The Captain Walks The Plank

Cindysphinx

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
I formed a new 8.5 combo team this season. As you might imagine, I was hoping to get as many 4.5s as possible, as they are in short supply. I was also determined to carry a full roster of 20 so I don't have to scramble around begging people to play.

I asked my 4.0s to help me find strong players. One 4.0 emailed me that she had a 4.5 friend who might be interested, and she copied the friend. I replied, asking if the friend had any questions etc. No answer from the friend.

As the roster began to fill, I wrote to the player and her 4.5 friend again, asking if she was going to join. No answer. So when I received the team code and it was time to register, I sent it to the 19 players who had agreed to play. Nineteen of us registered quickly, but the player who had the final spot had trouble with her self-rate and needed to get it sorted. Roster = full.

Then I got an email from the player and 4.5 friend saying the friend had registered, taking that last spot.

Uh oh. The 4.5 had taken the spot that had already been given out. The friend did not have my permission to forward the code to the 4.5, but I guess she didn't know that. What to do, what to do?

The right thing to do would be to tell the 4.5 she can't join. But I need 4.5s, and the 4.5 is a lot stronger than the lady who had been promised that last spot.

So . . . . I walked the plank. I had myself deleted from the roster, which means I won't be playing for the team I captain.

It's not the end of the world -- I transferred over to a 40+ team, and I don't have much time for tennis this season anyway. But it sure feels weird to captain a team I am not on.

Has anyone ever captained a team while not playing? Would you have handled the situation the way I did?
 
I don't know how you manage all these teams. I am captaining my club team this year and one team a year would be plenty for me...
 
I have a few times, for various reasons. One advantage is the players tend to believe your decisions are for the good of the team, and don't read favoritism into every pairing.

Another is you can concentrate on administration, and don't have to worry about your match. I always hated being on the court when another court blows up, and wants their captain, but I'm busy and trying to concentrate on winning my line. Or spending my warm-up rejuggling the line up for Miss JustInTime.

And I enjoy watching my friends play, so that worked in my favor.
 
gameboy said:
I don't know how you manage all these teams. I am captaining my club team this year and one team a year would be plenty for me...
Click to expand...

I usually captain only one team per season. I gave tried to captain two a few times, and I get mixed up.

Yes, cak, I will not miss the inherent and perceived conflict of interest of playing and captaining.
 
Cindysphinx said:
I formed a new 8.5 combo team this season. As you might imagine, I was hoping to get as many 4.5s as possible, as they are in short supply. I was also determined to carry a full roster of 20 so I don't have to scramble around begging people to play.

I asked my 4.0s to help me find strong players. One 4.0 emailed me that she had a 4.5 friend who might be interested, and she copied the friend. I replied, asking if the friend had any questions etc. No answer from the friend.

As the roster began to fill, I wrote to the player and her 4.5 friend again, asking if she was going to join. No answer. So when I received the team code and it was time to register, I sent it to the 19 players who had agreed to play. Nineteen of us registered quickly, but the player who had the final spot had trouble with her self-rate and needed to get it sorted. Roster = full.

Then I got an email from the player and 4.5 friend saying the friend had registered, taking that last spot.

Uh oh. The 4.5 had taken the spot that had already been given out. The friend did not have my permission to forward the code to the 4.5, but I guess she didn't know that. What to do, what to do?

The right thing to do would be to tell the 4.5 she can't join. But I need 4.5s, and the 4.5 is a lot stronger than the lady who had been promised that last spot.

So . . . . I walked the plank. I had myself deleted from the roster, which means I won't be playing for the team I captain.

It's not the end of the world -- I transferred over to a 40+ team, and I don't have much time for tennis this season anyway. But it sure feels weird to captain a team I am not on.

Has anyone ever captained a team while not playing? Would you have handled the situation the way I did?
Click to expand...
I don't see how you manage all the stuff involved in captaining a team. Would drive me crazy I think. You got any videos of you or your teams league matches?
 
cak said:
I have a few times, for various reasons. One advantage is the players tend to believe your decisions are for the good of the team, and don't read favoritism into every pairing.

Another is you can concentrate on administration, and don't have to worry about your match. I always hated being on the court when another court blows up, and wants their captain, but I'm busy and trying to concentrate on winning my line. Or spending my warm-up rejuggling the line up for Miss JustInTime.

And I enjoy watching my friends play, so that worked in my favor.
Click to expand...

I enjoy watching my team play, too, but the one match I was at but sat out to watch last year we barely pulled out 3-2 against a weak team, and that made me really mad in the end, so I have a hard time doing that.

To answer the original question, that's something that I would consider as a last resort, but I'd have to know a lot more about the rest of the roster to know if I could find a different solution first.
 
You did the right thing. Seriously, it's the kind of thing that should receive commendation. You have my nomination your for captain of the month!
 
Cindy, I think you handled that messy situation with great integrity. And it's the lack of integrity in USTA leagues in general that caused me to stop playing it years ago!

My question for you is do you feel like your captaining efforts are appreciated by the team members? Seems like a very hard job in general.
 
What you did is the mark of a good captain. They usually walk the plank one way or another. :-)
Cindysphinx said:
I formed a new 8.5 combo team this season. As you might imagine, I was hoping to get as many 4.5s as possible, as they are in short supply. I was also determined to carry a full roster of 20 so I don't have to scramble around begging people to play.

I asked my 4.0s to help me find strong players. One 4.0 emailed me that she had a 4.5 friend who might be interested, and she copied the friend. I replied, asking if the friend had any questions etc. No answer from the friend.

As the roster began to fill, I wrote to the player and her 4.5 friend again, asking if she was going to join. No answer. So when I received the team code and it was time to register, I sent it to the 19 players who had agreed to play. Nineteen of us registered quickly, but the player who had the final spot had trouble with her self-rate and needed to get it sorted. Roster = full.

Then I got an email from the player and 4.5 friend saying the friend had registered, taking that last spot.

Uh oh. The 4.5 had taken the spot that had already been given out. The friend did not have my permission to forward the code to the 4.5, but I guess she didn't know that. What to do, what to do?

The right thing to do would be to tell the 4.5 she can't join. But I need 4.5s, and the 4.5 is a lot stronger than the lady who had been promised that last spot.

So . . . . I walked the plank. I had myself deleted from the roster, which means I won't be playing for the team I captain.

It's not the end of the world -- I transferred over to a 40+ team, and I don't have much time for tennis this season anyway. But it sure feels weird to captain a team I am not on.

Has anyone ever captained a team while not playing? Would you have handled the situation the way I did?
Click to expand...
 
Fifth Set said:
My question for you is do you feel like your captaining efforts are appreciated by the team members? Seems like a very hard job in general.
Click to expand...

Yes, I feel appreciated. My ladies are lovely and don't give me much trouble. I've managed to weed out the high-maintenance ones over the years.

You know, I got some great advice when I first started captaining. I was told to always leave that 20th slot open. You never know when some amazing player will come your way.

Over the years, I tried to follow that advice. But it seemed that I would lose a few players right before the season started, often due to injury but sometimes due to an unfortunate inability to see it's not cool to accept an offer and then bail when something better comes along.

This is the first time that every single person who committed signed up. Go figure.
 
Is there a roster limit of 20 for USTA teams? Wow - 20 players on a Combo Team that needs 6 players for each match ? So at best if you played everyone equally some would play every third week while some would play every 4th week.

How many matches do you normally have ? Our combo teams typically get 6 to 10 matches, depending on the number of divisions and number of teams. 6 matches is a very short season. 9-10 matches seem about perfect.

Thankfully the teams I am on have Captains who have smaller rosters with 10-12 players on Combo and Mixed. 12 people on a team that needs 6, is excessive for our mixed and combo teams. The folks on my teams want to play so forfeits aren't a problem. Some players are on four teams at once : 18+ and 40+ 7.5 and 8.5. They do this in mixed also.

So many of these folks are on the same team at 18+ as their 40+ team with a few 30 year olds sprinkled in here and there. Some players will play three matches a week on three different teams. The diehards will actually play four matches in a week. Some of the best 4.0 guys who can't play 40+ , play 7.5, 8.5 and 9.5 Combo.

The men's Spring Adult 18+ team I play on has 14 guys and that is too big with six guys sitting each week. We have a few people who travel like me, but I can't recall ever forfeiting a match for any of these a Captains.

20 people on a team- that is something very rare in my area -
 
^There are many factors at work here.

Our seasons are long (12-16 matches), our matches are late and can be on any night of the week (usually 9-11 pm), and are matches are far-flung (they can be anywhere in our vast county). Players usually play on multiple teams.

So, for instance, I have a pair of Virginia players on this MD combo team. I don't want to make them play too far from home, and I have to be mindful of traffic patters (I can't ask them to play a 7 pm match because of rush hour). I also have a pair from another MD county up north; can't have them play too far south, right?

I have ladies who need to hire sitters, and many sitters don't want to work that late. I have doctors who are on call some weeknights or have early surgery the next morning. I have ladies who have to get up early and will play late now and then but can't do it multiple times a week. I have ladies who travel. Most of the team takes a vacation over spring break/3-day weekends. And for any given match, I will probably have two people injured.

I consider the absolute minimum for a ladies 3-court combo roster to be 17. There are five teams in our flight, and they have 15, 17, 17, 19 and 20.

With 20 on my roster, I am scrambling right now to avoid a default for an upcoming match.
 
Cindysphinx said:
Has anyone ever captained a team while not playing? Would you have handled the situation the way I did?
Click to expand...

Last season I was injured and unable to play for the team I captained. While I hated not being able to play, I must say it helped me be a better captain. I could actually see my guys during match play, whereas before I'd be on court playing when they were playing. Also, my contribution to the team was solely as the captain and I think that helped redefine my responsibilities in a constructive way.

BTW, I think you absolutely did the right thing for your team in "walking the plank" on this one.
 
Cindysphinx said:
^There are many factors at work here.

Our seasons are long (12-16 matches), our matches are late and can be on any night of the week (usually 9-11 pm), and are matches are far-flung (they can be anywhere in our vast county). Players usually play on multiple teams.

So, for instance, I have a pair of Virginia players on this MD combo team. I don't want to make them play too far from home, and I have to be mindful of traffic patters (I can't ask them to play a 7 pm match because of rush hour). I also have a pair from another MD county up north; can't have them play too far south, right?

I have ladies who need to hire sitters, and many sitters don't want to work that late. I have doctors who are on call some weeknights or have early surgery the next morning. I have ladies who have to get up early and will play late now and then but can't do it multiple times a week. I have ladies who travel. Most of the team takes a vacation over spring break/3-day weekends. And for any given match, I will probably have two people injured.

I consider the absolute minimum for a ladies 3-court combo roster to be 17. There are five teams in our flight, and they have 15, 17, 17, 19 and 20.

With 20 on my roster, I am scrambling right now to avoid a default for an upcoming match.
Click to expand...
I must this captaining thingy seems like a full time job. All this calling folks, coordination, drama - and I'm not kidding at all. Wasn't there a thread a while back about someone actually charging people for being a captain? i can totally see why....
 
Cindysphinx said:
Yeah, that was me.

I only recruit people who have rackets without a scratch on them.
Click to expand...

Turns out "Joan" is just an advertiser for one of the tennis league websites with a ladder. Clever idea to introduce the human touch by acting as if someone is personally forming a team and wants you to join.
 
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