The Lesson Next Door

[Cindysphinx]

Since we've been talking about court etiquette . . .

I recently went to practice alone at a set of public courts. Two courts, one with a hitting wall, one without.

When I arrived, there was a guy teaching a kid (maybe 10 years old), with mom watching. It was a serious lesson. The pro was teaching out of a hopper on the east side. Kid was on the west side. They were using the court with the hitting wall.

When I arrived, there were a bunch of balls on the pro's side of the court, with quite a few having dribbled over onto the vacant court. There were a few balls on the kid's side of the vacant court also.

I decided to set up on the kid's side of the vacant court. They didn't stop to retrieve their balls, so I knocked the stray balls over onto the kid's net. I did nothing about the many balls on the pro's side of the court I intended to use. I expected the pro to take a break and at least knock these balls over onto his court.

This didn't happen, so I started practicing, trying to knock all of my balls into the corner. Now and then one would stray, but mostly they stayed where they should have. The kid, however, kept spraying balls onto the vacant end of my court.

I was wondering what, if anything, the pro should have done. The end result was that our balls got all mixed up. I didn't care, as my balls are dead. I wound up with more balls than I brought, in fact.

Should I or they have done anything differently? Should I have waited until they finished? Should they have offered to move to the court without the hitting wall so I could use it?

 

[Power Player]

Cindy you think wayyyyyyy too much ..lol.

I would have done what you did and not really cared. The pro obviously didn't, so it's a wash.

 

[raiden031]

I was actually considering using a marker to mark all the balls that I keep in my hopper so that I can tell when other balls get mixed in whether they are mine or not. Teaching pros usually are not helpful in 1) cleaning up their balls that roll onto other courts and 2) retrieving balls of players from other courts whose ball rolls onto their own. Its annoying but not much you can do or expect. I mean its gotta be a pain for them to constantly be interrupted from their teaching when the adjacent court has a ball come into theirs. I would say when possible, avoid playing anywhere near a teaching pro and if you can't avoid it, just deal with it as best you can.

 

[Spokewench]

I had a similar occurrence yesterday with a guy who was hitting with his own personal ball machine. Only two courts at the location.

He was set up with the ball machine at the north end of the court. Hitting from the south end. He had balls all over the vacant court when I arrived. I was just there to practice my serve; so I basically just hit the encroaching balls back onto his court; and began hitting from teh north end in the deuce court so my balls would go into the far corner; most of his balls of course would come over to the north side where I was standing so our balls would not get mixed up. It just so happened that by the time I had gone thru a hopper on the deuce side; he was ready to leave and I was able to practice the ad court with another hopper full.

 

[VaBeachTennis]

Since we've been talking about court etiquette . . .

I recently went to practice alone at a set of public courts. Two courts, one with a hitting wall, one without.

When I arrived, there was a guy teaching a kid (maybe 10 years old), with mom watching. It was a serious lesson. The pro was teaching out of a hopper on the east side. Kid was on the west side. They were using the court with the hitting wall.

When I arrived, there were a bunch of balls on the pro's side of the court, with quite a few having dribbled over onto the vacant court. There were a few balls on the kid's side of the vacant court also.

I decided to set up on the kid's side of the vacant court. They didn't stop to retrieve their balls, so I knocked the stray balls over onto the kid's net. I did nothing about the many balls on the pro's side of the court I intended to use. I expected the pro to take a break and at least knock these balls over onto his court.

This didn't happen, so I started practicing, trying to knock all of my balls into the corner. Now and then one would stray, but mostly they stayed where they should have. The kid, however, kept spraying balls onto the vacant end of my court.

I was wondering what, if anything, the pro should have done. The end result was that our balls got all mixed up. I didn't care, as my balls are dead. I wound up with more balls than I brought, in fact.

Should I or they have done anything differently? Should I have waited until they finished? Should they have offered to move to the court without the hitting wall so I could use it?

The pro should have immediately paused the lesson and gathered up his balls that were on your court. Then he should have changed the drill so the kid didn't spray balls onto your court. Again common courtesy and respect....it's that easy. Mom could have helped field the balls as well.

 

[fuzz nation]

Yep, I completely agree ^^^ here. When I'm teaching next to other players, I make the same effort to not interfere with them that I'd make if I were playing a match. I'm only allowed to make a mess of my court - I think that pro was a little rude leaving his strays on your court like that.

Everyone gets along better when the simple courtesy of making the effort to stay out of each other's way is extended.

 

[canadave]

It sounds a bit strange that there was no communication at all when you arrived and started playing, Cindy. Was there any acknowledgement from the pro at all? A nod, quick smile to show he saw you starting up, anything? It almost sounds like you were pretty much invisible to everyone else

As to what should've happened, I guess it's the old story--there's the "ideal" what should've happened, and the "actual" what should've happened. Ideally, the pro would've acknowledged you and retrieved his balls at some point from your court, and hopefully you and him would've cooperated as best you could to keep your respective balls separated so no one lost anything. That's what should've happened, but of course, that's what rarely happens

I suspect (not sure) that pros generally don't care very much about keeping their balls "tidy" and in-court. They probably figure from their own point of view, if they lose some balls, oh well, they're buying them bulk anyway, a couple of balls missing because the court next to them accidentally picked them up won't matter. And from your point of view, the pro probably figures you'll keep tabs on your own balls anyway, and if anything you'll wind up with a few extra from the hopper (which is what happened).

But I don't think anything particularly out of line happened, to be honest. It's just one of those things, I think. If it were me, I'd be happy if the pro would retrieve his balls out of my court, but if he doesn't, it wouldn't put me out (at least not very much).

 

[Mick]

some time ago, i played at a court where the next court was used by a teaching pro. the teaching pro asked me and my hitting partner to use his balls so that our balls wouldn't get mixed up. when we were done we would return the balls back to him.

nice guy, eh?

 

[VaBeachTennis]

Yep, I completely agree ^^^ here. When I'm teaching next to other players, I make the same effort to not interfere with them that I'd make if I were playing a match. I'm only allowed to make a mess of my court - I think that pro was a little rude leaving his strays on your court like that.

Everyone gets along better when the simple courtesy of making the effort to stay out of each other's way is extended.

EXACTLY!!!

 

[volusiano]

some time ago, i played at a court where the next court was used by a teaching pro. the teaching pro asked me and my hitting partner to use his balls so that our balls wouldn't get mixed up. when we were done we would return the balls back to him.

nice guy, eh?

This is a good idea, but how can you be sure all his balls are consistently new and not flat? What if he has a mixed bag of old and new balls?

 

[Mr. Blond]

Cindy...you did the right thing. To not play there would be silly. Especially if it is public courts.

 

[Mick]

This is a good idea, but how can you be sure all his balls are consistently new and not flat? What if he has a mixed bag of old and new balls?

his balls weren't brand new but they weren't bad. it worked out great for us because when the balls rolled over his side, we did not have to retrieve them and interrupt their lesson. he would give us like 20 balls to use

 

[fuzz nation]

his balls weren't brand new but they weren't bad. it worked out great for us because when the balls rolled over his side, we did not have to retrieve them and interrupt their lesson. he would give us like 20 balls to use

Talk about a best case scenario, right? If I had a hopper full of fresh balls, I might offer to do this, but lately I've been weeding out lots of older, cruddy ones. Maybe next year...