Seems like everywhere we go today we find people who are rude, arrogant, and overbearing in their attitudes and behavior. The sad part is that it has definitely spilled over into the tennis world...We regularly see parents berating officials so its no wonder that their children behave like they do. But then we shouldn't be surprised when our mainstream media showed people booing President Bush when he left Washington. I bet he was one happy camper inside that helicopter! Just imagine the verbal abuse he has endured for eight years at the hands of our LEADERSHIP in Washington. No wonder tennis tournaments are like they are...
History always tells us that the pendulum swings in each direction--but I'm wondering how much further it is going to swing in the wrong direction. We have had parents and players threaten the lives of officials, spit on them, berated them, and abused them regularly so there definitely needs to be something done. Here are some of my suggestions:
1. All officials need to have a good working knowledge of the rules, how to enforce them, and how to deal with people. Many times our problems arise not because we don't know the rules but because we don't know how to (or aren't trained to) deal with unruly people.
2. The discipline and grievance committees from the national to the local level need to take a firm stand on this issue. It does no good for an official to give a code and then noone in the state office to keep track of the violations. Its time for the Discipline and Grievance Committee in Texas to stand up and start giving out some viable penalties for these offenders. If a parent or player threatens the life of an official they should be banned forever... Far too often the offenders in Texas are simply given a slap on the wrist.
3. Our officials schools need to have more teaching and training in the area of people relationships. There are ways to diffuse difficult situations but people need to be taught the basics for these situations.
4. From the national leadership to local leadership there needs to be a new emphasis on educating parents on the proper behavior for a tennis parent. Obviously, a bunch of them don't know...
Times have changed for officials--and not for the better. Many parents, players, and spectators are quick to resort to physical tactics so we all need to be "aware of the nature of the beast."
We would welcome any suggestions about how to make the situation better...
2 comments:
I personally feel that one thing that might make it a little better is MORE consistency. I know officiating in Dallas, Houston, Austin and even here is Waco is inconsistent. Parents and players seem to get only warnings where a violation is needed. If a player can throw a racquet, foot fault, hit a ball out of anger, etc.... and only get a warning, or even worse, no warning at all because it is too much trouble for the official, then the players and parents don't know that they can't "act in this way". I feel we have rules and they need to be strictly enforced. Just go into a classroom where the rules are very lax and you will see a frazzled teacher. Just my thoughts. Mike
You will never have consistency whenever good judgement is called for. Let the players play and throw their little tantrums. Its actually quite good for the economy. Racket manufacters get to sell more rackets and the police can stay busy doing community work and not writing tickets to us occasional speeders.
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