Now any parent of a competitive tennis player knows that playing competitive junior tennis requires an immense amount of commitment from the parents. I'm not some wealthy guy who can pay to have their coach drive / fly them to tournaments. I'm just a regular guy, with a regular day job, trying to let my kids compete in the sport they love. I never played tennis as a youth and to be honest, I don't really care about tennis - my sport is soccer. I'm just a regular dad who is trying to support their kids.
When I see an injustice like I am about to explain, it irks me. Not because it's that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but because I feel like it's just rotten. And most importantly, it's just wrong. The USTA (and SCTA) are a big monopoly. There is really no other place to go if your kid wants to play competitive junior tennis in the US. Yes, there are other leagues, but let's be real, the USTA / SCTA are a monopoly. People are probably scared to upset the people there, probably worried about rocking the boat, or retribution -- not me.
There are a few big tournaments a year, for which there are big points. These are called "designated" tournaments - and getting far in them (or even winning them) is prestigious. It really means something. One of these tournament is the "71st Annual Fullerton Junior Closed Tournament." The doubles draw for boys 12s for this tournament were made as such:
On the number 3 line is my kid, Zachary Pellouchoud (and his doubles partner - Jiaxi Ma). As you can see, they are unseeded and would wind up facing the #1 seed if they got past their first opponents in the round of 16. It's not like I'm scared of the #1 seed, but you will see from the e-mail exchange below, it is simply unfair.
I had so many people text message me about how crazy this was and how it didn't make any sense and how I should complain to the director. So, I did (the guy on the CC is the head of the SCTA).
From: Phil Pellouchoud <ppellouchoud@dexcom.com>
Subject: 71st Annual Fullerton Junior Closed Tournament (Level 2)
Date: January 24, 2016 at 8:15:47 PM PST
To: tensmd@aol.com
Cc: TKronemann@scta.usta.com
Hi,
I am trying to understand how the seeding got done for the Boys 12s doubles in this tournament.
I am looking at the doubles ranking for SCTA and I see the following:
Zachary Pellouchoud and Jiaxi Ma are ranked 2 and 10 respectively yet are unseeded for this tournament.
#1 seed Sebastian Gorzny and Dominique Rolland are ranked 6 and 14 respectively
#2 seed Hudson Rivera and Chase Thompson are ranked 4 and 5 respectively
#3 seed Nathan Caoile and Marcus Sebastian 63 and 17 respectively!!!!!!
#4 seed Kai Braver and Rithvik Krishna are ranked 8 and 11 respectively
What formula is being used to determine the seeding here? Because I can’t figure out any rational scheme that would have Zachary and Jiaxi unseeded compared to the existing seeds (especially #3).
-phil
I expected that the seeding would be changed. We're plenty far from the start of the tournament that no one could legitimately complain they didn't know the draw had changed and when something is wrong, you should fix it. I don't know what kind of math they are using, but I cannot come up with any scheme that would have Zack and Jiaxi unseeded compared to the other seeded pairs. Sum of doubles rankings, average of doubles rankings, highest ranking, lowest ranking -- I just don't get it. Maybe they used common core math to come up with the seeding. I just would like a clear and transparent explanation.
Needless to say - here was the director's response:
From: David Nowick <tensmd@aol.com>
Subject: Re: 71st Annual Fullerton Junior Closed Tournament (Level 2)
Date: January 25, 2016 at 2:42:55 PM PST
To: ppellouchoud@Dexcom.com
after reviewing with SCTA
seedings will stand as posted
best of luck
dave
I responded to his e-mail asking for what the formula is for determining the seedings - no response yet.
The USTA/SCTA creates a point system whereby they use it for determining seeding (or at least are supposed to). The ranking (determined by total points accumulated) also determine who gets invited to special events like Team events (e.g. Tommy Tucker), "Zonals" and "National" tournaments. When the integrity of the system cannot be trusted, when directors and officials start making things up without explanation or act in a prejudiced manner - the people in the system need to speak out, and that's what I'm doing.
Phil,
ReplyDeleteThank you for having the courage to finally shine the light on what we have all been experiencing for years. The SCTA operates with the impunity of an organization that is not used to being held accountable because parents like you are often too afraid to speak up. I am glad you chose to do so.
First, regarding your case. Zack and Jessie won the Level 2 National Tournament at Lakewood in October over a really tough field. Based on their rankings, their performance in big tournaments, etc., they should clearly be seeded #1 or #2. All of the parents in boys 12s would agree with this. The proof will be in the pudding when Zack and Jesse finish first or second.
Second, when incidents like this occur, it is VERY IMPORTANT that we name names. In this case the seeding was very likely done by TREVOR KRONEMANN, the new SCTA director of junior tennis. Trevor is new on the job and yet felt comfortable ignoring the rankings and results when seeding teams. What does Trever know that we don't? Does Trevor know that Zack has won multiple big doubles tournaments with multiple partners? Does he know that the 3 and 4 seeds have virtually no history of results in doubles? Trevor ignored the rankings and results and we need to make sure he answers for this.
Trevor, we need transparency!!!
Trevor Kronemann (Photo Here)
Director, Junior Tennis
(310) 208-3838
tkronemann@scta.usta.com
Trevor reports to Bruce Hunt – Bruce we need answers!!!
Bruce Hunt (Photo Here)
Executive Director
(310) 208-3838
bhunt@scta.usta.com
Bruce reports to Bill Kellogg:
Bill (Photo Here) is Czar of the SCTA. He has basically run the SCTA since 2009.
Learn about Bill here
Trevor, Bruce, Bill, please post your response here; SCTA Parents are waiting for your response.
Phil, you are hitting the nail on the head. This doesn't seem like rocket science. It's not clear how these things happen. To me, it looks like directors just don't care. How else could they not have Jessie Ma and Zach seeded (and seeded high)?
ReplyDeleteTake for example the case of my son at the Tommy Tucker tournament. We arrived and my son was assigned line 2. This tournament is a team event where they get to compete at their level. Playing the higher line is a huge honor and challenge.
In this event, the director had a nice little color coded sheet. When one of the top lined players pulled out, the director simply didn't want to modify his prized paper. Instead of moving my kid up to the rightful line up (which is important on so many levels), he decided to move up the next kid on the same team (a kid that's 20 or so spots below my kid). This was all for the convenience of a color coded sheet. I talked to him about this and he flat out told me he wouldn't do it. I called Bruce and Trevor and the director's tune changed quickly. To be fair to these guys, they then followed up with me to make sure things had been rectified. Their efforts were appreciated. With that said, the question remains: why are lazy directors allowed to get away with these things? This bozo that runs Tommy Tucker will still run it next year. He did the same thing last year to my kid so I was expecting it.
There are so many stories like this for so many kids. We get line judges who shrug their shoulders and say "I wasn't watching" even after they have been called to the court. I've seen line judges flat out say they aren't going out to the courts (during very high stakes matches). Has anyone ever played a match at Katella High School? Can you really tell me this is an appropriate environment to foster youth tennis? The courts were so filthy that my kid slipped and injured himself (his lone default in the middle of a match ever..it was tied one set a piece but he couldn't play the tiebreaker).
The SCTA has some serious problems and to be fair, Trevor is just getting on board. CTC is a team program for the best So Cal players and t's going to look disastrous this year. The top players simply won't compete. You can see this coming. The USTA is losing folks. When you look at these types of situations, you can see why.
Change really has to happen. Help.
Hi Every One,
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