Fiend at Court Unplugged
I have never seen anyone actively charting matches during high school or collegiate team tennis. It astonishes me that match charting isn’t a compulsory duty of players who are on the roster but not in the lineup on match day. It is an opportunity loss on an epic scale.
Coaching is allowed in high school and collegiate tennis. As a result, I have witnessed coaches stride onto a court for a match without watching a single point to render advice. On some occasions, I have observed coaching direction that is incongruent with the actual play. I’m not sure that I could ever be one of those coaches who issues confident advice without some insight into what was actually happening.
On one memorable occasion, I witnessed a coach berate a doubles team because the net player was retreating to the baseline before each second serve. The “coaching” was expressed in absolutes: “NEVER give up your offensive position at the net.” Better advice to the team in that situation is that they needed to work on improving that second serve so the net player wasn’t in literal peril each time one was put into play. My bahoola would have been planted on the baseline after balls started whistling past my ears, too.
Most schools have more players than what is needed for a team dual match. My daughter’s high school team carried more than double the players required at the varsity level. One of the advantages is that the team always had a built in cheering section. The disadvantage is that it leaves the coaches with a lot of kids to manage on the sidelines with matches in progress. There is a fine line between a cheering section and a loud and obnoxious mob.
I always thought that the obvious solution would be to assign non-playing members of the roster to chart a particular match. It gives those players a “job” while also ensuring that each match in progress has has active spectators who are collecting data that might help a coach provide quality advice rather than just guessing.
Charted match data would also allow for analysis that can lead to practice and drills that address issues that are exhibited in competition. Additionally, I believe that there is benefit to a person that charts a match. It is one thing to be told anecdotally how effective a hard body serve can be. It is another entirely to see it unfold throughout a match as the statistics mount on paper.
My daughter played four years of high school varsity tennis and not once did I see any team chart matches. Additionally, I attend some collegiate matches at a nationally ranked NCAA Division I school in my area and I don’t see match charting there either.
With a lot of upside and no downside that I can perceive, I am genuinely surprised that match charting isn’t a prevalent practice in team tennis settings. Opportunity lost.
