Playing up

[flat]

I'm forking from the other thread as this is not really about Deit...

Socal10s wrote in that thread "everyone who plays up always shines,that's why I tell my players to not play up until they've proven themselves as a pressure player,show me some sectional wins or a national win or even a national level 2 .."

I was thinking about this the other day...there is a real, tangible benefit of playing up...and that's $$$. Let's say you are really good and you are starting to dominate your local section...you can choose to travel and play nationals, or just play up in your local tournaments. One is obviously much cheaper.

Also, I can see that when you first play up, you don't feel the pressure. But seems to me if you convince yourself that it's not about the age, but about finding the right level of competition for yourself...then after a few tournys the initial play up effects should wear off and you will settle in...and it should feel no different?

What's wrong with my logic here as seems like all coaches discourages playing up?

 

[SoCal10s]

here I am: ) your logic is absolutely correct.. but as you stated in your own words:""Let's say you are really good and you are starting to dominate your local section"".. when you dominate in your sectional play,then off course 'play up'... but here in SoCal,hardly anyone dominates,but a ton players still 'play up'..

one coach I know instructs his players to always play up to avoid the pressures of playing in their age division,he feels the added pressures of tournament play hinders one's ultimate progress to improve... I don't see any of his players really finding true success though ...and one of his player quit tennis recently, I think she was so turned off with never winning in her tournament matches, she was an excellent player,but she always played up and could beat the older,stronger girls. I'm not saying that that coach's opinion is wrong,but I just don't see it.. you already know my opinion..

in this year's SoCal sectionals,which I feel is the biggest and the most important tournament of the year,there are about a dozen 16 yrs olds playing up.. into the 18s..
maybe 3 of those are 12+ are real contenders... but there's no way 12+ players can all dominate their age division,thus moving up is a good move..