LAWN TENNIS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22591, 22 December 1938, Page 10

LAWN TENNIS

SELECTION OF TEAMS

VALUE OF COMING TOURNAMENTS

SHIELD AND CASKET FOURS TO BE CHOSEN

(By CROSSCOURT.)

Of the greatest interest to players and followers of the game, the Canterbury and New Zealand championship tournaments, which will be held at Wilding Park over the Christmas and New Year holidays will be even more welcome to the" Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association's selectors. Messrs J. Mercer, J. H. W. Sheppard, and T. W. Patterson. They will have the task very shortly of choosing the province's teams to challenge Auckland for the Anthony Wilding Memorial Shield and to defend the Kathleen Nunneley Casket against Wellington.

The tournaments will afford them the most favourable opportunity of weighing the claims of candidates for the teams that any provincial . selectors have had for many years. Already the selectors have on ' record the results of ranking list, inter-club, and' club competition matches; the Canterbury championships—a four-days' tournament beginning on Saturday—and the New Zealand championships, which will last from December 31 to January 7, will enable them to compare the candidates for the Canterbury teams in the far more exacting tests of championship play against leading players from other provinces. "Automatic" Selections

Canterbury selectors have been inclined in the past to rely too much on the provincial ranking lists, or, alternatively, on series of trial matches. It might well be argued that a selection committee which seeks such automatic" methods of choosing teams—or rather of allowing teams to choose themselves—is shirking its duty. But a more important consideration is the psychological effect on the team itself, rt "is recognised that "healthy competition" for places in teams can easily become unhealthy rivalry among the players themselves. At a time when the players should be giving each other help and moral encouragement m getting into their best form, they are asked to battle for places. Getting into the team may become so serious a . business that, having got there the player suffers a reaction and[fails to do himself justice in the actual matches. H. W. Austin the g-eat English player, attributed the success of the British Davis Cup team in 1933 and subsequent years to its being chosen without trial matches. The players met as friends and team-mates instead of as rivals—an important factor when the same players had to travel all over Europe in their arduous quest for the trophy. Choosing the Best The Canterbury selectors will have to consider the claims this year of players who, through force of circumstances, have not been able to zas.e part in ranking list matches. Such players might, in some recent seasons have been excluded in the policy of various selectors in choosing teams solely on ranking list positions. Fortunately the ability of these players is well known to the selectors; their present form will be revealed in the forthcoming tournaments. No special trial matches or ranking matches should, therefore, be necessary before the selections are announced. One further principle of team selection should be mentioned. It . may seem platitudinous to say that the best team should be chosen, but there are many who advocate consistently a policy which does not give this result. These are the users of the catchcry "Give youth its chance." Many of them advocate the inclusion of young players, regardless of whether they have proved themselves superior to 'their older rivals, in the dubious hope that by this means a strong team will be built for some time in the future. Too often do such young players fail to justify early promise, so that these early sacrifices of strength are made in vain. Best Test of Ability Young players, if they have the ability in them, will prove their right to inclusion in teams in due course; until they do so their selection is not justified. Canterbury, fortunately, has young players of great promise. The forthcoming tournaments will give them the opportunity of demonstrating their ability. If their performances excel those of the players of established reputation they should go into the provincial teams regardless of their positions on the ranking lists. The Canterbury and New Zealand championships—the one will be as hard to win as the other—will provide the best possible test of the abilities of candidates for the province's teams. Not only on results, but on the form shown in these matches, should the selectors make their choice, having regard of course to the Wilding Shield and Nunneley Casket requirements in doubles as well as in singles play. Canterbury's best teams will do honour to the province.