Cheaters Never Win...Except When They Do



When we submitted previous blog posts like Practice Being a Good Sport or Bad Characters Are Bad News, we deliberately avoided one of the most troublesome but also the most prevalent aspects of junior tennis: CHEATING.
:(

We may not have kids of our own, but we’re watching these kids grow up before our very eyes. Also, it must be said---We know this negative behavior is not limited to tennis (it appears in all sports) but tennis is what we see and we can only comment on what we see. So here goes!

A lot of top players seem to have a ‘Win At All Costs” mentality…but WHERE DOES IT COME FROM? Who is teaching these players this tactic? Or the better question: Who is accepting this tactic from these players? And the best question: Will these players go forward into their adult lives with this tendency to cheat?  We believe in the saying that “Cheaters Never Win” but it’s seriously tough to believe that when we see them win almost every day at junior tennis tournaments.

In the 5+ years that we’ve been involved in junior tennis, our cameras have seen that cheating has increased (and continues to increase) to almost unimaginable levels. We see it and we hear about it constantly from players and parents and others. The specific circumstances may change from tournament to tournament but we see it ALL THE TIME and we think it needs to stop. 

We’re not talking about close calls that could easily go one way or the other. We’re talking about deliberate cheating and we know that one or two bad calls during a match can drastically change the outcome of that match. Our cameras have seen the player who changes the score mid-match so he has the lead. But his opponent knows (and we know) that the new score is not accurate. We’ve seen the other player call for a line judge and we’ve seen what always happens: the line judge doesn’t have the authority to do anything other than to stay and monitor the match for a period of time and then he or she must move on to other matches. As soon as that line judge steps away, the original player reverts back to his cheating ways and continues to make line calls that are obviously bad. Finally, we’ve seen his opponent as his frustration grows and his spirit diminishes…and then the match ends. 

Cheaters never win…except when they do.
And we hate it when they do. We really do.

Finally, our cameras have seen sooooo much bad behavior on the tennis court and more than one parent has asked us when they should pull the player off the court for discipline. That is a good question but it’s most certainly outside the scope of anything we’re doing at any tournament.

Parents have even observed their child’s poor sportsmanship and asked us what they should do about it. We simply say that it’s a tricky area and we suggest that they consult with a sports psychologist or other specialist who can help with their specific situation.

Sometimes, It's Just UGLY
We think it is nauseating when parents know their children cheat and they do absolutely NOTHING about it. Our cameras have seen DISGUSTING behavior on the part of parents and it is overwhelmingly sad. We actually heard a mother repeatedly yelling “He might be a cheater but he’s MY cheater!” 

Equally ugly is the treatment that some players have to deal with after a tennis match. We really wish parents would stop and think before they berate or belittle or humiliate their children after a loss. The child is devastated enough by the loss and the last thing they need or deserve is to deal with comments such as this one:
“We spend too much !#%@&_#!% money on your training for you to turn around and play like that.”

We hear these comments and we can’t help but wonder:
What are these people thinking?!?

We can’t avoid the awful topic of players being physically abused by a parent after the match. I have never witnessed it personally, but I’ve heard about it more than once. In fact, I was recently informed by the concerned parent of another child that a certain father had punched his son as soon as they got into the parking lot and the child was now screaming inside a parked car. It was so upsetting but we couldn’t do a thing about it. Certainly we have never and will never look at that father in the same way again.

Our cameras have seen ugliness that we wouldn’t have believed possible, like the mother who shouted across two tennis courts to her son and told him to stop playing because the referee did not understand the rules correctly and was treating her son unfairly. Or the mother who chased down a female official and emphatically pointed at the official and then at her daughter’s court, as if to scream
“GET OVER THERE – AND I MEAN NOW!”

It made us just sick to our stomach when our cameras saw the father who got right in the tournament official’s face and accused him of racism (with no regard for young players standing nearby, watching and learning).

One more…We were flabbergasted when we saw an angry mother rudely demand that the tournament director take immediate action to correct the game penalty that cost her child a match. This woman was so clearly out of line and everyone knew it…However, we observed the same identical thing just one week later with a different parent at a different tournament in a different state.

What kind of adults will these players grow up to be? How will they conduct themselves when they’re faced with adult-size frustrations and adult-size difficulties?

Those are good questions, aren’t they? Unfortunately, we don’t have good answers. We don’t even have ANY answers. We can’t predict the future but what we can do is reflect on what we see and hopefully shine a light of awareness on this very unfortunate subject.

Sometimes things need to be said so that positive change can occur…or at least that’s our hope. Thank you for your support!

Junior tennis is a journey, not a destination…
You might as well enjoy it!

As HIGH-TECH TENNIS Turns - March 26

Four Weeks Just Flew By

Helloooo and thanks for reading! It's been another wonderful FOUR WEEKS in our world (including FOUR tourneys in THREE states) but it wouldn't have been half as nice if we didn't have great support from great people. We're all about giving credit where it's due --- so let's name some names...Ready? :)

GREAT THANKS to our new friend TD Aline Trussel at the Cooper Creek Tennis Center in Columbus, GA. Many, many moons ago, we had a VERY bad experience in Columbus and swore we'd never return...Never say never, LOL! We had a great time at the National Open-B12s (even though the 32 Draw did NOT make anyone smile). :( But we know we'll have an even BETTER time at the BullFrog in Columbus next weekend because thank goodness the 32 Draw doesn't apply and TD Aline goes above and beyond...What a pleasure to discover such a helpful, kind person - best of all, she even lives in our state! Speaking of our state, we remained in our state for a soggy BullFrog in Macon...YIKES-Those tournaments make it tough to stay positive, for sure. Thank goodness my extreeeeme negativity didn't last long...because we were soon on to back2back tourneys - 10 straight days of HIGH-TECH TENNIS HUSTLE! :)

GREAT THANKS to the entire Tournament Staff at the Mobile Tennis Center for the privilege of offering video services at their awesome events---We had a big time (and set a new record!) at our 4th consecutive Spring Natl Chps-BG18s. Then it was straight to our 5th consecutive Topspin Annual Junior Classic. GREAT THANKS to TD Carlos Lozano for taking a chance on us and inviting us to be part of his awesome South Carolina tourney! Sooo much fun - and setting another record made it all the sweeter! :) 

Let's see...GREAT THANKS to some awesome college recruits for allowing us to help launch them on their college path-one of the biggest, life-changing decisions they will make. They're gonna LOVE their recruit videos-that's a promise. And GREAT THANKS to Coach Amy Bryant for counting on us for video services in support of Emory Women's Tennis, summer camps, and more. If I left anyone out, sooo sorry-it's hard to be perfect when you're exhausted! :)

As always, the greatest GREAT THANKS goes to YOU, our wonderful customer friends. It is truly a privilege to play a small part in the development of your junior tennis player - and living this dreamy life is tough to beat! :) Thank you for your ongoing support - and our video camcorders will be looking for YOU! Finally, LONG LIVE THE FED, good luck in the Sony Ericsson, and I will be watching you whenever and wherever possible!!!

Tennis Lessons for Life

We all know that tennis is about so much more than just a series of backhands and forehands, with the occasional serve mixed in for good measure.  It’s about valuable life lessons and the game of tennis is really just a disguise.  It’s kind of like mixing a little sugar with medicine to make it easier for kids to swallow.  

We love tennis for lots of reasons…but a big one is because it’s one of the only sports that offers the opportunity for players to develop strategy, solve problems, and succeed (or fail) with no assistance from a team, coach, or any other source. Even before I understood the game (which I still don’t always do), I knew that I loved the INDIVIDUALNESS of tennis (and I realize that is not a word, btw).

Maybe that’s why a high percentage of CEOs and successful executives were tennis players in their youth. Wish we could cite the source for that info but we definitely read it along the way…and never forgot it.

Top 5 Life Lessons

Our cameras have seen countless players learn (or re-learn) valuable life lessons on or around the tennis court. Read on for five specific examples…Maybe you can relate to some (or all) of them---and these are just ones that come to mind. There are so many more!

The Tennis Player Who…	Is Learning How To…
Finds his next opponent and scouts out his style.	Assess another person’s strengths and weaknesses.
Demonstrates a calm demeanor, while his opponent pumps himself up by endlessly shouting things like ‘Oh Yeah - Come On!!!’.	Remain composed when another person achieves great success.
Takes the court in full concentration after extensive rain delays have ended, while the light rain continues to drizzle.	Overcome conditions that are beyond his control.
At 6 inches shorter and 50 pounds smaller than his opponent, smiles sheepishly and says ‘I guess all I can do is try my best’ and then steps out onto the court to face the #1 seed.	Accept challenging situations and always give his all.
Repeatedly watches video clips of top pros and carefully studies their techniques. Expressing true shock that his peers seemed to have little interest and immediately turned their attention to something else, this young junior was like a sponge who couldn’t get enough.	Study and learn from successful people.

Food for Thought

He told us he wishes somebody would take a poll of parents to learn what their goals are and what they’re actually trying to accomplish by having their kids compete at junior tournaments.

He shared that when he (and his girls) first got involved, they had no idea what to expect and they’ve learned so much over the years (he was definitely NOT talking about how to actually “play” tennis).

He said that the chance of playing pro tennis is so very remote for most players (we’ve read that an estimated 99% of American tennis players will not make the top 100 in the world professionally) and many will be lucky to play college tennis (even though they spend more trying to obtain a college scholarship than the actual worth of that scholarship).

Rather, he wished that parents would realize what he considered to be the REALLY important reasons to have your kid involved in competitive junior tennis – because it gives young players an opportunity to learn important traits like HARD WORK, COMMITMENT, RESPECT FOR OTHERS, ORGANIZATION, PRIORITIES, TIME MANAGEMENT, and so many others.

He said that being a tennis parent involves big sacrifices (which he was more than willing to make) but he felt it was important for parents to be realistic about what they were doing and why.

He was sharing some priceless wisdom – we couldn’t have said it better! – and we sure hope someone out there is listening. Remember, this comes from someone who has walked the walk (of years in junior tennis with his own daughters) and now he’s talking the talk. We’re including it here as food for thought FOR YOU! J

Paying It Forward

We’ve barely scratched the surface of this topic but you probably get the idea. One last related thing…We were heartened to read comment directors from a tournament at one of our most recent tournaments:

“Some people say that it is easy to be a great sport when you’re winning, but we all know that’s not true. We give special recognition to two players who are great examples for the tennis community because they’re not waiting until they get their millions to give back – they are paying it (forward) as they go through life.”

This article was about the many Tennis Lessons for Life that we’ve observed, but the next article will share our observations about our least favorite but unbelievably prevalent aspect of junior tennis: CHEATING.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

We may not have kids of our own
but we're watching these kids grow up before our eyes!
Juniors just don't stay juniors forever-they grow into adults.

Junior tennis is a journey, not a destination…
You might as well enjoy it!