Use the Desk with NorCal forms

Your own agent can fill in the lineup, score and match date forms on the USTA NorCal league site, with values and checks from the Desk. The Desk never signs in to USTA, so you press the last button on each form, or your agent does in your own browser.

Your lineup uses each player's Desk level, the Desk's estimate of how they're playing now.

What you need

• Your own sign-in to the USTA NorCal league site, in the browser your agent works in.
• A Desk key for your agent, which you make on Connect an agent.

Know the one risk before you start: USTA's terms ban automated scripts and hold you responsible for everything done under your account. If your agent reads the NorCal site for you, you take that risk.

The Desk never asks for your USTA password, and its answers leave out every player's phone number and email. Each path below starts after the league site's address.

Read who can play

Your players answer each match on the availability grid, at league_reg/teamroster_availability.asp?id=<teamId>. Your agent reads the grid in your signed-in browser and sends the Desk each player's answer, so you never copy it yourself. Or tell the chat who can play, and for which match.

Each answer is in USTA's own words, which are these:

• No
• yes
• maybe
• call last
• First shift only
• Second shift only

A player who hasn't answered yet stays out of the lineup, but the Desk lists them separately, so you can ask them before the match.

Set the lineup

1. Your agent sends your team, the match and each player's answer to plan_lineup_from_availability.
2. The Desk fills the lines with players who said yes first, then players free for one shift, then those who asked to be called last, then the maybes. It never picks a player who said No.
3. Your agent opens the lineup form, at league_reg/lineup_edit.asp?matchid=<matchId>&teamid=<teamId>, and picks each player by the USTA player id the Desk gives.
4. Your agent reads the lineup back to you, line by line, and you press Save.

Among players who gave the same answer, the one with the higher Desk level goes first. Each player keeps their usual line where they can.

Sometimes a name you gave matches a roster player only in part, such as a last name alone. The Desk then flags that player, so confirm it's the right one before your agent picks them.

Before your agent saves, it checks these with you:

• The players on each line, read back by name.
• Whether to hide the lineup from the team.
• Any pre-match notes.

The lineup is free. Each line's win chance uses one of your forecasts, so your first each week is free and the rest need a Desk Pass.

Post a home match date

As the home captain, you post each home match's date on the post-dates form, at leagues/onlinescheduling.asp?teamid=<teamId>, so the other team knows when to play.

1. Your agent sends your team, the match, and the date and start time you want to match_date_check.
2. The Desk checks that the form offers that start time, that the format suits your team's lines, and that your team has no other match that day.
3. Your agent fills in the row and reads it back to you.
4. You press Submit, or tell your agent to.

Pressing Submit on the post-dates form emails the other team at once and posts the match on the team page. After that, the time can change only with the other captain's agreement or for weather.

Before your agent submits, it checks these with you:

• The date, the start time and the format, read back.
• That the other captain agrees, when the date moves a set match.
• That the member knows Submit emails the other team at once.

The form offers a start time every 15 minutes, from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. A split format plays some lines in a first shift and the rest later, so it needs a second start time. The formats it offers are these:

• All 3
• 2/1
• 1/2
• All 5
• 3/2
• 2/3
• 4/1
• 1/4

The Desk does not hold your area's deadline for posting home match dates. It is in the notes on your team page, or under League Resources.

Enter the score

Either captain can enter the score, from the score link beside the match on your team's schedule. The form's path is scorecardentry.asp?l=<flightId>:<leagueId>&s=<matchId>&hid=<homeTeamId>&vid=<visitorTeamId>&n=<matchNumber>&action=insert&a=<areaCode>.

1. Tell the chat or your agent each line's players and set scores, from your team's side.
2. Your agent sends them to prepare_score_entry, which writes each set from the winning team's side.
3. The Desk enters a third set as 1-0, as the form asks, and checks that each set is a finished set.
4. Your agent opens the form from that link, fills it in, and reads it back to you, line by line.
5. You press Submit.

Before your agent submits the score, it reads each of these back to you:

• The date the match was played.
• Each line's players, winner and set scores, read back line by line.
• Every line has a status: the site refuses a match with a line left blank.

The Desk also checks the form's rules, which are these:

• Enter the third set as 1-0.
• Replace the date with the exact date the match was played.
• Give each line a status.
• Pick the winning team for each line.
• Pick each player from the roster dropdown.
• Enter each set score from the winning team's side.
• Leave out tie-break points.
• The site refuses an incomplete match.
• A majority of the lines must be played.
• When both teams default the same line, its status is Double Default.

Check the other team's score

When the other captain enters the score first, check it against your own record before you verify it. Your agent sends NorCal's score and yours to prepare_score_entry. The Desk lists every line where the two differ, so you can raise it with the other captain first. The verify page is one the Desk hasn't read yet, so your agent works from the buttons it sees there.