Get off the courts!

[Cindysphinx]

See, this is why you should never jump into an 11-page thread without reading the whole thing first.

 

[precision2b]

If that's how you think then don't defend your kids when they're bullied at school. Don't sort it out with the parents. If your kids come crying to you, don't pay them any attention.

Actually, don't have kids period. They'll turn up to be like your classless self and fight fire with fire to make matters worse.

well said Say Chi Sin Lo

 

[TenS_Ace]

TTMR.. you posted this thread on 02-17-2013, 07:43 AM ...who you trying to FOOL You live in WINTERPEG! It must have been 4000 below Celcius when you and your buddy hit the courts with frozen tennis balls!
For the rest of the peeps that have responded, give the OP a break. He lives in a city and province that you can't get a beer after 7pm on a Sunday, he might be wound up tighter than a guitar string!
Come to Alberta and you can play pick up tennis anytime or book public courts AND have a beer after 7pm on a Sunday!! :twisted:

http://www.winnipeg.ca/publicworks/ParksandFields/Parks/Tenniscourts.asp

 

[Sakkijarvi]

This is all very interesting.

 

[Stevo Karlovic]

So I found out this week that due to lack of registrants, a few leagues have been merged together, and guess who's in mine! I'm scheduled to play him May 17th, barring snow.

I hope he works you. You're obviously the classless, hacker-type of tennis player. Try to take some time soon to attempt to learn how the world works. Here's your first lesson:

If you're half the tennis player you say you are, you should have privileged access to courts where you would never encounter such a dilemma.

 

[ark_28]

I think you were right and handled it we I would have done the same!

 

[Turbo-87]

Why are people still thinking this situation actually happened? lol

 

[precision2b]

Well nothing was stopping this 'coach' from informing me he was running a class sponsored by the parks department. He didn't, however. He simply wanted me to back down in a brazen assertion of his equally rotund ego.

Either way, given what he was teaching, he was doing possibly irreparable damage to these kids and their tennis potential. These kids would have learned far more about tennis by watching me and my partner play than by listening to their archaic coach.

Wow! I just throw up a little bit in my mouth… First time that I have ever done that… in your avatar, is that a brace you are wearing from being punched in your face?

 

[tennis tom]

To those who came late to this fantasy thread, in it's stone-age the OP said it never happened the way he first stated it. Someone from his area, Winnipeg, said it would have been dead of winter and freezing outside, I seriously doubt the tikes would have been taking a tennis lesson then, maybe ice hockey. I wouldn't waste anytime sifting though this thing, and the OP must have a lot of time on his hands to come up with fantasies like this, if you look at his pic in his icon you'll see why, probably works for the government and hasn't had a date lately.

But, just in case anyone finds any merit to his assertions, my coach and any good coach gathers in his charges for frequent chalk talks to TEACH tennis and not just demonstrate it. Apparently, the OP has never had a real coach who does this and did not understand what was going on--as if this situation ever occurred in the real world--but he has managed to stretch this thread out to amazing lengths. Perhaps he's going for a Guniness record or has a lot of time on his hands.

 

[beltsman]

Worst thread. I don't know how it works in Canada, but here in the US (at least where I live) public courts can be reserved for a small fee. If he paid for them to be reserved, then he's right. If he didn't, you're right. Pretty cut and dry.

 

[volleygirl]

Yes, true.

Next time, there are a few things OP could do that would be more productive.

Ask the guy his name. If he gives it, great. If not, it makes him look bad.

Go outside the fence, whip out your cell phone and take pics of him coaching. Get some close-ups, get some of the kids, get some of the signage to establish location. This might enrage him, but he can't do anything about it on account of all those witnesses, erm, I mean kids.

Then if you need to file a complaint, you are all set.

Much better than making snide remarks about the guy's technique or weight . . . .

The OP mentioning the coaches weight has nothing to do with this situation and its hilarious that so many on here keep referring to him bringing it up.

 

[precision2b]

Easily 95% of the ones I've attempted to use look like an obstacle course. Perhaps I am exaggerating a touch, but they are unplayable.

Yes I can believe that…

No, the real players were my friend and I, who provided a real display of modern tennis for those kids that were paying attention, in lieu of the coach's fraudulent instruction.



Yes, I've transformed my head to quite literally resemble a tennis ball. Few others here can claim such dedication to their craft.

Opps, second time today that I throw up a little bit in my mouth…

I never would have guessed tennis ball, maybe D**K Head...

 

[Bedrock]

So the other day my bud and I decided to play tennis after a relatively long layoff. As you probably do not know, 95% of the public courts in my city are unplayable; they usually have fixed "nets" made of wire mesh, fading boundary lines, potholes galore (much like the roads) and holes and openings in the back and side fences. Clubs are obscenely priced and their courts always in use. This forces what few tennis players there are onto a few centrally located decently maintained public courts.

As we approach we see this oaf teaching about nine or ten kids. There are four courts at this location and it looked like he was only using two at the time doing some silly drills. We get our equipment and head onto the furthest court out and this 300 lb instructor yells out, "Hey buddy, we got these reserved". Quite an odd statement. I did not know you could "reserve" public courts.

"Until when?" I asked.

"'Till 11," he replied. It was 9:30 at the time.

"Well, you're not even using these two over here," I answered.

"Doesn't matter, we will be. We got them reserved."

"These are public courts, how can they be 'reserved'?"

"We're here every week at this time."

"But that doesn't mean they're 'reserved' for you."

"If I give'em up for you then I have to give'em up for everyone."

My playing partner interjected, "Why don't we go play squash instead?"

"No. We're here to play tennis. This guy doesn't own the courts. We're taxpayers. We're playing."

"No, you're not. I've just finished my drill. My kids are starting their practice sets now. Ethan, Jessica, you two come over and play on this court," pointing to the one we were standing on. The kids quickly come and start a rally. It was clear the coach was now in aggressive mode, assuming we would yield once the kids began playing. As a side note, we saw their "coach" lived up to the stereotype; the kids were hitting with closed stances, eastern forehands with no topspin and finishing above the shoulder. The balls were your typical dead ones from Wal-Mart. No doubt their parents were being suckered and scammed hard.

I smiled sardonically and shook my head. "I'm sorry, 'coach' (I emphasized the scare quotes visually this time), we're taking the court. If you want to teach, you book a court with a club."

My friend and I pulled out our racquets and balls and began hitting right then and there, with the kids hitting at the same time. Once they lost control of a ball and had to go chase it, we were in control of the court and they didn't try to reclaim it.

The coach stared me down and yelled, "I'm gonna report you!"

"Yeah, you do that," I responded contemptuously without looking back at him.

We finished our match with the irritating disruption of kids running onto our courts to retrieve their errant balls, but we made our stand. Who did this jerk think he was trying to make money off of public courts? If you want to coach, you reserve a court with your club. I don't care if you have to raise prices or won't make enough money. A match between two or four adult players takes precedence over some plump clown hitting around with kiddies for money. I hope this fatso goes bankrupt.

How do you think I handled the situation? Did I do the right thing?

Thank you very much for giving him a good lesson !
However adult matches does not take priority over practice and vice versa.
First come - first play. Common policy does not allow to just hold a tennis court to use it later.
Good coach would call kids back once other people come to play.
At least this is how it works in my village.

 

[precision2b]

man are you full of yourself. if truth be know I bet when you were small your mother more than likely had to tie a pork chop around neck to get the dog to play with you…

 

[Bedrock]

Yes, public courts are often reserved for lessons, drills, etc. There should be a sign posted on what time and for what purpose the courts are reserved. Sometimes, though, the parks department is too unorganized to actually post the appropriate sign. The guy may very well have been teaching a parks department class for which he got paid little, if anything, because he wants to help kids learn tennis. Maybe he is just doing this on his own for free to help the neighborhood kids.

Of course you are far too important to take the needs of some lowly ragamuffins into account.

From the post there is no evidence that this guy was doing the lessons legally.

 

[tennis tom]

From the post there is no evidence that this guy was doing the lessons legally.

Were you expecting there to be? Many here asked him to call the rec dept to find out--no reply so far from the OP--not holding our breaths.

 

[Cindysphinx]

Eleven+ pages.

It's like an 80-car pile-up. Mustn't stare. . . Must look away . . . Not strong enough . . .

 

[Bedrock]

Were you expecting there to be? Many here asked him to call the rec dept to find out--no reply so far from the OP--not holding our breaths.

Al least the reservation information (schedule) suppose to be available as well as contact information. Usually it is right on the gates.

 

[tennis tom]

Al least the reservation information (schedule) suppose to be available as well as contact information. Usually it is right on the gates.

We queered him on that also, I don't believe he bothered to check, he went right for the gut--were you his partner on that cold fateful fantasized day?

 

[Jimmyk459]

Tennis courts are a scarce commodity. I don't live in a city with a nice, usable tennis court in every neighbourhood. There have to be measures taken to ensure the greatest benefit for the greatest number of players. One guy hoarding the courts so he can teach children methods that will handicap their tennis for life--for money, I might add--is a misallocation of a scarce public resource.

Maybe I should have simply relented for the sake of the children, but then this guy would have persisted. I stood up against this abusive practice, and I'd do it again. I probably did him a favour. Other people might not have been as charitable about seizing the court as I was.

OP, clearly you are just looking for us to justify your (IMO very poor) actions. This is evident in almost all of your defensive responses and lack of appropriate POLL choices.

Why ask a question if you don't really want to hear the answer?

 

[Turbo-87]

OP, clearly you are just looking for us to justify your (IMO very poor) actions. This is evident in almost all of your defensive responses and lack of appropriate POLL choices.

Why ask a question if you don't really want to hear the answer?

The whole thing is made up and a lot of us fell for it, hook, line and sinker. The guy is good at what he does and I am NOT talking tennis.

 

[TTMR]

I cant wait to hear the results of the match! How ironic!

But for the record I agree with what you did. I hate court bullies who use PUBLIC courts to teach and make $. Not fair to tax payers. I would have done the exact same thing.

Thanks for your support, friend. What people don't realize is I wasn't just taking the court for me, I was standing up for the community, the public, the taxpayer. It is such seminal moments as this when our principles and our mettle are tested. I'd like to think I'll be remembered as a man of stalwart conscience and integrity.

As for the match, I was really looking forward to it, but it was cancelled due to rain (better than snow). Nevertheless, I remain confident that I'll batter Humpty soon enough.

 

[tennis tom]

TTMR, go write for Letterman he needs it.

 

[nocturn11]

Thanks for your support, friend. What people don't realize is I wasn't just taking the court for me, I was standing up for the community, the public, the taxpayer. It is such seminal moments as this when our principles and our mettle are tested. I'd like to think I'll be remembered as a man of stalwart conscience and integrity.

I think that's just a wee bit of overreaching.

 

[nocturn11]

If this was really about some deeper morality, why not take it up with public officials? I would think that such action would elicit a much more decisive response (and, potentially, a more permanent one).

 

[LeftyRighty]

Something like this happened to me today.

I play at public courts Wednesdays with friends and 5 kids from a school down the street randomly showed up on the courts (which never happens).

They just walked all on the courts, moved our bags off the bench, and some were running around the courts all LOUD.

They were aggravating the coach during a lesson, but he was calm about it and just kept going. They were being very rude, but hey they're kids without parents around, so..yeah.

I let one play with me but he didn't know how. They were rude about it, and took some of our balls, and were being loud while kept trying to play, so we gave them the court (after only being there 45 mins).

Their teacher didn't show up so my friend started showing them how to actually hold the racquet and swing right.

The teacher showed about 10 mins later, and didn't say a word to us (which came across very rude to us).

They are public courts, and yeah, we didn't HAVE to leave...but they were kids, and you never know...that one lesson could have made one kid LOVE tennis.

 

[Turbo-87]

You did well. TTMR would have the kids ground up and fed to feral pigs.

 

[tennis tom]

Something like this happened to me today.

I play at public courts Wednesdays with friends and 5 kids from a school down the street randomly showed up on the courts (which never happens).

They just walked all on the courts, moved our bags off the bench, and some were running around the courts all LOUD.

They were aggravating the coach during a lesson, but he was calm about it and just kept going. They were being very rude, but hey they're kids without parents around, so..yeah.

I let one play with me but he didn't know how. They were rude about it, and took some of our balls, and were being loud while kept trying to play, so we gave them the court (after only being there 45 mins).

Their teacher didn't show up so my friend started showing them how to actually hold the racquet and swing right.

The teacher showed about 10 mins later, and didn't say a word to us (which came across very rude to us).

They are public courts, and yeah, we didn't HAVE to leave...but they were kids, and you never know...that one lesson could have made one kid LOVE tennis.

The tyranny of the children. You should call the principal pf the school and inform him/her of what his/her charges are doing to the community when allowed to be loose untethered. Maybe those who dare to play on "public" courts should at least be packen' some mace in their bags along with the Gatorade.

 

[Bdarb]

should at least be packen' some mace in their bags along with the Gatorade.

You don't??

 

[Turbo-87]

You don't??

I have seen these around:

 

[tennis tom]

You don't??

I'm in kali, where if you so much as whip a perp with a wet peacock feather in an effort to defend yourself, you'll be sued for over-use of deadly force.

 

[LeftyRighty]

Yeah I play in ghetto parks all the time. Last week someone was shot in the park while I was playing. Thanks to that, I won the match

Sorry but if you run from bullets while I serve, thats an ace.

 

[qKickServe]

Public courts should not be used for profit (paid lessons for adults or kids) or Pickleball

 

[Turbo-87]

Where were you 8 years ago?

 

[TTMR]

That reminds me. A couple years back, I remember seeing what seemed to be a familiar face in an obit. Didn't think too much of it but then took a closer look a few days later when I was recycling the paper. It was him! Said he was a "pillar of the community". I know one's not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but give me a break. More like a pillar of ham.

 

[TennisDawg]

Well nothing was stopping this 'coach' from informing me he was running a class sponsored by the parks department. He didn't, however. He simply wanted me to back down in a brazen assertion of his equally rotund ego.

Either way, given what he was teaching, he was doing possibly irreparable damage to these kids and their tennis potential. These kids would have learned far more about tennis by watching me and my partner play than by listening to their archaic coach.

I don’t know the entire circumstances but using words like rotund, oaf and then describing the quality of the Walmart tennis balls are words of an elitist. Not to mention that you actually think these kids should have instead watched superior recreational players like yourself and partner, that sounds fun. I wonder why you would bother with the public courts where the unwashed masses hang out. I mean they are hitting eastern forehand’s with high follow thru, that figures, such commoners. It’s not so much that you were firm about keeping your court, it’s how you describe it that I dislike.

 

[Turbo-87]

That reminds me. A couple years back, I remember seeing what seemed to be a familiar face in an obit. Didn't think too much of it but then took a closer look a few days later when I was recycling the paper. It was him! Said he was a "pillar of the community". I know one's not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but give me a break. More like a pillar of ham.

I can only imagine what your obit will say. Maybe “World’s Greatest Dad.”

 

[kl2963]

I’m in Atlanta,GA and you can reserve public courts with the city or county. I know of a few public courts near me and teaching pros reserve them same time weekly.