So I'm getting lots of questions about our rules.  Not that people don't like them, but they needed some clarification.  To begin with, in April the Steering Committee met for several hours and one of our tasks was to review our new Code of Rules which was a compilation of our old rules and where appropriate an expansion to cover situations which were fairly regular occurrences, but there was no guidance how those situations should be handled.  There were two principles that we all agreed to.  First,  since this is a "Condo Community" fewer is better.   Second, the league is made up of friends and neighbors and after the game is over we still want want to be good friends and good neighbors.  The assumption will always be that, if there is a violation of a rule, it's lack of awareness or forgetfulness.  We're a senior commiunity so that's no stretch of the imagination.  And, of course, avoid any punitive actions.  

This is the start of a new series that I will use to expand everyones awareness and understanding of our rules.  I'll start with the one that I get the most questions about and work my way down from there. I'll also try to cover some of common practices and procedures such as measurements and finding and using team alternates.  If any of you have questions after I have covered a topic please email me so that everyone will end up with a good clear understanding.  If you have a burning question, that's making you crazy and you can't sleep at night becasue of it....email me or grab me on the court.  

Let's talk about TIES.  They come up every week.   Let's assume Team 3 throws their ball and it is the closest to the pollino.  Their opponent Team 7 throws their ball and it appears to be closer to the pollino than Team 3's ball.  After the measurement(s) the Team Captains agree that it is a tie.  Since no other players should be on the court during the measurements there is no further discussion.  Team 7 has not thrown their ball closer to the pollino than Team 3 so Team 7's next player in the rotation needs to throw a ball to attempt to get a ball closer to the pollino than the balls that are tied.  If either team throws a ball closer to the pollino than the 2 tied balls, then points are scored as usual.  If neither team throws a ball closer to the pollino than the tied balls, then no score is awarded for that frame.  The team that threw first in the "tied frame" will throw first again in the following frame.