*Captains

Summary

T- 1 season: pick day & time for captains meeting when setting up registration for season. Make sure the web forms (Registration, Detailed Info) get updated accordingly.

T- 1-2 weeks: look through lists of who's signed up so far, pick # of teams, and then enough captains. (early picking of captains is why we have the price hike :-)). Notify captains they've been chosen, remind them of the captains meeting.

T- 1 week: captains meeting to get everyone up to speed- see below for details. Hand out cones as needed etc. Add this season's captains to the captains log (easier to do now when you have the player lists on hand). Review teams at this meeting too.

T+ 1 week: make sure emails are going out, captains are showing up, etc.

T+ 2 weeks- throughout season: make sure game reports are coming in and there are no major problems.

T+ 1 season: remind captains to fill out player surveys. Once those are filled out, handle captain's compensation. (record on captains log)

T+ 1.1 season: as player surveys of captains come in, add that info to the captain's log so we can remember during future seasons who should and should not be captains.

T+ 1.2 season: provide feedback to last season's captains about how they did based on the player survey responses

Captain Selection & Maintaining Spirit

Before registration ends (a head start is nice), start assembling a list of people who a) ranked themselves high on the "I'd like to captain" question, and b) would make a good captain based on the captain database, and/or new potential captains who look like good bets based on their experience listed. Also remember to check against lists of suggested future captains from past seasons. The captain's log is located here.

Captains are chosen from the list of players. You get that by a) being a junta member on the webpage (talk to web admin - they have to set your user id to also have the ",junta" designation) b) click on the year/season on the left and click on "List of Players". There are options to download the file in various formats at the top. I like tab delimited. Excel can open all of them. Choose captains based on their "I want to captain" rank at the right, and also based on their skills, experience, spirit, etc. Once they're chosen, you can use this list to be the basis of the addition of this seasons entry for these captains to the captains log. It's also a good place to get their email addresses. The captains database is an Excel file with a row for each captain for each season they've captained - so our perrenial captains will have lots of entries. Their survey results and other notes are tacked on to the end. Please add data to this every season so we can improve in our knowledge of who makes a good captain, and so when the next person has to choose captains they're not starting blind.

(time permitting) Email junta the list of potential captains for review/comment, make sure you haven't picked someone that one of us knows is a bad choice.

Email the captains as early as possible to remind them when the captains meeting is. This should have been set during league formation, so they should have already seen it once during registration.

During the Season

Review score reports - especially spirit & comments. If there is anything that needs to be addressed, follow up with specific captains. Email the captains from time to time to remind them to do score reports, ask how things are going, and publicize issues that have come up on other teams so everyone is on the same page (like with pickups, field problems, etc.)

To fill out game reports (good blurb to include in email to captains):

Go to http://a2ultimate.org

Click on "My Account" at the top.

(It may ask you to log in, if you're not logged in already.)

Under "Captain Stuff" click on the "+" by this year and season.

Click on the game to enter a score for.

If you use the "Enter any game score" page, which lists all your games including any scores you've entered, remember to hit submit after every game you update. If you fill out multiple games at once it won't store all of the data.

Note- only one captain has to fill out each game's score report, but I'd rather have 2 than 0. :-) I encourage you to talk with your other captain about a spirit score for your opponent, and any comments on the game.

Note- this is also where you can set your team Name or Color, to make it show up on the schedule.

Note- this is also where you do your player survey sometime mid to late season.

To review game reports:

Be a junta member - if you're not registered as one, you won't see these fields.

At a2ultimate.org, click on "My Account" at the top.

You should see a list of seasons on the left. Click on the current year/season.

You should see a list of options, the bottom of which will be "Score Reports"

Post Season

Make sure captains have completed their player surveys and identified potential good captains on their teams. Finally, remember to update the captain's database after each season.

To fill out player survey (good blurb to include to email to captains):

Go to http://a2ultimate.org

Click on "My Account" at the top.

(It may ask you to log in, if you're not logged in already.)

Under "Captain Stuff" click on the "+" by this year and season.

Player Ranking Meanings

Click on "Fill out player survey"

For Captain's Meetings at the Beginning of the Season

Before the season starts, gather all the captains you've chosen for a meeting to discuss their responsibilities.

Meeting Logistics

-Have the meeting as close as possible to beginning of the season.

-Weekend days on the fields and weekday evenings at someone's house with pizza/beer have worked well

-Pick times when people aren't likely to have other things scheduled - the objective is to get as many captains there as possible both experienced and new, as groups make for far better meetings.

-If group is big enough, captain's pick up game?

Meeting Content

-A great strategy is to do names, go over logistics, talk about spirit, and then for the bulk of the meeting go around the circle of captains and let each add their opinion. This helps bring in ideas and perspective that you won't think of, and helps the captains feel more like a group of captains.

-Emphasize Spirit! The fact that ultimate is different in this regard, and captains are the vanguard of teaching players from other sports, from high school, from wherever what the concept of spirit of the game is. See and distribute Captain's Handbook that's attached below.

Example of tips that captains have given in the past

-Make sure everyone touches the disc. We lose women all the time due to this, so especially focus on getting the women players involved in the plays. But all new players deserve disc time too- don't let your stars hog.

-Do names until everyone has them

-Run an easy drill (see Captain's Handbook for list of drills, ask for suggestions for more)

Agenda from a past captain's meeting:

• Order Pizza ahead of time. Get reimbursed by treasurer.
• Introductions
  • Go around the circle with name and brief history of where you're from and how long you've been playing.
  • Before meeting, review/update captain's handbook (attached below), print it out and distribute at meeting.
• Logistics
  • Confirm league location, start/end times & dates, any special notes about location or games or plan for this season.
  • Captains compensation plan - Refund or Jersey (show) or discs, show up and captain & fill out score reports & don't get bad reviews & fill out player survey at the end of the seasons.
  • Stuff - hand out cones, discs, shirts, etc., as needed.
• Talk about How to Captain
  • Spirit, spirit, spirit. Make sure there's no bad spirit - no throwing to girls, collisions, heckling, etc.
  • Take new players under your wing.
  • Teach - Start w/ basics (stack, force), work up through advanced (zone, ho-stack, etc.) use other experienced players if you're not. Doesn't matter who teaches, but make sure someone is. Run drills @ the beginning, w/ opponents players to get going faster. Pen drill is a good starter. End zone drill is good. So is 500. Use the Captain's Handbook for suggestions & descriptions.
  • Score reports are important - keep on top of this during the season.
  • Remind captains to email their team at least once a week with the game time.
  • There is a player survey at the end of the season, remind captains to encourage their team to fill it out..
• Sharing Knowledge
  • Go around the circle and everyone say tidbits/details of what to do, what not to do, favorite thing that's been done before, etc. Twice if small group (< 10)
• Add to instructional techniques
  • forehand, backhand, lead target, etc. as necessary or appropriate. Demonstrate drills. Scrimmage. If outside & time/space/weather.
• Any questions? Need anything?
• Suggestions for captains social events?
• Thank everyone for their time and for coming.

Contact: Dave Morris