Scorecards, does the color mean anything?

[JavierLW]

For whatever reason in most of the men's leagues that I am in, if we use the scorecards, we dont think much about who uses what color and we always turn them around as we switch ends.

But the few times I play mixed doubles I start to notice that sometimes the 2 women on our court and the two women on the next court will stop in the middle of the beginning of the match and have this discussion about what team is supposed to be what color....

Most of our cards are the white ones with either black or red lettering. Sometimes they use this phrase "fire away" and that's supposed to mean that red is always the away team.

I noticed about a week ago that my partner subscribes to this and not only that, she doesnt turn around the score cards. I mentioned on one that she forgot to turn it around (kind of jokingly) and she said "there is no reason to turn them around, we are black and that is the rule and everyone knows that....".

I wasnt going to argue with her over it, but I believe that there is no silly rule anywhere about what color score card you shall have in a league match? If there is, can anyone find one?

Does anyone else notice anything like this? I think it's sort of one of those "men are from mars, women are from venus" things, along with how men supposedly care about street signs when they drive around, and women remember landmarks....

 

[bodieq]

I don't know about any formal rule about this, however, I've played with different types of "scorecards" before (including the column ones with numbers running vertically, and you plug a ball into the slot reflecting the set-score, etc.). Some scorecards will actually have a small section that says "Home" and "Away" or headings that list that....and i've always seen the "Away" colors as red or white, with the "Home" ones green or blue. So maybe it's just kind of a socially accepted concept (for the ones that don't actually list home/away).

In terms of whether to switch it on changeovers, I don't do it for league matches because we know ahead of time which colors represent home/away. However, I will rotate scorecards for "Tournament" matches because there's obviously no home/away for that, and it just helps to keep score clear for players.

 

[polski]

It really doesn't matter who is who on the scorecard. They are only there to eliminate scoring errors.

Turning them to one side or another doesn't really matter, but it can be helpful & that is the whole point. Usually, I will put my score on the side of the net where my bag is to keep me straight, but I don't argue if an opponent wants to spin them each changeover.

 

[Cindysphinx]

There is no rule here, but the convention (to the extent there is one) is that the home team uses the black numbers.

Still, who cares? If I remember, I will agree with the opposing captain about what colors will be used by whom and tell my players, but most of the time the captains forget to discuss it. Which proves that this isn't a gender issue, perhaps.

Regarding flipping the device around on changeovers, I don't see the point. I mean, the players surely know what's what, and that's all that matters.

What I don't like is players who have to walk over and change the scorecard after every game. They invariably forget to do it at some point during the match, and then they have to be convinced about what the score is.

 

[JavierLW]

A so I see there is a consensus where some of the people who choose a color dont turn the cards around because they ASSUME everyone knows which color represents what....

I still dont see why you wouldnt turn them around though, you already wasted time to walk over there, flip the cards all around, you can spend the extra second to turn them around so the right number is facing the right way.

It makes it confusing when it's mixed doubles because the men in our area dont care about colors and they turn them around, while the women dont turn them around but they choose a color. So if you're watching you have to guess..."hmmm, did they just forget to turn the cards around?"

I agree that people who flip them on every single game can be annoying. Usually it's people that just dont know any better. (sort of like people who do not turn them around)

 

[Sherlock]

I'll share my experience with scorecards. In the past during the first set instead of flipping the scorecards around I would figure the color doesn't really matter and I would just change the scorecards to reflect the proper score WITH the proper sides, because it was slightly more efficient. For example, say I won the first game of the match, so on the changeover I would flip the score on the opposite side of me (the side I was going towards). Then say we each held serve, so I'm up 2-1. Instead of adding one to each scorecard and flipping it around, I would just add 2 to the 0 side and not have to flip the scorecard.

After the first set once one of the sides had a 1 set to 0 lead I would flip the cards around because then it made a difference

But several people told me they were getting confused by that and asked if I could choose one color and keep it. I was a little surprised at first and thought it kind of funny, but whatever. So now I always do it that way just because I could really care less.

As far as choosing one particular color for a team match, I can see where it may be helpful for other players on the team to look across and know which team is which. You can also tell if you just keep the scorecard flipped properly, but sometimes some scorecards won't flip. So I suppose it makes sense to choose a color for the whole team just in case that happens. However, if the scorecard can flip, you might as well do that as well :-?

 

[tennis tom]

Red is for visitors. The green, blue or black is for home. If they are black and white, the one with the black background and the white numbers are for the home.

You spin the score-keeper apparatus to correspond with the player on that side. This keeps the score from being confused. If "fans" of the team are watching, then the cards should face the "fans". This is so they don't yell: "Turn the cards towards us so we know the score."

Normally, the scores are changed on the change-over. But, I have on rare occasions seen them changed after each game.

When the match is not played at either players home court, something I've employed is to determine which player lives closest, then they get the home designation, but that's something I came up with that has some logic to me, at least.

Personally, when angry about the score, I like to aim at the score-keeping device and hit it as hard as I can and break-it, ("Uh, sorry that was an accident").

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

I refuse to touch the score indicator, because if I did surely it would cause bad luck and result in the world coming to an end. When I play someone else who does not take the time to flip the score my teamates get upset becasue they have no idea what is going on.

 

[BMoney16]

Yes, it typically dicates who will win the game.