On Monday, June 19th, the ITA Rules Committee completed its annual rules review process. As you know, this process began in early March with a rules feedback survey that offered coaches, school administrators, ITA-certified officials, and conference administrators the opportunity to provide suggestions to the ITA Rules Committee regarding potential rule changes. Following the completion of that survey, the ITA Rules Committee convened throughout the next several months vetting those and other potential rule changes and clarifications. The ITA Rules Committee also worked closely with the NCAA Tennis Rules Subcommittee during this time. Below is a summary of those discussions and rule changes for the upcoming season. Many thanks to the members of the 2022-23 ITA Rules Committee for their hard work and dedication to this important process.
SPORTSMANSHIP
Sportsmanship will continue to be a major point of emphasis for the ITA Office, ITA Officials and the ITA Rules Committee during the 2023-24 season. This emphasis includes, but is not limited to, stricter enforcement of all sportsmanship-related ITA rules including unsportsmanlike conduct rules for on-court players, unsportsmanlike conduct rules for coaches and bench player harassment rules. This point of emphasis is being relayed to officials this summer and again prior to the start of the 2023-24 dual match season. Additionally, both the ITA Rules Committee and the ITA Ethics and Infractions Committee wish to remind coaches that they are ultimately responsible for the behavior of their players (both on-court and bench) and support personnel.
It is expected that later this summer the ITA, on behalf of the ITA Ethics and Infractions Committee, will publish its first ever “Sportsmanship Penalty Guidelines” document. This document will classify the different types of sportsmanship violations and provide the penalties that will be imposed for those violations. The purpose of this document is to provide further deterrents to poor behavior and expedite the adjudication of those sportsmanship issues when they are received by the ITA.
NOTABLE RULE CHANGES
In addition to the continued emphasis on sportsmanship-related issues, the following notable rule changes have been approved:
- Medical Timeouts – Elimination of Separate Diagnosis & Treatment Time (All Divisions): – There is no longer any differentiation between diagnosis time and treatment time during a medical timeout. Once the trainer starts talking to the player or touches the player, the trainer has a maximum of five minutes for the medical timeout. There is no longer separate time for diagnosis and treatment. The trainer will have up to five minutes for the MTO. Multiple injuries/issues may be addressed during the one MTO if necessary.
- No-Ad Scoring (Division III) – No-ad scoring becomes the official scoring format for Division III.
Below you will find the summary document listing all rule additions, changes and clarifications for the coming year. These changes are effective at the start of the 2023-24 season.
