Touch Tennis

This year we will be using the King Court format. Easy – work your way up to the top court:

The King’s Court…

The lower bouncing soft balls allow for longer rallies and a greater work out. Previous experience of tennis or indeed tennis talent is not needed to play this much smaller version of the real game. Teams will play doubles, with each team playing two games at the same time. Matches will be timed centrally and the winner will be the pair with the most amount of points in the time frame. This is a fun, fast and action-packed event that will be enjoyable for all. Coaches will be on-hand all evening for tips and advice and to manage the event.

The Draw/Tournament

• 12 playing areas
• Random draw live on the evening of the event to determine starting position
• You win and you move up a court (If you win on the KING’S COURT you move up to be the KING)
• You lose and you move down a court (If you lose on COURT 2 you move down to be the JOKER)
• Finish at the top for maximum points
• Finish at the bottom for less points
• Each ‘game’ consists of two matches of pairs from each company. The winning team is the company who won the most points across both matches combined
• Team 1 will start as THE KING (but will drop down to the KING’S COURT after 1st game); Teams 2&3 will start on the KING’S COURT; Teams 4&5 will start on the QUEEN’S COURT; Teams 6&7 will start on the JACK’S COURT etc.; Team 12+ will start as the JOKER

Maximum number of participants per team: 4

• The playing area is ¼ the size of a normal tennis court
• The net height is lower than a normal net
• The playing area will be clearly marked

All matches are doubles

• A fixture consists of 2 x doubles matches which are played simultaneously. When returning the score to the officials, teams must add the score from both of the games between the two companies
• There will be 24 rounds of games (to give the Joker the chance of getting to the top)

The final position determines the points scored:

• THE KING = 26 points
• THE JOKER = 1 point

The final game will see companies on each court play for position:

• Win the final game on the KING’s COURT for 25 points
• Lose the final game on the KING’S COURT for 24 points
• Win the final game on THE QUEEN’S COURT for 23 points
• Lose the final game on THE JACK’S COURT for 22 points etc.

Normal Tennis rules with the exceptions/notes below:

• The match will be played on 6 mini-tennis indoor courts
• Foam balls and mini-tennis rackets will be provided
• Teams of 4 players can be split up into a total of 12 doubles teams. If we have more than 6 teams, the extra teams can be ‘fed’ into court 6 at the end of each round – see below
• Start randomly on Courts 1 – 6
• Matches will last 8 minutes, so the winner will be the team with the most points after time is called
• Score in table tennis fashion with each player having 5 serves in rotation
• At the end of each round, players change courts as follows: the winners on each court move up a court, except for the winners on Court 1 who stay put; the losers on each court move down, except for the losers on the last court who stay put (unless more than 6 teams, in which case the extra teams will replace the losing team on Court 6 after each round)
• The Kings/Queens of the Courts are the winners on Court 1 after the last round is completed
• The organisers reserve the right to arbitrarily move a doubles team up or down a court in the early rounds if there is an obvious disparity in ability! This is a fun/charity event to be enjoyed by competitors and we want to involve all players from all teams as much as possible!

Please wear loose sports clothing – i.e. t-shirts, shorts, tracksuits, polos etc. Trainers must be worn. Bats and balls will be provided. Please look after your own belongings – there are areas allocated within the covered courts but it is not monitored by staff. Changing facilities available.