vacation vs tennis

[spot]

vacation vs playoffs

So I am the captain of a first year team and we have made the playoffs. (its an ALTA league in atlanta) This weekend is the first 2 rounds of the playoffs but a friend gave me access to a beach house and I was planning on sitting myself out for this weekend. But now we have had one of our line 1 guys get injured- and we are a person short if I go out of town. I am checking to see if the opposing captain would let us play early so thats an option but is also a longshot- in the playoffs captains are not generally known for being accommodating. We won the division and at full strength we have a good chance to go very far in the playoffs. So if you were in this position would you stay in town to make sure the team didn't default any lines or would you go to the beachhouse knowing you very well may have made your team lose in the playoffs? Would having the captain go out of town where a line got defaulted sour you on the team?

 

[oldguysrule]

So I am the captain of a first year team and we have made the playoffs. (its an ALTA league in atlanta) This weekend is the first 2 rounds of the playoffs but a friend gave me access to a beach house and I was planning on sitting myself out for this weekend. But now we have had one of our line 1 guys get injured- and we are a person short if I go out of town. I am checking to see if the opposing captain would let us play early so thats an option but is also a longshot- in the playoffs captains are not generally known for being accommodating. We won the division and at full strength we have a good chance to go very far in the playoffs. So if you were in this position would you stay in town to make sure the team didn't default any lines or would you go to the beachhouse knowing you very well may have made your team lose in the playoffs? Would having the captain go out of town where a line got defaulted sour you on the team?

Short answer: You gotta play.

 

[mrHan]

Short answer: You gotta play.

I agree 100%. The rest of your team already made the commitment to play. Why shouldn't you?

 

[Raiden.Kaminari]

Short answer: You gotta play.

I agree 100%. The rest of your team already made the commitment to play. Why shouldn't you?

Sport: Might I add ... especially since you're the captain. As captain, you're ultimately responsible for filling in when the line-up is short.

 

[goober]

Beach house is not going anywhere. You can go there the next time it is available. Your playoffs are another story. Other people are depending on you. You are captain, so IMO you should play.

 

[zapvor]

OMG are you seriously asking? you are the freaking captain, and you are thinking about this??? i would never be on your team. what a disgrace. tennis is everything. in fact, sub me in for you captain, and go on vacation. i am sure the team will be better off without you.

 

[spot]

The reason I am asking is that I canceled my beach trip and my girlfriend (who is the captain of her team) freaked out and thought I was being ridiculous. (she is still going to go with another friend) So I thought that I would come on here to see what other people in other situations thought.

 

[goober]

The reason I am asking is that I canceled my beach trip and my girlfriend (who is the captain of her team) freaked out and thought I was being ridiculous. (she is still going to go with another friend) So I thought that I would come on here to see what other people in other situations thought.

Well this is a tennis forum, so the answers are going to be slanted towards those who take league tennis seriously. If you went to a vacation forum, you may get a different answer

I would talk to all your teammates. They are the ones you have to answer to. If your team is a social team than maybe they won't really care about you defaulting a match. OTOH teams which go to the playoffs are usually more serious, so they may be upset with you not showing up and instead going to the beach.

 

[tennis-n-sc]

As captain, you have accepted the role of leadership. If one of the other players on your team was critically needed for the playoffs but decided to go on vacation, how would you and the rest of the team feel. Don't expect truthful answers from your team mates.

 

[spot]

I told her all along that I would go on the beach trip as long as I could still put out a strong playoff lineup. Normally on my team the problem is who has to sit out that week, not trying to convince people to play. To me it wasn't even a question- if we were short players then I would need to play no matter what. But as another post in this forum talks about- when does tennis become an obsession? Passing up the opportunity to go to a multimillion dollar beachhouse with a hot girl so I can play a tennis match might have been crossing the line to some people- my girlfriend thinks that it is. But I agree- I asked these guys to get to sometimes drive for an hour to be at courts by 9am so tossing all that hard work away for a vacation would have been really tough.

I would never ask someone on my team to change their vacation plans so they could play- but as captain I think the bar is higher and its an easy call to stay.

 

[babar]

I feel for you spot. I don't think there is an easy answer here for you unless either your teammates or your gf would have to absolve you of your commitment to the them. If all else fails, flip the coin and see what happens. Good Luck!

 

[bleach]

If it was a planned trip before that's one thing, but a last minute opportunity (which this is what it sounds like) should not keep you from your obligations. This should be true in everything, not just tennis!

 

[stride]

There is no question.

 

[spot]

bleach- we have planned to go on the beach trip for 5 weeks or so. I marked myself out of the lineup as we had plenty of people for the lineup at that time. Injuries and other reasons have caused other people to change their availability. I still don't think that I can go when it makes us default- but it does explain why my girlfriend is pissed about it. Though in my mind the fact that she can still go with her other friends makes it much less egregious than if she couldn't go either because I had to cancel.

 

[Geezer Guy]

It sounds like you knew about your play-off's well before you decided to go on vacation. In hindsight (as well as for reference in the future), you should have kept that weekend open and not made plans to go out of town. You KNOW how Murphy's law works!

Now you have to decide whether to **** off your gf, or to **** off your team. My only advice is to take what YOU want to do out of the equation, and just try to figure out what's the "right" thing to do.

In the future, don't double-book, and once you've committed to doing something, keep your committment. (Even if something better comes along later.)

Good luck on this. Sounds like there's no way you're NOT going to make someone angry. If you give them a well thought-out reason for doing what you're doing, at least they can respect your decision - even if they don't agree with it.

 

[tennis-n-sc]

Geezer, thoughtful response.

 

[thelimfactor]

mate- as CAPTAIN- it implies you LEAD by example, whether it be with your demaenor on court, what you say off it after a match, and how you conduct yourself it times of adversity, and also success.

You must lead your team through the gates of the HOLY LAND (the finals or playoffs), and march them through the valleys and to the summit of the holy grail for all competitive tennis players- winning that final match on the sunday or of your league. You are a leader, you are their inspiration and you are their talisman. You are the Starlight- YOU MUXT LEAD YOUR TEAM TO VICTORY.

(if you girlfriend is a nice girlfriend she will understand how much this means to you, and besides after winning the final, you can then "take care of business" with her- chicks dig winners- hence you WIN on both counts)

Good luck

 

[MariaS]

I don't think any special arrangements should be made for your team. You're the Captain. Be there -- or be square.

 

[Geezer Guy]

thelimfactor - well said, and very inspirational!

That said, it's sad (and a bit confusing) that sometimes the noble qualities in us guys that wives/gf's find attractive MOST of the time, is what pisses them off the few times they're on the losing end of the equation.

 

[Sakkijarvi]

Having a life

My dad's team went to nationals and one of their better players had a vacation overseas booked. Their best player was ill. The rest of the team took these events in stride, no baby hissy fits. They acted like adults, other guys played and they did great, making it to the finals before losing in two tie-breakers.

Mature bunch, they have lives. I don't know how much time I'd want to spend with some looney team-mate. I play these guys in my league that play four nights a week...and still never seem satisfied, always crying out after every missed shot even if they're up 5-0. I bet some measure of the folks here are crackpots that way too and thus some of these answers...like it's life or death.

Wooh-ah!

 

[Raiden.Kaminari]

My dad's team went to nationals and one of their better players had a vacation overseas booked. Their best player was ill. The rest of the team took these events in stride, no baby hissy fits. They acted like adults, other guys played and they did great, making it to the finals before losing in two tie-breakers.

Mature bunch, they have lives. I don't know how much time I'd want to spend with some looney team-mate. I play these guys in my league that play four nights a week...and still never seem satisfied, always crying out after every missed shot even if they're up 5-0. I bet some measure of the folks here are crackpots that way too and thus some of these answers...like it's life or death.

Wooh-ah!

No, we're just pointing out that as captain, you have some responsibilities.

If you wanted to shirk responsibilities, then you can just be a player on a team. If you want to help the captain, then you can help the captain. But once you're the captain, it means you have a responsibility to the team.

Here's what a good friend mentioned to me, "I once had a girlfriend who asked me, which do you prefer, Me, or Tennis? Without pause, I said tennis, because you never know when you will want to leave me. For a minute, she stood there with an expression that could boil tea. And after she cooled off, she thanked me for my honesty. Now that we're married, she's asked me, which would you choose, your kids or tennis? I said ....





after much thought,





the kids."

 

[thelimfactor]

hey, OP- did u end up deciding???? Really hope it was tennis,.....then "looking after" ur partnet after winning....right????

 

[spot]

I gave up on Fripp island and am about to go to my playoff match right now. Actually my GF settled down a little and admitted that I was doing the right thing by staying. She was just massively disappointed I wasn't going and was taking it out on me. Though as of Friday it looked like the matches today were going to be rained out and that would have really really sucked since it would have made me staying completely irrelevant. Now we just have to go out and win in the playoffs without one of our line 1 players!

 

[thelimfactor]

Good 2 hear she came around a little.

nothing i hate more than psyching myself up for a big match, and then its RAINED out-

U can always go away with ur partner next weekend rite? or plan in a few more weeks (after the tennis season over)

 

[thelimfactor]

i may be nice to tell her (but u probably already have) that u really appreciate her understanding