OCT 26 UPDATes

I wanted to write another blog post to bring Joseph and Chris up to speed and review my thoughts on how things have been going with our Thursday Night Hoops group lately with everyone.

After having taken over for Scott for a few months now and seeing how we've been struggling having our regulars showing up regularly, I've decided to make a few tweaks again for how things work.

When I first took over for Scott and we had 25 people showing up, I thought we were adding people to this group too quickly who weren't always the best fit. 

But seeing how much our numbers can vary from week to week and how often we're struggling to have enough guys to play, I've decided to make a few tweaks for how things work.

To be considered a regular, you have to show up somewhat regularly AND you have to contribute to help pay for the court.

Before, I was putting a lot of weight on seniority. How many games someone has played with us in the past. 

But if someone goes months without showing up or only shows up once or twice every couple of months, we really can't save a spot for them.

And if someone shows up regularly, but never contributes to help pay for the court rental, not only do I think that is disrespectful to me personally, I don't think it's fair to the guys who do contribute.

I want to make it very clear about the money part. If there are legitimate reasons why someone can't afford $5/week to play ball then reach out to me privately and let's talk about it. Don't be embarassed. I'm a reasonable guy and we can work things out.

But if I never hear from you and never get anything from you, then if I update the text thread and you're not on it because we have enough guys who are showing up and are contributing to the monthly court rental, then no hard feelings, but that's what's fair to everyone else.

The biggest change going forward is that if someone plays with us and I think they're a good fit and our numbers have been down several weeks in a row, then I'm not hesitating to add them to the group and I'm going to be quicker to drop regulars who haven't been showing up for months at a time.

I want to list three specific examples for new additions to our group and explain my reasoning for each one.

Joseph Founes was brought in by SY. He asked me if that was ok. I said it was and Joseph has been a great fit.

Chris Homler is a buddy of Nate Knopes who played for the first time last night. The only thing I wish had happened differently is that Nate had given me a heads up first. But we needed Chris last night and he's a great fit and I've already added him to the group.

George is a buddy of Scott's and he's played with us a few times. We also needed him last night to have 10 people. George is a nice guy and came out and had drinks with us last night. But I probably would still consider George more of a sub than a regular simply because George's body is breaking down on him. I'm worried one of these times he's going to hurt himself. He's a bit of a defensive liability to his team trying to get up and down the court.

So my general rule of thumb for adding people to the group:

• Check with me first.

• If our numbers have been down several weeks in a row and they're a good fit, we might add them right away.

• If they play and weren't a great fit, then it might just be a one time thing. But since I rent the court, I get to decide who's in and who's out.

So that's pretty much it on the updates. I know we've had a few regulars who haven't been there for awhile like Matt Crates and Drew Osborn who've had new babies. Hopefully they'll be back soon.

But I can only keep 20 people in our group text thread. So every time I start to reach a limit and need to add some new guys, someone's going to have to go to make room for the new group thread.

Here's the details on how to pay for the court and how to recognize all the phone numbers in the group text thread:

Regulars need to pay $5 every night they play. You can either pay me in cash or my Venmo is https://venmo.com/BrianCalibrate

My PayPal is @CalibrateMarketing

You're paying to be guaranteed a spot to play.

And if you want to see the Google Sheet that lists everyone's phone number so you can put them in your phone and recognize who is replying click on this link: Thursday Night Hoops Names and Phone Numbers