With the prospects of cold weather in the teens this weekend in Dallas, the question comes up yet again--is it time for the USTA to establish a cold weather rule? I think that without much debate, any sensible person (player, parent, or spectator) would agree that the rule is long overdue. We regularly see kids being required to play in temperatures below freezing and maybe its time to call a halt to this practice.
Even though kids don't seem to mind the cold, the parents and spectator surely do--and the doctors do also on Monday when you take your kid to see him because you froze them over the weekend. Add the cost of a doctor's visit to your entry fee and hotel bill and it makes the tournament rather expensive. Collegiate tennis has had a cold weather rule for years and its time for the USTA and the Texas Section to get on board.
Once the need is established, the question then becomes, "where do you set the rule?" If college players and coaches think 50 degrees is too cold, then I would think the bare minimum should be 40 or 45 degrees. Since we don't play in snow or wet weather, the temperature gauge could be our sole guideline. I realize that a lot of older players and parents are going to be quick to say, "I remember playing in 10 degrees when I was a kid." Thank goodness you aren't one any longer... I can actually remember sitting in a chair officiating a match at Baylor a few short years ago when the temperature was 32 degrees. I wasn't so worried about the players as I was about losing my fingers and toes.
We would welcome your thoughts and discussion on this important issue.
12 comments:
38 DEGREE RULE...
38 DEGREES AND WARMING..PLAY...
38 DEGREES AND COOLING...NO PLAY..
ROD LAVER PLAYED BY THIS RULE...
WE CONTINUE TO PLAY BY THIS RULE.
HAPPY TRAILS..YYEEHHAA..W.W.J.D...
Why stop here. A severe heat / ozone rule should also be instituted. for example, if the temperature is above 125 degrees, play is verboten!
If conditions aren't hazardous, then play should proceed. The problem is defining "hazardous." This also applies in college tennis. Yes, there is a inclement weather rule for moving indoors, but when there are no indoor courts available, then play must continue outdoors (unless conditions are hazardous). Damn, there's that mysterious vaguely undefined word again.
I agree...
However there are a lot of "situations" that will come up because of this including the fact that in Texas we do not have a weather related refund policy... it is up to the director to decide if the players are getting their $ back... this would increase the reason we need to have a SET policy on weather related cancellations.
ANOTHER question is what happens to the entry fee if players enter the event and it gets cold-weathered out?
AND THEN there is the 64K? What will this do to our lunch demands?
BACO
I was wondering if someone would bring up the fact that there are no entry fee refunds when a tournament is cancelled. You can't tell me that in today's world you couldn't process at least a partial refund. There are some tournament directors here in Dallas they keep obscene amounts of money when their tournaments are cancelled.
And please don't tell me about their "expenses" such as court rentals since there are none when they don't use them. Also, they spend next to nothing on "trophies" so that's not a consideration.
I can't believe we are stooping so low worrying about cold weather. With all the new technology/clothing that is at the stores, our kids can't stay warm enough? Really, 40 degrees is cold!! Parents, get an extension cord and a heater and plug in or best stay in the car with the heater on. Now as far as catching a cold, go get you one at the store (Walmart, Mall, etc.). Come on people, this is a sport. Play on!! Now don't get me wrong, if the roads are bad, ground is iced, I'm not for traveling to risk a life to get to a tournament. If any Weather Ruling should happen is what Wimpy was trying to say: Hazardous Conditions: 20 degrees? (icy, snow, 20+ wind) 125 degrees? (no wind)
Just let the little urchins play in the freezing cold. If they are frozen then they won't commit code violations and hence you won't need officials. Everyone comes out ahead.
If it's cold, I can almost guarantee the officials in Waco won't be asleep under shade trees like they are accustomed to. They will be asleep indoors, hopefully out of site of the players.
Just to show that TD's are not the heartless skinflints they are made out to be at least this last weekend:
Several of the junior sanctioned tournaments scheduled for this past weekend were cancelled due to serious road conditions and iced over courts. Cancellations started on Thursday afternoon and even though most if not all the tournaments had no refund policies, here's what happened:
Midland December ZAT: cancelled at 1130 Friday morning and is offering partial reimbursement of entry fees for players who did not withdraw before the cancellation at check in at their February ZAT.
Austin CMZ: cancelled at 325 on Thursday and offered full refund to players who had not withdrawn prior to the cancellation who registered by email before 10 PM Friday night in the Abilene CMZ next week end
High Point Fall ZAT: cancelled 915 Friday morning and will issue a $13.50 credit to those entrants registered in this tournament in the High Point March ZAT or the Plano April CMZ.
The 2 SCMZ's that cancelled on Thursday did not advertise refunds of any kind.
Houston and Laredo were able to play.
Cooperation between the Austin and Abilene CMZ's was good to see, thumbs up guys!
How come the Plano ZAT only gave a $13.50 refund?
With a $30 entry fee for a ZAT they should give back more than $13.50. Someone is pocketing way too much money for doing nothing.
You cant offer a full refund dice TennisLink automatically charges for every entry, which in turn gets sent to the USTA to help pay their exorbitant salaries.
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