The popularity of team tennis under the USTA League System is reaching record levels of attendance. As a competitive form of recreation, there is greater need to enforce the rules that are presently set in place. The need for quality state league coordinators and sectional league coordinators are imperative to ensure a fair playing field for all parties involved. The local league coordinators have a closer view to the actual participants and should play a more active role in assessing and verifying the skill levels before forwarding grievances to the sectional committees. Self-rating applicants should be held accountable for falsifying skill levels. Too many times the local district and sectional officials do not follow the present NTRP guidelines in rating skill levels. This negligence creates an unbalanced playing field for all participants.
Can the present system be fixed? Give us your opinion! League Tennis is fun and every tennis player knows-it is more fun to win!
28 comments:
I think the league coordinators should use the rule-" if you are not sure of their skill level, move the person to the higher level." The USTA probably won't do this because a newbie will have an initial bad experience of losing than winning.
Of course it's more fun to win but if that means stomping someone in the ground who is at a far lower level than me while supposedly on a level playing field then count me out. I can honestly say I get no thrill out of that. Maybe I'm the weirdo in the group but that's not a win or even a good feeling.
Don't get it do you? Tennis is a game of honesty. League is a game of cheating. Tennis is played with only 2-4 persons on a single court. League is played in teams and 3-5 courts used.
Tennis is the "old" sport. League is the NEW GAME. Mandatory in league is stalling, poor line calls, buddying up with lc's & others to get ringers on your team. The captain who gets by with bringing in the best ringers WINS! For their cheating/win they get a trip, a bad reputation and a huge brown nose. I'll pass.
Eric Sixbey tanked a match against Hayden Huckaby to lower his dynamic rating. I like Sixbey and understand his situation since he was able to self-rate legitimately to 4.5. He was operating the system in place without misrepresenting a self-rate app. Is tanking his match wrong?
The biggest wrong is done by the USTA by not training their staff to handle self-rates and grievances. There are specific rules and guidelines to follow and they evidently can't read and comprehend them. It should be mandatory for the USTA staff at the district and sectional offices to have an open book test in handling self-rates and grievances.
You have hit the nail on the head on previous comment. People run league coordinator positions and not a computer. The poor staffing causes most of the problems!!!
Let's take the Arkansas District of the USTA. Is Leslie Pfeiffer responsible as head of staffing or Maureen Dickson, the league coordinator, for the ineptness of dealing with self-rates and grievances?
The rating system has issues...however, check out the records of Arkansas teams at sectionals the past 2-3 years..its horrible.
The rating system has issues...however, check out the records of Arkansas teams at sectionals the past 2-3 years..its horrible.
Hang on now. Duffel's team just won the Super Senior 9.0 NATIONALS. A 10.0 Mixed team won NATIONALS last year. A Chenal W2.5 team won sectionals in '07 or '08. Few years back a LR W3.5 team did well at Nationals. Just listing a few.
AR tennis is a small group and we all know or know of eachother. AR is very cliquish. The bett players get scattered and not on one team.
Are you saying that because your group hasn't faired well in the past COUPLE years AR needs more sandbaggers and ringers allowed in the system? Are we not cheating as well as other states or those in charge not allowing us to? Respectfully wondering what point you are attempting to make.
I've received a couple calls from people saying their comments aren't getting posted. Be sure to get the "secure word" exact and that a green bar comes up at the top noting that your post will be published after it's moderated or it will not be sent to us. We only moderate for profanity. Thanks. cg
Arkansas teams have done well at sectionals and nationals. National champs at 9.0 super senior men, mixed 10.0 doubles, etc. 2.5 women won sectionals, several runnerups in their brackets at sectionals, and the list goes on about the good Arkansas teams sent to sectionals.
Get rid of the Self-Rate system it is ridiculous. If you lose a match on purpose then you are cheating, ask any professional athlete. If you are cheating then you are a cheater. Arkansas doesn't have the numbers to consistently WIN Sectionals, however we have enough players to have good competition and compete. A "ringer" in AR should be a "ringer" at sectionals if they are not then they are just a strong player at their level.
Let's analyze this NTRP rating system thoroughly. First, if self-rates are a big problem. Fix it. Train the ATA & Southern Staff to handle them properly with standardized guidelines and thoroughly verify their tennis history. Secondly, the computer should catch most of the various scores between each player. Now, the only problem left would be if players sandbag matches on purpose to keep their dynamic rating lower than it should be. How can you stop this problem?
Is it wrong to throw games or tank a match?? YES! The person isn't truly representing himself and his(or her) abilities and skill. Not only is that match and persons record affected but all those who play the peron he played and all the matches those he played and on and on. It's a snowball effect. One wrong act affects many in the ratings just as in life. We as tennis players are setting our own standards and must wakeup to that fact. Be responsible and play honestly! Don't make bad calls and don't sandbag. Cheating is cheating no matter how it's done.
How do you know that Eric S. tanked his match? Eric could have been sick or had a bad day. Hayden is not a bad player!
The problem lies not so much with the players as with the captains. A captain sets the tone for a team. If that person cheats, pulls ringers and will win at all cost then this attitude is the one the team will have.
Punishing captains for poor behavior would quickly end the NTRP chaos.
I believe USTA brought in a rule within the last couple of years specifically for the problems with captains who bring ringers. If a person is DQ'd from a team now the team is all not allowed to go forward and the captain gets an additional punishment as well. Check into it.
I heard about the ruckus of the former Hendrix girl(Prince-Berardi) playing as a 3.0 and all her ailments which should prevent her from playing at her skill level. She was DQ to 4.5. Harold Henderson, coach at Hendrix, had another girl named Eleanor Evans-Esry try the same stunt with ailments and all. She was also DQ to 4.0. Berardi was a continuation of the same old NTRP rating stunts.
More info on Berardi rating- she played on a 3.5 team with our league coordinator, Maureen Dickson. I wonder if our league coordinator knew of Berardi's tennis history of D-I and D-III experience and #71 in Southern Juniors.
ok. i started playing tennis this year and get cheated all the time. the same dudes do it and i'm tired of it. i thought if someone was good enough they wouldn't have to cheat but they do anyhow. not just the linecalls either. they try to screw up game counts and all kinds of stuff. what do you do? i don't want to play if it keeps up but don't have any problem with most people. what do yall do? how do you handle these %$#$@cheaters??
Hey smart people- chickety check yourself before you publish your facts- Prince didn't play on the 3.5 team. She was asked (before her background was review), and then she and the team decided not to play.
Is this Prince Baradi girl part of the Prince racquet family or something? Or what country is she queen of? We are all sick of reading about crisis with it. Everyone wants a ringer. Get over it people and play better rather than keep griping and excusing.
Prince girl: 26y/o female who played D1 tennis out of state with a winning record before playing for a D3 college in state, and was #1 in girls 18 in AR. After walking the stage she played team tennis with her now husband and rated herself as a 3.0. Year later she was on a 3.5 team with our AR ATA League Coordinator but preggo so didn't play any matches. Can you say RINGER, SANDBAGGER or CHEATER?
Where's the other blog? I know I'm not the first to ask.
Marty Ensminger is going to be the driver of a severe reduction in Men 4.5 tennis. His lack of integrity and the "ends justifies the means" mentality is making team tennis look like Monday Night Raw(wrestling).
I say kick his no good ass to 5.0 with his team of scoundrels and let them see how many times they can tank a match and fix a score.
Who are the top 5 players in Mens 4.0 and Mens 4.5 in your opinion?ani
All the whining I see here is why I refuse to play league tennis. I see a lot of complaints about how the 4.5 mens champs are really 5.0 players. If that is true why have they not won a national championship? Most days I am a 4.5 player myself, but when a little out of shape I am probably a 4.0, when in grate shape, probably a 5.0. Ratings are arbitrary. Play who lines up across from you and if you lose you lose, get over it.
I honestly think it is pretty cowardly of anyone to post a comment on any blog without being man or woman enough to put your name in front of it. I have played a lot of 4.5 tennis, and I have lost more than I have won, but our teams have been competitive, and isn't that the point? We have lost out going to Southerns on several occasions losing 2-3. All that does is make me try harder. If someone is playing dirty pool, have the guts to say it, and quit hiding behind "anonymous." I am just happy to have the health to play. There are much more pressing concerns in the world other than whether you won your team tennis match. My name is Otto Fry, and I am just glad that there are a lot of people playing tennis, and having just moved to Little Rock, I look forward to playing a lot more.
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