Grass Roots Tennis

GRASS ROOTS TENNIS

This summer I have been able to spend more time doing what we call "grass roots tennis", which basically means not-pro and not-college--and does mean "lots of kids and their parents".

Here are some observations and questions from the past few months:

* Not all parents are bad--but some are really bad. The vast majority are very supportive of officials and genuinely want their children to play well and behave themselves. But then there is the "elephant in the room (or court)" who gets all the attention.

* If there is a specific rule about video taping a match, then that information needs to be in print and sent to every referee in America.

* Why do 12 year olds travel with their own private coach? Somebody is sure spending a lot of money chasing a dream that their child is going to win Wimbledon.

* Why do some parents like to fight and argue at the drop of a hat? You can usually tell which ones are combative by the way they walk up to the tennis center and then come up to the tournament desk. A psychologist would have a field day at most tournaments.

* Why do some parents think their child is always being cheated? They don't seem to ever entertain the thought that their child might not be as good and that's why they are losing.

* Why do some parents run at the sight of a video being made of their child's match? "Pedophiles" is their excuse for hating videos but I tend to think they don't want their child's behavior and line calls being recorded.

* Why do mothers seem to be more aggressive than fathers? Maybe its that protective mother instinct.

* Why do mothers want to argue over their child's integrity and then rush to their defense while the fathers would prefer to just coach when the official is out of sight?

* Why do some kids know how to check in 30 seconds before their match is being played?

* Its interesting that kids know where officials are the entire time. They are not as uninterested as they would have you believe.

* There seems to be a "new" practice of catching a ball that is way inside the court and calling it "out." Of course they have to be sure that the official is at least 4 to 5 courts away and not watching.

* Who packs all the stuff in the cargo case they carry on the court? One kid had enough stuff to last him through three months on the Sahara Desert.

* Why do some officials love to code footfaults but ignore a racket being thrown across the court?

* With the Texas average of one official for 11 courts, how do they expect us to see every footfault, every time violation, and every bad call?

* Seems that there are more "little" issues at a ZAT tournament but greatly magnified problems at Champs and Super-Champs tournaments.

* Could it be that a child's ego grows in relation to his level of tournament?

* When we think being an official is a thankless job, then we need to consider the plight of the site director. They have it a lot worse than we do...

* A site director can make your day--or ruin it. Depends on if they have any idea of what they are doing or not.

But other than a few observations and minor questions, grass roots tennis is a lot of fun!