MURFREESBORO - The NFL has its Deflategate with air taken out of the footballs and now TSSAA is faced with its own version of air out of tennis balls as for the first time in Spring Fling history a school has pulled out of the state tennis championship.
Tuesday morning here at Old Fort Park Tennis Complex two-time defending D-II A boys champion Knox Webb was prepared for its semifinal match.
But Lausanne Collegiate School (Memphis) decided not to send its boys team to mid-Tennessee for a once-in-a-lifetime shot at a state crown - no current seniors were on the 2009 state runner-up team - thus forfeiting the semifinal match and Webb advanced to Wednesday’s final which they won 4-0 against Univ.
School of Jackson.
The Scenario: After some discussion between parents and Lausanne school officials, some starting players were not going to play due to having exams today and Tuesday.
Even after the above-mentioned starters passed on competing in the state tourney, the team still had the minimum four players - two regulars and two alternates – allowed by TSSAA rules to compete in the tournament.
According to TSSAA executive director Bernard Childers, Lausanne Athletics director Troy Baker informed him Monday that the Memphis-based team would not attend Spring Fling XXII.
“Troy told me that it came down to the four players who were going to drive to Murfreesboro thought that they would not be competitive so they decided to forfeit,” said Childers via phone Tuesday afternoon.
“Our guys were ready to play in the semis and it was disappointing to learn prior to our match that Lausanne had forfeited,” said Webb coach Jimmy Pitkanen.
A call and an e-mail with a few questions were not returned by the Lausanne athletics director and calls to two other school offiicials were also not returned as of Wednesday night.
State Tennis Format: The D-II A format is five singles and two doubles and a team can compete with four players.
A few questions that this reporter would have wanted to ask school officials.
When did the parents decide that their sons were staying in Memphis to take exams and not playing in the state tournament?
If their decision was made a few weeks ago they could have informed school officials of the decision and given the school more time to find at least five players or talk with TSSAA to see if the region runner-up could compete. What was the time frame of the parents informing the school?
If the four players who were, at first planning to compete, and were able to work through an exams-state tournament schedule, then why couldn’t the ones who decided to stay home, ask the school for the same re-scheduling of exams?
So many players and teams in the past have worked around exams, graduation and Spring Fling to make it all work with just a little planning.
This reporter hopes for a response from school officials, but it appears they have circled the wagons and taken their tennis ball and gone home. What a shame.
Contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net