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Doubles

Posted By: Mike Main
Date: Friday, 29 October 2010, at 2:36 p.m.

In Response To: Doubles (Gregg Cattanach)

Umm, let me start by taking a step back in time…

I think one could argue that the allowing of (call it a tradition if you like) players playing solo in Doubles Tournaments is a by-product of previously less than best scheduled events. Doubles Tournaments were often squeezed in when other events were on going so much so that there was little choice for the T.D. to then say “you’ll have to play this match solo.” Was it this “precedent” that has inspired some to choose to enter Doubles events solo and T.Ds have “gone with the flow” rather than maintaining the absolute ethics of Doubles play?

We are now well on the way to understanding that poorly scheduled Doubles Tournaments cause more problems in scheduling than any other event. T.Ds are now scheduling Doubles Tournaments to have their own unique slots of time of play and clock-play is coming in to Doubles. Hence, the problem of players HAVING to play their Doubles matches solo is vanishing. This means that we have presented ourselves an excellent opportunity to rein back in how Doubles, let’s be honest, really should be played.

Just because things were done one way in the past it does not follow that those things should carry on being done in the future. This is especially so when other things have been altered to make for things being better all round.

This forum is generally keen on “the spirit of the game” being played by. Surely in Doubles this means that teams should play as pairs rather than solo?

Quite how you police if the “2nd player” is really a player or just a wall flower is quite another matter. Some consider that the 2nd player can be an advantage, others consider that s/he can be a disadvantage. Both sides of that debate have merit. But by a team not having the 2nd player IT IS making for an uneven playing field compared to the opposing team (as long as they have 2 players.) This factor I consider is the salient factor. Hence it is my contention that every team should enter a Doubles Tournament with the same equipment of 2 human beings. Then it’s down to players to choose their partners in the most applicable way to their thinking.

Frankly, in any Doubles Tournament that is not a Pro-Am, I think it is impossible to police if the 2nd player is a player or a wall flower without any decision being viewed as subjective. So given that it is unpoliceable, simple, don’t even attempt to police this other than to say “you gotta have 2 human beings per team.”

I think the teams that play against a solo player should be considered as well. I certainly would not be impressed if I was playing with a partner and found we were due to play somebody playing on their own. This on the basis that I might well have entered this event as a learning exercise and wish to hear 3 other voices rather than just 2. Sure, one can play chouette backgammon to gather in this sort of experience but you will not get tournament play strategies discussed and with doubles play there is a definite ceiling on how much one can lose.

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