We are halfway into the spring season, league excitement is building, and the match intensity is ratcheting up as team contests start to have division title implications.

In the first division, it’s looking like the Grace Lin TTC youngsters can hang with the big boys. While the two-time defending champions, LATTA !st team are in !st place, GLTTC is keeping things close and only sits one team contest back from the leaders.

In the second division, the A pool is having an intense battle and it’s still too early to tell who will come out on top. Song Jeho’s Flip Side and the Bruins of Thousand Oaks are in the best position, but the Oaks and the Westside Hitmen are within striking distance and still have a shot at qualifying for the playoffs.

Things are not quite so close at the top of pool B, where Grace Lin’s team has gone undefeated so far and has already secured a playoff spot. But the fight to be the second playoff qualifier is heating up with Ararat A, Westside’s Johnny and the Rockets and SPiN Standard’s Killawatts all still in contention.

In Division 3, Orange Crush from Allen & Sons narrowly edged Gilbert TTC’s High Five! in their first meeting to move atop the leaderboard. Anticipation is high for the second time they faceoff at Allen and Sons TTC on June 9th as it will likely determine the division title.

It’s been a great debut of the 4th division, started with lots of enthusiasm and already several close 3-2 team contests have been played. Gilbert’s Team Zest seems to hold the edge going into the final stretch of the season. While the ALN eSMASHERS and Team Gilbert may not be able to best Team Zest, both still have a shot at second place.

Tons of emotion and competition to come. Keep track of the season standings here:
http://www.lattf.org/spring-2013-season/

Last week in LATTF’s headquarters, the forces behind it all (namely the league and division coordinators) met to setup the divisions for the Spring 2013 season. Due to a large number of teams in the same rating range, there will be two regional subdivisions within the second division this season. This should make the always competitive division even more exciting and set the stage for a first ever league playoff, with the top two teams in each subdivision facing off to determine the overall Division 2 champion.

In the first division, LATTA’s !st Team from El Monte will be back with the very same roster that led them to their second straight championship last fall (I’m sure they’ll manage to get that typo out of their name eventually … hopefully before they reach dynasty status). Meanwhile last season’s Division 1 runner-ups, the Newport Beach Latinos have retooled both their team lineup and their team name, they’re now the Screwers, as they look to give the LATTA team some headaches before the season is through.

Also challenging at the top will be the always-tough (and always creatively named) GLTTC from Grace Lin TTC, as well as USC’s 3 Black Men which will be playing out of SPiN Standard in downtown LA this season. And don’t forget Attila Malek’s Power Pong team, which could just as accurately be named team Malek team, as son and daughter Scott and Amanda team up with Attila this season. It’s a team which we all know will bring not just power, but experience as well.

Taking a look at Division 2, things get even more interesting. Besides the aforementioned subdivisions and playoff, the division will also feature defending champions Flip Side from Song Jeho TTC, a strong new team from Grace Lin TTC, and last season’s 2nd place finishers the Oaks from Thousand Oaks TTC. And in addition to strong teams from the Westside and San Gabriel Valley, the Killawatts from the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP), will be making their league debut. They will increase the power of the division … and the water. USA Valley TTC’s Hitmen and Westside TTC’s The Westside International, which has played in the league every season since its inception, will be fighting hard to take down such a strong field of teams this season.

According to ratings, Glendale’s Ararat Chapter Team B has the pole position in Division 3 (Ararat Team A is competing in Division 2). But look for Allen & Sons TTC’s Orange Crush, a team with several seasons under their belt to challenge the newcomers from Glendale. Gilbert TTC’s High Five! and SPIN Standard’s Smashers, a second team of DWP players, also have solid rosters, while the college team experience of Cal State Fullerton’s Squirtle Squad should more than make up for any ratings gap. After all, sometimes ratings are just a number.

Moving on to Division 4, we have a good mix including, among others, Gilbert TTC’s Team Gilbert and a pair of teams from the legal software firm, American LegalNet, the ALN eSMASHERS and eSERVERS.  We will be following this division closely because it’s always fun to see some new faces compete and the variety of teams and styles often produces some unpredictable results.

Better keep a close eye on the LATTF website to see who’s in the lead which teams are chasing the leaders. This is going to be an exciting season!