It Has Finally Happened

It has finally happened: an athlete took the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJISAA) to court in an attempt to overturn the result of a state tennis match and allow it to be replayed due to “alleged improper conduct by an opposing coach and poor officiating in a state semifinal match” the player had lost.  For a few months now I have written blogs about youth/High School sports ending up in court for various reasons with most of them dealing with parents running to court to get decisions of Little League and the NJISAA overturned by the courts, unfortunately with some success.  Now, as I always do, I am posting the following disclaimer, I was not at the match so whatever I write is focused on youth/High School sports and not the ridiculousness of players, parents or school administrations suing to overturn results of games won or lost on the field of play.  

            Briefly stated, according to an article written on November 12, 2025 by Darren Cooper of northjersey.com, the player who filed the lawsuit (I will not name her as, although she is of legal age, she is still in High School so I consider her a minor and I do not name minors) claimed she “experienced egregiously biased officiating decisions and improper sideline conduct that affected the outcome of the match” against her opponent.  The suit included the following allegations: “the assigned line judge was not visible to spectators and hand signals were only directed at the chair.  Three to four impactful line calls that went against her at crucial moments, inconsistent ‘stray ball’ handling and detrimental actions by the opposing coach.”  Finally, she wrote that “when she politely asked the chair to relocate or curb the conduct, he replied ‘No’ and no discipline followed despite pre-match announcements and rules limiting coaching to changeovers.”  The NJISAA was prepared to respond to the charges, but the judge assigned to the case dismissed it before it reached the oral argument stage.  The judge stated “there was no law to back up the kind of allegation and the young woman had not demonstrated suffering any irreparable harm.”

            Now, while I admire the young lady's tenacity in fighting for what she felt was right, I feel she was ultimately suing because she lost.  Again, not being present at the match I cannot comment on whether or not her opponents coach was prompting her player, or whether the officials were using hand signals that were only directed to the chair; however, I find real fault with her argument that “three to four impactful line calls went against her at crucial moments.”  Now to those athletes/former athletes out there, how many times did you play in a game/match and have calls go against your team affecting the result?  I venture to say any former athlete reading this article could name at least 5 or 6 games they lost due to poor officiating or perceived poor officiating as not every “bad call” is in fact a “bad call”, but rather a “bad call” for the coach/manager who disagrees with the call.  While writing this I can think of a youth soccer playoff game I lost as coach where the referee claimed that my player kicked the ball out of the goalie’s hand while he had the ball in his possession, and proceeded to score the game winning goal.  Well, I totally disagreed with the call because I felt the goalie did not have possession of the ball; however, since the referee made the call my only recourse was to accept the call (I accepted the call only after arguing that the referee was incorrect) and continue on with the game.  Now, could I have gone to court and sued to have the result overturned, and in today’s climate I can only assume that will happen one day, but back in the day when I was coaching, I argued my case, lost and my team took the “L”.

I have to say that I agree with the judge’s decision because in my opinion, if the judge allowed this suit to go forward in any way it would have opened the flood gates, even wider than it seems to be open now allowing players, coaches or schools to sue simply because they may have lost a game due to a “bad call.”  As a former court employee of many years, we were always taught that the main purpose of courts is to provide a forum for the impartial resolution of legal disputes, uphold the rule of law, and ensure justice. They do this by interpreting and applying laws to resolve civil conflicts between parties and by hearing criminal cases, ensuring rights are protected, and maintaining social order.  In my opinion the case that the young lady brought had no real “conflict” short of her losing a tennis match, which I can understand as a high school student, can be a traumatic event.  There was no law broken, no real conflict and social order did not need to be maintained.  I have stated before and will state again, in my opinion if the courts continue to allow youth sports cases to come to court they will be opening a Pandora ’s Box they will never be able to close.  As I see it, the judge made the correct decision, but the next judge may entertain the filing, allowing the match to be replayed, causing problems for youth/High School sports.