Archive for January 3, 2013

.. cheat .. is always an option

Can’t win on court? Cheat. We’re playing the same team that tempered with our line up (but got swept anyway last time). Tonight, their 2D won the first set at 5 but we were up in the 2nd Set (4-3) when the Court Clock read 9:53. During the change over the opponents purposely waited at the bench while my players were on the court ready to receive. After a prolonged moment, my pair approached the opponents to urge them to start to play. But the opponents stated that according to the time on their personal watch it was 9:55. My players challenged their position as the court clock clearly had it at least 7 to 8 minutes to 10pm.

One of the rules ..

Timing Matches: If a clock is visible from the courts, then players must go by the time on that clock. If a clock is not visible, players must use the match ending device determined by their captains.

The male player from the opposing team stated that ‘it doesn’t matter as we are electing to take the 90 second change over break’ and that would put the time at 9:55. (Please keep in mind, throughout the match they never took 90 seconds during any of the change overs.)

Is this allowed – that to use 90-seconds change over allowance to exhaust the time in a timed match? Regardless of the rules, it doesn’t sound good sport to me. But the league coordinator ruled that yes it is allowed. They can take 90 second change over allowance in a timed match, and to end a match.

The league coordinator wrote that “no one can deny the 90 second changeover ..” guess the answer is yes.

As to the time device: we’ve been playing at Westside for a long time and everyone knows there are clocks on the wall. So no one ever bothered to decide which time device to use. Actually no one bothered to decide on a time device when there is NO clocks on the wall. We all depend on the goodness and fairness in us.

As it turned out, our 1D was also a timed match and they were still playing when the argument began on the 2D court. Isn’t this a clear indication that there was more than 5 minutes left on the clock? Both my 1D and 3D players said 2D stopped well before 9:55.

I’m thinking: they were leading but to clinch the match win, they resorted to the unsportsman conduct .. does it still feel good at the end of the day? The pitiful team (sorry don’t mean to rub salt .. ) is the 4th on the 6-team division, with 27 points (we’re the 3rd place team with 49 points, as of 12/25/2012). I never like to brag but I’ve to say that my team always do well, only because I’ve great players who are considerate and fair, good sportsmen (and sportswomen, to be PC). Kids, please keep up the good work and deed. At the end of the day, goodness always will trump the evils.

A little side note: Denise was scheduled to play the 3D. I asked Cate to take one of the balls as souvenir for Lady D. The opponents were the home team so they provided the balls. When Cate asked for the balls, the captain said no. After Cate explained the reason, the captain reluctantly surrendered one ball, saying she wanted to bring the rest to her dog.

How I handled a similar match on Jan 18, 2013.

The back and forth emails; back more problems

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