The One-Hour Rule

At WTC, the One-Hour Rule is nothing new. Every player gets an hour to play. However, there is an aspect of this rule that has been in much need of clarification for a long time. The clarification is as follows:

A player cannot gain any extended play rights to a court through maintenance activities such as drying or cleaning a court, other than to be the first player to play on the court for the normal allotted time of one hour. In-house events such as tournaments, bump doubles, socials, ladder semifinals/finals, etc. will always take priority no matter the circumstances.

While the Board initially considered creating rules that would grant additional court time for maintenance work, this approach proved problematic for several reasons:

• Defining Fair Thresholds: How much time must someone spend cleaning or drying a court before earning extra privileges? A player picking up a few twigs shouldn’t qualify for additional court time. Many members already help dry or clear courts 15-30 minutes before their matches with no expectation of extra time.
• Natural Drying Considerations: If someone spends from 10:00 to noon drying a court, but by 12:55, all other courts have naturally dried, should they receive extended play time? This would be difficult to justify to other members waiting to play at 1:00.
• Maintenance Standards: What constitutes necessary court maintenance? Some players might spend time clearing leaves and small twigs that others wouldn’t consider problematic. Should more particular players earn extra time because of higher personal standards?

A formula-based solution (e.g., “X minutes of maintenance equals Y minutes of extra play time”) would be overly complex and still wouldn’t address all these issues. What’s more, this practice was never sanctioned to begin with. Our agreement with Washoe County has always only allowed for players to claim a court for an hour.

While we deeply appreciate all maintenance efforts, these contributions should benefit the entire club rather than secure additional court time for individual players. Our president, Ray Woolley, exemplifies this spirit. He often spends 1-2 hours clearing ice from courts and leaves when finished. Many others, including (but certainly not limited to!) Soren Christopherson, Ryan Johnson and Rich Salgo, have performed numerous selfless acts of court clearing for others.

While some members generously devote significant time to court maintenance before playing, this remains a voluntary contribution to our club, not an obligation or expectation for anyone. Whether another player chooses to help clear courts or simply wait for their turn, the one-hour time limit applies equally to all. This straightforward approach eliminates confusion, makes things predictable, and helps maintain the relaxed atmosphere that makes WTC special.