APA in NYC made several new rules called "FastPlay"

burnt_wick

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APA-FastPlay Guidelines

Effective 09/15/13

The goal of the APA in NYC is that matches are concluded within 4 hours. Circumstances may often require a little more time, but not much more.

The following rules shall apply to all teams in APAnyc. All teams are expected and encourage to embrace these rules and understand that they are designed to enhance the league experience, not hinder it in any way. Those who resist these guidelines and insult their opponents for their adherence will be strongly disciplined and penalized with points and/or suspensions.

START TIME - Start time is the published start time, and not 15 or 20 minutes later. For a 7pm start time, the coin toss should be done at 6:55 and the match should start at 7 sharp. There is a grace period allowed if no one from a team is present at start time. The grace period is 15 minutes and the match must start within that time if even one player is present.

RECORD START AND END TIME OF EACH MATCH - Use the fees section on the bottom left corner of the scoresheet to neatly record the start and end times of each match. The goal is 45 minutes or less for matches lasting six games or less, and 60 minutes or less for matches lasting more than six games.

BE READY FOR THE NEXT MATCH - Teams must plan for an upcoming match before a current match is finished. If you are expected to play next, have your cue ready and be ready to play right away. The team that puts up has 30 seconds following a win or loss to declare the next player and the other team has 60 seconds to declare an opponent. Failure to adhere to that is a sportsmanship violation and will be recorded on the sheet and on a team’s record.

SHORT COACHES ARE MANDATORY - A player may only call for a time-out during the first 15 seconds of a turn. After that the player must shoot within the allotted time. The same would apply to the next shot, and so on until the allotted time-outs for the game are used up. All time-outs should be timed by both teams and after 60 seconds the time-out is over. If the time-out is not ended by 60 seconds the turn is forfeited. After the time-out the player must shoot right away. Group coaching is no longer allowed. A different coach is still permissible for each time out.

EXCESSIVE THINKING - Players must think quickly and shoot a shot every 30-40 seconds, or less. A particularly hard shot can take a little longer but the player MUST make up that time on successive shots.

NO MATCH OVER 1 HOUR - An average individual game should last 6 minutes for higher ranked players and 10 minutes for lower ranked players and somewhere in between for a match with both.

If a match goes over 1 hour, both scorekeepers will have to engage the SHOT CLOCK for the remainder of the match. Under the shot clock, each player must shoot within 40 seconds. A 10 second warning should be given at the 30 second mark. At this time, and during any shot-clock situation, the two score/time keepers should sit together and enforce the rules in a cooperative manner. Both captain must ensure that this is done, in an efficient and cooperative manner.

5TH MATCH MUST START BY 10:30 ON WEEKNIGHTS - If all the guidelines above are followed then the 5th match will always start before 10:30 pm and the whole match will end before 11:30.

This is our new goal. Please help to make this a reality. CAPTAINS, AND SLOW PLAYERS, WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.

Team captains will be held responsible for educating their players regarding the need for playing matches that flow at a responsible and enjoyable pace.

We will ask all teams to report players and teams that are typical offenders of the problems listed and these individuals/teams will be warned, docked PENALTY POINTS, and possibly suspended for deliberate disregard of their opponents’ enjoyment.

Captains and players who deliberately ignore requests to play properly and insult people who want matches follow the FastPlay rules will be penalized the most. Unsportsmanlike conduct in this regard will not be tolerated.
 
I talked to some captains about FastPlay. Nobody is especially happy about it.

Looks like Monday will be the first time the rules are implemented. I'll let everyone know how it goes.
 
Sounds like some great common sense rules to me. My biggest complaint about APA is the time it takes to,play in particular starting late and the screwing around in between matches.
 
Our area has used similar guidelines since as long as I've known. If you're not on your 4th match after 2 hours, I think, it suggests that you use an additional table. Usually people just play on, as it does state in ours that it is up to the teams involved, but there have been a few that used an extra table to speed things up. Timeouts also shouldn't be 5 minutes long, no matter how much information a coach would like to try to fill somebody's head with before attempting a shot. Remember.. it's a timeout, not a lesson.

How long do your sets of matches usually run?
 
Our area has used similar guidelines since as long as I've known. If you're not on your 4th match after 2 hours, I think, it suggests that you use an additional table. Usually people just play on, as it does state in ours that it is up to the teams involved, but there have been a few that used an extra table to speed things up. Timeouts also shouldn't be 5 minutes long, no matter how much information a coach would like to try to fill somebody's head with before attempting a shot. Remember.. it's a timeout, not a lesson.

How long do your sets of matches usually run?

We start at 7:00 PM and usually finish up between 10:30 and 11:30. Sometimes a match will run to 12:30.
 
We very rarely have matches go longer than 4 hours here, but we have a rule where we start a second table 2 hours into the match. 3.5 hours is about the average for our matches. We start at 7PM on Tuesdays, and 6:30 on Thursdays. Plenty of time after we're done to play more, or go out somewhere else, or go home and get a good nights rest.

That way we don't have to do all the things NYC is doing. Our timeouts tend to go too long occasionally, and it gets mentioned now and again, but otherwise we seem to get things done reasonably well. There are a few players that tend to be a little too methodical, but all in all, its not a problem for us.

Good luck, NYC.
 
No surprise.

It must of been pretty sad to have to make rules for common sense play. What was going on there? Oh wait, NY and the APA.
 
Our area has used similar guidelines since as long as I've known. If you're not on your 4th match after 2 hours, I think, it suggests that you use an additional table. Usually people just play on, as it does state in ours that it is up to the teams involved, but there have been a few that used an extra table to speed things up. Timeouts also shouldn't be 5 minutes long, no matter how much information a coach would like to try to fill somebody's head with before attempting a shot. Remember.. it's a timeout, not a lesson.

How long do your sets of matches usually run?

First League match 2hr 45min.
 
I'm torn.

On the one hand I want to applaud the effort of trying to speed up a night of APA pool.
On the other hand I have to wonder why the APA expects amateurs to play under what amounts to stricter rules than those professional players compete under.
 
Is this for teams that play five matches (8-ball), or ten matches (8-ball and 9-ball)? How does this compared to the rest of the country?
 
Is this for teams that play five matches (8-ball), or ten matches (8-ball and 9-ball)? How does this compared to the rest of the country?

i play double jeapordy and we start at 7:00 and usually finish by 10:30 at the latest. we do not have those rules in place , its just common sense to do those things.

now every few weeks we rotate to the 9 footers. i dont care what rules you come up with it aint gonna stop a couple of 2's from going 35 innings on those tables and we usually dont get through till about 11:30 and the other teams who played on the 7's are long gone.

now we do have a rule in our traveling 8 ball league where after 3 1/2 hours you are not on your last match you start it on another table. we have used that rule but not very often.
 
My APA team starts at 7:30 and sometimes matches take until 12:30. On a bad night the first 3 matches have taken until 12:30....


I agree it should go faster.... but how to enforce it????

Kim
 
Sounds like some great common sense rules to me. My biggest complaint about APA is the time it takes to,play in particular starting late and the screwing around in between matches.

Agreed.

These seem like some pretty 'common sense' rules to me, too.

Mickey <--- When it's your turn, be ready...
 
My APA team starts at 7:30 and sometimes matches take until 12:30. On a bad night the first 3 matches have taken until 12:30....


I agree it should go faster.... but how to enforce it????

Kim

What do you notice that's eating up time.
 
I thought the apa was supposed to be about fun. But 30 second shot clocks aren't fun. 60 seconds to declare an opponent? I forsee arguments. Calls based on tiny incraments of time are bound to piss people off. Players at the bar, outside smoking, in the bathroom, etc. Some guys are real sticklers for the rules, not fun.

And why the big hurry to finish the match? Only the team captain would benefit. The owners want people there all night, so they'd be against rules like these. I'd rather see rules changed that would make the night more fun.
 
I'm torn.

On the one hand I want to applaud the effort of trying to speed up a night of APA pool.
On the other hand I have to wonder why the APA expects amateurs to play under what amounts to stricter rules than those professional players compete under.

You point out some pretty severe logical inconsistencies with this idea.

*wasted* time must be cut down. Smoke breaks, starting late, not ready for next match, etc. Those are the most obvious problems to target. Here is the HUGE problem with this idea: bar table 8 ball is a complex game. Good players often have to plan the entire table each time they come to shoot. Any mistake could be your last. So coming to a disaster table and spending 60 seconds on how you are going to deal with it does not seem at all unreasonable. I have timed every single shot of entire nights of play numerous times. Often the average may be around 25 seconds, but the match still takes an hour and a half. If the table is clustered and many safes are exchanged, the game is going to take a long time. This has nothing to do with slow play. Would playing *stupid* and selling out problems all over the place speed things up? Sure! Is that what people should do? I mean, at that point you're really not playing the game anymore, you're playing the clock.

People have to decide what their priorities are. What is more important? Playing a *good* match or playing a quick match? Sometimes, through *no one's* fault, these are mutually exclusive. Its just the way the game is sometimes. Penalizing people for this indicates a failure on the organization structure to adequately account for the time matches take, rather than any shortcoming of the players.

KMRUNOUT
 
I thought the apa was supposed to be about fun. But 30 second shot clocks aren't fun. 60 seconds to declare an opponent? I forsee arguments. Calls based on tiny incraments of time are bound to piss people off. Players at the bar, outside smoking, in the bathroom, etc. Some guys are real sticklers for the rules, not fun.

And why the big hurry to finish the match? Only the team captain would benefit. The owners want people there all night, so they'd be against rules like these. I'd rather see rules changed that would make the night more fun.

VERY well stated. I agree 100%. And you raise a great point about the business proposition of the APA. The benefit to the local bars is that the APA will bring more people into the place than they would otherwise have. It is a benefit to the host location for the match to take as long as possible, up until last call of course...

KMRUNOUT
 
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