Violence used on the court! Can't believe it!

[goober]

Originally Posted by max

Yeah. The thing to do would have been to understand that the guy was pretty confused and upset, rather than jack up the problem. In that situation, I would have just taken the water bottle shot, and forgiven him. People make mistakes. A temperate response would have been the way to go.

I have been hit with a 90 mph serve in the back of my neck. Somewhat who reacts like that after a 50 mph serve in the butt is out of control. Letting him get away with a violent response lashing out at the wrong person is not doing him any favors. This guy is an adult not a little kid. Starting a fight would not have been right, but having this guy being charged with something would not be totally crazy either. At some point you have to learn the are consequences for your actions. Maybe if he faces consequences for this minor act, he will think twice if he is going to lash out at his wife or someone at a bar where the consequences could be much more severe.

[Mike Bulgakov]

Martini, what scenario do you envision if you called the police: they handcuff him, take him to jail, press charges, then hold a lengthy trial? Isn't kicking him out of the class enough?

[Dedans Penthouse]

Take the high road: urinate in his tennis bag.

[martini1]

Originally Posted by Mike Bulgakov

Martini, what scenario do you envision if you called the police: they handcuff him, take him to jail, press charges, then hold a lengthy trial? Isn't kicking him out of the class enough?

My goal was not pressing charges or sue for anything, but to scare him enough so he won't do anything stupid later. A mere kicking him out is enough IF he is a normal law binding citizen who made a stupid mistake. But what if he does that all the time or he is a psychopath? Only the cops can find out on that one. At least we got a heads up.

You never know these days...

[martini1]

Originally Posted by mikeler

Hmm, his weapon was a water bottle which he lost after throwing it. At that point, he is defenseless against my Prince Exo Tour in hand assuming I can catch him...and I probably can...

I was holding a brand new Steam 99S. Not worth breaking it IMO!

[jaggy]

Yall are not giving the assault rifle thing a chance now are yall

[goran_ace]

A lot of different things went wrong here. Poor court etiquette all around. When you have a lot of people on a court you need to be aware of each other.

- You shouldn't have been practicing serves with people entering the court or unpacking bags on the side in the first place. They are in the line of fire and may not be paying attention.
- Likewise the crazy guy knew people were hitting so he should be aware that balls flying in his vicinity and getting hit is not out of the realm of possibility.
- The teen should have immediately stopped and apologized when the guy was hit by his serve. Doesn't matter if it was a 15 mph serve or a 100 mph serve. Did you guys keep playing like nothing happened? If so, then yeah I can see someone getting upset about getting hit.

I think the part that I find worst about it is that the coach didn't have control of his court. Its common for students to show up early and get in some extra warm up, but once he's on the court he needs to be in charge. He let everyone warm up for 10 more minutes and then tried to resolve it? When I was teaching I never had adults get in a fight, but little boys do all the time and you have to know how to handle that. One or both of you is getting sent off the court. If he's worried about potentially losing the crazy guy as a student he needs to think about if he lets him stay he may lose several students (e.g. you, the teen, or maybe other people don't feel safe anymore with the other guy around knowing the coach won't do anything if he snaps again)

You must have been playing on public courts because if this were at a tennis club the coach probably would have had some paperwork to fill out after an incident like that. The other guy would likely have been kicked out of the lesson and management would probably want to have a sit-down talk with him about how assaulting another member may result in forfeiting his membership.

[goober]

Originally Posted by jaggy

Yall are not giving the assault rifle thing a chance now are yall

Nah Biden told us to switch to shotguns. Easier to aim. But harder to fit into your tennis bag. I will probably have to saw it off to fit.

[WildVolley]

I wasn't there, but I tend to think that the OP could have been fully justified to call the police.

A water bottle, especially if full, is heavy enough to do some serious damage. I could probably easily cause a concussion by chucking a water bottle into someone's head.

I might have called the police, especially since my natural reaction would be to settle that particular problem with my fists. Better to have clearly defined boundaries than to potentially escalate into a situation in which I might be arrested.

[martini1]

Originally Posted by goran_ace

A lot of different things went wrong here. Poor court etiquette all around. When you have a lot of people on a court you need to be aware of each other.

- You shouldn't have been practicing serves with people entering the court or unpacking bags on the side in the first place. They are in the line of fire and may not be paying attention.
- Likewise the crazy guy knew people were hitting so he should be aware that balls flying in his vicinity and getting hit is not out of the realm of possibility.
- The teen should have immediately stopped and apologized when the guy was hit by his serve. Doesn't matter if it was a 15 mph serve or a 100 mph serve. Did you guys keep playing like nothing happened? If so, then yeah I can see someone getting upset about getting hit.

I think the part that I find worst about it is that the coach didn't have control of his court. Its common for students to show up early and get in some extra warm up, but once he's on the court he needs to be in charge. He let everyone warm up for 10 more minutes and then tried to resolve it? When I was teaching I never had adults get in a fight, but little boys do all the time and you have to know how to handle that. One or both of you is getting sent off the court. If he's worried about potentially losing the crazy guy as a student he needs to think about if he lets him stay he may lose several students (e.g. you, the teen, or maybe other people don't feel safe anymore with the other guy around knowing the coach won't do anything if he snaps again)

You must have been playing on public courts because if this were at a tennis club the coach probably would have had some paperwork to fill out after an incident like that. The other guy would likely have been kicked out of the lesson and management would probably want to have a sit-down talk with him about how assaulting another member may result in forfeiting his membership.

The rec classes in this particular area is pretty free flow. The coach was a little bit late that night so it is not out of line if ppl just started to warm up. However I do agree with you the kid was a little too careless on his choice on firing his own "fast" flat serves with no aim.

Once I was yelling at him I know the kid was probably a little scared to step up to do anything. And I intended not to direct at blame at him at that point. I did not want the crazy guy to do anything to the kid! It happened too quickly, the kid did say sorry but the crazy guy never heard him.

I had a brief conversation with the coach last night at the class and he agreed he should have thrown the guy out immediately to prevent any further development of the confrontation. He then explained he knows this guy a little bit and believed he is a good person (which I think he is just too kind to his own students). Of course he is reluctant to call the cops in his own class. I am not sure if this is the right mindset for him. He agreed.

The coach said the same thing. He sees little kids fight all the time and he handled the kids well. He have never had adults fighting in the class so it caught him off guide. He knows me pretty well and may be because of that he thought if he asked me to clam down and not retaliate may be the situation would be resolved. At the end he did agree in the conversation it was not enough.

[martini1]

Originally Posted by WildVolley

I wasn't there, but I tend to think that the OP could have been fully justified to call the police.

A water bottle, especially if full, is heavy enough to do some serious damage. I could probably easily cause a concussion by chucking a water bottle into someone's head.

I might have called the police, especially since my natural reaction would be to settle that particular problem with my fists. Better to have clearly defined boundaries than to potentially escalate into a situation in which I might be arrested.

I totally agree with you. It's always a good preventive move. And I also talked to the coach about not knowing who this guy really is. May be he has prior records. Who knows?

[NoZak Djokovic]

Originally Posted by Dedans Penthouse

Take the high road: urinate in his tennis bag.

BEST OPTION

[Andyroo10567]

Originally Posted by NoZak Djokovic

BEST OPTION

I second this. Maybe if you have a dog, feed him some yummy dog food and let him poop out a "monster". The "monster" is key in this situation. I would like you to figure out the rest if you may.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by Dedans Penthouse

Take the high road: urinate in his tennis bag.

Isn't that the usual thing to do? Does anyone really "go to the bathroom" during a break in a tennis match?

[Steve Huff]

public court--fairly new players--no bag, just a racket

[norbac]

Props to OP for handling the situation well and keeping a cool head.

[Andyroo10567]

Originally Posted by Steve Huff

public court--fairly new players--no bag, just a racket

Replacement grips and overgrips are absorbent for a reason. If you know what i mean.

[Cindysphinx]

Originally Posted by norbac

Props to OP for handling the situation well and keeping a cool head.

Yes, but OP should have told the coach to make the guy leave the class that moment and for good, and if not call the cops.

[NoZak Djokovic]

steal his racket and GONZO it

[Bobby Jr]

It entertains me greatly to see a situation like this discussed by mostly American people and it basically revolves around the "you should sue him.." theme.