kylebarendrick
Professional
After reading the constant threads from "he who shall be left nameless" I can no longer resist the urge to post a few facts for the sandbagging discussion.
FWIW, I'm not writing this as a "whiner and complainer". I've played on two teams that won my section and have won a flight at nationals. I also have friends that played on the Norcal team that won 3.5 nationals in 2006. Keeping some of this stuff in mind definitely helps me to have more fun on the tennis courts.
1) Virtually everybody that plays at nationals is ready to play at the next level.
2) Winning nationals at the 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, or even 4.5 levels means that you suck. A good 5.0 player would clean your clock - heck a good 12-year old girl would make a 3.0/3.5 look like a fool on the court.
3) Your winning team will be merely average at the next level.
4) Any team that wins their league, section, or nationals will likely be accused of cheating/sandbagging. Deal with it.
5) If your players self-rated according to the guidelines and everyone played every match to the best of their abilities, then you don't need to worry about those accusations - you played by the rules and someone has to win.
6) Some people really do cheat - they drop games/matches to keep their ratings down and hide during the regular season. The result? See #2 above.
7) Nobody outside of your team really knows if you played fair or not. No amount of explanation will change that. Again, deal with it.
8) Winning is fun. Losing should be also, if you have the right attitude.
FWIW, I'm not writing this as a "whiner and complainer". I've played on two teams that won my section and have won a flight at nationals. I also have friends that played on the Norcal team that won 3.5 nationals in 2006. Keeping some of this stuff in mind definitely helps me to have more fun on the tennis courts.
1) Virtually everybody that plays at nationals is ready to play at the next level.
2) Winning nationals at the 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, or even 4.5 levels means that you suck. A good 5.0 player would clean your clock - heck a good 12-year old girl would make a 3.0/3.5 look like a fool on the court.
3) Your winning team will be merely average at the next level.
4) Any team that wins their league, section, or nationals will likely be accused of cheating/sandbagging. Deal with it.
5) If your players self-rated according to the guidelines and everyone played every match to the best of their abilities, then you don't need to worry about those accusations - you played by the rules and someone has to win.
6) Some people really do cheat - they drop games/matches to keep their ratings down and hide during the regular season. The result? See #2 above.
7) Nobody outside of your team really knows if you played fair or not. No amount of explanation will change that. Again, deal with it.
8) Winning is fun. Losing should be also, if you have the right attitude.