Tennis committee recommends penalties for lineup-stacking

Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com

AURORA — The tennis committee on Tuesday recommended implementing sanctions for teams that are stacking their lineup in order to gain a competitive advantage.

There is currently no penalty that punishes teams found to be stacking their lineup, also known as a ladder. However, it is a strong ethical violation in the sport.

When a team stacks its lineup, they will put a player many feel is better at a lower position in order to have a better chance of winning that match. Or, in another example, upperclassmen want to play together on a doubles team instead of playing singles because they think they’ll have a better opportunity to advance to the state tournament.

“Many times, we hear that coaches disregard this ethical violation because there is no quantitative consequence,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens, who oversees tennis.

The tennis committee met at the CHSAA office on Tuesday, and a main point of emphasis was the stacking of ladders. Ultimately, the committee recommended “serious consequences if blatant stacking is observed.”

Specifically, if the stacking is not corrected, the head coach will be put on restriction — meaning they would miss the postseason — and the team would not be able to participate in regionals or qualify for state at the position where the violation occurred.

This recommendation will need to be approved at January’s Legislative Council meeting along with the rest of the tennis committee report.

Tuesday, the committee recommended the following process to evaluate lineups:

• A formal complaint about the same team must by made by two separate athletic directors to the CHSAA office.
• CHSAA will send a letter to the team in question altering them to the complaints, and will “request documentation from the challenge matches.”
• A three-member committee (made up of members of the tennis committee) will head out “within a short timeframe” and evaluate the player(s) in question during a match.
• If the committee “feels that blatant stacking is happening,” the school will need to fix its lineup for the next match and the remainder of the season. If this does not occur, the coach will go on restriction, and the team cannot participate at regionals, or qualify for the state tournament, at the position.
• If the school corrects its lineup, no penalty will be imposed.

Each season, the CHSAA office receives roughly one-to-two complaints about a team stacking its ladder. The belief is that many do not officially report violations because there is currently no penalty for a violation.

“It’s the hope of the committee that this lineup evaluation committee will never have to go out and monitor matches,” Brookens said. “We hope that coaches are inclined to do what is morally and ethically correct. Your best player should play at No. 1 singles, your second-best at No. 2 singles, and so on.”