As a follow-up to my last post (click here to read it), I wanted to let y’all know about some crazy circumstances surrounding last weekend’s tournament.
My son had signed up to play both singles and doubles at our Southern 1A (National 4) tourney in Raleigh and had received email confirmations for both events as well as email acceptances into both events. The doubles were scheduled to start Friday at 5pm. On Thursday morning, I received a text message from my son saying that he and his partner had been left out of the draw. Since I didn’t reply to the text message for a couple of hours, my son went ahead and emailed the tournament director asking him for an explanation of why they had been left out. The director responded saying that my son’s partner never signed up for the doubles so they weren’t placed in the draw.
By the way, it’s important to point out that the draw was NOT full; in fact, there were numerous byes up and down the 32-draw.
My son confirmed with his partner that he had, in fact, registered for the doubles. However, the tournament director said that since the draw had already been published, the boys would be placed at the top of the alternate list in case one of the teams pulled out of the tournament last minute. He said that was the best he could offer at this point. My son was disappointed but figured they had a pretty good chance of getting in, especially since there were so many players driving long distances to get to Raleigh.
The next day, my son drove the 6+ hours to Raleigh and had plans to meet his doubles partner at the main site in hopes of getting to play. The two boys warmed up then called the tournament director to find out if anyone had withdrawn. Both the director and the tournament desk told them that, no, no one had pulled out yet.
While walking around the site, my son ran into one of his buddies from home who said that his brother (the #1 seed in the B18 doubles) had just gotten a call from the tournament director telling him that his doubles opponent had pulled out and that he and his partner would be getting a second bye into the third round.
My son immediately called the tournament director and reminded him that he and his partner were supposed to be put into the draw in case of any withdrawals. He explained that he is friends with the two boys who were given the bye and that he was sure they would be willing to play the match. The director apologized, took ownership of the error, and told my son that he and his partner could play as long as the other boys agreed to it.
Just to complicate matters, the other two boys were at an alternate site and didn’t have a ride to the main site where the doubles match was to be played. My son offered to go pick them up and they agreed to play.
So, without any phone calls or text messages to me, my son handled a complicated situation and ensured a desirable outcome for himself and his partner. He and his partner gave the top seeds a tough match, losing 8-6 but, at least, getting to play.
Advocacy lesson learned!
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