Newsletter #3
Hey, Captains,
Two tools for you, to make your huge job just a bit easier: Player Availability, and On-Line Line-Up. Plus, a good deal on Penn Tennis Balls.
For those of you who wanted your players to get involved, now they can. For those of you who have your own team management systems, either more sophisticated or simply a legal pad scribbled with phone and email messages, be assured that this is totally optional.
Each player received a password when he registered for your team. If he has lost it, he can get it by going to the Member Login link. It will be emailed to him right away. Do not give him your password. Do not tell him to call the office.
Player Availability: A table for compiling players’ availability for your matches
Captain log-in and Member log-in work the same, for both captains and players. Use whichever one you are used to. Send your players to the Member Log-in link, top right of your Team Page.
When you log in as captain, you can see the entire Availability Table. Just click on the Player Availability option on your team page. You can use this on your own, just as a worksheet. Click on each player’s name and put in availability information you have collected from your players. You can edit it at any time. This is totally for your convenience.
If you want to make your captaining life even easier, have your players do this for you.
When a player logs in, he sees the Player Availability option as well. He can enter his own information, and he can edit it at any time. For security reasons, he cannot enter info for anyone else, and he does not see what anyone else has entered.
Here is text you can copy and paste in an email to your teammates. If you’re computer savvy, in step 1 you can send them a link right to your Team Page
Hey, Teammates!
This is your captain speaking.
Time to make my job easier. Check out this neat new program from NorCal.
You can go right to the web and let me know your availability for matches this season.
Do it or I’ll quit and you’ll have to be captain.
1. Go to our Team Page. Find the Member Log in link, top right corner Click on it.
2. Your Password.
If you saved the password you got when you registered for our team, go ahead and log in. If you lost it or never saw it, NorCal will send it to you. Enter your membership number and NorCal will send your password to your emailbox in a minute or two. Do not call the office.
Return to this program with your password and log in.
3. You are now on your Player Page. Find our team name. You can see the team names of all the teams you are on in the center section of your Player Page. Maybe you will need to scroll down to see this section. It has blue and white stripes through it. You can’t miss it. Click on our team name. Now you are on our Team Page.
4. On the Team Page, top right, is a horizontal orange stripe. Find Player Availability, and click on it.
5. You will see a table with player names and match dates. Click on your name and enter your availability status for each match. Then click SAVE. That’s it! So simple!
6. You can go back in any time and change your status, but if you have an emergency and have to pull out of a line-up, call me. Don’t think I check that information every hour.
On-Line LineUp.
This is brand new and you are our test population. We count on you to find any bugs and to make your usual wonderful suggestions.
Log in and click on the word LINEUP, in your web schedule of matches. It’s in a column right next to the word PRINT. There is one for each of your scheduled matches
You now see a blank line-up page for this match. There are simple directions on this page that I won’t repeat here. You can use this as a worksheet to plan your line-up.
Once you have done a line-up, the word LINEUP changes to VIEW on your web schedule. When your line-up is finalized, you can go to that PRINT option and produce a paper copy of your line-up to take to your match, with the names filled in.
This line-up is available to any team member who has been on your roster for at least 10 days (a security issue). Here is another bit of text you can copy and paste to your teammates to let them know of this feature:
Hey, Teammates!
This is your captain speaking, yet again.
I will be preparing line-ups on our Team Page and you can see them there. Just log in and click on the word VIEW in our match schedule. (Look in the Lineup column, second from the right).
I will also be posting match information there, so be sure to check for warm-up plans, carpool arrangements or refreshment assignments there.
(Have you all seen the link to an email to all your teammates? Look under the roster, lower right corner. Makes it easy to send out these instructions.)
And finally:
Special offer for league captains: Penn Championship Extra Duty ball (official ball of the USTA League play) $48 a case, 24 cans to a case plus shipping. Orders can be place by USTA team captains only. Captains can call in their orders to Eric Won at 650-573-9830. They will need a valid credit card (Visa, MC, Amex) and a shipping address. Balls usually delivered in a week.
Enjoy! Good luck, and thank you for being a USTA NorCal league captain. We would be nothing without you.