Texas

Behind the Scenes: Weather Trouble

Jeannette Escutia, USTA Official | February 24, 2024

Managing Weather Delays Like a Pro

A note from our staff: Our Tournament Directors (TDs) work tirelessly to put together the best tournaments for our players. But no matter how hard they plan and troubleshoot, the one thing out of their control is the weather. In this article, USTA Texas Official Jeannette Escutia offers a behind-the scenes glimpse into how Tournament Staff work together and respond to unexpected weather challenges.

UNEXPECTED SNOW

Coach Justin Quest and I had our first tournament of 2025 on January 11th and 12th. The tournament registration closed on Sunday Night (1/5), by Wednesday (1/8) he had posted the draws and then withdrawals started happening.

On Thursday, January 9th, it began snowing. The tournament was set to play at Eagle Landing Tennis Center also known as Allen High School Courts. The Allen ISD closed for the day due to the snow, and at the time only announced the Thursday Closing. However, once the snow hit, they also closed for Friday. Ultimately, we would get got five inches of snow in Allen.

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FRIDAY

Coach Quest was determined to try to make this tournament work, and at every spare moment he had he was at the courts trying to do something to help. On Friday he spent more than eight hours removing snow from the courts along with the help of some players, his family, some boosters,, but mainly it was him. As a group, they shoveled snow off the courts, they used a jet blower, and worked hard to make the surfaces playable.

We don’t get snow very often, so we don’t know what we don’t know. For example, initially we left some snow on the back south side of the courts, and this became a problem when thatpart of the court did not get enough sun, or breeze for the snow and ice to melt.

SATURDAY

Early Saturday he started working on the courts again. day Saturday we struggled to get make even a single court playable. This meant having to postpone the start time of the matches. As an official, I checked out the site and in addition to being concerned about the courts themselves, I was also worried about keeping the parents and spectators safe from the ice which was still everywhere. Despite working all day to clear courts or squeeze in matches, Coach Quest it was impossible to get a round of matches in on Saturday.

Tournament staff clear snow from courts.

SUNDAY

The next morning, we started again at 9 a.m.

By then, we had four playable courts available. At the same time, Coach Quest and parent volunteers worked on the other courts to try to make them available for play as quickly as possible.They used hot water to melt ice and a swamp blower to dry the court behind the water.

Luckily, we were able to make the 10 a.m. start time, but only four of the 12 matches scheduled were able to be played. With such a compressed timeline for competition, we used a shortened format to turn over the courts as quickly as possible.

Finally, by2 p.m. we were able to have all 12 courts playing. Some players managed to play three matches, and all players received two, but despite our efforts, we ran out of daylight and the ability to finish this event completely and were forced to stop around 7 p.m.

ATTITUDE MATTERS

Coach Quest worked diligently and remained positive and optimistic throughout the weekend. He wanted to give the players an opportunity to play. Unfortunately, some players did withdraw, but those who endured the weather obstacles played and had fun. From what I observed, I think everyone including myself was so impressed by everything that Coach Quest did to make play possible during this event, despite the extreme weather conditions. Thank you for your attention to this “pat on the back” to this Tournament Director who is doing good things for the Junior Players.