2017008 Free State Mini 1

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Tyrah COOK
6 Feb 2017
  Overall Experience
Thank you for a lovely we'll run tournament - especially taking into account the difficult weather .
  Value for Money
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  Atmosphere
  Level of Competition

  Overall Experience
I was very impressed with MC as an organizer but I must say that the person handling the under 10 draw was extremely unprofessional, his name is Lourens. According to him he was responsible for the draw but we were told that it is automatically done by a computer program. My daughter participated in a different event on Saturday ( we were given very short notice and after the cut off to withdraw from the TSA event) , I asked to withdraw at the end of the first day. The TSA event rained out on Saturday and we requested if she could participate again on Sunday seeing that the TSA event completely rained out. She played all her matches and therefore putting her back in the draw would not have caused any significant drama as she did not miss any of her matches. On Sunday she played 2 matches and by the look of the number of participants and the number of courts it was obvious that she was done. We asked Lourens 3 times at least if he was sure that she had to stay, he insisted that she had to stay. Hours later he called us and said that we could go. When I confronted him about this he just shrugged his shoulders and said sorry. I lost my cool completely. After a heated argument he said that her competitor withdrew. I asked why he didn't offer that as an explanation initially and he again just shrugged his shoulders. He also said that he can let her play if we really wanted to. I'm sorry, this is really confusing. If her competitor withdrew how was this even possible? He also attacked me verbally because he had to sit until 21:30 the previous evening because we requested not to remove her from the draw. He said that he did us a major favor but it took him hours and that I should accept that he runs the show and that it caused him a terrible inconvenience and that I should be grateful that he accommodated Dominique. It was our first TSA tournament, I'm sorry to say that we will be unlikely to participate if Lourens is involved, MC on the other hand is extremely helpful and professional. It is always an absolute pleasure to deal with him. I would also suggest that the rules be given through to the players coaches and parents before hand. My daughter stood right next to her opponent when the opponent's coach laughed when she told him she was playing against my daughter next. He pulled a face as if to say "oh please, she is useless" and laughed out loud. My daughter was completely thrown off, she was in tears. He did this in front of the parents and players. This is not etiquette. If I wanted my child to participate in a barbaric sport where adults bully children I would have chosen something like boxing! I didn't confront him and kept a straight face, who wants to make a scene before the players step onto the court? It is also a huge concern that 3 of her 4 opponents are in her school, surely if it took Lourens hours to put her back in the draw he could have picked up on this when he did the first draw, or is the program able to draw automatically only on the first round and not able to make manual changes or cater for unforeseen circumstances? If this is indeed the case, I seriously suggest reviewing this mysterious program and replacing it with a system that actually makes sense. I feel that everyone attending should be instructed on how to behave at a tennis match. Parents, coaches and supporters should be instructed to BEHAVE! Parents yelling instructions and coaching next to the court is distracting. I think an email should be sent out with the proper etiquette. When I saw that it was permitted to help with counting and coaching during the matches I obviously did the same. More staff should be present and better control should be enforced, especially with the very young players. Parents and coaches seem to run the show any way they please. During a water break I suppose it would be okay to whisper some advise, not within the earshot of the other player of course. But it should be limited. I also suggest that if the child cannot keep score that he or she should not be allowed to participate. I'm obviously annoyed and seem to come across as dramatic but this weekend left a very bad taste in my mouth. My daughter is definitely one of the not so great players, she is obviously one of the weaker one's. That does not give Lourens or the particular coach the right to waste our time or to treat her as an inferior player, our money is the same color! She can hit the ball and even won her doubles match, she can keep score and she is not completely useless!!!!!!!!!!
  Value for Money
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  Atmosphere
  Level of Competition


Anonymous
  Overall Experience
Ek voel ek moet net deel.al ons Fichardtpark Ouers voel dieselfde.ons fichie dogtertjies was almal saam ingedeel in box 3. Die dogtertjies wil nie teen mekaar speel nie.hulle is maatjies en ken mekaar se spel.dit is regtig baie sleg vir ons dogtertjies om almal teen mekaar te speel.ek hoop dit gebeur nie weer nie.baie ongelukkig hieroor.daar was soveel dogtertjies en net ons fichies was saam ingedeel om teen mekaar te speel. Groete Tanya Viljoen
  Value for Money
  Club Facilities
  Communication
  Atmosphere
  Level of Competition
Where & When
Starts:
Fri, Feb 3rd 2017
Ends:
Sun, Feb 5th 2017
Deadline:
Tue, Jan 24th 2017 11:59pm

Location(s)
Att Horrak Street
Bloemfontein, Free State, Mangaung Metro - Bloemfontein, Free State
South Africa

205 Nelson Mandela Dr.
Park West
Bloemfontein, Free State, Mangaung Metro - Bloemfontein, Free State 9301
South Africa
Sanctioned Event

This is a Tennis South Africa sanctioned event.

Sponsors
Tournament Officials

Loutjie Louw

Bloemfontein, Free State, ZA

M.C. OLIVIER

Bloemfontein, Free State, ZA
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