The Backdraw - Another Perspective
By Charles E. Vasoll

You know what the "back draw" is? It's matches for losers who want to be winners (not whiners).  The teams that are defeated in the first round sometimes referred to as "cannon fodder" go into the Consolation. Losers in the Consolation are relegated to the Consolation Reprieve often titled "Last Chance", the final opportunity for a prize.  Those defeated in the quarter finals are placed in the Reprieve.  There are those who love the back draw and look forward to being able to continue to play.  There are also those who hate it and literally "disappear" when they lose, whether it is in the main draw or in some part of the Consolations.

In the late 1990's Bill Jones, who was then President of the Long Island Platform Tennis Association and a Director of APTA, was the Tournament Chairman of a Men's Senior National Championship.  The tournament was hosted by his home club, the Huntington Country Club. This is the same venue where the Men's and Women's National Championships were conducted in 1992.  Unfortunately the Senior Men's Championship fell apart.  Several teams who lost in the main draw quarter finals and some who lost in the Consolation simply left the club.  They did not report that they were forfeiting their next match and their opponents were stranded.  It was, to say the least, a very upsetting situation and not the sportsmanship expected in our game. 

The teams, that in some cases only played one or two matches because of byes and forfeits, were very angry.  They blamed the Tournament leaders and made some very unkind statements.

Propelled by this experience, Bill Jones presented and had approved a ruling by the APTA Board of Directors to penalize players when they walked away from back draw matches.  It enabled tournament officials to refuse an entry to play in the same event in the following year when they walked away from the back draw matches in the prior year's competition.  The ruling had an exception for players who were injured, physically unable to continue or had an emergency.  Those who disliked playing in a back draw felt they were being unfairly punished.   Those who entered a tournament knowing full well that they would quickly be in the back draw were elated because they now were assured they would have an opponent and play another meaningful match.

I recently had the opportunity at a Men's National Seniors event to talk with a former National Champion who, I thought, had stopped playing.  I opened the conversation by saying something like "Welcome back".  He quickly stated that he had always continued playing but because of the back draw penalty rule, he had stopped participating in APTA tournaments.  He explained that, while he was not specifically opposed to the rule, he found that if he was defeated early on the first day of a tournament, he wanted to return home to spend time with his children rather than continue on the courts.  He further explained that playing tournaments when you are young, as in your thirties, being committed to play in the back draw was not a problem.  Likewise when your children are grown and you are in your fifties, the extra commitment to additional matches is not a concern.  It is primarily the forties age decade that he found that he preferred to opt out of the extra matches to spend that time at home when the situation arose.

Since my children were grown by the time I discovered platform tennis and began playing tournaments, I never experienced the situation that he described to me.  However, while I understand his viewpoint, I am at a loss of how it can be equitably put into practice in any fashion.

I remain in the camp of those who love the back draw.  In my opinion the back draw provides competitive experience for new teams coming up and it offers extra playing time for teams nearing the end of their tournament tour.  When entering a tournament, if the format calls for it, I believe players should respect the commitment to play all matches and also to play them to the best of their ability.

what do you think? let me know! info@platformtennisnews.com

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