The most contentious moments in an ITA match always seem to occur right after a player has been overruled. The player either erupts into some fit or the coach tries to outdo him/her and makes a fool out of themselves.
The one thing you need to ALWAYS REMEMBER--a chair official is not going to change their overrule now matter how much you rant, rave, whine, belittle, or howl. In fact, if one of our officials lets a coach get them to change their call, they would never work for me again...
Here are some options for coaches to consider during this monstrous moment of decision:
* Yell to the top of your lungs. Just have to hope that your wife/husband and kids don't see you.
* Berate the official as loudly as you can and call into doubt their birthright, existence, and mental capacities. This always makes a great impression on everyone at the tennis center and actually turns the focus on the coach instead of the official.
* Yell and scream and then whisper to the chair official, "I really agree with you but I need to show my player that I support them." This has happened to me on numerous occasions and I always want to ask, "Your player knows he cheated and now he has you to stand with him. How is that working out for both of you?"
* Throw water on the chair official. The results might surprise you...
* Spit on the shoes of the chair official. This one is especially adult isn't it?
* Lay on the ground and throw a fit. I've actually seen this happen and I still remind that coach of how much he looked like a 2 year old throwing a tantrum.
* Crawl up the fence and scream to the heavens. First of all, you probably will cut your hands and second, the Lord probably doesn't want you in His Heaven.
* Actually say and do nothing since the chair is most likely correct. Your player actually knows if they made the right call and sometimes they are just baiting you to see what you will do.
* Tell your player that the chair made the right call and to continue playing. I know this might be asking a lot of some coaches but it actually is the right thing to do.
* Tell the chair official, "You cannot possibly overrule on the far sideline or the baseline (while you are standing one court away and say you saw it clearly.) Remember--you and your players don't get a free pass to cheat on the far sideline or the baseline. I can also guarantee you that we can see those locations better from a chair 6 feet up in the air than you can standing behind us.
* Actually accept the fact that your player made a bad call and move on. Happens a whole lot more than you think--and I guarantee you that we respect those coaches above everyone else.
* Don't tell an official that they blind as a bat. We're not and never have been and never will be so get over it.
* Please don't rush on to the court screaming, "That ball was a foot and a half out." Even you could see one that far out so please don't accuse us of missing something like that. It doesn't happen.
* Please don't tell us that we are cheating for the home team and doing home cooking on every burner. I've only really heard of that happening one time and it was north of the Red River... The bottom line is that home officials are usually harder on the home players than the others.
* Give the same respect to the chair official that we give to you. It will go further than you can even imagine...
We are all in this sport because we love the game. Now let's all move on and do the best we can to make it all work.
NOTE: All of these examples come from real-life happenings. Now just try to figure out which coach did what... It might surprise you.
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