Benefits for being a captain?

dgrave2

Semi-Pro
Our tennis center recently organized a group of guys (we've never played with each other before) for the upcoming Spring season for league play. No one offered to captain the team, and so I told my coordinator that if no one volunteers, that I do not mind doing it. I like being the one to organize, etc and am almost always available to practice if someone can't make it on a designated day. This is, though, my first league. Is the captain supposed to be the strongest of the team, because that i am not. I would mainly only take the role because it is not desired by anyone else and I can be a good leader. Are there any specific qualities a captain should have? Are you looked at differently for being a captain, meaning you should be the one winning games?

I did a search but couldn't really find anything, so sorry if I have duplicated a thread. Captains help me out! :)
 

tfm1973

Semi-Pro
it's a thankless job. no - you don't have to be the best player. you just have to be the one who is willing and able. you are basically trying to organize your roster of people so that they show up at the same time and same location for each and every one of your matches. it's only fun if you are highly organized and have control issues. you also have to figure out which players and combinations you want to play and have to deal with people who may feel like they aren't playing enough -- or playing too much.

again -- all thankless. usually anyway. at the end of my men's season we all chipped in and got the team captain a gift card at TW.
 

lefty10s

New User
Do not have to be the best player, and generally the captain is not, for lot of reasons. But captain should be doing what is best for the team. Best line-ups with no agenda besides winning. Or if the team is more social, making sure everyone gets equal playing time.
Look at the big picture, and do what is right for the team. Often captains take over and have selfish reasons for doing so. Your reasons sound very realistic and not self-serving.
My biggest piece of advice(I have captained for 20+ years) is do not take crap/grief from any player on the team unless warranted. No matter how good one of your players is, that does not give them the right to gripe/moan and be a prima donna. No one is that good. It creates strife among the team and makes everyone miserable. Boot them off, bench them, tell them to shut up or become captain next season. The last comment is usually enough to keep them quiet. Only takes one bad egg to ruin the whole team.
Good luck!!

lefty10s
 

fe6250

Semi-Pro
I agree with the comments here. I personally like to captain, but I have regular access to e-mail and can keep up on things pretty easily. Main keys for me are:

1.) Be organized. Get contact information, best ways to reach, teams 'best guess' at their schedules, etc... Make a 'drop list' for all your guys and make sure they are committed to checking their e-mails. Consdier publishing a rough schedule for the season to try to get people to know when they will be expected to play (only draw-back is you may want to alter line-ups later so if a competitive team you may not want to do this).

2.) Know what your team is about - are you trying to win it all or just have fun? Captain accordingling.

3.) Regardless - keep it fun! I usually designate a 'beer captain' for every evening match and rotate the responsiblities.

4.) As the last poster said - don't put up with crap!

5.) I usually try to pair people and keep them together through the season

Hope that helps and good luck.
 

kevhen

Hall of Fame
No, sometimes captain is strongest player but often is not, but is just a good leader, organizer, and listens to his team. As captain you can put yourself in the lineup where you want (if you are weak then maybe #3 doubles). You can arrange practices so you can benefit from more hitting sessions, and also as captain you are the hub of communication so you will make more friends. Sometimes being captain will be more stressful as people don't show up for meets and you may have to drive and pay for gas to get team to meets but overall it can be pretty fun as you have more control over when and what position and what partner you play with. Not too many people like to be captain because of all the headaches but there are a lot of good things that come from it too and I enjoyed being captain the last couple years but took this winter off from USTA.
 

fe6250

Semi-Pro
One thing I do think is a BENEFIT of being a captain is you tend to get well connected to the USTA league coordinators AND other players in the league. I find it easier to get involved in tennis opportunities since I have been a captain since I just know more people to contact and often get contacted by others I have met.
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
I've captained every season that I have played except one, so that's six seasons now, I think.

As others have said, you don't have to be the best player. You just have to be crazy organized and efficient. My experience has been that every hour put into organization at the beginning of the season saves you double that hour. So do yourself a favor and get a binder and put the league rules, contact lists, match locations, scoresheets for the season and whatever else you will need into that binder.

Other things I've learned or been told: Figure out some system that does not rely on e-mail exclusively. Go with TennisOne.com or do what I do and use a Google on-line spreadsheet.

Decide team policies. Does everyone play equally? What happens when a player fails to show or realized they can't play a match for which they are scheduled? How are doubles partners decided?

Then there are the things that captains do that drive players nuts. In my experience, these are:

1. Failing to put out a line-up with sufficient notice.

2. Favoritism that is not based on tennis ability.

3. Cherry-picking the best player for a partner and then playing court three for the easy win.

4. Blatantly "sacrificing" players on Court One.

5. Being a match hog.

6. Making players feel like they have let others down if they lose.

7. Gossiping about the deficiencies of players to other players and failing to treat confidences as such.

8. Failing to give a straight answer to a straight question.

9. Treating players who decide to go elsewhere like traitors who should be shot on sight.

10. Changing the team's goals in the middle of the season. For instance, saying the team will be just for fun but then benching weaker players in a late effort to make the playoffs.

11. Forcing someone to play singles if they have told you repeatedly that they do not wish to play singles, and just putting them in the line-up without *asking* if they will do this for the team. Same for those who abhor doubles.

I'm sure others here can think of more "don'ts."
 

SJS

New User
I've captained for many years and agree that there are a LOT of headaches as mentioned previously so would like to point out one of the benefits. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out the best partnerships, line-ups, etc. The satisfaction that I get when I actually get it right is almost as good as when I win my own matches.
 

Topaz

Legend
No one offered to captain the team, and so I told my coordinator that if no one volunteers, that I do not mind doing it.

Ha! That's how they got me, too!

Everybody has already offered great advice. The only thing I would add...ask/designate a co-captain. *Insist* upon it!

Also, a while back, we had two threads going, one that discussed things that captains did that players hated (and Cindy hit a lot of those), and one that dicussed things that palyers did that captains hated. You may want to do a search in this sub-forum.
 

robkat

Semi-Pro
I received a free hat from the USTA that had the "USTA TENNIS" logo on the front and "Team Captain" on the back of the hat. I think that was in 2005. All the team captains received one.
 

Topaz

Legend
I received a free hat from the USTA that had the "USTA TENNIS" logo on the front and "Team Captain" on the back of the hat. I think that was in 2005. All the team captains received one.

Lol, I have that hat, too!!!
 

JavierLW

Hall of Fame
I've captained every season that I have played except one, so that's six seasons now, I think.

As others have said, you don't have to be the best player. You just have to be crazy organized and efficient. My experience has been that every hour put into organization at the beginning of the season saves you double that hour. So do yourself a favor and get a binder and put the league rules, contact lists, match locations, scoresheets for the season and whatever else you will need into that binder.

Other things I've learned or been told: Figure out some system that does not rely on e-mail exclusively. Go with TennisOne.com or do what I do and use a Google on-line spreadsheet.

Decide team policies. Does everyone play equally? What happens when a player fails to show or realized they can't play a match for which they are scheduled? How are doubles partners decided?

Then there are the things that captains do that drive players nuts. In my experience, these are:

1. Failing to put out a line-up with sufficient notice.

2. Favoritism that is not based on tennis ability.

3. Cherry-picking the best player for a partner and then playing court three for the easy win.

4. Blatantly "sacrificing" players on Court One.

5. Being a match hog.

6. Making players feel like they have let others down if they lose.

7. Gossiping about the deficiencies of players to other players and failing to treat confidences as such.

8. Failing to give a straight answer to a straight question.

9. Treating players who decide to go elsewhere like traitors who should be shot on sight.

10. Changing the team's goals in the middle of the season. For instance, saying the team will be just for fun but then benching weaker players in a late effort to make the playoffs.

11. Forcing someone to play singles if they have told you repeatedly that they do not wish to play singles, and just putting them in the line-up without *asking* if they will do this for the team. Same for those who abhor doubles.

I'm sure others here can think of more "don'ts."

Those sound good.

Although watch out for players who "abhor" doubles.

Unless they are obviously superior at singles, the worst thing that I hate to hear from someone is how they dont want to play doubles.

USTA league is about doubles, 6 out of 8 people have to play doubles and you have the hard task of trying to mix and match pairs of people together to throw out there. Having any more then 2 or 3 players who simply will never play doubles is not worth a whole lot.

(unless of course you are just a "for fun" team in which case you might not care, it all depends on your goals)

Even some of my best players have to play doubles once in awhile.
 

JavierLW

Hall of Fame
No one has mentioned the pay? :)

I made -$30 this year, does that count? :)

That's a good point to keep in mind. Depending on the facility and the details for how you obtain courts, or how you collect the money, sometimes you may have to front a certain amount of money ahead of time. (to reserve courts, buy balls, etc....)

Make sure you are clear with the team on how you plan on getting this money, otherwise Im sure there are a lot of captains who ended up getting stiffed at the end of the season when nobody paid.

(currently, I ask for a "deposit" at the beginning of the season, and then I charge the players on a per match basis, so they may owe more or I may owe them at the end of the season depending on how much they've played)
 

dgrave2

Semi-Pro
wow thanks alot guys for all the responses!! whew!! I am a mad organizer.. very OCD lol. Of course the challenge will be matching up people for doubles since none of us have played together before.

Cindy, thanks alot for all of that info!! I guess alot of those questions about the team can only be answered when the team can be brought together to determine team goals. I would think since this would be our first season together, our goals would just to play some tennis and have fun, if we win we win.. then if the team stays together for another season and we grow accustomed to each other, then start thinking about goal changes.

I guess another thing I will be worried about when the time comes is the dedication to the team. People might decide they dont "feel like" showing up for matches and then having to scramble around for replacements if there is enough time. ahhhh i can't wait :)
 

JavierLW

Hall of Fame
wow thanks alot guys for all the responses!! whew!! I am a mad organizer.. very OCD lol. Of course the challenge will be matching up people for doubles since none of us have played together before.

Cindy, thanks alot for all of that info!! I guess alot of those questions about the team can only be answered when the team can be brought together to determine team goals. I would think since this would be our first season together, our goals would just to play some tennis and have fun, if we win we win.. then if the team stays together for another season and we grow accustomed to each other, then start thinking about goal changes.

I guess another thing I will be worried about when the time comes is the dedication to the team. People might decide they dont "feel like" showing up for matches and then having to scramble around for replacements if there is enough time. ahhhh i can't wait :)

If you want to just have fun, that's an easy goal.

On my team, in our first season, we reconized that this was a league and the object is to finish as high as possible. Also some of us were on a horrible team that had taken last, and had went 2-43 in individual matches the year before. (only 2 players were involved in the two wins, everyone else lost)

So our easy goals were to identify the worst teams out there, and make sure we at least beat them. (turns out we took 3rd out of 8 teams though instead, and managed to beat all the average teams as well)

Other goals that are nice to have and are a bit easier are:

- Every player experiences at least one win.

- No defaults.

Set the bar low and you might surprise yourself. :)

As far as dedication, that's a big deal. Ive seen quite a few new teams that do poorly and then the players wont even show up to the matches.

Or you have people who sound like they are interested (because they at the moment since it sounds good at the time), but when the time comes they find something else that they are more interested in.

If you are just having fun, and you are more worried about having less headaches, then you might want to schedule the whole season in advance.

(for us, we send out a tentative schedule just to get people to think about playing, but then we end up changing every week as we learn more about ourselves and our upcoming opponents)
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
wow thanks alot guys for all the responses!! whew!! I am a mad organizer.. very OCD lol. Of course the challenge will be matching up people for doubles since none of us have played together before.

Cindy, thanks alot for all of that info!! I guess alot of those questions about the team can only be answered when the team can be brought together to determine team goals. I would think since this would be our first season together, our goals would just to play some tennis and have fun, if we win we win.. then if the team stays together for another season and we grow accustomed to each other, then start thinking about goal changes.

I guess another thing I will be worried about when the time comes is the dedication to the team. People might decide they dont "feel like" showing up for matches and then having to scramble around for replacements if there is enough time. ahhhh i can't wait :)

Yes, you can ask your players what the team goals will be.

Or you can just decide what the team goals will be.

I do the latter. This is because I feel like I have to decide what kind of team I want to captain. There are problems (lots of them!) in having certain goals, and I have decided I don't want the drama that stems from having different goals.

Say a team has a goal that they will be competitive and win the division. This means several things. It means better players will play more and weaker players may not play much. It means the captain will have to make unpopular decisions regarding partners. It means there may be more turnover on the team because of these decisions. Most difficult of all, it means the captain has to decide who is good and who is not and what benchmark will be used. Any benchmark selected (e.g. who wins) will immediately become controversial and somewhat unfair ("She's no better than me, but she just wins because she has a better partner!"). Much drama can occur, what with people not wanting to play with so-and-so lest they take a loss and get benched or otherwise suffer in the captain's evaluation of their tennis prowess.

So I set the goal and the policies that I can live with, and I say them up front. If these appeal to players, they join and stay. If not, they go elsewhere. Right now I have two players who are contemplating an offer for our new spring team. Their counteroffer was that I had to play them for every match for which they were available, and I had to guarantee them singles.

I said no. Although I could let them play singles, if I were in a pinch I might want them at doubles. And no way am I changing the team policy that we split playing time and court fees equally. So they may go elsewhere. Which is as it should be.

Regarding whether people feel like showing up . . . our team system is that I issue the schedule in chunks, about 4 weeks in advance. I only schedule players for matches they have said they can play. If their plans change, I find a sub but they do not get a replacement match or a refund of court fees regardless of the reason for the cancellation. If they no-show and force us to default a court, they have to pay the fees for the whole court.

So people show up, and they make an effort not to blow off matches because it costs them.

I'm a tyrant, as you can see. :) But believe me, every policy I have adopted addresses an abuse by a player on past teams.
 

dgrave2

Semi-Pro
So do yourself a favor and get a binder and put the league rules, contact lists, match locations, scoresheets for the season and whatever else you will need into that binder.

Other things I've learned or been told: Figure out some system that does not rely on e-mail exclusively. Go with TennisOne.com or do what I do and use a Google on-line spreadsheet."

Ok two things Cindy.. first of all, you are very right on the binder haha. There is a lot of information I'm going to need! I emailed the team today asking for some info about them..

Secondly, what do you mean by some sort of system?

Thanks for all of your info :)
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
Ok two things Cindy.. first of all, you are very right on the binder haha. There is a lot of information I'm going to need! I emailed the team today asking for some info about them..

Secondly, what do you mean by some sort of system?

Thanks for all of your info :)

You're welcome!

By "system," I mean some way to make sure you aren't drowned in e-mail and saddled with the responsibility of keeping track of everyone else's availability and simultaneously keeping everyone informed about every little thing via e-mail. In my first season, I just kept an Excel spreadsheet on my desktop with the line-ups. I would e-mail this to the team periodically. People would lose it or be working off of the wrong version, or would request it again and again. Every time it changed, everyone needed the new version and I'd have to send more e-mail. Ugh.

There are two ways I know of to ease the burden on the captain. One is Tennisone.com, which most TW captains seem to use. Every player can log on and indicate their own availability and see schedules/line-ups. It sends automated match reminders; players confirm on the site.

I have decided not to use Tennisone for teams I captain (although my mixed captain uses it). I don't like that it sends reminders to everyone on the team, even if they aren't playing. I don't like how you have to do so much clicking around to see what is going on. And as a captain trying to do a line-up, I wouldn't like how players can list their availability as "?", which is utterly unhelpful.

I use a Google on-line spreadsheet instead. It is the team central repository of information. I have sheets for the line-up, the contact list, helpful links, partner groups, practice availability, and match locations. I like doing it this way because it is one-stop shopping. Once you bookmark it, you just click on the bookmark and the entire schedule/line-up pops up, with everyone's availability. No clicking around.

Google spreadsheets allows lots of flexibility. For a tricky match location, I can add "If you get to the fire station, you've gone too far." After each player's name in the line-up, I put a number that indicates how many matches they've played so far so I can keep things even. If someone cancels, I can indicate that they've canceled and so-and-so is subbing in. If we get a warm-up court or are on clay, I can indicate this also. Once a match is played, I can gray it out so players can focus on the matches remaining.

Each player has a log-on and can edit the spreadsheet. The way I handle it is that their sole responsibility is to list themselves as unavailable for matches they cannot play.

Also, my approach to doing line-ups is that I can put you in the line-up if you haven't listed yourself as unavailable. If I schedule you and you later can't play, then that match still counts against your allotment of six matches. Silence = "I'm available!", so players are very diligent about making sure their unavailability is reflected on the spreadsheet so they don't have to cancel and lose out on their full allotment of matches. I don't have to deal with lots of "?".

The disadvantages of my system are: (1) I have to send my own match reminders via e-mail and players confirm directly back to me; (2) there are some people with no experience with Excel who *freak out* at the idea of a spreadsheet; and (3) a player can accidentally delete information others have entered. I keep back-up copies of the spreadsheet, and so far I haven't had any insurmountable problems.

There you go!
 

fe6250

Semi-Pro
Hey Cindy - Have now tried the Google Spreadsheets and am now using for my team. Great suggestion! Thanks!
 

OrangePower

Legend
^^^^^

(apologies in advance for hijacking the thread)

Cindy, the Google spreadsheet idea is fantastic! I am captaining a team for the first time this year and was going to use TennisOne, but you've convinced me to go the Google route instead.

Would you consider sharing your blank spreadsheet template? I'm sure you've got stuff set up in there that I don't even realize I need yet... :) I certainly understand if you'd prefer not to, but if you would please respond on this thread and I'll provide contact info.

(end hijack)
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
^^^^^

(apologies in advance for hijacking the thread)

Cindy, the Google spreadsheet idea is fantastic! I am captaining a team for the first time this year and was going to use TennisOne, but you've convinced me to go the Google route instead.

Would you consider sharing your blank spreadsheet template? I'm sure you've got stuff set up in there that I don't even realize I need yet... :) I certainly understand if you'd prefer not to, but if you would please respond on this thread and I'll provide contact info.

(end hijack)

Sure. I'll post a copy with the personal information omitted.

Hold please . . .
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
Well, nothing in life is easy, it seems.

OrangePower, I set up a template and made it viewable by anyone. Here's the link:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pR5sayLsYEkwvjZZRAICLPg

Trouble is, you won't have the ability to copy it or use other tools, and it doesn't display the same way as the original version.

If you give me an e-mail, I can invite you as a collaborator to the template and then you can copy the whole thing and do what you want with it.
 

OrangePower

Legend
Well, nothing in life is easy, it seems.

OrangePower, I set up a template and made it viewable by anyone. Here's the link:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pR5sayLsYEkwvjZZRAICLPg

Trouble is, you won't have the ability to copy it or use other tools, and it doesn't display the same way as the original version.

If you give me an e-mail, I can invite you as a collaborator to the template and then you can copy the whole thing and do what you want with it.

Cindy, this is great - thanks a bunch! I see exactly how you're using it and I'm going to set up something very similar. I'm sure this will be very helpful to other captains as well.

My biggest concern is folks inadvertently changing stuff - really, they shouldn't be updating anything other than their own availability. Pity Google Docs doesn't have any way to limit what cells collaborators can change. So I'm considering splitting things into two spreadsheets - one with availability (with the team invited as collaborators), and another with the rest of the schedule info, lineups, etc (with the team as viewers). And I believe there is a way to link the two spreadsheets up automatically - need to play around with it a bit to find out how.

Anyway, thanks again...
 

fe6250

Semi-Pro
Well, nothing in life is easy, it seems.

OrangePower, I set up a template and made it viewable by anyone. Here's the link:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pR5sayLsYEkwvjZZRAICLPg

Trouble is, you won't have the ability to copy it or use other tools, and it doesn't display the same way as the original version.

If you give me an e-mail, I can invite you as a collaborator to the template and then you can copy the whole thing and do what you want with it.

Looks great - I like the 'alternates' column and the locations tab. I'm going to add those to my sheet. I keep a master schedule tab and results tab on mine too.
 

OrangePower

Legend
Another potential tool for managing player availability and team lineups?

I just received an email from USTA NorCal, sent to all captains. It contains info re when the season match schedules will be published and so on... plus the following snippet:

"We have some exciting new captain tools coming to you this season. Your players will be able to log in and let you know their match availability. You will be able to do your line-ups on line, post them for your team to see, and move this info to the line up/scorecard you take to your matches. So nifty. And very easy, even for your not-so-computer-savvy players. More info on this when the schedules are published. Stay tuned."

Very timely, as I'm right in the middle of setting up a Google Docs spreadsheet to do exactly the same thing!

Does anyone have any additional information about this new USTA tool? (Or perhaps it's just for Norcal?) Is it any good?
 

Applesauceman

Semi-Pro
It's been said already, but I'll say it again...

It's a thankless job. You'll hear few complaints if you're team is winning, you'll hear all of the complaints if you're team is losing.

If you're team is winning, you're a good captain. If you're team is losing, you're a bad captain.

I think we're up to #13?

13. Grown men (and maybe women) don't know their own limitations. Egos will surface, usually at the worst times.
 

fe6250

Semi-Pro
It's been said already, but I'll say it again...

It's a thankless job. You'll hear few complaints if you're team is winning, you'll hear all of the complaints if you're team is losing.

If you're team is winning, you're a good captain. If you're team is losing, you're a bad captain.

I think we're up to #13?

13. Grown men (and maybe women) don't know their own limitations. Egos will surface, usually at the worst times.

While I don't doubt that you've had that experience, I must admit that I haven't had that yet. Perhaps it has something to do with how the team is built and what people's expectations are too. I'm sure if you go for the 'uber' team and it doesn't deliver, you will get some blow back. I make sure that I build teams with a balance of ability and personality so that if we lose - we still have fun.
 

fe6250

Semi-Pro
It's the one or two "cancers" in your team that can cause the most problems. These players always think that are better than they are, undermine your "authority", "stir the pot", and do so in order to benefit themselves...not the team.

I know the type. They don't get invited back!
 

Applesauceman

Semi-Pro
It's the one or two "cancers" in your team that can cause the most problems. These players always think that are better than they are, undermine your "authority", "stir the pot", and do so in order to benefit themselves...not the team. It's never happened to me directly, I've been in more of an assistant captain role, but I've seen it. I try very hard to "nip it in the bud".
 

10sguy

Rookie
Another potential tool for managing player availability and team lineups?

I just received an email from USTA NorCal, sent to all captains. It contains info re when the season match schedules will be published and so on... plus the following snippet:

"We have some exciting new captain tools coming to you this season. Your players will be able to log in and let you know their match availability. You will be able to do your line-ups on line, post them for your team to see, and move this info to the line up/scorecard you take to your matches. So nifty. And very easy, even for your not-so-computer-savvy players. More info on this when the schedules are published. Stay tuned."

Very timely, as I'm right in the middle of setting up a Google Docs spreadsheet to do exactly the same thing!

Does anyone have any additional information about this new USTA tool? (Or perhaps it's just for Norcal?) Is it any good?


Pretty sure this is unique to NorCal. Their web site is second to none of all the USTA Sections. Thing is, National has a "thing" about NorCal and, as a result, doesn't tend to want to incorporate NorCal's goodies into Tennislink.

Orangepower, do you play out of (windy) Orange Pk. in South San Francisco?
 

OrangePower

Legend
Pretty sure this is unique to NorCal. Their web site is second to none of all the USTA Sections. Thing is, National has a "thing" about NorCal and, as a result, doesn't tend to want to incorporate NorCal's goodies into Tennislink.

Orangepower, do you play out of (windy) Orange Pk. in South San Francisco?

Nope, that's not the origin of my screen name... although I live not far from there (Burlingame, if you're familiar with the area).

Anyway, if the new NorCal availability and line-up tools are any good, that's going to be a great feature - I'll report back once I get to use them.
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
Cindy, this is great - thanks a bunch! I see exactly how you're using it and I'm going to set up something very similar. I'm sure this will be very helpful to other captains as well.

My biggest concern is folks inadvertently changing stuff - really, they shouldn't be updating anything other than their own availability. Pity Google Docs doesn't have any way to limit what cells collaborators can change. So I'm considering splitting things into two spreadsheets - one with availability (with the team invited as collaborators), and another with the rest of the schedule info, lineups, etc (with the team as viewers). And I believe there is a way to link the two spreadsheets up automatically - need to play around with it a bit to find out how.

Anyway, thanks again...

Yes, having people inadvertently changing things is an issue.

I've never had a player make a change to the line-up or schedule itself. I make it clear that they have only one job: list their unavailability. So far, no problems and everyone gets it.

Where I have had problems is with people inadvertently changing the unavailability of other players. Say three players list themselves as unavailable. Then a fourth player comes on, clicks the appropriate cell and starts typing. This will erase the information in the cell.

To do it correctly, you have to click the cell twice until the cell changes from grey to white and your cursor appears. I tell my players this, and when someone make the mistake I fix it and write to them explaining how to do it. Then they understand and they don't make that mistake again. I also tell them to use "CTRL + Z" to undo any mistakes they make. This season, we added about 5 new players and only one ever made a mistake.

You'll see a row of tabs along the top, one of which says "Revisions." This tab will show you who made revisions to the document and allows you to revert back to past versions. If information gets erased, I can figure out what the sheet used to say and fix it. If Becky writes to me and says "Help, I think I erased some stuff!" I can go look at Becky's revisions and sort out whatever she did.

Another thing I do before the season schedule is released is I put up some fake matches on the sheet and ask new players to play around with the sheet and practice listing themselves as unavailable. Some will mess it up, and then we can go over how to do it before any real information is compromised.

I think splitting it into two sheets would be overkill. Players could still accidentally erase information entered by others no matter how many sheets you have. And players understand that the captain does the line-up, not them. Having more than one sheet would eliminate the one-stop-shopping part that makes this method attractive.

One more feature you should know about is "find." If you hit "CTRL + F," you can use the "find" feature. It appears as a bar across the bottom of the screen. If I search for "Cindy" and click "highlight all," it will highlight my name everywhere it appears on the screen. Then I can easily see how many times I am scheduled, I can see if I've scheduled myself for a match where I listed myself as unavailable, and I can make sure I haven't accidentally listed myself as an alternate and a player. After a while, looking at all those names makes your eyes cross, so using "find" makes life easier.
 
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fe6250

Semi-Pro
There is an option to share but not allow editing of the sheet. I see the advantage in that they can see the latest and greatest sheet in one place and can't mess anything up. The obvious disadvantage is that you would have to update the schedule on your player's behalf. My guys generally can give me their schedules a number of weeks in advance and then rarely change except at the last minute (which wouldn't make much difference as far as the sheet goes)

Have you considered this option? If so - did you see the disadvantage outweighing any advantage? Perhaps there are other issues I'm not considering as I haven't used this before.
 

Topaz

Legend
Tennisone.com, use etennisteam, you post the schedule, teammates put in their availability, you generate line-ups and emails from there.
 

dgrave2

Semi-Pro
wow this thread blew up on me lol. Cindy, thanks for posting that template! I'm gonna have to call up some of these guys, because I've only heard back from half the team. We have our captain's meeting tonight. Play starts in 3 weeks and I've only played with 1 of the guys on the team so far. Any suggestions on the best way to determine who would fit good where? (besides of course seeing how they play!)
 

Applesauceman

Semi-Pro
Yeah, this is a very cool template. My only fear is that some of the guys on my team fear computers, actually technology in general. It's all magic to them.
 

Topaz

Legend
Just signed my spring 4.0 team up on here and looks like this is going to work even better than the google spreadsheet for my purposes. Thanks a ton!

You're welcome.

The biggest chore is adding the people and then adding in the matches/practices. Once that is done, and people start logging in and putting in their info, it is pretty smooth sailing. Etennisteam also automatically will send match reminders, which is *very* nice IMO, as both a player and a captain.
 

Topaz

Legend
Yeah, this is a very cool template. My only fear is that some of the guys on my team fear computers, actually technology in general. It's all magic to them.

Ha! Yeah, we have that problem, too, with my women's team. Though, I don't think it matters what system you use, you will always have someone who is clueless! ;)
 

Topaz

Legend
wow this thread blew up on me lol. Cindy, thanks for posting that template! I'm gonna have to call up some of these guys, because I've only heard back from half the team. We have our captain's meeting tonight. Play starts in 3 weeks and I've only played with 1 of the guys on the team so far. Any suggestions on the best way to determine who would fit good where? (besides of course seeing how they play!)

My first year captaining the only thing I had to go on was what they told me and what I found on their records in Tennislink.
 

robby c

Semi-Pro
I have a problem with the whole scheduling concept. I'm returning to league play after a 10 year break(kids, car wreck, and 60 lbs).
My past teams were independent 4.5 teams. Never more than 11(3 singles and 4 dbls). Practice was mandatory Tue and Thurs with matches on Sun. If you didn't do well in practice challenge matches you sat out. You found out the line-up Thurs after practice. We won locals 12 years running;5 state,and 2 Southern.
Now I'm mid 40's and playing on a 3.5 club team a mile from home(What's left of the old team is 4.0 now). The captain already has 14 on the roster. I agreed to try out for singles(Improving my fitness is top priority this year). On my old team I was strictly a duece court dbls player.
I was told that this year's team will be scheduled well in advance. I'm going to try my best to be a positive team member, but I'm scared of the culture clash between a more social team ,and the deadly serious format from years past.
I was a captain 2 years once. You need to reach agreement for the team's goals. Good luck.
Robby C
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
I have a problem with the whole scheduling concept. I'm returning to league play after a 10 year break(kids, car wreck, and 60 lbs).
My past teams were independent 4.5 teams. Never more than 11(3 singles and 4 dbls). Practice was mandatory Tue and Thurs with matches on Sun. If you didn't do well in practice challenge matches you sat out. You found out the line-up Thurs after practice. We won locals 12 years running;5 state,and 2 Southern.
Now I'm mid 40's and playing on a 3.5 club team a mile from home(What's left of the old team is 4.0 now). The captain already has 14 on the roster. I agreed to try out for singles(Improving my fitness is top priority this year). On my old team I was strictly a duece court dbls player.
I was told that this year's team will be scheduled well in advance. I'm going to try my best to be a positive team member, but I'm scared of the culture clash between a more social team ,and the deadly serious format from years past.
I was a captain 2 years once. You need to reach agreement for the team's goals. Good luck.
Robby C

Sounds like a fit problem.

Although . . . I don't fully understand the issue you're having. Your old team was competitive and inflexible (only a deuce court doubles player? by choice?) and very successful. Did you like that? If so, then perhaps you should look for that.

My take on it is that people who are really serious about winning and are comfortable on more competitive teams would be miserable on a team more like mine (schedule put out in advance, everyone plays, stars get same number of matches as players who are more challenged).
 
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