By Karen Sullivan, Thursday Women’s League Vice President
It’s hard to imagine that we are finishing up spring 2022 City Finals, and another season has gone by in a flash! I want to thank everyone who was a captain this season and welcome all captains for the fall. Captains are our point of contact during the season, and it is often an under-appreciated job! Your responsibility starts with corralling all of your teammates (half of whom have not paid their dues and the other half never responded to email) and the submission of the roster. Once that is completed, you can take a deep breath, until the schedules are posted.
When the schedules are published, you then discover half the team is away on spring/fall break, so you immediately contact your opponents for that week in the hopes you can find an agreeable date to play early. There is always something that needs to be managed as team captain. I believe every team member should be captain once, in order to appreciate all that a captain does! Hopefully, your away matches weren’t excessively far, the matches were competitive, and you had a fun season. If the weather holds, then being captain can be a dream. I certainly hope it will always be sunny on Thursday. Rescheduling a rain-out can be a real challenge for a captain, and I encourage you to always try and complete a match as soon as possible and not wait until the default date.
The pandemic also has presented many challenges to the leagues, captains, and players. I certainly do miss the food and how some teams would go that extra mile to provide a wonderful spread on Thursdays; however, some teams are just glad not to have the extra work. I would love to hear your thoughts on some of the changes we have had during the pandemic such as bringing back the full third set, playing all five lines at City Finals, and the end of the ball exchange. Please feel free to contact me at Thursdayvp@altatennis.org.
I truly believe that this league works best in a spirit of cooperation. There really is little that can be more rewarding than being outside playing tennis on a beautiful day in Atlanta. As the captain, you can take some satisfaction in how you made that possible.
