worst captain habits

[PINENUT]

as an avid league player, i wanted to gripe about some of the things that **** me off about my various captains. for this thread, i'll refer to the captain as neil.

1. neil has no regard for time of day when calling (11 at night or 7am)
2. neil forgets about the last call...so he never feels guilty about calling 5+ times a day. i think he also forgets that most of us have jobs and can't field our cellphone 24/7
3. neil talks to wife to "allow" me to play...i love this one.
4. neil will play the weaker players when playoffs are on the line to make sure everybody is eligible for playoffs...and we miss playoffs

...now that i've vented, i realize these are some of the things that make a successful captain. and nobody could pay me enough to captain a team.

 

[J_R_B]

as an avid league player, i wanted to gripe about some of the things that **** me off about my various captains. for this thread, i'll refer to the captain as neil.

1. neil has no regard for time of day when calling (11 at night or 7am)
2. neil forgets about the last call...so he never feels guilty about calling 5+ times a day. i think he also forgets that most of us have jobs and can't field our cellphone 24/7
3. neil talks to wife to "allow" me to play...i love this one.
4. neil will play the weaker players when playoffs are on the line to make sure everybody is eligible for playoffs...and we miss playoffs

...now that i've vented, i realize these are some of the things that make a successful captain. and nobody could pay me enough to captain a team.

I don't know about captaining a tennis team, but checking with the wife is just generally a successful life strategy.

 

[dlk]

I can't say my captains have ever done what OP mentions. But, I have had some mousey/wishywashy/quiet captains who let the other teams dictate vital issues r/t a match. Had one captain didn't know some of the rules; had to bust out the copy myself.

 

[Taxvictim]

Our club pro recruited a small group of us to join a new World Team, then the pro didn't show up at the first match. We essentially had no captain, and most members were completely unfamiliar with the differences in WTT and regular tennis. There was nobody in charge to make assignments or swaps. The pro still doesn't come out, and he keeps telling us to pick our own captain, which nobody wants to do. Now I hate WTT and will never sign up again.

 

[PINENUT]

what a db! did you guys continue the league or just stop?

 

[Taxvictim]

what a db! did you guys continue the league or just stop?

We are still playing! Only two matches to go. Usually the pro sends an email to remind everyone about a match. One week he didn't send the email, and only one of our guys showed up to play the other team. We have no wins. The other teams have to explain to us how to fill out our score sheet.

Overall the pro is really good. I think he learned his lesson: don't recruit a team until you have first recruited a team captain.

 

[beernutz]

long boring story deleted

 

[HitItHarder]

I suspect that most annoying captain habits are the result of annoying team member habits.

Signed . . . a team captain. Just kidding -- no throwing stones now.

 

[Spokewench]

Take it easy on the captains! Trust me, it is a thankless, thankless job with more headaches than you can ever imagine!

Captain Spoke

 

[gameboy]

Why is he even calling you? Email is your friend. We do all of our scheduling on email. It even has an added benefit of a written record.

 

[OrangePower]

as an avid league player, i wanted to gripe about some of the things that **** me off about my various captains. for this thread, i'll refer to the captain as neil.

1. neil has no regard for time of day when calling (11 at night or 7am)
2. neil forgets about the last call...so he never feels guilty about calling 5+ times a day. i think he also forgets that most of us have jobs and can't field our cellphone 24/7
3. neil talks to wife to "allow" me to play...i love this one.
4. neil will play the weaker players when playoffs are on the line to make sure everybody is eligible for playoffs...and we miss playoffs

...now that i've vented, i realize these are some of the things that make a successful captain. and nobody could pay me enough to captain a team.

1-3: Neil really needs to get on the email bandwagon!
4: Depends what the team philosophy is. Some team have the primary goal of winning and making playoffs and will play whoever gives them the best chance of doing that. Some teams have the goal of giving everyone playing time. There is no right and wrong - just make sure when you join a team that you understand the philosophy and can live with it.

 

[ohplease]

1-3: Neil really needs to get on the email bandwagon!
4: Depends what the team philosophy is. Some team have the primary goal of winning and making playoffs and will play whoever gives them the best chance of doing that. Some teams have the goal of giving everyone playing time. There is no right and wrong - just make sure when you join a team that you understand the philosophy and can live with it.

Email is barely better than the phone. Neil needs to get on the tennisone.com or some other web based team management bandwagon.

 

[Lefty5]

neil sounds committed and fair. What about when the captain doesn't assign enough beer to be brought by the team. Nothing worse than running out by 11:am!

 

[JavierLW]

Email is barely better than the phone. Neil needs to get on the tennisone.com or some other web based team management bandwagon.

Email doesnt work 100% for everyone because not everyone uses email 100% of the time.

But some random website is worse, you cant expect a working person with a lot of other things going on to necessarily find the time to look at some website.

You might as well hang a big giant banner off of your house that reads "MATCH AT WHEREVER AT 6PM", and you'd do just as good.

I think email works when you send the message at the same time every week so people expect to check it. (okay, okay, a website could work that way as well, but it's HOW you do it....)

But sometimes people bail on you, and you really need to use the phone. If you only have 24 hours left before the match, it's really irresponsible to just send an email and imagine that it's going to get read and replyed too.

And if someone doesnt like getting a phone call in the middle of the day while they are at work, they should imagine the poor captain who actually has to MAKE the phone call and probably many more while THEY are supposed to be at work...

 

[JavierLW]

as an avid league player, i wanted to gripe about some of the things that **** me off about my various captains. for this thread, i'll refer to the captain as neil.

1. neil has no regard for time of day when calling (11 at night or 7am)
2. neil forgets about the last call...so he never feels guilty about calling 5+ times a day. i think he also forgets that most of us have jobs and can't field our cellphone 24/7
3. neil talks to wife to "allow" me to play...i love this one.
4. neil will play the weaker players when playoffs are on the line to make sure everybody is eligible for playoffs...and we miss playoffs

...now that i've vented, i realize these are some of the things that make a successful captain. and nobody could pay me enough to captain a team.

why is it always everyone against neal????

 

[Jracer77]

Email doesnt work 100% for everyone because not everyone uses email 100% of the time.....

You quickly find out who checks their Email and who doesn't. As far as knowing if they read it or not just ask them to confirm that they'll be there.

 

[JavierLW]

You quickly find out who checks their Email and who doesn't. As far as knowing if they read it or not just ask them to confirm that they'll be there.

Yes I do that and when they dont, you will end up calling them. (on the phone)

You can "hope" that they check their email all they want sometimes but if you REALLY want them to show up (or at least get a answer one way or another), you have to eventually call them....

I do try to keep that in mind though sometimes when I get new players, if it's someone who just never responds to email because they dont use email it makes me think about how the heck am I going to get ahold of them if needed..... (I certainly dont want to call everyone)

 

[Sakkijarvi]

Texting is the way to go now, everyone has their cellphone with them. Phone messages are the WORST form of communication for me since I juggle a lot of things from business owner to managing youth sports teams before I even get to my own sports. Dialing in and having to listen to 17 phone messages...I just don't bother any longer. Text messages are so much more convenient.

As for Neil, well, maybe he should be mated with the rudderless ship of a World Team that no one wants to be...the new Neil.

 

[Geezer Guy]

Texting is the way to go now, everyone has their cellphone with them. Phone messages are the WORST form of communication for me since I juggle a lot of things from business owner to managing youth sports teams before I even get to my own sports. Dialing in and having to listen to 17 phone messages...I just don't bother any longer. Text messages are so much more convenient.

I know I'm an old fart, but I don't get what's so great about texting. If you have something important that needs an immediate response, just call me. If it's important but does not need an immediate reponse, e-mail me. If it's not important, don't bother me.

 

[Sakkijarvi]

Geezer,

I wouldn't call you an old fart. Then again, I wouldn't call you. I don't have your number.

The gist of my post is this: text can be quickly viewed. Dialing in when you get a lot of phone messages...time consuming.

 

[Geezer Guy]

Geezer,

I wouldn't call you an old fart. Then again, I wouldn't call you. I don't have your number.

The gist of my post is this: text can be quickly viewed. Dialing in when you get a lot of phone messages...time consuming.

Well yes - that makes sense. If you have a short message and don't necessarily need a reply back quickly, you could text a message to multiple people at once.

But, reading a text and listening to a message take -about- the same amount of time. Probably the biggest reason it takes longer with voicemail is that people tend to leave longer messages when they're talking than when they're typing with their thumbs.

 

[beststringer]

my captain (female) likes to bend over as she strips her tight pants to reveal her veins/cellulites.

 

[PINENUT]

Neil Is A Bit Of A Dinosaur...he Doesn't Have A Computer. So He Calls The Sh*t Out Of Your Phone.

Beststringer...yum, Tell Us More

 

[spot]

Geezer- when I need to tell 35 guys that practice is canceled, thats why texting is so great. Talking to all of those people would be ridiculous.

 

[JavierLW]

Neil Is A Bit Of A Dinosaur...he Doesn't Have A Computer. So He Calls The Sh*t Out Of Your Phone.

Beststringer...yum, Tell Us More

I think you had already established that....

Poor Neal.....

That being said though, Im a captain and I have a couple new PLAYERS who seem to not respond to email. So it makes me almost want to just find someone else because heck if Im going to call 8 people every week to let them know about the match.

I remember the first year I ran a team in 1999, and I didnt even have a cell phone and NOBODY really used email.

I played tennis at a club that was on a completely different side of town and by the time I got home it would be way too late to call if I decided to play tennis that day.

So it was always either play tennis, or Id have to go home and make my 8 phone calls. (and hopefully they'd call me back otherwise Id have to call again, etc....)

I didnt play or run a team in USTA for years after that, it was way too much of a hassle.

So again, you're complaining about your time being wasted, but he's wasting far more of his own time....

 

[HitItHarder]

I think you had already established that....

Poor Neal.....

That being said though, Im a captain and I have a couple new PLAYERS who seem to not respond to email. So it makes me almost want to just find someone else because heck if Im going to call 8 people every week to let them know about the match.

I remember the first year I ran a team in 1999, and I didnt even have a cell phone and NOBODY really used email.

I played tennis at a club that was on a completely different side of town and by the time I got home it would be way too late to call if I decided to play tennis that day.

So it was always either play tennis, or Id have to go home and make my 8 phone calls. (and hopefully they'd call me back otherwise Id have to call again, etc....)

I didnt play or run a team in USTA for years after that, it was way too much of a hassle.

So again, you're complaining about your time being wasted, but he's wasting far more of his own time....

I'm getting ready to pull a Neal here in a few minutes because several members of my team seem to have forgotten how to return an email within a week. It would be nice just for people to hit reply when I am trying to get them to confirm they are playing in the match this weekend.

As I said before, annoying captain habits are often the result of annoying team members. :evil: