Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

 Well, its the end of the year and hopefully everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season and are all prepared for Christmas Day!  We have much to be thankful for in 2025, and anticipate even greater things in the new year.  

Merry Christmas to all...  Stay tuned toward the end of the year as we share our "New Year's Resolutions for 2026."

What Do You Do With an Irate Parent or Spectator

 

After personally witnessing numerous parents violating all kinds of rules in a USTA championship tournament, I think we can all agree that its high time that something is done to deal with this issue.  Parents are regularly seen coaching their children, questioning their opponents verbally and physically, and often times verbally confronting officials during and after a match--that's why steps need to be taken to remedy the problem...

Perhaps the area of the most flagrant violations are found in USTA events.  Mere lip service is usually given to the offenders by the USTA and in order for the problem to be resolved, there needs to be quick punitive actions taken against the offenders.   A casual letter it simply not enough--make the penalties strong and firm and then make sure they are enforced.  

The UIL tennis arena does a far better job in controlling cheating and abusive parents and spectators.  When a parent or spectator is being abusive, the official first warns the offender and notifies the coach of the associated team.  If they offend a second time, they are removed from the facility.   If the problem persists, the UIL is quick to remedy the problem--thank goodness!

We would welcome your suggestions on how to deal with this problem.  Check the comments tab below and let us hear from you...

2026 Collegiate Tennis Openings Now Available

 

If you are an ITA certified tennis official and are looking to work some great matches this coming spring season, email or call me as soon as possible.   I have numerous good openings and we sure need your help!  

My cell is 214 796 7402 and my email is officiatingcrew@gmail.com

Hope to hear from you real soon...

A Disturbing Trend in Junior Tennis: Cheating Players & Parents

 

For the past two years I have personally gone out to the "Slams" junior championships in Plano, Texas to enjoy some junior tennis--and also to observe some of our Texas chair officials in action--but I certainly wasn't prepared for what I found...  Both years I witnessed more cheating by  players and parents than I ever could have imagined.  On nearly every court, I would see players consistently call close balls out and then get indignant when they were questioned.  On matches without a chair official the problem was even worse...

To further deepen the crisis was the behavior of parents.  I would watch parents (both Moms and Dads alike) consistently make verbal calls for their children, have "secret" hand signals, and just outright coach their child with no inibitions whatsoever.  One year I even talked to one of the head officials and he told me they had 20 "sportsmanship awards" to give out and they couldn't even find one player they thought was deserving...  

Even more disturbing than the cheating and coaching was the tendency of players to openly accuse their opponents of cheating and to create a confrontational scene on courts all over the tennis center.  The players were quick to run and get an official to come to their court "because they were being cheated" and then verbally attack their opponents without inhibitions.  I watched an official overseeing 4 courts finally just give up in frustration because players were complaining on every court...

In today's blog post I won't even begin to share thoughts about how we can fix this problem.  I think everyone involved in tennis can recognize the issue and now we'd love to hear your thoughts on how to remedy the issue.   Let us hear from you in the comments...