IN BETWEEN THE LINES... TCD NEWS - MAY 2019
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You know, one day this coming summer, we will all look back on these past 3+ weeks of nearly non-stop rain and wish like crazy that we had these days back…..but…..for right now, I have my fingers crossed that we can string together enough dry days to complete the TCD Spring Season! As I write, we have finished all of our matches in the Mixed, Love-60 and Love-50 Leagues, and we are just 5 matches shy of completing the Ladies League. I am one of those weary captains hoping to finish my team’s final match next week and I know how difficult all of the rain-outs and reschedules-on-top-of-reschedules have been on my fellow captains, our diligent Flight Coordinators, our patient and understanding facility managers and our fearless leader League Directors. ALL OF YOU have been there for us through this mini-monsoon season, and we want you to know how appreciative we are for your reminders, your “listening ears,” your offers of assistance, and all of the work you have done and continue to do for TCD to keep it moving like the well-oiled machine it is.
THANK YOU ALL!
Rain also took its toll on our annual Spring Boot Camp Event as all (but one!) of our sites were deluged. Shelley Wainer and her committee worked so hard to plan a wonderful time for our 500+ participants but, once again, Mother Nature refused to cooperate. Nevertheless, Shelley’s site coordinator volunteers set up shop at each of our host facilities to distribute gifts and help serve lunch to our valiant participants who drove through the pouring rain to enjoy some tennis fellowship.
THANK YOU SHELLEY AND COMMITTEE, SITE COORDINATORS, FACILITY MANAGERS AND PARTICIPANTS!
ENJOY your TCD tennis hiatus but please continue to keep an eye open for announcements on your home league pages on the website, the Facebook TCD Members Forum page, and of course, the monthly edition of the E-News. We never close here at TCD HQ, so continue to contact us with your questions, suggestions and your needs for the upcoming fall season. And…now that you have a bit more free time on your hands, don’t forget to recognize excellence in
sportsmanship
,
team
captaining and
volunteerism
from this past season. Email me at TCDPresident2019@gmail.com and ask how!
At YOUR Service,
Jinky
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TCD is a volunteer driven organization. It only works when you step up!
We all must give a little in return for all that TCD gives to us. There are many ways to serve and we can help you find the perfect spot whether it be as a flight coordinator, committee member, or a board member.
Nominating Committee recruitment is happening now!
All of our committees are important, but THE most important committee is the Nominating Committee which is charged with slating the candidates for the 2020 Board of Directors. The very good news is that to serve on this committee requires no prior experience whatsoever!
We need committee members from all geographic areas, all leagues, and at all flight levels. Most of the work will be completed in late summer/early fall. A strong Nominating Committee means a strong TCD!
For those who want to give back just a little bit more, we encourage you to apply to serve on the 2020 Board of Directors. How do you begin? Take a look at the
BYLAWS
located on the website under the RULES tab. There on pages 3-5 you will find all of the basic job descriptions for all 13 of our Directors. If you need more information about specific positions, feel free to contact any current Director and ask whatever questions you want! Each Director's email address is just a click away - find them
here
.
We are all user-friendly and eager to talk with you about what it is that we do. Because we do have term limits on the Board, some of our Directors will be rotating off at the end of this year and their positions will be vacated. YOU could be just the right person to fill one of those jobs, but you won't know unless you conduct a little research and then submit your Volunteer Form via the VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES link under the FORMS tab on the web site.
If you are interested in serving on the Nominating Committee or are willing to volunteer in any capacity, please fill out a volunteer form!
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TCD NEEDS YOU!
Please give some serious consideration to volunteering for the 2020 Nominating Committee or for a position on the 2020 Board of Directors today!
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SMU Update on Geographic Flighting
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The Senior Design Team completed their project and did an amazing job! TCD still has some work to do breaking down their modeling results to determine if their suggestions will benefit the Ladies league as a whole. Their results, in a nutshell:
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The TCD boundary map is 42 years old, and the center point of our 25-mile radius doesn’t properly reflect the current distribution of facilities and teams. They have proposed a new center point based on a weighted average of all leagues, teams, and facilities. The Board is evaluating this and will make a recommendation for change at the captains’/general meeting in August.
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The results of the student-conducted survey of the Ladies league showed that ALL flights felt that the variety of teams played, competition, and drive time were all important. Yet, flights Open–6 had a greater priority of competition over drive time, with flights 7-15 more concerned with drive time over competition. Due to this natural break between flights 6 and 7, the geographic modeling was conducted only on flights 7-15.
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The modeling was done utilizing AMPL (A Mathematical Programming Language) which assigned each facility a west, central, or east identifier. Then, each team was flighted accordingly (with the central teams either being placed in west or east to fill out the flight). This modeling showed that we could expect an overall reduction in travel time of 15% should we divide the Ladies league into west and east. Some flights showed little improvement in drive time while others showed significant improvement. We were hoping for a better travel time savings than the models show.
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Once the Ladies league has finalized results, the suggested model will be applied to the league to see what the flights would look like. Another concept of flighting has been identified, and will also be looked at in detail.
In summary, it is too soon to know how or if this will be applied in the fall season. It also doesn’t mean that if applied, it would be restricted to flights 7-15. We are looking at any and all options, but want to make sure that the expected improvements are attainable before totally changing the Ladies league. We will provide another update next month.
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TCD will accept only Paypal or credit cards (no more cash or checks) for registration of all teams and player adds beginning fall season 2019.
Please follow the instructions on how to register your team.
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Your TCD Board Members had a wonderful time at the USPS First Day of Issue Dedication Ceremony for the "Little Mo" Commemorative Forever Stamp. This is a great honor for the MCB Foundation and its tireless leader, Cindy Brinker Simmons, and TCD is proud to be a part of the MCB family!
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