Tournament Advisory Committee Meeting - 2 May 2013 

USATT's Tournament Advisory Committee met via teleconference. Attendees were: Larry Rose (TAC Chairman), Larry Thoman (NSC), Wendell Dillon, Thomas Wintrich, Lee Kondo, Andrew Horn (Staff Liaison). 

The meeting started with a discussion of the new Star Ratings system. An introductory article about the system will be in the upcoming USATT Magazine. The Sanction Form and Tournament Guide Changes related to the new system were reviewed, and update recommendations for the wording were passed along to Wendell Dillon for incorporation in the updated Tournament Guide.  

One concern that was discussed was that light meters are no longer as commonly available. Amazon sells the Dr. Meter Light Meter LX1010B for about $15, and it covers the range of light levels needed for the lighting requirement. 

It was noted that there has been some interest in requiring elite players participate in a minimum number of high quality events. Without some level of participation, elite players would not be invited to certain elite camps or team trials. TAC believes this concept is better handled by the High Performance Committee, but supports the general concept. 

The next topic discussed was running wheelchair events to support our Paralympic Class 1-5 athletes by providing competition opportunities. In these events it would be acceptable for able-bodied athletes to participate. TAC's recommendation is that until a separate ratings system can be used for these events that these results should not be mingled with other ratings results. Information about events like this will be included in an upcoming version of the Tournament Guide. 

The TAC next discussed date conflict guidance for the NSC and RSCs. The sanctioning coordinators should aim to help reduce conflicts between tournaments, but there will be situations where two tournaments may need to hold the same date. Expert judgement is required in these cases.