Choosing team members
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How To Choose Your Team Members
or how to avoid problems with your team
Age old question that many players have asked. Many teams experience problems midway through the season and find themselves having problems fielding four players to play because one or two players quit or just stop coming.
You may be a player that is leaving their team to form one of their own. Think about why you left the team. You may be a teeam captain looking to replace a couple of team members. You may be a new team captain of a team you are on but needs a couple more players. Whatever the reason, you need to ask yourself some questions to prevent any problems on the team you form.
Here are some guidelines that I think every team captain should ask themselves before they form their team.
1. Are the players dependable? Not only will they show up but will they pay. Nothing worse than finding out a player just stops coming or, worse yet, plays but does not pay. Most players know that with more than four players someone cannot play that night. If you have more than 5 players then at least 2 players have to sit. Do them a favor by having them not come at all unless you are going to get a forfeit. (The player receiving the forfeit has to be present). Having everyone on the team show up and then telling them they aren't playing does not sit well with some players. Other players want to come and root on their team. Just make sure you know how dependable the player is before you sign them up. If you, as captain, allow a player to shoot without paying then you become equally responsible for paying their weekly dues. You should not allow a player to shoot unless they pay first.
2. Do the have the same goals as you? You have to ask yourself this question before you can ask prospective players. Do you want to win at any cost? Do you want to play because it is fun and you don't care if you win money or not? Do you want to play to socialize (your night out, date night, love the game and want to learn, or just seeing other players?). If you play for fun and you try to recruit a player who wants to win at any cost, then there will be a problem. Be sure to recruit players that have the same goal as you.
3. Do they agree with your home venue? This may seem insignificant but there are players that do not want to play at a venue that allows smoking because of their health. Or a venue that only has one table which means later than normal nights. Or a venue that is to far from where they live because they do not have a car (you may have to pick up and deliver!). In the worst case, maybe they have been banned from a certain venue for some reason.
4. How often do they want to shoot? This may seem trivial but there are players out there that want to shoot every week. That is fine if you only have four dependable players on your team. But one person shooting every week on a team with more than four players, means someone does not shoot that may want to. You other team players must understand this if you recruit this person. Some players don't care if they shoot or not. You need to know what they want and expect from your team.
5. Do you get along with them and they get along with you and the rest of the team? Nothing is worse than having a person who stirs up problems for your team or has an attitude when they shoot. It reflects on you as the team captain, your team, and the league. If you don't like them, or they don't like you, then don't recruit them.
6. Handicap. When you recruit you must always be knowledgeable of your team's handicap. You cannot exceed what the league has chosen as your max team handicap. It could be 260, 280 or something else. This acturally goes hand in hand with the above goals mentioned above. If you have high handicaps in the players you recruit you will probably not be able to field four players near the end of the season because of the team handicap. If your players win their handicaps WILL go up. That means you have to have some ability to keep the numbers in line WITHOUT sandbagging. I will suspend or ban any players/teams that I find out are sandbagging! The easiest answer is to have lower handicap players on your team as well to give you some extra cushion to not exceed the team handicap. A high handicap player can act as coach, can give you pointers on strategy, safeties, and playing tips. A good asset.
7. If you win money how are you going to split it? If your goal was to win money, or even if it was a complete surprise, then you must split the money between players. This sometimes becomes a problem. Some teams split money evenly among all players on the team. Not the best as some may have shot every week and others only 5 times. Another is to give back what each player paid if there is enough money. If not then give back a percentage of what was paid to each player. If money left over then split that evenly.
So to summarize you need to find players that have like interests, like goals, and are likeable! That's all! Good luck.