Tentative All Season Schedule or One Match At A Time

[damazing]

Just wanting to gauge others feelings on league schedules. I play on several teams for different captains (different counties) and find that the captains that put out the schedule for the entire season usually don't have too many issues with scheduling. The captains that only put out the lineups the week of the match usually have to scramble because people plan other things since they don't know if they will get scheduled.

I feel that the teams that schedule week to week are trying to put out better lineups based on how the previous weeks have gone and the ones that schedule the entire season are in it for fun only.

What are your preferences? Would you rather know your individual match schedule for the season at the start of the season?

[OrangePower]

As a captain, I schedule week to week. Not because I think I get better lineups, but because people don't know their availability more in advance. Most of my players are married with families, so their availability for tennis depends on other demands on their time that they can't plan that far ahead for. Maybe if a team is mostly younger guys without family commitments you can set lineups for the whole season in advance and then they will plan around tennis, but family guys have to fit tennis in on a week by week basis.

[NumbersGuy]

Ditto OrangePower. I've tried both ways and found the same thing. A nice idea that just doesn't work, unfortunately, having the same demographic as Orange's.

[dizzlmcwizzl]

My best captain does it kind of in the middle ....


Usually he schedules for three week stretches at a time.

However, usually when we see the schedule we immediately know who will be our biggest challengers. On those matches he starts scheduling very early by letting his best 8 know he wants them if available and works his way down the list if they cannot make it or if changes happen.

[Angle Queen]

Originally Posted by dizzlmcwizzl

My best captain does it kind of in the middle ....


Usually he schedules for three week stretches at a time.

However, usually when we see the schedule we immediately know who will be our biggest challengers. On those matches he starts scheduling very early by letting his best 8 know he wants them if available and works his way down the list if they cannot make it or if changes happen.

+1

That's what's worked for me as both a player and a captain. I'll admit though, as captain, I've generally already "worked" out the schedule for the whole season (to try to make sure everyone gets ~equal playing time...as that has been our team's stated policy).

I have only played on two teams where the captains did lineups week-to-week. One also didn't use email. I will not play for either of them again as the logistics were way too stressful. As a "family" person, the more in-advance I know of my captain's request to have me in the lineup, the better I can (re)arrange things to (potentially) make them happen. Long-planned events and "emergencies" notwithstanding, I generally have been able to make it all work...for everyone.

Not sure that there's a perfect answer. What works for one, will or may not for another. If you're the captain, poll your players. If you're the player, tell (but don't demand of) your captain. You'll be surprised. The best plan is...to plan on good communication!

[goober]

week to week here. Too many guys travel for work and don't know their schedules months in advance. Also same problem with families with kids- things come up too often. Week to week also gives flexibility to match up according to your opponent. Every season, teams change their rosters, new teams come into the league and what look liked a good line up in the beginning of the season no longer looks so good mid season.

[J_R_B]

Originally Posted by OrangePower

As a captain, I schedule week to week. Not because I think I get better lineups, but because people don't know their availability more in advance. Most of my players are married with families, so their availability for tennis depends on other demands on their time that they can't plan that far ahead for. Maybe if a team is mostly younger guys without family commitments you can set lineups for the whole season in advance and then they will plan around tennis, but family guys have to fit tennis in on a week by week basis.

Ditto. I try to tell guys from the beginning that I want them for this week or that depending on the matchups so they can schedule around those matches if possible, but in the end, the final lineup is week to week.

[beernutz]

I don't remember ever having been on a team where the captain put out each match's lineup more than a few days in advance. Now all the teams I'm on use the tennisone system which allows players to enter their entire season's availability before the season starts so it appears it would be possible to do. Like some of the captian's who've replied, I think my captains prefer analyzing the past week's results for both our team and our opponents and tweaking their lineups accordingly.

[floridatennisdude]

Best captain I ever played for sent out the schedule as soon as it came out and asked everyone to let him know of any matches they know they'll miss (work, vacation, kids, etc). If there was a match that it looked like we would be short, he would seek out additional players, specifically asking about the key date(s) where we looked thin.

Then, every Monday he would re-confirm availability and send out a lineup by Thursday for the weekends match. We never defaulted a line. It was a simple and effective strategy.

The only players that didn't do well under that system were the unorganized and unreliable ones. If a player said they were available twice, then on Thursday were suddenly not, generally didn't get much PT the rest of the year. The captain was a Navy vet and didn't want to deal with drama. He was a little rigid, but fair.

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by floridatennisdude

Best captain I ever played for sent out the schedule as soon as it came out and asked everyone to let him know of any matches they know they'll miss (work, vacation, kids, etc). If there was a match that it looked like we would be short, he would seek out additional players, specifically asking about the key date(s) where we looked thin.

Then, every Monday he would re-confirm availability and send out a lineup by Thursday for the weekends match. We never defaulted a line. It was a simple and effective strategy.

The only players that didn't do well under that system were the unorganized and unreliable ones. If a player said they were available twice, then on Thursday were suddenly not, generally didn't get much PT the rest of the year. The captain was a Navy vet and didn't want to deal with drama. He was a little rigid, but fair.

Personally I would love to play on Navy vet's team. The worst two captains I ever had did not use email or a scheduling website. One didn't have a cell phone and did all his playing scheduling using his home phone which didn't even have an answering machine so getting back with him was next to impossible. The other at least had a cell but often let it go to voicemail and then wouldn't return voicemail messages plus he also wouldn't respond to text messages even though I know he got them. Never again for either of them.

[Cindysphinx]

I do about three week chunks at a time. People play on multiple teams, sometimes as many as five. If you schedule week to week, your best players will be committed to their other teams.

I have no patience with captains who schedule week to week. I am not going to hold a date open when I haven't been told I am playing.

[Maui19]

Best captains I've played for:

1) Ask us if we are available for the state tournament before we sign up.

2) Gives us the whole schedule when it is announced, and asks us for any conflicts we know we will have.

3) Gives us a lineup for a couple weeks at a time.

[floridatennisdude]

Originally Posted by beernutz

Personally I would love to play on Navy vet's team. The worst two captains I ever had did not use email or a scheduling website. One didn't have a cell phone and did all his playing scheduling using his home phone which didn't even have an answering machine so getting back with him was next to impossible. The other at least had a cell but often let it go to voicemail and then wouldn't return voicemail messages plus he also wouldn't respond to text messages even though I know he got them. Never again for either of them.

Yep, that's why I called him the best I played for. He only captained for a couple years and got fed up with the drama. I thought his system was great.

[Mauvaise]

Originally Posted by floridatennisdude

Best captain I ever played for sent out the schedule as soon as it came out and asked everyone to let him know of any matches they know they'll miss (work, vacation, kids, etc). If there was a match that it looked like we would be short, he would seek out additional players, specifically asking about the key date(s) where we looked thin.

Then, every Monday he would re-confirm availability and send out a lineup by Thursday for the weekends match. We never defaulted a line. It was a simple and effective strategy.

That's the way I do it. I'm hyper-anal about schedules and lists and such, so once we had the schedule, I sent it to my team and asked for any days they knew they were unavailable. I plug those into my spreadsheet and then filled out the rest of the schedule with everyone's on & off days, but not what lines they'll play. I use Google Drive and will send out the link so everyone can view, but only I and the co-captain can edit. The week before the match I work on the actual line up and send it Tuesday and reconfirm on Friday & Monday (match day).

The spreadsheet is even color-coded so I know at a glance who can start early and at which locations since our league does staggered starts at first matches start at 6pm (can be tough when you're traveling 60miles on a Monday after work).