Captaining in a non-existent league

[MRfStop]

This how I feel as a captain trying to get a 4.0 low league to form. Having to email, text, call, and beg in person people to captain another team to play my team. I have 10 people signed up. I have asked several guys but they all allude to the fact that they dont want the responsibility and they don’t want to get their butt kicked in a 18 & over league. This is the 2nd season in a row that I have tried this with no help from the league coordinator. The league coordinator sent an email out to everyone who plays league tennis in my area and they have only received two people respond saying they would be interested but no one has said they will captain.

Keep in mind there are around 40 men in my area who qualify to play 18&over 4.0 low along with 3.5s that can play up.

 

[CosmosMpower]

Just quit and join another team

 

[MRfStop]

Just quit and join another team

I’m the only team

 

[CosmosMpower]

Time to move

 

[MRfStop]

Time to move

Yep I’ve considered that

 

[TagUrIt]

Yeah that’s a tough situation. Keep your team together by scheduling practices and playing against each other. That way when you do have an actual league to play in, you’re going to be even more prepared.

 

[OnTheLine]

Captain 2 teams? One that you are really captaining, sign someone else up as "captain" and do all the work for them behind the scenes?
I am kinda joking .... is there someone who is involved in the tennis scene (HS coach, PE teacher, parks and rec coordinator) who could step in?

Or jut play 4.0 high and take your lumps.

Otherwise, yes, move.

 

[MRfStop]

Captain 2 teams? One that you are really captaining, sign someone else up as "captain" and do all the work for them behind the scenes?
I am kinda joking .... is there someone who is involved in the tennis scene (HS coach, PE teacher, parks and rec coordinator) who could step in?

Or jut play 4.0 high and take your lumps.

Otherwise, yes, move.

Yea...I am working on it. The 4.5 league is in the same situation. There are just enough 4.5s here to form two teams. Both are being captained by one person so one team qualifies for state and the other doesn’t.

I already play 4.0 High so the purpose of playing low was to have another night I could play. I’m 32 so I don’t get the 4.0 18, 40, 55 & over leagues like the majority of people in Mid GA.

 

[BallBag]

Can you do a tri-level league?

 

[MRfStop]

Can you do a tri-level league?

I’m planning to do a 7.5 combo team

 

[WhiteOut]

This sounds tough...just enough population to do *something* but not enough to make it really reliable...

Instead of being 'captain', can you pull together these groups of 4.0/4.5 players, and just do a single night a week of mix-up tennis, basically a session of practice sets? Sounds like you have access to ~12-20 players at any given time...so then reserve 3-5 courts and just have people sign up, then create matchups based on who signs up? In this scenario, you're not really being a captain, you're more of a coordinator. You could divide costo of the court time + balls by the number of people who play that night**. If it's a the same facility each week on the same night, I'll bet a few of them will start to make it a regular part of their weekly routine. Depending on outcome, I could see something like this evolving into its own little ladder system...

**Whenever I pull folks together like this, I promote the idea that if anyone is going to have a guest fee charged, we just roll that into the total cost and divide by number of players, since we need the guest to round out the group, and they want to play -- it's symbiotic. I have found this to be helpful in meeting new people and have added several guys to my teams this way also...who then later just pay the membership since they wind up playing there regularly anyway.

 

[Moveforwardalways]

How do you recruit people for a 4.0 low league if their USTA dynamic rating is proprietary and not publicly available?

 

[Vox Rationis]

Is there a city where USTA is actually trending up? I've yet to hear of somewhere where there aren't fewer and fewer teams/players each year in USTA. I know that the overall numbers are decreasing, but maybe there's a city/town out there doing something right.

 

[WhiteOut]

Is there a city where USTA is actually trending up? I've yet to hear of somewhere where there aren't fewer and fewer teams/players each year in USTA. I know that the overall numbers are decreasing, but maybe there's a city/town out there doing something right.

I'm in a ******* city -- think a tier below the size of Chicago or Detroit. The USTA leagues here are run very well, as we have a very professional, fair-minded DLC...and our entire local office for that matter (the others cover youth programming, tourneys, etc.). While the actual numbers of unique USTA memberships in this market trend down slightly year over year, I do not feel this is due to anything being done wrong or incorrectly at the Adult league level. Some of the horror stories from other markets I see on here really blow me away...

 

[kevrol]

I'm in a ******* city -- think a tier below the size of Chicago or Detroit. The USTA leagues here are run very well, as we have a very professional, fair-minded DLC...and our entire local office for that matter (the others cover youth programming, tourneys, etc.). While the actual numbers of unique USTA memberships in this market trend down slightly year over year, I do not feel this is due to anything being done wrong or incorrectly at the Adult league level. Some of the horror stories from other markets I see on here really blow me away...

Wow, unicorns actually do exist.

 

[WhiteOut]

I guess so...some of the stuff I read on here in the NE, FL, and a few other places is just nuts. This market certainly has its share of challenges, but none that come from the DLC/local office. I think part of it is the playing population is large enough that a player doesn't know *everyone*, but small enough that after a while, most of the captains all know each other, even across ratings levels, and M/F divisions...so when one cap does stupid or crappy stuff, the others nail it pretty fast and don't put up with BS....seems like just the right size that an element of self-governance helps keep things copacetic...this market is actually pretty drama-free compared to the other stuff I've read here from other markets...

...and probably can be attributed in part to good ol' mid-west values...

 

[MRfStop]

How do you recruit people for a 4.0 low league if their USTA dynamic rating is proprietary and not publicly available?

The list is provided to the local tennis association

 

[MRfStop]

This sounds tough...just enough population to do *something* but not enough to make it really reliable...

Instead of being 'captain', can you pull together these groups of 4.0/4.5 players, and just do a single night a week of mix-up tennis, basically a session of practice sets? Sounds like you have access to ~12-20 players at any given time...so then reserve 3-5 courts and just have people sign up, then create matchups based on who signs up? In this scenario, you're not really being a captain, you're more of a coordinator. You could divide costo of the court time + balls by the number of people who play that night**. If it's a the same facility each week on the same night, I'll bet a few of them will start to make it a regular part of their weekly routine. Depending on outcome, I could see something like this evolving into its own little ladder system...

**Whenever I pull folks together like this, I promote the idea that if anyone is going to have a guest fee charged, we just roll that into the total cost and divide by number of players, since we need the guest to round out the group, and they want to play -- it's symbiotic. I have found this to be helpful in meeting new people and have added several guys to my teams this way also...who then later just pay the membership since they wind up playing there regularly anyway.

Great idea but that’s already in place. A group of 5.0/4.5/4.0s all play each other one day during the week. Sometimes it ls a good turn out sometimes it’s not. That’s how the 4.5 league that I mentioned earlier was created

 

[schmke]

Is there a city where USTA is actually trending up? I've yet to hear of somewhere where there aren't fewer and fewer teams/players each year in USTA. I know that the overall numbers are decreasing, but maybe there's a city/town out there doing something right.

The general trend for USTA League, at least the main advancing leagues, is down, 20K fewer unique participants (about 7%) since 2013. Google "usta adult league participation decline" and my blog on the subject should be one of the results.

But there are a few sections/districts growing. PNW for one has grown a bit, especially in Seattle where there are 63% more teams and 60% more players in 40+ now than 2013, and 32% more teams and 36% more players in 18+ since 2013. Google "USTA Adult League Participation by Section 2013 thru 2018" to see my breakout by section. SoCal is another section that has had modest growth. But most have shrunk.

 

[OnTheLine]

That is really strong growth in PNW .... does that match general population growth in the area (too lazy to look) or is it the socio-economic changes (PNW has certainly gone from more blue collar to more white collar higher income economy over past decade) .... or do you have some other explanation?

 

[Moveforwardalways]

It isn’t that USTA league participation is declining per se, but overall tennis interest and participation is declining.

 

[Deleted member 23235]

It isn’t that USTA league participation is declining per se, but overall tennis interest and participation is declining.

i feel the same way, but would be interesting to see real #'s to back my feelings.
seems there are too many other distractions, and ways to satisfy the need to exercise and socialize that didn't exist in the 80-90's:
* technology
* running groups/obstacle racing/etc..., meetup groups, megagyms, boutique gyms (orangetheory, ilkb, boxing, ufc, bjj, yoga, etc...)
* alt racquet sports: paddle, pickleball, table tennis (there's a huge club by me), squash/racquetball (there's a squash specific club by me), etc...
* dads are much more involved with their kids (coaching, h/w, etc...)

combine that with the barrier to entry (lessons are expensive! court time in winter is expensive!)

a buddy of mine is in the golf industry, was making similar comments about the decline of interest in the golf industry

 

[MRfStop]

League Coordinator didn't receive more than two people who wanted to play and no one wanted to captain. Another season without 4.0 low.