What Team Management Platform Should I Use?

[Cindysphinx]

For the last few years, I have used TennisOne to captain my teams. I was never completely happy with it, but once you get 19 ladies all using the program you aren't thrilled about changing.

Well, TennisOne is doing a major overhaul of its platform, so this would be a good time to re-think which platform is best.

I had several grievances with TennisOne: My co-captain could not ever get captain privileges, so we were reduced to having her log in as me. It felt like I had to click excessively to do anything. There was a long list of facilities in our area, with the same facilities listed repeatedly. Once you set the schedule, it was difficult to change it in the program. And probably some other stuff I'm not remembering. I think it cost $10 (or maybe $20?) per season.

Any recommendations?

Cindy

 

[OnTheLine]

I really like Tennispoint

You can have multiple people with captain privileges
It is nice for emails .... you can spend extra to be able to text from it.

You can import the schedule directly from tennislink, once it is posted

You can import scores directly from tennislink once they are posted

You can set your availability and set reminders to your players based on various settings you control.

it costs roughly $48 per year for unlimited number of teams.

It suits all my needs quite well.

I just renewed mine about 2 months ago ..... and just dissolved my team and am not captaining until at least late spring.

If you want to mess around with it .... or even use it for a season for free .... PM me

 

[kevrol]

Excel and gmail.

 

[Chalkdust]

You'd think USTA would provide better team management tools. Might help participation.

 

[TagUrIt]

The teams I’ve been on use Tennislink or NetLineup both are pretty user friendly. I’m not sure of the cost though.

 

[ShaunS]

You'd think USTA would provide better team management tools. Might help participation.

Improved team management would definitely help, and it should really be integrated as part of a larger solution that facilitates getting players signed up and on to teams.

It wouldn't be particularly expensive to have it developed either, especially in light of what their dishing out to consultants. Sometimes though orgs are hesitant to compete directly with 3rd party providers that have sprung up around their product. I have no idea if that's why the USTA hasn't done more, just a thought.

 

[leech]

You'd think USTA would provide better team management tools. Might help participation.

Agree. This is an email I sent to my Section re: the lack of functionality of TennisLink (including the Team Management tool) yesterday:

Captain Features: I typically use Google Sheets, for two reasons. (1) I don't want to force my players to log on to a separate platform/site, especially when there are a few different ones out there (TennisPoint, MyTennisGroup, NetLineup); and (2) I don't want to incur any fees. I don't know of a single captain that uses the Team Management tool in TennisLink. I wouldn't mind using it if (1) it was accessible via the TennisLink app, (2) players could input/update their availability, and (3) it could send match reminders at times to be customized by the captain.

User Experience: First, it seems ridiculous that the TennisLink app is available only to iPhone users. Second, the TennisLink full site is put together in a way that is not very helpful. For example, you cannot determine what a player's win/loss record is in a given year, without manually counting wins and losses. Compare that to TennisRecord.com, which not only displays a player's overall record, but you can sort by league type or by singles or doubles. The USTA has so much data, but doesn't present them in a way that is useful to captains or players, who are driven to go visit third-party sites. Having a sortable database should be a simple thing to do (e.g., if I wanted to know my match record at 18+ 7.0 MXD in 2017, I should be able to select a couple of filters and find that data withi seconds). Finally, in the TennisLink app, it shows player records for the past year, the current year, and the upcoming year....why? That effectively provides just two years of data. It would be helpful if players could access data at least three years prior.

 

[Cindysphinx]

I used to use Google spreadsheets, but I stopped. I really need the functionality of the automated reminders and the daily automated nagging for players who fail to add in their availability.

Also, Leech reminds me that I have been using MyTennisGroup, not TennisOne.

Maybe I should go look at their new platform before I go shooting my mouth off. Then I'll check out the one OneTheLine uses. I only captain two teams, so $50 sounds like a lot, but it would be worth it to make captaining more efficient.

 

[ChaelAZ]

We used TeamSnap, but I haven't used it for a few years. It was free and you could add at least a dozen players I think.

 

[Snarf]

lol. Group text. But we have smaller rosters than most areas.

 

[KamehamehaBackhand]

Heck, I didn't even know these tools existed before seeing them mentioned on this forum. All the teams I've ever been on (previously Northern section now Middle States) have only used email. And you would not believe the number of people who seem to think "reply all" is necessary for telling the captain their availability each week.

It's usually one email on Monday asking for everyone's availability for the coming weekend's match, then another email later in the week with the lineup asking those in it to confirm they'll be there. If the captain is more the proactive type, they'll ask for availability a month at a time rather than each week, but that's about as organized as it gets around here.

 

[McLovin]

I used to use Google spreadsheets, but I stopped. I really need the functionality of the automated reminders and the daily automated nagging for players who fail to add in their availability.

I've never captained a team (and after managing an adult soccer team for 5 years, I never will), but to me, this is resolved quite easily:

Ask once. If people don't add in their availability, then they are not added to the match on those evenings.​

​

If they complain...tough

​

If the team has to default a line because not enough people show up...not your problem. You sent out the spreadsheet/link advising them what to do. If they cannot follow simple instructions, or are too busy to be bothered with a simple 5 minute task of saying when they can play...tough

.​

 

[Shankadelic]

I use GroupMe and a lot of other capts in my area do too. It doesn't have any of the features of Tennispoint or MyTennisGroup but it is free and easy to use. I create a calendar event and then everyone either accepts or rejects the event, which tells me their availability for the match. Then post the lineup before the match. GroupMe also allows for real-time BS chatter and pictures/memes, which is usually more entertaining than the tennis.

I don't know of a single captain that uses the Team Management tool in TennisLink.

Same here

 

[OnTheLine]

I forgot that groupMe has the capability of events .... that does mean that you could run scheduling through it more easily

I hate group text chains. Just hate them, they fragment and are annoying ... but like both WhatsApp and GroupMe for teams and I don't like email at all. (I get 200+ emails a day for work ... don't need more for tennis)

 

[Cindysphinx]

If I had to deal with a text chain with 19 people, I would have to resign from the team. My outdated phone will only handle 9 or fewer text participants.

And I've noticed that people don't respond as quickly to email as they do to text.

 

[Shankadelic]

My outdated phone will only handle 9 or fewer text participants.

This is one of the main reason I switched from group text to GroupMe. People were getting dropped from group text and I didn't realize it. Then would have to start another group text to get everyone back on it.

I forgot that groupMe has the capability of events .... that does mean that you could run scheduling through it more easily

You have to manually create each event, can't import a schedule (at least I haven't found a way to do this).