Tips for Captains
About Playing Time: Communicate up front with your players about how often they will play, and what is expected of them. Are they expected to be available every week? Most of the weeks? Are they part-time? Can their playing time increase with practice and improvement?
About Team Management: Often times teams need an “early shift” and a “late shift” based on meeting everyone’s schedules. Ideally everyone shows up at 6:00 or 6:30 and stays until the end, but in todays world it can’t always happen. It is important to have enough players on the roster to meet the demands of having 5 players each night.
About the Rules: Read and understand all of the playing rules. Know the BCAPL rules and how they relate to PACS rules. Explain the rules to your players whenever applicable. You are responsible for your players knowing the rules during their match. Don’t be afraid to stand up for/against your player to do the right thing during a match.
About Coaching: Sometimes the captain is the coach, sometimes they are not. Some teams have 3 or more players who may act as the coach throughout the session. It is imperative that each player on the team have a coach that they are most comfortable with, even if that coach is not the most knowledgeable player on the team.
About Scorekeeping: Understand how to keep score and teach all of your players to keep score and take turns doing so. Even if you are the kind of captain who wants to keep score all the time, it is important to have this skill delegated to at least a few other players. Pay close attention to when to mark safes and when to mark fouls.
About Teamwork: Have all players root their teammates on while they are not practicing. Have practice nights or opportunities to get together with teammates outside of league for better team camraderie and improvement.