{"id":42957,"date":"2016-07-06T18:00:30","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T23:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=42957"},"modified":"2016-07-06T18:00:30","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T23:00:30","slug":"chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago junior tennis rallies against decline in sportsmanship"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Erin Barney<\/strong><\/p>\n

The world would have forgiven Novak Djokovic if he threw his racquet after losing to Sam Querrey in the third round of Wimbledon Sunday.<\/p>\n

Fans have understood when Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Andy Murray and countless other pros took anger out on their equipment, and would have given the No. 1 player in the world the same pardon. They felt his pain, and would have shared in his outrage and frustration at the loss.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, they didn\u2019t have to. Djokovic opted for Wimbledon\u2019s longstanding tradition of sportsmanship.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to take anything out of the victory for my opponent today,\u201d said Djokovic in his post-match press conference. \u201cHe played very well and he deserved to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this year, these honorable moments have been few and far between, and Chicago\u2019s junior players have felt the effects. When they began mirroring the bad behavior, the city stepped in.<\/p>\n

The Chicago District Tennis Association identified a lack of sportsmanship among the district\u2019s junior players as a major concern. Matches became increasingly laced with four letter words rather than respectful play\u2014 a shift that is not surprising given the poor examples set by professional players, who have been caught using performance enhancing drugs and intentionally losing matches. In the wake of these scandals, Midtown Athletic Club\u2019s instructors have reworked their curriculum to include lessons in morality.<\/p>\n

In January, BuzzFeed News and BBC reported an investigation of 16 pros who lost matches when suspicious bets were placed against them. In other words: match fixing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe landscape has changed,” Association of Tennis Professional\u2019s president Chris Kermode told ESPN<\/a> in January. “We’re in a different world,” he added.<\/p>\n

While Kermode and the rest of professional tennis scrambled into damage control, Vasiliy Guryanov, director of Midtown\u2019s junior competitive program, was just trying to complete a REM sleep cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was up worrying about my juniors and what they would think,\u201d Guryanov said.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the story broke, Guryanov joined Chicago district officials at a sportsmanship meeting. There, they agreed on messaging to use with juniors moving forward: respect oneself, respect the opponent and know the rules of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what makes the sport great. It\u2019s a great teacher of these things,\u201d said Bill Lange, chairman of the district\u2019s sportsmanship committee. \u201cBut it also leaves the door open for some bad behavior. They can take a whole game away from someone by making a bad critical call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Midtown\u2019s Anastasia Goncharova, 17, suffered that exact type of loss two years ago. Her opponent called the winning shot wide, a stroke that to this day, the Evanston sophomore swears kissed the line. Her mentality was wrecked for the rest of the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was supposed to just let that go, erase my memory and move on,\u201d she said. \u201cI just couldn\u2019t get there that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goncharova admits she wanted to make a scene in retaliation, anything to rattle the girl\u2019s psyche like hers was. But she didn\u2019t, and Midtown has since taught her the value of her moral victory that day.<\/p>\n

Casual mentions of sportsmanship during water breaks turned into full-blown morality lessons at Midtown after the district meeting. Coaches revisit matches during which they took the high road, harping on the concept of winning clean.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do all the talking and all the teaching,\u201d Guryanov said. \u201cFrom there, it\u2019s up to them to grow and make their own choice and say, \u2018This is going to be my game.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Another decision he hopes they make without hesitation is to say no to performance enhancing drugs. Maria Sharapova provided a timely, unfortunate, bridge to that subject.<\/p>\n

In March, the 29-year-old Russian was charged with an anti-doping violation for her failed drug test at the 2016 Australian Open. Allegedly, Sharapova was unaware that meldonium, a drug she had been taking for over 10 years for health concerns, was placed on the banned substance list beginning Jan. 1. She received a two-year suspension from the International Tennis Federation as a result.<\/p>\n

To discourage the juniors from ever turning to PED\u2019s, Guryanov found a way to show them they can be just as successful and stay legal using MYZONE technology.<\/p>\n

The MYZONE belts track calories burned and heart rate and displays them as effort points on a TV monitor during lessons. Each level of intensity is reflected by a different color: red corresponds to 90 to 100 percent effort, while blue means they are pretty much standing still.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you do, don\u2019t let them catch you in the blue,\u201d said Hallie Leblebijian a sophomore at Lane Tech College Prep high school.<\/p>\n

Just two months of training with a MYZONE belt transformed Leblebijian\u2019s ground strokes from inconsistent to punishing, according to her coaches. Her peers have seen similar results, and question why anyone would feel the need to enhance their game with illegal substances. Targeted training is legal, effective and the only option Leblebijian would consider, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been easy, they [the coaches] are pretty tough on us,\u201d Leblebijian said. \u201cBut seeing your rankings go up, your tournament results go up, it just makes your experience so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guryanov hopes his juniors realize they don\u2019t need to break rules to win, which so far, seems to be the case. Since adding morality lessons and MYZONE belts to the curriculum, seven of his 15 players have won sportsmanship awards in major tournaments.<\/p>\n

Last month, Goncharova became the most recent recipient.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be recognized for something we work so hard for,\u201d she said. \u201cThe real hard part of tennis is to respect the game by keeping your emotions in check. That\u2019s the real win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winning continues off the court. Lange, who has also coached junior tennis for 49 years, said players learn a sense of accountability and develop an ethical code, attributes that are fiercely sought after in the business world. His players have gone on to succeed in every field from management to law because of the integrity they developed in junior tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn tennis, you\u2019re running with a good bunch of people,\u201d Lange said. \u201cWe\u2019re around to catch the good and bad acts and teach them what\u2019s proper. That\u2019s the true beauty of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Juniors at Midtown Athletic Club’s junior competitive program pause mid-lesson to talk about moral challenges players may face in the sport. (Erin Barney\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Erin Barney The world would have forgiven Novak Djokovic if he threw his racquet after losing to Sam Querrey in the third round of Wimbledon Sunday. Fans have understood when Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Andy Murray and countless other pros took anger out on their equipment, and would have given the No. 1 player […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":42964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2922,192,2923,2860],"class_list":["post-42957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-midtown-athletic-club","tag-promo","tag-sportsmanship","tag-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago junior tennis rallies against decline in sportsmanship - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago junior tennis rallies against decline in sportsmanship - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Erin Barney The world would have forgiven Novak Djokovic if he threw his racquet after losing to Sam Querrey in the third round of Wimbledon Sunday. Fans have understood when Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Andy Murray and countless other pros took anger out on their equipment, and would have given the No. 1 player […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-06T23:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/07\/Midtownpic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"731\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"erinbarney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"erinbarney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/\",\"name\":\"Chicago junior tennis rallies against decline in sportsmanship - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/07\/Midtownpic.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-06T23:00:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/73db746239d3b6a7b761ecc99a291f4e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/07\/Midtownpic.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/07\/Midtownpic.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":731},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Chicago junior tennis rallies against decline in sportsmanship\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/73db746239d3b6a7b761ecc99a291f4e\",\"name\":\"erinbarney\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dc7a3766c6dd67aa934f7b6b1145c1ae62bf413e7e72d8982ab259a1633090a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dc7a3766c6dd67aa934f7b6b1145c1ae62bf413e7e72d8982ab259a1633090a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"erinbarney\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/erinbarney\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chicago junior tennis rallies against decline in sportsmanship - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chicago junior tennis rallies against decline in sportsmanship - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Erin Barney The world would have forgiven Novak Djokovic if he threw his racquet after losing to Sam Querrey in the third round of Wimbledon Sunday. Fans have understood when Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Andy Murray and countless other pros took anger out on their equipment, and would have given the No. 1 player […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-07-06T23:00:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":731,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/07\/Midtownpic.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"erinbarney","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"erinbarney","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/","name":"Chicago junior tennis rallies against decline in sportsmanship - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/07\/Midtownpic.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-06T23:00:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/73db746239d3b6a7b761ecc99a291f4e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/07\/Midtownpic.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/07\/Midtownpic.jpg","width":1100,"height":731},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-junior-tennis-rallies-against-decline-in-sportsmanship\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Chicago junior tennis rallies against decline in sportsmanship"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/73db746239d3b6a7b761ecc99a291f4e","name":"erinbarney","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dc7a3766c6dd67aa934f7b6b1145c1ae62bf413e7e72d8982ab259a1633090a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dc7a3766c6dd67aa934f7b6b1145c1ae62bf413e7e72d8982ab259a1633090a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"erinbarney"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/erinbarney\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/259"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}