bcart1991
09-18-2006, 03:11 PM
But I couldn't find the link until just now. :shifty Page D1 from Saturday's paper.
They didn't put the beyond-awful pictures online, thank god. I interviewed with this guy for about a half-hour last week...
Link. (http://www.ajc.com/search/content/living/faithandvalues/stories/2006/09/16/relaltaethics0916a.html)
Crossing the line
SOME FOLKS WHO COMPETE IN LOCAL TENNIS LEAGUES WILL DO ANYTHING TO WIN
By John Blake
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/16/06
The world of professional sports is filled with revelations about athletes who destroy their careers by cheating.
But there's a group of Atlanta athletes who lie, cheat and bully their opponents virtually every weekend but seldom attract any attention.
They are the handful of toxic cheaters who have infiltrated the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association.
Even the league's president, Carole Tilley, has been a victim of one of the most common displays of bad sportsmanship: Hitting balls directly at female players in mixed doubles.
"I walked off the court and said if you want the point that bad, you can can have it when they went after my face for the third time," Tilley says.
The metrowide league, which started its fall season last weekend, bills itself as the largest amateur tennis league in the world, with 80,000 members. It has become an Atlanta institution during its 62-year history, and each weekend city courts are flooded with teams playing matches and holding jovial cookouts afterward.
But ALTA displays more than players' athletic skill. It also reveals their integrity. The format is built on honesty, with players making their own calls and rating their own ability. There's no instant replay.
The vast majority of players are good sports. But then there are players like "Mad Dog," an ALTA member who earned his nickname for excessive cursing and raking his racket across the fence. There are those who rig their lineups with "ringers," and those who hit women during mixed doubles matches. Although it's rare, there have even been fights on the court and the police summoned.
The league has explicit rules that run to 63 pages on its Web site, and nearly all ALTA players pass the ethical test. But complaints of bad sportsmanship have been so persistent that Tilley recently launched a campaign to reward teams for good sportsmanship. The city's other two popular amateur leagues, K-Swiss and USTA, also have rule books.
"Some teams come in with a chip on their shoulder —- they're going to win no matter what," says Brian Carter, a 31-year-old ALTA member from Douglasville. "They want that [championship] plate. It's all ego."
With the fall leagues in full swing, here are some of the classic cheaters to watch out for:
The ringer
Leagues are organized by skill level to ensure fair competition. Beginners play against other beginner teams, and advanced teams go against advanced teams. The USTA provides a numbered rating level for each tennis player's level that most competitive players follow.
But some teams recurit a ringer, a player who plays at a higher level than their team to ensure an easy win. The results can be ugly. A spectator will see the ringer blow off opponents who are hopelessly outmatched and embarrassed.
Terry Flynn, a 49-year-old teaching pro and ALTA member, says he saw one women's ALTA team scramble for an edge during playoffs by persuading one member to bring in her daughter. Flynn says he knew the woman's daughter, who was so good that she had been ranked as a junior.
"She played at a small college, and she was really a good player," Flynn says. "Though she was a far better player than the others, she was helping out Mom's team."
Other teams will stack ringers in their lineup with a more sly move. They'll "flip" their lineup by putting their best players at the lowest spots and their worst players at the top to ensure wins.
Last year ALTA cracked down on teams bringing in ringers because of complaints, Tilley says. The move earned praise from unexpected sources.
"I did get a lot of e-mails from teams who did it," Tiley said. "They said, 'Yes, we do this, and I'm so glad you stopped this.' Of course, they were anonymous."
The headhunter
One of the most delicate ethical questions takes place in mixed doubles matches. How far should a man go in attacking the woman on the opposing team, who tends to be the weaker opponent?
Some ALTA men think it's OK to aim at the opposing team's woman during the match to intimidate her. They use every wobbly sitter as a chance to tag the woman at the net.
Sometimes, they don't even wait until the match to start, says Rebecca Summerford, a 39-year-old ALTA player from Lithia Springs. Once, she was warming up against a mixed team when she lofted a practice overhead to the male player on the other side of the net.
He promptly smacked her with an overhead that raised a welt on her body.
"No apologies or nothing," she says. "He just turned around, and it was done."
Summerford faced a choice. Turn the other cheek or an eye for an eye? She chose the latter. "It was on from the first game," she says.
Her team started trying to hit the other team. They won, and the man who hit her shook her hand afterward, "but there was no eye contact," she says, laughing.
The liar
People laughed at the Jim Carrey character in "Liar Liar," who simply couldn't tell the truth. Yet ALTA players don't find it funny with opponents who lie about line calls and other matters on the court.
Teams without enough players for a given match are known to bring in impostors who assume the identities of absent players rather than forfeit a match.
That trick can lead to some comical situations. Carter, from Douglasville, says he's met players who are identified by one name in the lineup card. But during the match, "players start calling them by another name."
Tilley says ALTA suspended several players when it found their names on an ALTA lineup and USTA lineup for matches that took place at the same time on the same day.
"They can't play at two places at the same location," she says.
ALTA has stripped teams of their coveted championship bag tags for playing impostors.
Other players lie in other ways. Players can call a "let" if they are distracted during play and replay the point. Flynn, the teaching pro, says people abuse that rule.
"Someone serves, and they ace that person, but maybe there was something going on the other side like somebody is talking, and they'll call a let even when it was obvious that it wasn't loud enough to distract them," Flynn says.
Some liars routinely call balls out that are in. Tennis etiquette dictates that if a player is unsure of a call, he or she should give it to their opponent.
There are some notorious ALTA players, though, who operate by a different rule, Flynn says.
"If it's a real critical juncture in the match and all of a sudden a ball that's been in all day has now been called out," Flynn says, "there's a pretty good chance that the call might be bad."
The tank artist
Tammy Washington, a 37-year-old ALTA player from Stone Mountain, says another form of cheating takes place when a player deliberately loses a match so he or she won't play tougher competition the next season.
ALTA, like the K-Swiss league, will move players who have an outstanding season to a tougher level the next season. Washington says she has seen players tank matches to inferior opponents just so they can stay at the same level and collect trophies.
The lawyer
Then there are the ALTA players who constantly invoke obscure rules to rattle opponents.
Ed Orick, a 61-year-old former ALTA member, recalls playing against one team like that. He and a new partner called out to each other during play with phrases such as "Got you covered" or "Back up!"
The other team claimed they couldn't talk to each other because the rule book forbids "coaching."
"They said you can't talk because you're messing up our shots," Orick says. "I said, 'That's crazy.' "
Ron Steiger, a 41-year-old ALTA member who played for a team in Smyrna, says he played against a doubles team that invoked one of the most seldom-called violations in tennis —- the foot fault.
It occurs when a player's foot brushes or goes over the baseline when serving. It is rarely called because it's difficult to spot and at a beginner's level, and so many people have awkward service motions.
Steiger says he was playing a crucial playoffs doubles match in a third-set tiebreaker when the opposing team called a foot fault on his partner's second service —- on match point. His team lost the match on a foot-fault call.
"There was almost a fight," Steiger says. "Our guy came to the net and said, 'You can't call it now.' It was the first time they called it the entire match."
Tilley says those situations are rare in ALTA, though. Most ALTA players are good sports. She's even received word from teams who complimented the teams they lost to.
"They've written letters about their opponents and said, 'We had the most wonderful time today. We had fun. It was social. We had good food, and they made wonderful line calls,' " Tilley says. "Those are the kind of people who make it worth it."
SOME 'CODE' GUIDELINES
ALTA and the USTA recommend a book called "The Code" by Col. Nick Powel to use in conjunction with league rules. A few of "The Code's" suggestions:
> Courtesy: Conducting loud postmortems after points and complaining about shots like lobs and drop shots is not acceptable. Nor is embarrassing a weak opponent by being overly gracious or condescending.
> Line calls: Opponent gets the benefit of the doubt. When in doubt about a line call, "any doubt must be resolved in favor of the opponent."
> Partner disagreement on calls: If doubles partners disagree about whether their opponents' ball was out, they shall call it good.
> Spectators making calls: A player shall not enlist the aid of a spectator in making a call. No spectator has a part in the match.
> Feinting with the body during play: A player may feint with the body while the ball is in play. A player may change position at any time, including while the server is tossing the ball. Any movement or sound that is made solely to distract an opponent —- including, but not limited to, waving the arms or racket or stamping the feet —- is not allowed.
They didn't put the beyond-awful pictures online, thank god. I interviewed with this guy for about a half-hour last week...
Link. (http://www.ajc.com/search/content/living/faithandvalues/stories/2006/09/16/relaltaethics0916a.html)
Crossing the line
SOME FOLKS WHO COMPETE IN LOCAL TENNIS LEAGUES WILL DO ANYTHING TO WIN
By John Blake
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/16/06
The world of professional sports is filled with revelations about athletes who destroy their careers by cheating.
But there's a group of Atlanta athletes who lie, cheat and bully their opponents virtually every weekend but seldom attract any attention.
They are the handful of toxic cheaters who have infiltrated the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association.
Even the league's president, Carole Tilley, has been a victim of one of the most common displays of bad sportsmanship: Hitting balls directly at female players in mixed doubles.
"I walked off the court and said if you want the point that bad, you can can have it when they went after my face for the third time," Tilley says.
The metrowide league, which started its fall season last weekend, bills itself as the largest amateur tennis league in the world, with 80,000 members. It has become an Atlanta institution during its 62-year history, and each weekend city courts are flooded with teams playing matches and holding jovial cookouts afterward.
But ALTA displays more than players' athletic skill. It also reveals their integrity. The format is built on honesty, with players making their own calls and rating their own ability. There's no instant replay.
The vast majority of players are good sports. But then there are players like "Mad Dog," an ALTA member who earned his nickname for excessive cursing and raking his racket across the fence. There are those who rig their lineups with "ringers," and those who hit women during mixed doubles matches. Although it's rare, there have even been fights on the court and the police summoned.
The league has explicit rules that run to 63 pages on its Web site, and nearly all ALTA players pass the ethical test. But complaints of bad sportsmanship have been so persistent that Tilley recently launched a campaign to reward teams for good sportsmanship. The city's other two popular amateur leagues, K-Swiss and USTA, also have rule books.
"Some teams come in with a chip on their shoulder —- they're going to win no matter what," says Brian Carter, a 31-year-old ALTA member from Douglasville. "They want that [championship] plate. It's all ego."
With the fall leagues in full swing, here are some of the classic cheaters to watch out for:
The ringer
Leagues are organized by skill level to ensure fair competition. Beginners play against other beginner teams, and advanced teams go against advanced teams. The USTA provides a numbered rating level for each tennis player's level that most competitive players follow.
But some teams recurit a ringer, a player who plays at a higher level than their team to ensure an easy win. The results can be ugly. A spectator will see the ringer blow off opponents who are hopelessly outmatched and embarrassed.
Terry Flynn, a 49-year-old teaching pro and ALTA member, says he saw one women's ALTA team scramble for an edge during playoffs by persuading one member to bring in her daughter. Flynn says he knew the woman's daughter, who was so good that she had been ranked as a junior.
"She played at a small college, and she was really a good player," Flynn says. "Though she was a far better player than the others, she was helping out Mom's team."
Other teams will stack ringers in their lineup with a more sly move. They'll "flip" their lineup by putting their best players at the lowest spots and their worst players at the top to ensure wins.
Last year ALTA cracked down on teams bringing in ringers because of complaints, Tilley says. The move earned praise from unexpected sources.
"I did get a lot of e-mails from teams who did it," Tiley said. "They said, 'Yes, we do this, and I'm so glad you stopped this.' Of course, they were anonymous."
The headhunter
One of the most delicate ethical questions takes place in mixed doubles matches. How far should a man go in attacking the woman on the opposing team, who tends to be the weaker opponent?
Some ALTA men think it's OK to aim at the opposing team's woman during the match to intimidate her. They use every wobbly sitter as a chance to tag the woman at the net.
Sometimes, they don't even wait until the match to start, says Rebecca Summerford, a 39-year-old ALTA player from Lithia Springs. Once, she was warming up against a mixed team when she lofted a practice overhead to the male player on the other side of the net.
He promptly smacked her with an overhead that raised a welt on her body.
"No apologies or nothing," she says. "He just turned around, and it was done."
Summerford faced a choice. Turn the other cheek or an eye for an eye? She chose the latter. "It was on from the first game," she says.
Her team started trying to hit the other team. They won, and the man who hit her shook her hand afterward, "but there was no eye contact," she says, laughing.
The liar
People laughed at the Jim Carrey character in "Liar Liar," who simply couldn't tell the truth. Yet ALTA players don't find it funny with opponents who lie about line calls and other matters on the court.
Teams without enough players for a given match are known to bring in impostors who assume the identities of absent players rather than forfeit a match.
That trick can lead to some comical situations. Carter, from Douglasville, says he's met players who are identified by one name in the lineup card. But during the match, "players start calling them by another name."
Tilley says ALTA suspended several players when it found their names on an ALTA lineup and USTA lineup for matches that took place at the same time on the same day.
"They can't play at two places at the same location," she says.
ALTA has stripped teams of their coveted championship bag tags for playing impostors.
Other players lie in other ways. Players can call a "let" if they are distracted during play and replay the point. Flynn, the teaching pro, says people abuse that rule.
"Someone serves, and they ace that person, but maybe there was something going on the other side like somebody is talking, and they'll call a let even when it was obvious that it wasn't loud enough to distract them," Flynn says.
Some liars routinely call balls out that are in. Tennis etiquette dictates that if a player is unsure of a call, he or she should give it to their opponent.
There are some notorious ALTA players, though, who operate by a different rule, Flynn says.
"If it's a real critical juncture in the match and all of a sudden a ball that's been in all day has now been called out," Flynn says, "there's a pretty good chance that the call might be bad."
The tank artist
Tammy Washington, a 37-year-old ALTA player from Stone Mountain, says another form of cheating takes place when a player deliberately loses a match so he or she won't play tougher competition the next season.
ALTA, like the K-Swiss league, will move players who have an outstanding season to a tougher level the next season. Washington says she has seen players tank matches to inferior opponents just so they can stay at the same level and collect trophies.
The lawyer
Then there are the ALTA players who constantly invoke obscure rules to rattle opponents.
Ed Orick, a 61-year-old former ALTA member, recalls playing against one team like that. He and a new partner called out to each other during play with phrases such as "Got you covered" or "Back up!"
The other team claimed they couldn't talk to each other because the rule book forbids "coaching."
"They said you can't talk because you're messing up our shots," Orick says. "I said, 'That's crazy.' "
Ron Steiger, a 41-year-old ALTA member who played for a team in Smyrna, says he played against a doubles team that invoked one of the most seldom-called violations in tennis —- the foot fault.
It occurs when a player's foot brushes or goes over the baseline when serving. It is rarely called because it's difficult to spot and at a beginner's level, and so many people have awkward service motions.
Steiger says he was playing a crucial playoffs doubles match in a third-set tiebreaker when the opposing team called a foot fault on his partner's second service —- on match point. His team lost the match on a foot-fault call.
"There was almost a fight," Steiger says. "Our guy came to the net and said, 'You can't call it now.' It was the first time they called it the entire match."
Tilley says those situations are rare in ALTA, though. Most ALTA players are good sports. She's even received word from teams who complimented the teams they lost to.
"They've written letters about their opponents and said, 'We had the most wonderful time today. We had fun. It was social. We had good food, and they made wonderful line calls,' " Tilley says. "Those are the kind of people who make it worth it."
SOME 'CODE' GUIDELINES
ALTA and the USTA recommend a book called "The Code" by Col. Nick Powel to use in conjunction with league rules. A few of "The Code's" suggestions:
> Courtesy: Conducting loud postmortems after points and complaining about shots like lobs and drop shots is not acceptable. Nor is embarrassing a weak opponent by being overly gracious or condescending.
> Line calls: Opponent gets the benefit of the doubt. When in doubt about a line call, "any doubt must be resolved in favor of the opponent."
> Partner disagreement on calls: If doubles partners disagree about whether their opponents' ball was out, they shall call it good.
> Spectators making calls: A player shall not enlist the aid of a spectator in making a call. No spectator has a part in the match.
> Feinting with the body during play: A player may feint with the body while the ball is in play. A player may change position at any time, including while the server is tossing the ball. Any movement or sound that is made solely to distract an opponent —- including, but not limited to, waving the arms or racket or stamping the feet —- is not allowed.