USTA Captain Ban

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motherofdragons

New User
There is a USTA captain in my area who should never be allowed to captain again. He just got suspended from playing, again … for the 4th TIME!!! Yet, he continues to captain 13 teams across 3 areas just this summer. I mean this guy defaces tennis courts, humiliates his own players, screams at his opponents, and files grievances for fun. He has no integrity and his actions are negatively affecting our community. Why is he allowed to captain!?!? Are players/captains ever permanently banned?
 
motherofdragons said:
There is a USTA captain in my area who should never be allowed to captain again. He just got suspended from playing, again … for the 4th TIME!!! Yet, he continues to captain 13 teams across 3 areas just this summer. I mean this guy defaces tennis courts, humiliates his own players, screams at his opponents, and files grievances for fun. He has no integrity and his actions are negatively affecting our community. Why is he allowed to captain!?!? Are players/captains ever permanently banned?
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Trolls have to have somewhere to live. Some live under bridges. Some live in Internet forums. Some live in usta league tennis.
 
motherofdragons said:
There is a USTA captain in my area who should never be allowed to captain again. He just got suspended from playing, again … for the 4th TIME!!! Yet, he continues to captain 13 teams across 3 areas just this summer. I mean this guy defaces tennis courts, humiliates his own players, screams at his opponents, and files grievances for fun. He has no integrity and his actions are negatively affecting our community. Why is he allowed to captain!?!? Are players/captains ever permanently banned?
Click to expand...
He will do this to the wrong person some day.
 
motherofdragons said:
There is a USTA captain in my area who should never be allowed to captain again. He just got suspended from playing, again … for the 4th TIME!!! Yet, he continues to captain 13 teams across 3 areas just this summer. I mean this guy defaces tennis courts, humiliates his own players, screams at his opponents, and files grievances for fun. He has no integrity and his actions are negatively affecting our community. Why is he allowed to captain!?!? Are players/captains ever permanently banned?
Click to expand...

Seems to me like people keep signing up to play on his teams...a lot of people at that since he has 13 teams. I'm suspecting there's two sides to this story. Is there not a fee to file a grievance in your section? Filing grievances in my section costs $100/grievance and only if the grievance is upheld does the fee get returned. So...while there are still certainly some teams/clubs that file grievances more than others, it drastically cuts down the "for fun" element of grievances.
 
motherofdragons said:
There is a USTA captain in my area who should never be allowed to captain again. He just got suspended from playing, again … for the 4th TIME!!! Yet, he continues to captain 13 teams across 3 areas just this summer. I mean this guy defaces tennis courts, humiliates his own players, screams at his opponents, and files grievances for fun. He has no integrity and his actions are negatively affecting our community. Why is he allowed to captain!?!? Are players/captains ever permanently banned?
Click to expand...
No reason at all not to name him, come on, I want to research him. Sounds like a nominee for hall of fame quirky adult captains.
 
Lord Of The Strings said:
Seems to me like people keep signing up to play on his teams...a lot of people at that since he has 13 teams. I'm suspecting there's two sides to this story. Is there not a fee to file a grievance in your section? Filing grievances in my section costs $100/grievance and only if the grievance is upheld does the fee get returned. So...while there are still certainly some teams/clubs that file grievances more than others, it drastically cuts down the "for fun" element of grievances.
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A lot of these captains are not bothered by the $100 fee. Some are middle class and the $100 is a lot of money but they don't seem to care and make it part of their hobby, some are in a position where $100 is nothing, worth the cost to them.
 
motherofdragons said:
There is a USTA captain in my area who should never be allowed to captain again. He just got suspended from playing, again … for the 4th TIME!!! Yet, he continues to captain 13 teams across 3 areas just this summer. I mean this guy defaces tennis courts, humiliates his own players, screams at his opponents, and files grievances for fun. He has no integrity and his actions are negatively affecting our community. Why is he allowed to captain!?!? Are players/captains ever permanently banned?
Click to expand...
I'd be interested to know what USTA section that captain is in. Like, in Southern California, there is a long list of known captains that have free range for two reasons:
1. They bring player registrations.
2. Some section league coordinator have no back bone. Those "professional" captains will run roughshot over them. I heard of a recent case in SoCal where a captain with legitimate complaints about one of those lowlife professional captains was banned for 6 months because the League Coordinator and that bad captain were friends.
 
Damn, if only I was. VP of acquisition or production at Netflix I swear I'd force resources on making a low budget documentary on these guys. I'd set it up by telling the captians we are making a doc on success and motivation, play to their ego to get access, then set it up as a mockumentary. And I wouldn't even care if it was a success in viewership, I'd want to watch it!

To save budget money (travel expenses etc) it seems the doc could be focused just on so cal.
 
I want to hear more about "defaces tennis courts." Screaming, etc., I have seen before. Grievances are old news. But defacing the courts? What does this mean? What stupendous events could have led up to this?
 
Our team just lost to one of 'those' captains at 40+ sectionals final. Obviously had one of his guys with an existing 5.0 profile create a new 4.0 profile. Emailed the state rating coordinator last Wednesday to see if there's any recourse since it's technically not a dynamic rating issue...crickets...
 
naylor73 said:
Our team just lost to one of 'those' captains at 40+ sectionals final. Obviously had one of his guys with an existing 5.0 profile create a new 4.0 profile. Emailed the state rating coordinator last Wednesday to see if there's any recourse since it's technically not a dynamic rating issue...crickets...
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Are you saying that the player in question created a new USTA account and then self rated as a 4.0, while already having an existing USTA account where they have a 5.0 rating?

If so, and assuming it can be proved that it's the same persion, then absolutely there is a recourse...

At minimum the self rating on the new account would be adjusted to 5.0, since you are not allowed to self rate lower than a previous rating you may have had.

If USTA determines that the new account was created specifically with intent to circumvent the player's rating, there could also be a more severe penalty.
 
The guy was a 5.0 in 2016, unbeaten (24-0) in 4.5 and 5.0 in 2014-15. From a fairly small town where he has coached hs tennis for 32 years. New profile is out of a large city (where he actually does not live) and is a 4.0 rating.
 
naylor73 said:
The guy was a 5.0 in 2016, unbeaten (24-0) in 4.5 and 5.0 in 2014-15. From a fairly small town where he has coached hs tennis for 32 years. New profile is out of a large city (where he actually does not live) and is a 4.0 rating.
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Yikes. Are you sure he made a new profile (different name?), or is it possible he successfully appealed to rate below his prior rating from 8 years ago?
 
naylor73 said:
The guy was a 5.0 in 2016, unbeaten (24-0) in 4.5 and 5.0 in 2014-15. From a fairly small town where he has coached hs tennis for 32 years. New profile is out of a large city (where he actually does not live) and is a 4.0 rating.
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If you care to share his name with me privately (DM me here or ratings@teravation.net) I'll take a look.

Like @TennisOTM said, give the years since the last C rating, it is possible he was granted an appeal, legit or not (hard to understand a two level appeal though), but if he created a new profile to get around the rules, that should be punishable and perhaps sanctionable.
 
denoted said:
I want to hear more about "defaces tennis courts." Screaming, etc., I have seen before. Grievances are old news. But defacing the courts? What does this mean? What stupendous events could have led up to this?
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Heard of many people just registering a new name and using their nickname or middle name and last name. Norcal captain got suspended for what I heard was playing a player not even on the team and I heard this happens a lot at nationals
 
TennisOTM said:
Yikes. Are you sure he made a new profile (different name?), or is it possible he successfully appealed to rate below his prior rating from 8 years ago?
Click to expand...
Same name. If he had appealed, he would still be using the old profile. I don't think the USTA assigns a new profile just because you appeal down
 
naylor73 said:
I sent you an email
Click to expand...
Thanks.

Sent you more details, but yeah, see two players/members with the same basic name, one played through 2015 and the other started in 2022. The 2015 player was a reasonably strong 5.0, and the 2022 player perhaps tanked some last year to ensure a 4.0C for this year.

Are they the same person? I can't say, but if they are, it does seem a grievance is warranted as the rules were not followed, those being he would be required to self-rate as a 5.0S to match is most recent C rating, and then do a self-rate appeal and perhaps get a 4.5S granted, but unlikely a 4.0S would have been.
 
motherofdragons said:
There is a USTA captain in my area who should never be allowed to captain again. He just got suspended from playing, again … for the 4th TIME!!! Yet, he continues to captain 13 teams across 3 areas just this summer. I mean this guy defaces tennis courts, humiliates his own players, screams at his opponents, and files grievances for fun. He has no integrity and his actions are negatively affecting our community. Why is he allowed to captain!?!? Are players/captains ever permanently banned?
Click to expand...
What's his name? Apologies if you don't check the board that often. I'm sure the guy can handle his name being shared, what he is doing isn't a federal crime, just silly tennis stuff.
 
schmke said:
Are they the same person?
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I wonder what the USTA can do with this grievance if the accused player is confronted and simply claims they are not the same person as the prior 5.0. I think date of birth is the only real objective thing they have to compare, assuming address / phone number now are different.
 
travlerajm said:
Can a player appeal down by submitting video evidence of poor stroke fundamentals?
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Manual appeals are heard by a panel/committee, so when humans are involved anything can happen. But I don't believe most would consider that as part of an appeal. Manual appeals generally require a permanent medical condition or other extenuating circumstance. A temporary medical condition or "I'm not good enough" or "I can't win" or whatever else someone may dream up shouldn't really be considered. If their results show they can compete at the level the algorithm spits out, the USTA generally goes with it.
 
NumbersGuy said:
Double-bump appeals downward are possible in extreme medical cases. A few years ago our Section had a guy who appealed from 4.5 to 3.5 as he had lost use of his dominant right arm and had to play lefthanded.
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Would be interesting if he started playing with the dominant one come nationals. Who‘s going to check?
 
2ndServe said:
Heard of many people just registering a new name and using their nickname or middle name and last name. Norcal captain got suspended for what I heard was playing a player not even on the team and I heard this happens a lot at nationals
Click to expand...

I see a ton..... I mean a ton of this...... USTA needs to address this but never does.
 
motherofdragons said:
There is a USTA captain in my area who should never be allowed to captain again. He just got suspended from playing, again … for the 4th TIME!!! Yet, he continues to captain 13 teams across 3 areas just this summer. I mean this guy defaces tennis courts, humiliates his own players, screams at his opponents, and files grievances for fun. He has no integrity and his actions are negatively affecting our community. Why is he allowed to captain!?!? Are players/captains ever permanently banned?
Click to expand...
Hi everyone thanks for responses!! I definitely change some information to protect this persons identity. I clearly was feeling very upset when I posted this and still agree that this person is not well equipped for captaining. I also want to consider what motivates this person to act in this way. It’s clear that USTA tennis captaining has become central to this persons identity in a way that I will never comprehend. Perhaps what this person needs is another captain or player to demonstrate how being kind might be better, might resolve issues faster, and bring us all together. I don’t think this person behaviors are reflective of who this person wants to be. It’s just really hard to maintain a positive environment in USTA league when bad behaviors are reinforced rather than discouraged.

let us remind ourselves why we play … not just for the game! But for new relationships!!! we can still play to win while building a strong community together.
 
motherofdragons said:
Hi everyone thanks for responses!! I definitely change some information to protect this persons identity. I clearly was feeling very upset when I posted this and still agree that this person is not well equipped for captaining. I also want to consider what motivates this person to act in this way. It’s clear that USTA tennis captaining has become central to this persons identity in a way that I will never comprehend. Perhaps what this person needs is another captain or player to demonstrate how being kind might be better, might resolve issues faster, and bring us all together. I don’t think this person behaviors are reflective of who this person wants to be. It’s just really hard to maintain a positive environment in USTA league when bad behaviors are reinforced rather than discouraged.

let us remind ourselves why we play … not just for the game! But for new relationships!!! we can still play to win while building a strong community together.
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Well written, but too nice. He's not a secret where he plays and captain, everyone knows what he does, he knows what he does. No harm in sharing who he is. It's not like you are protecting his reputation, I'm sure he already has a strong one, all the fantasy tennis captains who do it as a strange hobby are well known in their sections.
 
MrTennis said:
I'd be interested to know what USTA section that captain is in. Like, in Southern California, there is a long list of known captains that have free range for two reasons:
1. They bring player registrations.
2. Some section league coordinator have no back bone. Those "professional" captains will run roughshot over them. I heard of a recent case in SoCal where a captain with legitimate complaints about one of those lowlife professional captains was banned for 6 months because the League Coordinator and that bad captain were friends.
Click to expand...
Oh dear. I did laugh reading “lowlife professional captain” tho so thank you for that.
 
What I don't understand is that why in these areas with the notorious professional captains do other captains not band together for just one year and try to beat the bad captain? I feel like people just still do not want to give up their captain powers to combine forces. Also some people seem to really abide by the "norms" like not to try to steal players from other teams, but the super captains don't care about that stuff.
 
ktx said:
What I don't understand is that why in these areas with the notorious professional captains do other captains not band together for just one year and try to beat the bad captain? I feel like people just still do not want to give up their captain powers to combine forces. Also some people seem to really abide by the "norms" like not to try to steal players from other teams, but the super captains don't care about that stuff.
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from what i've noticed, by human nature, winning is "addicting"/"attractive". Losing is not and your teams will typically break apart as people get sick of losing and quit USTA for other activities (such as pickleball/other sports). By this you end up losing your best players to the stronger teams unless you're buddy with them but theyll always wish to at least make a sectionals or something. You'll see a lot of professional captains ending up taking all the best players from the section for a super team and its not actually them recruiting them first-hand. It's their players hitting with our best players as they befriended each other from a good match when our teams play against each other then they get sucked into the strong team through practices, etc.

I also see capts in a region coming together as an alliance to make a super team but under the "professional" capt but the professional capt helps those other teams to find players to fill their roster to play out for fun. They support the super team but try to see how close they can get to beating them in season. The professional capt are typically pretty charismatic ppl with good organization and eye for level so ppl trust them as capts to win.
 
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motherofdragons said:
I know someone whose LinkedIn tagline states “USTA captain of the year” .
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I'm pretty sure we know the same person and yeah, that tagline is hilarious. If so, I'm sure you've noticed by now that USTA league is likely too serious in this area, but when each flight has 10+ teams, people are gonna get competitive.
 
Moveforwardalways said:
This thread is trash without a name. Just hearsay and rumor mongering. If you are man enough to complain on an anonymous message board, be man enough to back it up with a name.
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I'm 100% with you, but let's frame it a different way, it's not brave or macho to name them, like I said, everyone around them in their tennis bubble already knows their name and what they do. Naming them here is nothing, should be normal, naming them here isn't accusing them of anything they aren't doing and whatever they are doing isn't a federal crime, so who cares, name them .
 
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