Well it looks like the National Bank East Coast Open is still one of the more popular events of the summer with currently 162 players registered and 305 entries. As I am sure most of you are aware, the current weather forecast for the weekend is not great, although depending on where you look, it is a bit different. Note that when I look at this, I am now also looking at Monday as an option too.
I realize most of you have made your plans and I know you are all hoping that the forecast improves and conditions will allow us to get this event played as scheduled. Believe me, I want the same thing. I would normally spend today doing the draws and schedule of play (and I am doing a bit of this) but I have decided to hold off another 24 hours to complete this process. The last thing I want to do is cancel all or some portion of this tournament, and as well, the other thing I don’t want is to have players travel and incur expenses, to just sit around all weekend and not play tennis. And I would estimate that at least 90% of the players are travelling from outside the Greater Moncton region. So I am hoping that by waiting a bit longer, we might get lucky and outlook for the weekend weather might improve.
So for now I am simply giving everyone an update and want to let you all decide what you want to do. You should consider whether if I go ahead with the event you still want to stay in or not, understanding that there could be delays, play could go into Monday, formats could change, etc.
Since the junior event is part of qualifying for Outdoor Atlantics and potentially Nationals, it is fairly important that play takes place. So some consideration will be given to possibly moving this to the indoor center in Fredericton if in fact outdoor play is not possible. Unfortunately, this might mean changes to the format which I would detail if this were to happen. So again, be prepared to make a decision.
One final note, this does not affect the Hall of Fame banquet on Friday evening which will take place regardless.
I apologize in advance for any convenience this might cause.
