MHSTeCA's Forum Page

Topic:

Allow First Doubles Finalists at the Regionals whose team did not qualify to play at the State Finals.

Other Coaches Opinions

NAME	COMMENTS
Don Margoni	I feel it is long overdue that the #1 Doubles Regional Finalist be included at the State Tournament. Singles has always been looked at as the elite position to play with doubles being secondary. Yet in order to get to State - points are counted the same at singles and doubles. Even in professional tennis doubles is considered secondary with it seldom being shown on television, and with announcers of the US Open and other major tennis tournaments frequently saying that all Americans have been eliminated from play - yet the Bryan Brothers (number 1 in the world) and the Williams sisters are still playing doubles. I find it difficult to convince players to play doubles as they feel it is the inferior place to play - yet their skills may be better suited to playing doubles than singles. I feel teams may not stack doubles as much if a team knows the only way they can get to State is for them to get to the finals at doubles. I have seen on several occasions where I felt a teams #2 Doubles was better than their #1 Doubles - this may force coaches to reconsider and actually play their #1 Doubles at the correct position. As far as stacking teams and not putting teams in the proper order - that already occurs and will continue to occur whether or not the #1 Doubles finalists are included at State.
Charlie Bassett	Not a good idea. When we first changed to flights going to state tournaments in 1977 1 D qualified and we had a lot of teams that put there best player into 1 D. That is why we dropped 1 D qualifying.
Jim D'Angelo	100% percent in favor of this. If I'm not mistaken, they used to do this some years ago.
Larry Brown	I am all for allowing 1 Doubles to have the same opportunities as 1 singles. LetÕs give the same opportunity for the 1 doubles as the 1 singles. Allow both the 1S and 1D to or both of them not to do. The way it is now is not far and equal to all kids, schools, and teams.
Nathan Immekus	I'm for it. I know that in our regional this year a team that made the finals was one of the better teams in the state in our division. They were named honorable mention all state but not given the chance to compete for a state title. If we're willing to put 1st singles qualifiers into the tournament, why not allow some top doubles teams the same opportunity. A move that represents more teams at the state tournament in this way is a good one and could help with encouraging kids to play our sport for teams that may not be strong enough from top to bottom to make it.
Jim D'Angelo	I believe some years ago we used to allow 1st doubles regional finalists to go to States. I feel we should re-institute that rule. A lot of excellent players are left at home the way it stands now.
Ryan Carlson	I would definitely be on board with allowing the 1 doubles position being able to make it to states. I believe that doubles in general is a completely different game than singles and therefore should have the same opportunity to make it to a state tournament. As it is now, we're penalizing our best doubles teams because they don't play singles. Whether it's because they're not singles players or because they're not the best singles player on the team. In order to make teams stronger and help get players on the court, I believe it's a necessity that we give the #1 doubles teams the opportunity to win a championship at the State tournament. Although singles is seen more on t.v. in the pro ranks, doubles is now making a big come back with the likes of the Bryan brothers and their record 65 tournament wins. Aside from these reasons, it will (or should) make your doubles teams more competitive as the lower flights will have a reason to work to get to the #1 slot. I hope this looked at very closely as, again, I believe this will help bring more players into the game and help keep them playing. We definitely need that in the boys divisions more than ever.