Area 5.0 Player Asked To "Maybe Relax A Little" During Casual Round Robin
Local 5.0 player Derek Sloan was asked to maybe relax a little Thursday night after arriving at a casual community round robin with matching compression gear and a tripod-mounted camera setup.
GREENWOOD — Local 5.0 player Derek Sloan was asked to “maybe relax a little” Thursday night after arriving at a casual community round robin with matching compression gear, a tripod-mounted camera setup, and what witnesses described as “clear emotional playoff intensity.”
Players said concerns began during warmups when Sloan requested five additional minutes “to properly calibrate timing.”
“He was charting serve placement during rec play,” said participant Kevin Morales. “At one point he asked if we could restart a point because his watch didn’t track the heart-rate spike correctly.”
Witnesses confirmed Sloan celebrated several routine winners with quiet fist pumps before apologizing and explaining he was “just trying to compete intentionally.”
Tensions escalated after Sloan requested line judges for the semifinal rotation game.
“No one even knew there was a semifinal rotation game,” one player said.
Sloan later defended his approach, stating that “casual environments create casual habits.”
At press time, Sloan was seen reviewing match footage alone in the parking lot while everyone else went to get tacos.