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QUESTION: What are the solutions to confronting gamesmanship?
Frank: First of all, let’s be honest; cheaters do exist. But let’s look at the issue from a growth angle. Cheaters will stretch your child beyond their normal frustration tolerance levels and that’s emotional toughness. Your athlete needs emotional intelligence as much as a wicked topspin backhand. Handling those “creative line callers” is a necessary stepping stone to becoming a tennis champion. Share with your junior champs the below ten factors and they will be better equipped to handle the antics of a cheater.
Solution Number 8: Appreciate that cheaters cheat because down deep they know that their skills are no match for yours.
A serious competitor is profiling the opponent. If they see that their physical game is no match for your child’s game, they begin to look for mental or emotional vulnerabilities to exploit. As the athlete’s manager, it is your job to organize the development of each and every component.
Solution Number 9: Try the standard procedure for handling cheaters.
First question the bad call. Then, of course, get a line judge. If the line judge leaves after a game or two, your athlete has three options: Go find the lines judge again and again …, be an “enabler” and let the “cheater” steal the match away from them or fight fire with fire. Although I don’t approve of retaliation cheating, I also don’t approve of being an enabler. This is a serious life lesson. In the real world, sometimes standing up for yourself when being bullied is the best action.
A perfect analogy to this situation is the role of the sheep, the wolf and the sheepdog. Athletes should be educated not to be the passive “sheep” accepting abuse or the aggressive “wolf’ unethically praying on the “sheep”, but to be the “sheep dog.” The “sheep dog” doesn’t allow the wolves to take what isn’t theirs.
Solution Number 10: After a confrontation do not begin play right away.
I recommend that your child regain their composer first by taking a “legal” bathroom break. Your player will need time to get their head back into their performance script. One of the most important qualities to nurture in your young player is accountability. They’ve got to be accountable for pre-establishing protocols to handle these common and uncomfortable situations.
Excuses such as ‘they cheated me out of the match’ is the enemy of accountability.
If the opponents’ antics become your athlete’s excuses, your child is not mentally tough enough. Cheaters weed out the weak and make the champions stronger.
