Help with a player of the year debate

[jps]

Which has a parent that benches more?
Choose the other one.

 

[Appgrad05]

I think the head-to-head solves the problem. Go with the 3A kid, and no one can find fault in your reasoning. Go with the 2A kid, and it's 'Well, the 3A kid whooped him when they played each other.'

 

[jps]

I think the head-to-head solves the problem. Go with the 3A kid, and no one can find fault in your reasoning. Go with the 2A kid, and it's 'Well, the 3A kid whooped him when they played each other.'

On a serious level, I agree totally. Also, playing against bigger schools = better competition, traditionally.

 

[TyWebb]

Go with the white player.

It's tennis. Everyone is lilly white in high school tennis.

Go with the player that had the better season. If not for him/her, do it for yourself. That would be a much easier story to write. Good luck writing a compelling piece about someone on a team that went .500 and didn't win anything. The head-to-head match up would be a tiebreaker for me if two players had similar seasons, but these seasons seem far from similar.

 

[wannabeu]

I'd go with the 2A player. Head to head should not matter as much. The 2A player can only play against the competition he goes up against. He was better than the 3A kid against the competition they went up against. I agree that it is the player of the year, not the best player. The 2A kid had a better season. I don't think the head-to-head should be the end all, be all of why to pick one over the other. The 2A kid had the better season, go with him.

 

[deskslave]

2A player. If you'd give it to the 3A kid who beat him, why wouldn't you give it to one of the other four who beat him? 2A kid clearly had the better season.

And I dunno if this is the case where you are, but where I've been, a lower classification doesn't necessarily mean lower-quality competition in tennis, because quite often those lower classifications have private-school powerhouses.

 

[Batman]

We had a similar situation in baseball a few years back. Both teams in 5A, in the same division. Player A was a pitcher and beat Player B's team all three times they played. Shut them down. And he had a fine year. But when we looked at the stats at the end of the season, Player B was ahead of the other guy in just about every category. We went with Player B, and even though A's coach still gives us shirt about it I'll defend that choice to the death.
Go with the 2A player. He did more for his team, and more on an individual level, than the 3A kid. And there can't be that much difference in talent level when you're talking about 2A and 3A, can there?

 

[Batman]

Go with the kid who worked harder.

But they all work so hard!

 

[Steak Snabler]

Just pick co-players of the year like our old prep guy always used to do.

 

[FuturaBold]

Thanks to those who have answered seriously. Fact is the team and award exists, and they did long before I arrived. I have sent out emails and calls to coaches with no dog in the fight, and they have been helpful. Basically I wanted opinions from fellow writers to see if they were divided just to make sure there wasn't an obvious choice I was blind to. Not stressed about it, realize these things pish off more than they please, but I do want to make a fair choice.

this is amazing because I was just getting ready to post something almost exactly the same. I'm in the midst of a similar situation with picking my tennis all-area team -- which doubles team should be the MVPs. Same scenario where team 1 had the better overall record/more accomplishments but team 2 competed in a tougher league and beat team 1 in the head-to-head ...

I'd say if the players' accomplishments are pretty similar, go with the guy who won the head-to-head. But if the guy who lost the head-to-head has a lot more on his resume for the season, I'd go with him...

 

[Rhody31]

Pick whoever did the best in the state singles tournament.

 

[BertoltBrecht]

Just pick co-players of the year like our old prep guy always used to do.

It got so bad at this one shop I worked at, there were 16 players on the baseball all-area first team. Not counting the superlatives.