SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT OF THE TENNIS COURTS

Although there has been but a short period of tennis as yet this spring, complaints have already reached our ears that apparently school boys have been using the available courts while Harvard men have had to wait their turn. There is no particular reason why school boys should not use the courts at times when there is no other demand for them, but from now to Commencement surely there will be a constant demand for the courts by students of the University. These students, through membership in the Athletic Association, are the owners of the courts and are therefore entitled to preference in their use.

It may be difficult to prevent men not members of the University from using the courts under the present system by which they are allotted. This is not the only fault of the haphazard arrangement however. At present if all the courts are in use men wander over the field to find out which court will first be vacant. One pair of players may spend ten minutes looking at the time boards and have to wit half an hour for a court, while another pair, more fortunate, may find the first court they strike available in ten minutes. In the long run, luck may be as favorable to one man as another, but f it is agreed that courts should be allotted to players in the order of their applications, surely some better method should be devised.

It is our opinion that the courts could be more efficiently managed if players signed a waiting list posted at some convenient point on the tennis field, and as courts became vacant they should be allotted to players in their order on this list. The superintendent of the courts could note down on another list the time that each was allotted and thus be able to tell, without inspecting each time board, when the allotted hour was over. It would thus be possible for waiting players to secure courts in the exact order of their arrival on the field, and by knowing how many were ahead of them, could use the waiting time to some advantage. Of course if the player were not on the spot ready to play when his name was called he would forfeit his position. By having the names of the players in writing it would also be possible to look up in the catalogue any who were suspected of not being bona-fide students of the University.