Fiend at Court Unplugged
A couple of months ago, I posted a series on “The Ethics of Captaining Multiple USTA League Teams.” That topic was prompted by a spirited discussion in the Facebook group of the Texas Tournament players about a proposed rule change in the Austin CTA to limit people from captaining two teams in the same league. That proposal had already been voted down twice.
My previous series outlined the likely logic behind the decision that the Capital Area Tennis Association (CATA) made. Additionally it highlighted the impacts on the incentives that the proposal would have on both captains and players. In general, the USTA at any level should not create rules that make it harder to form league teams. Reducing playing opportunities is contrary to the mission of the USTA.
At the time the original series was written, I observed that this perceived conflict of interest could also occur in post season play. In fact I was sure that it has happened before, but I was just too lazy to look for it at the time. In the interim, the USTA League gods delivered an interesting case in point directly to my inbox via the Dallas Tennis Associations monthly “Drop Shots” newsletter.
Christy Vutam’s No Lose Scenario
The DTA recently concluded the Fall 2020 season with the fall League Championships which ran November 19-22. Essentially the DTA League Championships is a playoff between all the top performing teams from each league division.
Christy Vutam captained a team in both the DTA Friday and Sunday divisions. Both teams won their respective divisions. At NTRP levels where there are a lot of teams, more than one team advances to the playoffs and a round robin is played. For Women’s 4.5, only a single team advanced from each division. This set up a one match “winner take all” matchup between two teams from the same captain.
For the sake of transparency, I play regular practice singles matches against Christy. In fact we played a match the Friday before her two teams squared off in the Championships. We did not discuss the impending playoffs at all. Christy is not the kind of person to boast about her captaining prowess exhibited by advancing two teams to the Championships.
Medium Stakes
DTA runs two seasons. The Fall Season is what I would term “non-advancing” because it does not feed directly into Sectionals. The winner of the Spring/Summer Season Championships earns that berth. However, the winner of the DTA Fall Championship receives a wildcard into the Spring Playoffs. It is possible that Christy could have a team win that season as well.
In terms of the consequences of the outcome of the Championship match between Christy’s two teams, I would call this “medium stakes.” It is clearly more important than a regular season matchup between two teams in the same league division, but less than if this had occurred at the a the playoffs or Championships that advances a team to Sectionals.
Tomorrow we will dive into potential ways to handle this exact scenario as well as the general ethics and potential conflict of interest associated with this situation. Spoiler alert! Christy handled it pretty well.
- Drop Shots DTA’s Monthly Newsletter – December 2020, email dated December 1, 2020.
