Connor Bockoven - HD YouTube Video

Heimdallalso wrote: Hmmm... Which one is Connor??? Neither look old enough to be a father. Oh, you mean Ralph Bockoven is their father... got it. ....aside from that; that Clipboard & sportsdrink should have been moved. I would have moved them.

why don't you have umpires in USA? it makes everything look so casual without. At EVERY level of play in England there is an umpire, not always an official umpire, but always someone scoring the match. No wonder its still seen as a 'parlour game' with little public respect in USA. 

Edited by APW46 - 09/16/2010 at 5:27am

APW46 wrote: Heimdallalso wrote: Hmmm... Which one is Connor??? Neither look old enough to be a father. Oh, you mean Ralph Bockoven is their father... got it. ....aside from that; that Clipboard & sportsdrink should have been moved. I would have moved them. why don't you have umpires in USA? it makes everything look so casual without. At EVERY level of play in England there is an umpire, not always an official umpire, but always someone scoring the match. No wonder its still seen as a 'parlour game' with little public respect in USA.

Thomasson wrote: There are other players who can count, Poule of 5 means 3 people do nothing while rest plays, make them count in turns. We even have a schedule for who is counting which match. f.e. Match: 1 - 3     Ref:5                   2 - 4     Ref: 1

There is no fixed schedule even at relatively large tournaments like NE Open. That's why you cannot have players umpiring the matches - they can be called to play themselves at any second.

Generally, yes, you can have a more or less fixed schedule - like they do at US Open or US Nationals and a few other tourneys but there is one snag - there are ten categories/events being played almost simultaneously in one day!! the matches have to be run immediately one after another - otherwise you won't be able to finish the tournament in the time you have got.

That was, weeeeee ....

All the tournaments I have played in it is the players duty to score when not playing.  Problem is once people get knocked out, they leave so they don't have to umpire!

APW46 wrote: JimT wrote: Thomasson wrote: There are other players who can count, Poule of 5 means 3 people do nothing while rest plays, make them count in turns. We even have a schedule for who is counting which match. f.e. Match: 1 - 3     Ref:5                   2 - 4     Ref: 1 There is no fixed schedule even at relatively large tournaments like NE Open. That's why you cannot have players umpiring the matches - they can be called to play themselves at any second. Generally, yes, you can have a more or less fixed schedule - like they do at US Open or US Nationals and a few other tourneys but there is one snag - there are ten categories/events being played almost simultaneously in one day!! the matches have to be run immediately one after another - otherwise you won't be able to finish the tournament in the time you have got.  It can be done though, without having a fixed schedule. Nobody will play a match in UK without an umpire at all, its not considered a match if there is not one. One way of overcoming volunteers is to have a levy on entries ($10) that can only be redeemed after scoring duty when you have lost. Even in round robin events we have scorers/umpires, and individual courts with a chair a table and a scoring machine. It just cheapens the sport without IMO.

I guess if that is how you set it up from the very beginning then everyone is used to it and now you have that tradition, including the fact that many players consider umpiring the matches as a part of their duty to the sport. I bet it also helps a little with spectators and general motivation.

Alas, at our local tournaments you can often (VERY OFTEN) see this - the main event (like Open Singles or top rated event) finals are the last matches of the day - say 6 or 7 pm. They are naturally the most interesting matches which would be watched by everyone if they were held in the midst of the tournament. But they are instead watched by 7-8 people left in the playing hall - a  couple of tournament officials, semifinal losers (if they stayed for an extra 20-30 minutes), finalists of the other late event, a couple of relatives/friends. That's it... the hall is practically empty...

If there is no umpire, how can a let or foul serve be called fairly ?. If 5o% of your opponents serves are dodgy, you wouldnt want to keep calling him (or her) on it, but i know if it were me it would get right on my  and disrupt my game!

happens all the time, last night again a player called a let because he couldnt see the serve the umpire said no it was fine, so the guy calling it lost the point.. that is bs in tt.

JimT wrote: Heimdallalso wrote: Hmmm... Which one is Connor??? Connor is the one in black shirt.. oh dang it! OK, he is the one of high school age... OK, OK, they both look like they could be attending high school. Well, his last name is Bockoven - that should give you a hint. And if you are still not sure - he plays with his back to us. Finally... BTW, the other kid is (if I am not mistaken) Larry Bao from NJ.

Michael J. Fox holding camera... :-(