Quote:
Originally Posted by Cindysphinx
Moving the whole team will result in people playing up who are not ready and cannot compete at the higher level. How does that benefit anyone?
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It benefits the player who is out of his/her depth by exposing him/her to higher-level tennis. Then, when that player goes to play on a non-combo team at his/her rating, those matches will be easier.
I have personal experience with this. When I got back into tennis, I was playing 4.0 leagues in MD and not really improving all that quickly (just barely beating my recently bumped 4.0 brother). When I moved to the UK, I was on a newly formed team at my club that had to start off in a lower division (teams are bumped up and down rather than individual players) and play its way up, so I still wasn't improving all that quickly (still barely beating my brother on occasional visits).
Eventually, I got moved to our top team and started playing matches against some of the top players in the county and practicing with some of the top guys at the club. Even though I was out of my depth at first, I improved dramatically in a fairly short period of time. Now, whenever I visit my brother, I beat him and his 4.0 buddies quite easily, especially in doubles. They've plateaued playing competitive matches against similar opponents, whereas I've continued to improve playing the occasional match against far better opponents.