Club policies
Fill ins and head starts
Finding a fill in
When a player cannot make a night, the club finds a fill in, starting with the people whose Ratings Central points sit closest to the player who is out. Members are asked by email and phone notification with Yes and No buttons, and the first yes gets the spot. Close to the night, the coordinator rings around instead.
Head starts are switched off this season: every fill in plays straight and every rubber counts at Ratings Central as normal.
Head starts
Sometimes the only people free are well below the grade. They can still fill in, but with a head start: the fill in starts every game with points on the board, in every rubber they play that night, whoever is across the table.
The head start comes from the gap in Ratings Central points between the player being covered and the fill in, read off the table below. The idea is to make the fill in equal to the person they replace, so the team plays at its rostered strength. A fill in as good as that person plays straight. Rostered players never get a head start against each other, whatever their ratings. A much stronger fill in gives the head start to the opponents instead. Beyond a set gap either way, a player is simply not considered, head start or not.
| Gap in points | Head start each game |
|---|---|
| Loading the club's table… |
On the night
- The fill in is told first. The number is in the email and on the Yes and No page before they answer, and again in the confirmation and the reminder.
- The scoresheet is the final word. A boxed ▲ tag beside the player's name shows the head start, worked out from the ratings when the sheets are printed. The draw on this website shows the same mark, for example (F/I ▲4).
- Every game of every rubber the fill in plays starts with that score, singles and doubles alike. Serving rotates as normal from the first point played.
- Results count here, not at Ratings Central. Rubbers played with a head start count for the team result, the ladder and the player averages on this website, but are never sent to Ratings Central. The rest of the night goes up as normal.