be the start of a whole new point system for the 8 Ball format. This new system has been tested all over the country and everyone seems to love it. Each individual match will be worth up to 3 points now. A shutout will result in a 3-0 individual score. A win where the opponent won at least one game, but did not get to the hill (within one game of winning the match) will result in a 2-0 individual score, and a win where both players were on the hill will result in a 2-1 individual score. There is potential for up to 15 points in a match, but the reality is probably somewhere closer to 8 to 10 points for a match win. If two of your players skunked the opponent, another two went hill/hill and the last one lost with your teammate winning only 1 game in a race to 4, the final score of that match would be 3-0, 3-0, 2-1, 2-1 and 0-2 for a final score of 10-4. Under the old scoring system, that would have been a 4-1 score. With this new scoring system, it is possible to only win 2 matches, but still accumulate more points for the night. If you won 3-0, 3-0 and lost the last 3 matches 2-1, 2-1 and 2-1, you would have won the match 9-6.
The new point system is a little more similar to our 9 Ball point system, where you can earn points for your team even if you lose, and limit the damage from 3-0 to 2-0 by winning at least one game. This new system makes every game a lot more meaningful in the big picture. This might also now change the way you match up players to accumulate your team points. As stated before, there have been many test markets out there that have all reported extremely positive reviews for this new point system. Forfeits for this new point system will be worth 2 points during regular session and 3 points during playoffs. Bonus points will be worth 2 points instead of 1. Bye weeks will be worth 8 points plus the bonus for a total of up to 10 points. This system does NOT change the way your handicap is calculated, only the number of points you can earn in an individual match.
As many of you may already know, APA is doing away with the Ladies Team Championships in its current state. The current program was 5-8 person teams (5 play) with a handicap limit of 19. The new Ladies Championship format will be 3-5 person teams (3 play) with a handicap limit of 13. This new format should be very appealing to some of our higher skilled lady players who had a tough time being able to play in the handicap limit 19 format. The smaller rosters should also make it easier to create a team and keep it together. SDAPA plans to run ladies divisions that mirror the APA National Championship event. The National event will be open to 128 teams, which is a much higher number than the number of teams that they have been fielding at Nationals for the 5 person format. While teams will have an option to buy into the National event from areas that do not have Ladies leagues, league areas that have Ladies leagues will have first priority to slots. Our goal is to create a successful Ladies program that has several divisions throughout the county feeding into a City Championship event to qualify for slots with SDAPA paying entry, rooming and travel assistance for the National event. We currently have 2 Friday night Ladies divisions, but we are open to starting divisions on other days if there is enough interest. League fees for Ladies teams will be $24.00 a team in keeping with the theme of $8.00 per player per match. We will be starting the new Ladies divisions on the week of June 9th. We will be using the new 3 point scoring system for team points. End of session prize money, trophies, MVP, Perfect Session and patches will all be in play along with City Championships for slots for Nationals just like before. This new format will create shorter nights and more likelihood of playing in a format that doesn’t completely scare off the higher skilled ladies in our league. Call the league office to register a team or to get more information.
We hope you are as excited about these new changes as we are! Good luck qualifying for the playoffs.